Fire Emblem 64: Difference between revisions

|released=Canceled

|platforms=[[Wikipedia:Nintendo 64|Nintendo 64]] (later moved to [[Game Boy Advance]])

|predecessor={{title|Genealogy of the Holy War}}

|successor={{title|Thracia 776}}

However, in late 2015 the book ''[[The Making of Fire Emblem – 25th Anniversary Development Secrets, Awakening and Fates]]'' was released. This anniversary book contains some development information on most games in the series, primarily {{FE13}} and {{FE14}}. Interestingly, and relevantly, it also contains concept artworks and some dialogue samples from the fabled ''Fire Emblem 64''.

Originally mentioned in the {{title|Genealogy of the Holy War}} guidebook by [[Shouzou Kaga]], he wanted to explore the time before the events of {{title|Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light}}, also developing the stories of enemies such as [[Camus]] and [[Michalis]].<ref>{{Cite book|quote=Q) Is there a possibility of a new game? Assuming so, would it be on the Nintendo 64?<br>A) Although it's not been decided yet, if there is a next game, the level of strategy would be much higher and I would also return to something that's easier to play. I don't want to lose what makes Fire Emblem stand out from other games. As for the story, I'd like to explore Archanea world again, from before the start of Marth's adventures when he landed on Talys. Although enemies, I want to the develop the stories of interesting characters like Camus and Michalis.|book=Super Tactics Book}}</ref> Two months later, it was stated that the game would be for the [[Super Famicom]], the Japanese version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.<ref>{{Cite book|quote=Q) Will the next game be on the Nintendo 64?<br>A) I think being on the Super Famicom will be fine. If it were on the Nintendo 64, the battle scenes would use polygons and I'd have more to say.|book=Genealogy of the Holy War Fan Special}}</ref>, and a mini game that did focus on Camus and Minerva eventuated on the BS-X Satellaview as ''[[BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles]]''.

In the Japanese gaming magazine [[wikipedia:Dengeki Nintendo DS|Dengeki]] on July 29, 1997, [[wikipedia:Shigeru Miyamoto|Shigeru Miyamoto]] stated that work had started on ''Fire Emblem 64'', though it would probably come out after [[mariowiki:List of Paper Mario pre-release and unused content|''Super Mario RPG 2'']], the latter half of the year.<ref>{{Cite book|quote=Question: What about Fire Emblem 64?<br>Miyamoto: We're earnestly producing Fire Emblem 64 (laughs). Actually, it'll probably come out after Mario RPG 2, the latter half of next year.|book=Dengeki}}</ref> He also stated that the game is steadily progressing, though the program team was working on completing a playable demo for ''Super Mario RPG 2''.<ref>{{Cite book|quote=Question: What percent of it has been developed?<br>Miyamoto: The plans for Fire Emblem 64 are steadily progressing. The program team is completing Mario RPG 2, trying to come up with a playable demo... I wonder if I've said too much.|book=Dengeki}}</ref> ''Fire Emblem 64'' was officially announced in the September issue of Japanese magazine 64 Dream.<ref>http://homepage2.nifty.com/projecty/64news/newsflash0009.htm</ref><ref>http://ksnk.jp/ddlab/hard/unre.html</ref>  

''Fire Emblem 64'' first showed signs of being postponed when Shouzou Kaga said in a magazine in January 1999 that the game was too ambitious for the current hardware, and that the next game to be developed was to be {{title|Thracia 776}}.<ref>{{Cite book|quote=Q) --Although I want to hear more about the new game... When were the new game's concepts first planned?<br>A) After Genealogy of the Holy War was completed, the theme of the next game was considered immediately. In fact, we had originally wanted to return to Archanea, the stage of Mystery of the Emblem. However, although we intended on this direction from the very beginning, during the preliminary preparations, we realised it was too ambitious and difficult to do with the Super Famicom hardware... If possible, we'd like to do it for new hardware.|book=Fire Emblem Treasure book}}</ref>

It was then confirmed canceled two years later in the November issue of [[wikipedia:Nintendo Dream|64 Dream]] due to difficulties with the hardware specs' compatibility with the game system.<ref>http://www.gameiroiro.com/2000/000924-6.htm</ref> Development then moved to ''Ankoku no Miko'', which was later renamed {{title|The Binding Blade}} and released in 2002.

Two popular theories are that the game was either developed into {{title|The Binding Blade}} or {{title|Path of Radiance}}. However, with the release of ''[[The Making of Fire Emblem – 25th Anniversary Development Secrets, Awakening and Fates]]'', the book confirms that Fire Emblem 64 was a very early version of {{FE6}}, however, the game was rewritten from the ground up, with the only character surviving being [[Karel]].<ref>{{Cite web|quote=While in the middle of production for the N64 version of Maiden of Darkness, due to various structural changes, game planning basically had to start over from the beginning.

