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Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light: Difference between revisions
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'''Fire Emblem: | {{Game Infobox | ||
|title=Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light | |||
|image=[[File:FEARHT logo.png|200px]] | |||
[[File:Ba japan fe01.png|200px]] | |||
|caption=Japanese logo and box art. | |||
|developer=[[mariowiki:Nintendo Research & Development 1|Nintendo R&D1]]<br>[[Intelligent Systems]] | |||
|publisher=[[Nintendo]] | |||
|designer=[[Shouzou Kaga]] | |||
|released='''Famicom'''<br>{{JP}}April 20, 1990<br>'''Wii Virtual Console'''<br>{{JP}}October 20, 2009<br>'''Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console'''<br>{{JP}}August 1st, 2012<br>'''Wii U Virtual Console'''<br>{{JP}}June 4th 2014 | |||
|ratings={{Rating|CERO=A <small>(Virtual Console rerelease)</small>}} | |||
|platforms= | |||
*[[Nintendo Entertainment System|Famicom]] | |||
*[[Wii]] <small>([[Virtual Console]])</small> | |||
*[[Nintendo 3DS]] <small>([[Virtual Console]])</small> | |||
*[[Wii U]] <small>([[Virtual Console]], ''[[Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U|Super Smash Bros. for Wii U]]'' Masterpiece)</small> | |||
|successor={{FE2}} | |||
}} | |||
'''''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light''''' (Japanese: {{hover|ファイアーエムブレム 暗黒竜と光の剣|Faiā emuburemu ankoku ryū to hikari no ken}} ''Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light''), referred to in-game as simply '''''Fire Emblem''''' (Japanese: {{hover|ファイアーエムブレム|Faiāemuburemu}} ''Fire Emblem''), is a turn-based strategy role-playing game released exclusively in Japan for Nintendo's [[Nintendo Entertainment System|Famicom]] console in 1990, and is the first game in the [[Fire Emblem (series)|''Fire Emblem'']] video game series. It is generally accepted to be something of an archetype and progenitor for the [[wikipedia:Tactical role-playing game|strategy role-playing game genre]] as it exists in Japan, with many other Japanese games of the genre following in its stead.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4066/game_design_essentials_20_rpgs.php?page=14|title=Game Design Essentials: 20 RPGs|author=Harris, J.|site=Gamasutra|published=2010-04-26|retrieved=2015-03-30}}</ref> | |||
The game is set on the continent [[Archanea (continent)|Archanea]] and follows the story of [[Marth]], the exiled prince of the fallen kingdom of [[Altea]]. It depicts his quest across Archanea to raise a resistance army to combat the [[Dolhr]] Empire, which currently dominates much of the land, and to find the lost sacred sword [[Falchion]] to allow him to follow in the footsteps of his ancestor [[Anri]] and slay [[Medeus]], the tyrannical Shadow Dragon. | |||
'' | ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' has spawned a large number of sequels and other related works, with its story canon comprised of six of the thirteen ''Fire Emblem'' games. It has been remade twice, first as the first half of {{FE3}} in 1993, then again as {{FE11}} in 2008, and the events of the game were adapted into [[Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (anime)|a short-lived anime adaptation]]. Unlike later ''Fire Emblem'' games, it has multiple sequels set in the same world, including {{FE2}}, {{title|Mystery of the Emblem}} Book 2 (and by extension {{title|New Mystery of the Emblem}}, its remake), and {{FE13}}. In a loose sense it also has prequels, in the form of {{title|Genealogy of the Holy War}} and {{title|Thracia 776}}, set on [[Jugdral|another land in the same world]], but thousands of years in the past and referencing some of the events which were happening and characters which existed on Archanea itself at the time. | ||
== | ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' was, like the following five games, never released outside of Japan. Along with {{title|The Binding Blade}}, it was in a way responsible for sparking international interest in the series, when Marth appeared with [[Roy]] in {{SSBM}} in 2001. Their appearance ultimately resulted in the international release of {{FE7}} and all subsequent games until {{title|New Mystery of the Emblem}}. While the game remained untranslated and not released on the international [[Virtual Console]] service for [[Wii]], [[Wii U]] or [[Nintendo 3DS]], its 2008 remake {{FE11}} did receive an international release, finally bringing the story of Marth to the rest of the world. | ||
==Plot== | |||
{{Spoiler}} | |||
===Rise of the Archanean League=== | |||
