At some point, Fire Emblem, the turn based strategy series from Nintendo, got really really popular. To the point where we now have four different games being announced in the one day.
Gone are the days of Marth debuting in Super Smash Brothers. Now, Fire Emblem is getting more love than some of Nintendo’s heaviest Hitters.
First things first, a little trip to the past.
Fire Emblem Gaiden never released outside Japan, but is now coming to 3DS consoles as Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia: Echoes. Still a turn based strategy game, this iteration of Fire Emblem takes some liberties with movement and general play styles, as well as dual protagonists. This updated game features new 3D graphics, gorgeous updated art and cut scenes and Amiibo support for the two new amiibo coming out alongside the game. It’ll be launching on May 19th for all versions of the 3DS.
Not content with remakes and spin offs, a new Fire Emblem game is in development for the Nintendo Switch. This will be the first home console game since the Radiance series on Gamecube and Wii. Launching in 2018, this is supposed to be a classic Fire Emblem game, designed for Home Consoles and anywhere you can play a Switch.
Speaking of Which, we get to see even more info about Fire Emblem: Warriors. The latest collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo makes a little more sense in terms of grand scale battlefields than Hyrule Warriors, but looks just as promising. First Gameplay footage features Chrom from Fire Emblem: Awakening fighting a horde of enemies in the traditional warriors style.
They also revealed that the game will be available for the New 3DS line, suggesting that this game will be running on the same engine that powered Hyrule Warriors and Hyrule Warriors Legends.
Impressively, we can expect to see this game launching on Store Shelves in the Autumn of 2017.
Finally, we were promised a Fire Emblem mobile game a long while ago. Now, with Super Mario Run out of the way, it’s time for Nintendo to get some of that sweet sweet mobile strategy game money from Game of War.
Fire Emblem Heroes is a small scale Fire Emblem game, launching on Android Mobile Devices on February 2nd and Apple Devices soon after.
Choose a team of four Heroes from Fire Emblem Games, and use them to clear an 8X6 square screen of enemies. It’s functionally a Fire Emblem game. There’s the three part strength system of Sword>Axe>Lance. Characters are able to move around the grid as sprites, attack from their radius as traditional, or just be dragged on to enemies. When characters fight, they have special abilities they use, which grow as a result of levelling up in battles.
It’s just a Fire Emblem game. And a good looking one. The smaller sizes mean the designers seem to have gone for a challenge map scheme of play. So there’s plenty of tactics still here for long time fans.
It’s even free to play. So what’s the catch?
Gachapon systems. This game is going to be using the gachapon system of making money. In order to get heroes to use in matches, you have to summon them. In order to summon heroes, you need an in game currency called Orbs.
Orbs are collected by either winning maps, or paying for a pack of them with real money.
These Orbs are then used to pay for chances to unlock new and more powerful characters. Emphasis on chances. While it’s possible to unlock new and more powerful characters, you can just as easily get nothing special. So it’s random.
The game even encourages spending lots of orbs at once by lowering the cost of summoning a hero the more times you try in a row. It’s a very clever money making technique, though not exactly the most ethical.
But, as is normal with these things, the game can probably be played just by earning the orbs in game. It just might take you longer.
So there’s the core of a good game, free to play, with a currency system to be wary of. As long as you keep that in mind, Fire Emblem Heroes is a game I’d hope to see on a lot of phones.