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Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga

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Archanea Senki

Ss febs titlescreen.png
Title Screen for BS Fire Emblem.

Developer(s)

Intelligent Systems

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Release date(s)

JPSeptember 28, 1997[1]

Platform(s)

Super Famicom (Satellaview)

Successor
On partnered sites

BS Fire Emblem: Archanea Senki (BS ファイアーエムブレム アカネイア戦記編), commonly called BS Fire Emblem and translated as BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles, is a collection of four standalone Fire Emblem series maps focused on the Archanea universe, set before the beginning of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light/Shadow Dragon and focusing on other members of its cast. The game was a Super Famicom game, playable only through the Satellaview satellite radio streaming add-on/service. The first broadcast of the collection's first episode took place on September 28, 1997; the collection's last broadcasts occurred in 1999.

The four BS Fire Emblem chapters were later remade as bonus content in Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, dubbed New Archanea War Chronicles (新・アカネイア戦記); they are the only Satellaview titles to ever be rereleased in any form. The remakes omit many of the features unique to the originals and reframes the maps in the gameplay mechanics of the Nintendo DS remakes, also making adjustments to the number and type of enemies present in each.

Gameplay

Perhaps the most famous quality of the BS Fire Emblem chapters is that the games were, using the functionality of the Satellaview system, played alongside a streaming audio track featuring full voice acting for most of the cast. Every chapter opened and closed with a cutscene consisting of static picture panels accompanied by narration and voice acting. The game consists of two segments: the ROM containing the actual map and gameplay, and the streaming audio played alongside it including the soundtrack, new covers of tracks from Monshou no Nazo. The former was saved onto a memory device, if intended to be done so temporarily, whereas the latter was not and is therefore permanently lost outside of recorded archive footage of the chapters being played, found on sites like YouTube and Nico Nico Douga.

The game uses the Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem game engine, with a few modifications: the game features no battle animations and minimal written dialogue, the latter facilitated through the voice-acting. As in normal Fire Emblem games, each episode has one or two designated "Lord" characters who fulfil the normal purpose of a Lord: their death triggers a Game Over equivalent, where the map resets to where it was immediately after the previous voiced dialogue interlude; they also act as an item convoy. During the game, if a player makes a mistake, they can press an unknown button to revert the change and go back to the game's state before that last move.

In all episodes, the "victory" requirement is to survive the full broadcasting hour while gaining as many points as possible; points are earned by fighting and defeating enemies, opening chests and visiting villages. There is no seize point, and defeating the boss or routing all enemies does not end the episode; if either criteria is fulfilled, the episode will continue, spawning reinforcements every turn, until the ending cutscene. Any recruitable units are not recruited by talking to them; instead, they automatically join the player's army at fixed times in the playthrough, accompanied by audio discussing their decision to defect to the player.

Accessing the games

Wikipedia.png This article or section is a short summary of Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga.
Wikipedia features a more in-depth article.

The Satellaview was a satellite radio modem service for the Super Famicom, a joint venture between Nintendo and satellite radio company St.GIGA. The service streamed audio and visual content related to games and Nintendo, delivered by St.GIGA's satellite radio infrastructure: this included magazines, variety programmes, and sometimes entire Super Famicom games. One particular unique variety of game downloads via the service came in the form of SoundLink games: games set up to play alongside a radio streaming of audio specific to that game, often including voice-acting. Many of these games were more or less completely new installments in prominent Nintendo franchises. Games of this variety were prefixed with BS, a common Japanese abbreviation for "Broadcast Satellite"; for example, BS The Legend of Zelda: Inishie no Sekiban.

The menu for operating the Satellaview service was BS-X: Sore wa Namae o Nusumareta Machi no Monogatari (BS-X それは名前を盗まれた街の物語, BS-X : The Story of The Town Whose Name Has Been Stolen), a cartridge "game" BIOS/interface visually reminiscent of MOTHER 2. Programming of various types could be accessed from places in the town, sometimes taking the form of a new structure related to the game in question. For BS Fire Emblem, in the lead-up to the time of broadcast, the access point to the map of that night would appear in the Town in the form of a castle (oddly, the castle design used is from Seisen no Keifu). Once opened, the game would download and start playing at the correct predetermined time.