After the fall of his homeland, [[Altea]], Prince [[Marth]] spent the next three years in exile in [[Talys]], a young island kingdom. After helping repel a pirate invasion of the country at the request of its Princess [[Caeda]], Marth and his remaining forces departed Talys to travel to [[Aurelis]], to meet with the refugee Princess [[Nyna]] of Archanea and begin a revolution against Dolhr's grip on the world. At Aurelis, Marth's forces united with those of the country's Prince [[Hardin]], leader of the country's resistance, and from there they reclaimed Aurelis from the [[Macedon]] occupation allied with Dolhr. | |||
With Aurelis secured, the newly-dubbed "Archanean League" travelled south to the [[Archanea (nation)|Holy Kingdom of Archanea]] itself. After being forced to make a brief detour to [[Pyrathi]] and to defeat its [[Manakete]] King [[Mannu]], Marth was approached by [[Catria]] of Macedon's [[Whitewings]] squadron, who informed him of the plight of its princesses [[Minerva]] and [[Maria]], the latter held hostage to force the former to serve Dolhr. On this news, Marth led the League to [[Archanea (nation)|Castle Deil]] to free Maria, and the grateful Minerva joined with his forces, as did the three Whitewings later. From this victory, they marched on the Archanean capital [[Pales]] and liberated it from the Dolhr occupation under [[Volzhin]]. | |||
The League's next task was to free Altea. The army marched to [[Gra]], Altea's traitorous neighbour and an ally of Dolhr, and brought down the country and its King [[Jiol]]; after the fight, Marth was disappointed to find that Altea's royal sword [[Falchion]], said to have been stolen from [[Cornelius|his dead father]] by Gra at the war's beginning, was not there. His advisor [[Malledus]] theorised that [[Gharnef]], the Dark Pontifex and resurrector of Medeus, was the one truly responsible for the blade's theft, and so the League made a fruitless detour to [[Khadein]], the country under Gharnef's control, to recover it; there, Marth was informed by the White Sage [[Gotoh]] that they could not defeat Gharnef and recover Falchion without the [[Starlight]] spell, the only weakness of Gharnef's [[Imhullu]] spell, and tasked them with finding the [[Starsphere]] and [[Lightsphere]], artefacts required to recreate it. The League then returned to Altea and reclaimed it from its master, [[Morzas]] of Dolhr. | |||
===The final push=== | |||
With Altea reclaimed, the League's new task was to defeat the remaining allies of Dolhr: [[Grust]] and Macedon. The army first travelled to the southwest, to the [[Fane of Raman]], to find the Spheres and free [[Tiki]], the [[Divine Dragon]] princess, from Gharnef's control. From there, they conquered nearby Grust, defeating its general [[Camus]] despite wanting to spare him. The army travelled next to Macedon, now ruled by Minerva's ambitious elder brother [[Michalis]], liberating it and bringing the Spheres to Gotoh, currently living near its castle, who from them forged Starlight. | |||
Gotoh transported the army to [[Thabes]], a distant ancient city and the current home of Gharnef, where they engaged Gharnef in battle and slew him with Starlight, recovering Falchion. With the tower reclaimed, they found Marth's lost sister [[Elice]], held captive by Gharnef for the past three years. With no other opposition remaining, the League turned on Dolhr itself, charging into the Dolhr Keep where Medeus himself was confined until his strength fully recovered. Marth engaged Medeus in battle, wielding Falchion, and the Shadow Dragon once again fell. With the war over, at the advice of Nyna, Marth proposed to Caeda. | |||
==Gameplay== | ==Gameplay== | ||
{{sectstub}} | |||
As the series' first installment, ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' established many of the gameplay points and conventions which remain in the series to this day, but is of course significantly simpler than its successors. | |||
==Chapters== | |||
{{main|List of chapters in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light}} | |||
''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' is comparatively simple and linear in structure compared to its successors. The game features 25 chapters, with no [[sidequest]]s or [[alternate route]]s possible. | |||
==Characters== | ==Characters== | ||
{{main|List of characters in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light}} | |||
''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' features 52 playable characters. In a single playthrough, however, it is only possible to recruit 51, as the player must choose between recruiting [[Arran]] and [[Samson]]. | |||
==Development== | |||
