Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones pre-release information

Prior to its release in 2004, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - like most games - received previews in the Japanese gaming press and in other sources. Some of the screenshots of the game used in previews are comprised of preliminary content or data which is clearly different from the game's final form, especially in previews from earlier points in the game's development.

Prototype build

Eirika's famous preliminary battle sprite

Main article: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones prototype

A largely incomplete prototype build of the game was leaked from the Intelligent Systems FTP server in 2008 and subsequently widely distributed. In its degree of incompletion, it is uncertain to tell how much of what was in there was planned for the finished product at one time or another; interesting differences include different layouts for Chapters 5 and 6, significantly different portraits for some characters, and a small number of completely different names.

Official website screenshots

Curiously, the game's official Japanese website uses screenshots from what appears to be an earlier build of the game in its "Screenshot" pages; other pages which use screenshots, like the Unit page, use more recent screenshots in line with the final version.

• The Great Knight's sprite is fairly different: it has no shield, and its saddle is red compared to the dark blue armor.
• Marisa starts at level 12, instead of at level 5 as in the final product.
• A Maelduin is present in the first floor of the Tower of Valni, an impossibility in the final version.
• Though barely visible in the screenshot, Tethys still appears to use Ninian's Dancer map sprite.
• No character seen in battle has a personal palette, using only the class's default for playable units.

Gallery

• 
• 

Recurring features

• An item called the Stone Shard is a recurring feature of pre-release material, including the prototype build. Acting as a temporary monster weapon for Revenants and Baels, in every pre-release appearances it uses the icon of Flametongue. It still exists in the final game, dummied out and now using a Red Gem icon, and is technically usable by all monsters.
• In almost all prerelease sources, the battle and other windows use the same HUD style as The Binding Blade and Blazing Sword. Given that some early screenshots and sources also include scene where entirely new HUD frames had to be drawn, it is uncertain whether the original intention was to retain the original HUD style, or whether completing the overhaul simply took until fairly late in the development process.