Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a tactical role-playing game (RPG) available for download exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. The game's a re-release of the original 1990 Famicom game, previously only available in Japan. This game was the first release in Nintendo's popular Fire Emblem series, and an early trailblazer for the tactical RPG genre. This release adds a few new features to the original game, such as rewind, fast-forward, and save states, all meant to improve players' experience and make the game a bit easier for newcomers. Violence is a focus of play, with players leading small squads against opposing forces in fantasy battles. The game's 8-bit art style and presentation keep the violence from ever being graphic, with no blood or gore shown onscreen. Instead, combat's represented with pixelated battle animations and retro sound effects.
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What’s It About?
Players can now go back to where it all began with FIRE EMBLEM: SHADOW DRAGON AND THE BLADE OF LIGHT. For the first time ever outside of Japan, the original 1990 Fire Emblem adventure is finally making its way to gamers on the Nintendo Switch. Gamers will discover the origins of the popular tactical role-playing game franchise with classic graphics and sound, along with brand-new features such as English localization, rewind and fast forward functions, and new separate save states. You'll follow Marth as he fights back against the Shadow Dragon, recruiting from more than fifty playable characters with more than twenty classes to join his cause. Players will forge bonds and relationships over time, evolving units into powerful additions to the battlefield. You'll also have to choose your tactics wisely or risk losing a character forever and altering the course of destiny. Can you prove you have what it takes to recover the Blade of Light and slay the Shadow Dragon once and for all?
Is It Any Good?
This strategy series might be a hot franchise these days, but it's been a bit of a slow burn to get there, taking more than a decade for the series to even make its debut outside of Japan. Now Nintendo is giving fans worldwide a chance to revisit the origins of Fire Emblem with the limited release of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. Playing the game is a bit like opening a time capsule from the early '90s, with 8-bit graphics, sounds, and complex, menu driven gameplay that made the most of what the original hardware was capable of. While it's certainly not pushing any boundaries by today's standards, the core mechanics and plot still stand the test of time.
Younger players might need a little help adjusting to this old school revisit. Without the grandiose cutscenes of today's games, the story's a narrative heavy experience. There's a lot of reading involved. Thankfully, a lot of time and effort went into the English localization of the game, so the text doesn't feel awkward or forced. After just a few battles, it's also easy to see how this original Fire Emblem didn't just build the framework for the series, but also laid the foundation for the entire tactical RPG (role-playing game) genre. Recruiting and training new units, arming them with key equipment and abilities, and planning out just which combinations will give the advantage were just as important back in the day as they are in modern tactical RPG games. And things like the potential permanent loss of units add to the risk of each battle and can change the entire course of the story. The game's newly added features, which include a rewind and save states, help to ease players into the experience though by offering a sort of do over when mistakes are made. Overall, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light isn't just a great taste of nostalgia for Fire Emblem fans, but it's a great history lesson on the evolution of an entire genre of gaming.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about nostalgia in gaming. What's the appeal gamers find in revisiting classic games? How can replaying games from the past give a better understand of how current games came to be?
How do games with "permadeath" change the way players approach gameplay? Do you prefer games with permanent repercussions, or do you prefer to have a "do over" available at the ready?
Game Details
- Platform: Nintendo Switch
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release date: December 4, 2020
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- ESRB rating: E for Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Last updated: December 2, 2020
Our Editors Recommend
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Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Terrific tactical RPG isn't suitable for younger gamers.
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Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Tough strategy game forces players to make hard choices.
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Fire Emblem Warriors
Fun yet flawed action role-playing vs. thousands of foes.
For kids who love strategy
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