Development on ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' began after the completion of fellow turn-based strategy game ''[[wikipedia:Famicom Wars|Famicom Wars]]'', with the theme of allowing players to "see and enjoy a world from an RPG perspective".<ref name="iwataasks">{{Cite web|published=2012-03|retrieved=2014-07-26|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005120340/http://fire-emblem.com/shadowdragon/interview/interview1.html|title=Iwata Asks - Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon|site=Nintendo; (archived by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)|author=[[smashwiki:Masahiro Sakurai|Sakurai, M.]] ''et al.''}}</ref> [[Shouzou Kaga]], who served as the scenarist on the game, described the idea behind the game as being a hybrid of traditional strategy/simulation games with RPG elements, with the idea being to create a more dramatic, story-rich strategy game where the player would become emotionally invested in the characters and their struggle. The mechanic of permanent [[death]] was introduced as part of this, to give the fates of the playable cast more weight and to reward love and care for one's units. The idea was to break from standard RPGs of the time - which railroad players into a single course by necessity, otherwise the game would break - by ensuring that there was not only one way of clearing each map, and that players could approach maps as they choose and devise their own successful strategies. Another consideration was to simplify the game compared to other strategy games of the era, to fit in with Nintendo's philosophy of producing games which anybody can pick up and play.<ref name="shmupulations" /> | |||
Unlike most later ''Fire Emblem'' games, ''Shadow Dragon'' NES was developed in a collaboration between [[Intelligent Systems]] and [[mariowiki:Nintendo Research & Development 1|Nintendo Research & Development 1]]. Kaga once remarked that the development of ''Shadow Dragon'' NES was a small-scale affair which the team produced largely for fun, and this resulted in having few resources to devote to its graphics, something which the team would later come to regret.<ref>{{Cite web|published=1999-01|retrieved=2015-02-24|title=Fire Emblem: Treasure - Interview with Shouzou Kaga|url=http://serenesforest.net/general/interviews/holy-war/fire-emblem-treasure/|site=Serenes Forest|author=[[Shouzou Kaga|Kaga, S.]]; trans. North2}}</ref> Similarly, owing to the team's small size, [[Tohru Narihiro]] asserts that both he and most other members of the team performed numerous other duties beyond their main focus in its development.<ref name="iwataasks" /> | |||
According to Narihiro, the limitations of the NES hindered its ability to support strategy simulation games. With respect to how the team overcame this obstacle, he recalled: | |||
{{Quote|The program in a typical simulation game uses a lot of memory. Our game exceeded the capacity of the main memory available in the NES unit. So we figured out a way of increasing capacity by accessing a portion of the memory dedicated for saving the game. Using this memory together with the main memory we were able to get the game running. ''[...]'' To display characters, we loaded a chip into the machine that was able to process and display Kanji characters… So, at Nintendo we were always working as partners with the people who were making the hardware, and I acted as a kind of observer during our development of the NES version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.|[[Tohru Narihiro]], in an interview with [[smashwiki:Masahiro Sakurai|Masahiro Sakurai]]<ref name="iwataasks" />}} | |||
Kaga was interested in implementing a multiplayer mode of some kind, but this never came to be; the first multiplayer mode in the series was introduced twelve years later, as the [[Link Arena]] in {{title|The Binding Blade}}.<ref name="shmupulations" /> | |||
===Game credits=== | |||
* Director: Keisuke Terasaki | |||
* Scenario: [[Shouzou Kaga]] | |||
* Programmers: Masaharu Tani, Masayuki Imanishi, Kouji Yoshida, Kei Fukura | |||
* Graphic designers: Tohru Ohsawa, Naotaka Ohnishi, Saotshi Machida, Toshitaka Muramatsu | |||
* Music: [[bulbapedia:Hirokazu Tanaka|Hirokazu Tanaka]], [[Yuka Tsujiyoko|Yuka Banba]] | |||
* Special thanks: Ryoichi Kitanishi, Masafumi Sakashita, [[Tohru Narihiro|Papa Narihiro]], Wink Nakamura, Haruhiko Shimizu | |||
* Producer: [[Gunpei Yokoi]] | |||
Note: [[Tohru Narihiro]] is credited only under "Special thanks" in the game itself,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsHzXjJ23PU&t=46m|title= | |||
ファイアーエムブレム 暗黒竜と光の剣 総集編 １５/１５|site=YouTube|retrieved=2016-08-01}}</ref> but he would later attest that he was involved in the project as a programmer. | |||
==Reception== | |||
