Il m'en aura fallu du temps pour le finir mais what a peak
Would have been 1 star higher higher if not for the endless reinforcements on the last two maps and the really annoying inventory system. Otherwise, charming sprites and music with decent gameplay for a 1990 NES game.
This game has aged like a glass of milk in Texas. I don't generally like NES era games, since the controls are usually clunky and janky, and nowhere is this more true than menu heavy RPGs like this. The core map design is actually quite good, and once you get the power to warp skip every map it's decently fun, but there is absolutely no reason to play this over the remake other than pure novelty.
1\10, This Series Is Called Fire Emblem But There Was Never An Emblem On Fire In Any Of The Games!
The start to an excellent series, While it may have not aged the best I still personally believe that everyone interested in the series should at least play through it at least once. Even if you have to get used to slow gameplay and story (or lack there of)
Playing as intended where you don't reset on unit death is optimal for really enjoying this game personally, primarily due to the slowness of gameplay.
However despite this, it's very charming and has very great moments that make this game one that can still be enjoyed to this day.
Playing as intended where you don't reset on unit death is optimal for really enjoying this game personally, primarily due to the slowness of gameplay.
However despite this, it's very charming and has very great moments that make this game one that can still be enjoyed to this day.
The thing about Fire Emblem is that it didn't invent the turn based strategy RPG. There had been numerous games that had done this sort of setup by the time it released, but for whatever reason it ended up becoming one of the originators of the genre in gaming canon.
While the core gameplay here plays similarly to that of many other games, and would be built upon in later titles, it is severely lacking in the first iteration causing everything to feel like a tedious back and forth of checking stat menus over and over again. The story and visuals are both serviceable, and it certainly did a better job of making you care about your units than other games in the genre at the time.
While the core gameplay here plays similarly to that of many other games, and would be built upon in later titles, it is severely lacking in the first iteration causing everything to feel like a tedious back and forth of checking stat menus over and over again. The story and visuals are both serviceable, and it certainly did a better job of making you care about your units than other games in the genre at the time.
Fun history lesson
genuinely still fun in the modern day
This is that one 2 out of 10 that I am ride or die for just because of the circumstances of when I played.
A couple years ago, me and a friend streamed this game on Twitch and I had accidentally forgot to get the translated rom but I decided to roll with it anyway because I thought it was funnier. The entire game was me playing and my friend frantically trying to translate and walk me through whatever freaky FE1 shit was happening. Neither of us knew Japanese so every time we got a new character we just made up the name on the spot which led to lots of hilarity. We never used save states and we rolled with the permadeath which really allowed the game to shine whenever a character would die and suddenly we had lost "Eminem our best mage."
I will never forget when one time on some random map my army suddenly got jumped by near infinite ambush reinforcements and my only option was to run some random mage who I had named Fumo all the way over to Marth and emergency warp staff (which had unlimited range in FE1) him to the capture point and just barely making it out before even more of my army died. I was also raided by a friend who is a much bigger streamer so for like 2 minutes I was the #1 Fire Emblem streamer on Twitch which is kinda chill. Probably one of my favorite gaming experiences in my entire life and I couldn't read a single thing.
A couple years ago, me and a friend streamed this game on Twitch and I had accidentally forgot to get the translated rom but I decided to roll with it anyway because I thought it was funnier. The entire game was me playing and my friend frantically trying to translate and walk me through whatever freaky FE1 shit was happening. Neither of us knew Japanese so every time we got a new character we just made up the name on the spot which led to lots of hilarity. We never used save states and we rolled with the permadeath which really allowed the game to shine whenever a character would die and suddenly we had lost "Eminem our best mage."