Episodes

Episode 1: The Fall of Pales
(Japanese: 第1話・パレス陥落 The Fall of Pales) Original broadcast date:
September 28, 1997, 19:00-20:00[2]
Cm febs 1.png
At the onset of the War of Shadows, the Dolhr army has stormed the Archanean capital, Pales. Boah has been entrusted with escorting Princess Nyna out of the castle, but they are stopped by the Dolhr forces.
Playable units: Nyna, Boah, Midia, Tomas, Dolph, Macellan Boss: Gouber
Victory conditions: Survive the full broadcast playthrough
Defeat conditions: Nyna dies
Player: 6 Enemy: 13*
Episode 2: The Red Dracoknight
(Japanese: 第2話・赤い竜騎士 The Red Dracoknight) Original broadcast date:
October 9, 1997, 19:00-20:00[3]
Cm febs 2.png
During the Macedon occupation of Aurelis, a band of Macedonian knights have deserted the army and are menacing Aurelian villages. To protect the people of Aurelis, Princess Minerva and the Whitewings form a temporary truce with Aurelis's Prince Hardin, leader of the resistance against the occupation, to subdue the uprising.
Playable units: Minerva, Hardin, Catria, Est, Wolf, Roshea, Frost Boss: Ruben
Victory conditions: Survive the full broadcast playthrough
Defeat conditions: Minerva or Hardin die
Player: 7 Enemy: 20 *
Episode 3: Thief Band of Justice
(Japanese: 第3話・正義の盗賊団 Thief Band of Justice) Original broadcast date:
October 16, 1997, 19:00-20:00[4]
Cm febs 3.png
Some time after the fall of Pales, the people of Archanea continue to suffer under the Dolhr occupation. Lena and Rickard convene a small band to break into the palace and steal its many treasures to help the poor (and maybe themselves). They're not the only ones with the same idea, though, and the other group is not so noble in intent...
Playable units: Rickard, Lena, Castor, Navarre, Maris, Dice Boss: Vaam
Victory conditions: Survive the full broadcast playthrough
Defeat conditions: Rickard dies
Player: 6 Enemy: 30
Episode 4: The Beginning
(Japanese: 第4話・始まりのとき The Beginning) Original broadcast date:
October 23, 1997, 19:00-20:00[5]
Cm febs 4.png
It has been two years since the fall of Archanea. Princess Nyna is now in the custody of the Sable Order, her only protection against the wishes of Medeus to have her killed. Camus decides that Nyna's best hope is to take her to Aurelis and leave her under the protection of Prince Hardin, but Medeus is aware of his plan and has already sent his forces in pursuit of the two...
Playable units: Nyna, Camus, Roberto, Belf, Leiden Boss: Brzak
Victory conditions: Survive the full broadcast hour
Defeat conditions: Nyna or Camus die
Player: 5 Enemy: 30*

Translated scripts

These scripts were translated by Kiddo, the owner of Satellablog, a blog extensively documenting the history and games of the Satellaview, from Japanese transcripts documented by this website, and were posted in this discussion thread on Serenes Forest.

Gameplay footage

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References

Fire Emblem series
Main series Shadow Dragon & the Blade of LightGaidenMystery of the EmblemGenealogy of the Holy WarThracia 776The Binding BladeThe Blazing BladeThe Sacred StonesPath of RadianceRadiant DawnShadow DragonNew Mystery of the EmblemAwakeningFatesEchoes: Shadows of ValentiaThree HousesEngage
Spin-offs Archanea SagaTokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FEHeroesWarriorsWarriors: Three Hopes
Crossover games Super Smash Bros. (MeleeBrawlfor Nintendo 3DS and Wii UUltimate) • Club Nintendo Picross+Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.Project X Zone 2WarioWareDragalia Lost
Unreleased games and prototypes Fire Emblem 64The Blazing Blade pre-release build 0206The Blazing Blade pre-release build 0219The Sacred Stones prototypeFire Emblem Wii
TearRing Saga series Yutona Heroes War ChroniclesBerwick Saga
Vestaria Saga series War of the ScionsThe Sacred Sword of SilvanisterLucca GaidenChronicles of the Norden Civil War
Related titles Mario Kart: Double Dash!! bonus discLINENintendo Badge Arcade
Versions and releases List of version differencesLocalization of the Fire Emblem seriesVirtual Console
Other References in other mediaReferences to other media