 

Aside from characters, there are also several named that would go on to be reused later in the series. The main [[Lord]], [[Roy]] was originally known by the name [[Ike]] in concept art. A character named [[Idunn]] also appears, but has no resemblance to the one that appears in ''The Binding Blade''. There is also a character named [[Ephraim]], who is the son of a character named [[Eliwood]], sharing the names with the characters that would later appear in {{FE7}} and {{FE8}}. The names [[Raigh|Lleu]], [[Bors]] and [[Owain]] also appear in dialogue.<ref>{{Cite web|quote=Finally, there’s a brief transcript featuring dialogue between Raigh, Ephraim, Eliwood (Ephraim’s father), Aron, Bors and Owain. Eliwood, Raigh and Bors are names of characters from Binding Blade, although it’s unclear if they’re the same characters. Meanwhile, Ephraim shares his name with one of the Lords of The Sacred Stones, while Owain was later used as Eudes’s English name in Awakening. As such, it’s likely they’re different characters, but their names were simply reused.|author=VincentASM|published=Decembr 9th, 2015|retrieved=December 9th, 2015|url=http://serenesforest.net/2015/12/09/the-making-of-fire-emblem-64/#more-30740|title=The Making of Fire Emblem 64|site=Serenesforest.net|type=webpage}}</ref>

Several characters appear in the development materials released in ''[[The Making of Fire Emblem – 25th Anniversary Development Secrets, Awakening and Fates]]''.

 

As mentioned above, Karel, and several characters sharing names of characters that appear later in the ''Fire Emblem'' series are mentioned. The names mentioned in the materials are below. If a character shares their name with a character appearing in a later game they are linked to their page. A translation of the script some of these characters appear in can be viewed [https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/fire-emblem-64-rare-dialogue-document-translation-analysis/ here].

*(Japanese: {{hl|イドゥン|Idun}} ''[Idunn]]''), appears to be a different character entirely from the character that appears in ''The Binding Blade''.

*Taki, the name and character don't seem to have reappeared in any games.

*Helen, the queen of [[Bern]] in {{FE7}}, [[Hellene]] <!--Can someone grab Hellene's katakana? Might actually be the same name--> has a similar name, otherwise the two characters seem unrelated.

*Lynette, the name and character don't seem to have reappeared in any games.

*(Japanese: {{hl|レイ|Rei}} ''[[Raigh|Lleu/Rei/Ray]]''), the name appears in a text sample, any relation to the ''Binding Blade'' character aside from name is unknown. The orange haired girl in the below screenshot appears to be this character. According to dialogue, this character would have been a [[bow]]-using unit, possibly an archer. Her appearance also has a slight resemblance to the ''Binding Blade'' character, [[Cath]].

*(Japanese: {{hl|ボールズ|Bōruzu}} ''[[Bors]]''), the name appears in a text sample, any relation to the ''Binding Blade'' character aside from name is unknown.

*(Japanese: {{hl|エリウッド|Eriuddo}} ''[[Eliwood]]''), shares names with Roy's father and appears as the protagonist of {{FE7}}. In Fire Emblem 64 he is the father of a character named [[Ephraim]], and has a leadership role of some sort.

*(Japanese: {{hl|エフラム|Efuramu}} ''[[Ephraim]]''), shares names with one of the protagonists of {{FE8}} presumably no other relation. In Fire Emblem 64, they are the son of a character named Eliwood. The silver haired boy in the screenshot below appears to be this person.

*(Japanese: {{hl|アロン|Aron}} ''Aron''), the name and character don't seem to have reappeared in any games. Judging by the provided dialogue, he was to be a somewhat reckless person serving Ephraim.

*(Japanese: {{hl|オワイン|Owain}} ''[[Owain]]''), a character bears this name in the English, not Japanese, release of {{FE13}}, though them sharing names is most likely coincidental due to ''Awakening''{{'}}s localization. In the text documents this character is apparently somewhat elderly, based on how others address him and his mannerisms.

Ss fe06 preliminary dialogue1.jpg|The only known screenshot of Fire Emblem 64, featured in the [[The Making of Fire Emblem – 25th Anniversary Development Secrets, Awakening and Fates|25th anniversary book.]] The characters are Ephraim (left) and Rei (right).<ref>{{Cite web|quote=The dialogue above reveals who they are, as the final line of the page is (in Japanese): “弓は得意なんです！いっつも山で狩りをしてましたから.” This is the exact same line presented in that screen shot. Who says it? Well, it is attributed to Rei. Who is that next to her? Well, it is Ephraim, as right before that he is the one speaking to her, and they are the only two who did not have a “disappear” unlike the rest|author=XKAN|published=January 14th 2016|retrieved=January 15th 2016|url=https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/fire-emblem-64-rare-dialogue-document-translation-analysis|title=Fire Emblem 64: Rare Dialogue Document Translation + Analysis|site=kantopia.wordpress.com}}</ref>

FE64 Roy.png|Concept artwork of [[Roy]] (known as Ike in the image) from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Idunn.png|Concept artwork of a character named [[Idunn]] from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Taki.png|Concept artwork of a character named Taki from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Helen.png|Concept artwork of a character named Helen from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Lynette.png|Concept artwork of a character named Lynette from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Unnamed 1.png|Concept artwork of a character whose name was not provided from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Unnamed 2.png|Concept artwork of a character whose name was not provided from Fire Emblem 64.

FE64 Unnamed 3.png|Concept artwork of a character whose name was not provided from Fire Emblem 64.

* [http://www.serenesforest.net/general/fe64.html Serenes Forest's article]

* [http://www.fe-online.co.uk/information/246/fire-emblem-64/ Fire Emblem Online's article]

* [http://www.feshrine.net/library/fe64.html Fire Emblem Shrine's article]