Well, this one came completely out of nowhere, but Nintendo has just announced that Fire Emblem will be released for the Nintendo Switch on Friday the 4th of December. Why is this news so random? Because this 30-year-old game has never been released here in the West.
Fire Emblem was originally released for the Famicom in April of 1990, but the game was never localised outside of Japan. In fact, most players' exposure to the series was via the critically acclaimed Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube, where players first met Marth and Roy.
Marth is the first Fire Emblem's main protagonist, and it has become one of the favourite fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series ever since he made his debut in the early 2000s. Other titles in the Fire Emblem series have been released here in the West, since, except for the original.
Interestingly enough, today's announcement trailer for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light pokes fun at the fact that nobody here in the West really knew who Marth and Roy were when they were first introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Since this is a localised version of the original, players will be able to play the game in English. With that said, the game will still allow players to play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light in Japanese. A new feature will also allow players to rewind to a previous save state, much like on the Nintendo Switch Online's NES app.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will also allow players to fast forward both player and enemy actions, in order to skip things up a bit, while also having now the ability to create and load bookmarks; a nice chage that will help players cope with some of the game's dated mechanics.
UPDATE: It has been revealed that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will only be available for a limited time, and that players have until the 31st of March of 2021 to purchase the game.
Check it out:
Meet Marth and recruit some of the most beloved Fire Emblem characters in their 8-bit glory as you play through all 25 chapters of this classic Famicom tactical role-playing game, localized and released for the first time in North America—for a limited time.
Fire Emblem will release for the Nintendo Switch on Friday the 4th of December.