Fire Emblem

About Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem (ファイアーエムブレム, Faiā Emuburemu?) is a tactical role-playing games franchise developed by Intelligent Systems (specifically Shouzou Kaga), the makers of Advance Wars (which shares some of Fire Emblem's strategic elements), and published by Nintendo Co., Ltd. The Fire Emblem series is well-known for its innovation and for being one of the first tactical role-playing games, with a strong emphasis on Western forms of medieval folklore. The series is also renowned for having deeply developed characters, as well as the fact that most units' death—or defeat in battle—is permanent in the game until the end of the playthrough. The series currently spans ten games, and has been released on the Famicom, Super Famicom, Game Boy Advance, GameCube and Wii. Nintendo announced a Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo DS in October 2007; it is a remake of the first game, Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Ken, and will be the first Fire Emblem game to have online features.

The majority of the titles in the series were released exclusively in Japan. Fire Emblem, the seventh title in the series, became the first game of the franchise to be released internationally in 2003, largely due to the popularity of Fire Emblem characters Marth and Roy's appearances in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Released outside of Japan simply as Fire Emblem, the game was designed specifically with newcomers to the series in mind, and the first ten chapters were structured in a manner that eased newcomers into the gameplay. All Fire Emblem titles produced since have also seen international release.

The Fire Emblem series of turn-based tactics games centers around moving units through a map grid in order to defeat the opposition. Players use strategic movements and positioning to complete mission objectives such as seizing a base, surviving for a number of turns, or defeating a boss. Many conventions of traditional console role-playing games are also present; for example, there is extensive use of scripted cutscenes to advance the story, units gain experience points and grow stronger over the course of the campaign, and the player can visit shops to outfit characters with weapons and equipment. Depending on the game, these events may take place during or in-between battles.