In 2008, Narihiro said in an interview that for the first two months it was on the market, ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' experienced very slow sales, but that its sales slowly began to pick up afterward as positive [[wikipedia:Word of mouth|word of mouth]] spread about the game among consumers.<ref name="iwataasks" /> According to Kaga, the game was met with poor reviews when it first launched and was criticized for being difficult to understand and for its unimpressive visuals. It was not until six months after its release, when a columnist at the magazine ''[[wikipedia:Famitsu|Famitsu]]'' praised the game, that its sales improved.<ref name="shmupulations">{{cite web|url=http://shmuplations.com/fireemblem/|title=Fire Emblem – Developer Interviews with Shouzou Kaga and Hironobu Sakaguchi|author=[[Shouzou Kaga|Kaga, S.]], [[wikipedia:Hironobu Sakaguchi|Sakaguchi, H.]], et al. (trans. shmupulations)|site=shmupulations.com|published=2016-05-03|retrieved=2016-05-03}}</ref> | |||
As of 2002, ''Shadow Dragon'' NES had sold an estimated 329,087 copies in its original Famicom print run.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.translan.com/jucc/precedent-2002-11-14d.html|title=日本ユニ著作権センター／判例全文・2002/11/14d 3|author=University of Japan Copyright Center|site=Translan|published=2002-11-14|retrieved=2015-03-30}}</ref> | |||
==Trivia== | |||
[[File:Ss fe01 title screen fan translation.png|thumb|right|256px|The title screen in the [[fan translation]] of ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light''.]] | |||
===Fan translation=== | |||
''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' did not receive an international release, but unlike other games which met this fate, it went largely ignored in light of {{title|Mystery of the Emblem}} and later {{title|Shadow Dragon}} remaking it, giving it the perception of being unnecessary in light of existing in superior forms. As such, it was not until 2010 that a [[fan translation]] patch was completed, released by ''Quirino'' of the Serenes Forest forums.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=20071|title=Fire Emblem NES Translation|author=Quirino|site=Serenes Forest Forums|published=2010-04-26|retrieved=2015-03-30}}</ref> | |||
==Gallery== | |||
<gallery> | |||
File:Ba japan fe01.png|Japanese box art of ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light''. | |||
File:FEARHT logo.png|Japanese logo of ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light''. | |||
File:Ss fe01 title screen.png|Japanese title screen ''Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light''. | |||
</gallery> | |||
==Eytmology and other languages== | |||
{{Names | |||
|eng-name=• ''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light''<br>• ''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragons and the Blade of Light'' | |||
|eng-mean=• As of {{SSB4}} and the {{FE14}} website. The title refers to [[Medeus]], the "Shadow Dragon", and to the sword [[Falchion]].<br>• "Shadow Dragon" was mistakenly pluralized on the {{FE7}} official website and in {{SSBB}}. | |||
|jap-name={{hover|ファイアーエムブレム 暗黒竜と光の剣|Faiā emuburemu ankoku ryū to hikari no ken}} | |||
|jap-mean=''Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light'' | |||
|eng-fan-name=''Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light'' | |||
|eng-fan-mean=-- | |||
|fren-name=''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' | |||
|fren-mean=-- | |||
|ger-name=''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' | |||
|ger-mean=-- | |||
|span-name=''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' | |||
|span-mean=-- | |||
|ital-name=''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' | |||
|ital-mean=-- | |||
}} | |||
{{refbar}} | |||
==External links== | |||
* ''[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/vc_fea/index.html Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]'' Wii Virtual Console website (Japanese) | |||
* ''[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/3ds/eshop/vc/ta2j/index.html Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]'' Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console website (Japanese) | |||
* ''[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wiiu/software/vc/fcgj/index.html Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]'' Wii U Virtual Console website (Japanese) | |||
* ''[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/fe/fe_museum/ankoku/map/index.html Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]'' Fire Emblem Museum section (Japanese) | |||
{{Nav1}} | |||
{{NavSeries}} | |||
[[Category:Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light]] | |||