I will never forget when one time on some random map my army suddenly got jumped by near infinite ambush reinforcements and my only option was to run some random mage who I had named Fumo all the way over to Marth and emergency warp staff (which had unlimited range in FE1) him to the capture point and just barely making it out before even more of my army died. I was also raided by a friend who is a much bigger streamer so for like 2 minutes I was the #1 Fire Emblem streamer on Twitch which is kinda chill. Probably one of my favorite gaming experiences in my entire life and I couldn't read a single thing.
has basically no story and absolutely requires heavy use of fast forward but honestly this game is mostly mechanically sound and kinda holds up. it's very simple, but it does a good job of allowing you to use the mechanics to shape your own little story. it's also easy enough to where off-beat mechanical quirks don't really impact the player enough to be frustrating, which is pretty nice. all that being said i think the game kind of falls flat in it's last stretch; the last level in particular is pretty frustrating as it arbitrarily splits your party up and doesn't allow you to select who starts where. it didn't end up mattering because i just cheesed the unit selection to have marth start alongside wendell and warp to the final bosses, but it's pretty lame. inventory management is also something that gets very obnoxious very fast, in the back half of the game i think i spent more time in the inventory menus than i did actually playing. also, marth being incredibly strong feels very cool, but it's a little less cool when he's at level cap and enemies always want to try to kill him, because he 1 taps them and soaks xp too easily. all this stuff could easily be improved on and it's totally understandable why it would have been an afterthought considering this was basically an indie project, but it's still worth mentioning. honestly, in a lot of ways FE1 feels like playing something like sonic 1, where they have a lot of what's important figured out... but just enough wrong to where it's not really recognizably a classic franchise yet. still definitely an interesting game to play (and reasonably short!)
Despite the hardware restrictions, its a fire emblem game through and through in that it captures the fun of fe combat. Heck, the map design are even better than some entries (awakening...). The character sprites are as charming as ever which helps ignore other outdated assets.
Its still an NES game and inconveniences abound. Its super slow, especially on enemy phase and inventory management wise (can only give not take) I would have docked 1 star if I didn't have access to fast forward.
Unit availability is still unbalanced due to encouraging iron manning but this should not be a surprise for those who played its DS remake.
I look forward to playing the SNES remake and its improvements
Its still an NES game and inconveniences abound. Its super slow, especially on enemy phase and inventory management wise (can only give not take) I would have docked 1 star if I didn't have access to fast forward.
Unit availability is still unbalanced due to encouraging iron manning but this should not be a surprise for those who played its DS remake.
I look forward to playing the SNES remake and its improvements
This game has no right being so good for the first entry in the series. You can see just how it created a legacy to SRPGs long ago. This is one of Kaga's best and I prefer it over the remake to be honest. Everyone should experience this game at least once!
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
Everyone loooooves Fire Emblem! And again, I do not have mad enough skillz to play it. This is the first in the Nintendo’s illustrious series of strategy RPGs. Um, that’s all. It’s a strategy RPG. It’s not like I can tell them apart or anything.
Everyone loooooves Fire Emblem! And again, I do not have mad enough skillz to play it. This is the first in the Nintendo’s illustrious series of strategy RPGs. Um, that’s all. It’s a strategy RPG. It’s not like I can tell them apart or anything.
(i played this on an emulator, teehee)
honestly i can't shit on this game too hard? because it's nintendo's first attempt at a strategy RPG on the NES, you honestly cannot be too critical without tearing it up inside out.
and honestly? it isn't horrible, necessarily--but it suffers from the fact that everything is so damn SLOW. inventory management, general game speed, chapters being slogs by virtue of them being too big or having too many enemies, frequently both at the same time.
granted it was their first attempt. if you want to play this game, i highly recommend the DS port as it's generally just a better time.
honestly i can't shit on this game too hard? because it's nintendo's first attempt at a strategy RPG on the NES, you honestly cannot be too critical without tearing it up inside out.
and honestly? it isn't horrible, necessarily--but it suffers from the fact that everything is so damn SLOW. inventory management, general game speed, chapters being slogs by virtue of them being too big or having too many enemies, frequently both at the same time.
granted it was their first attempt. if you want to play this game, i highly recommend the DS port as it's generally just a better time.
the best part about this game is the fact that you can skip the entire thing with the warp staff
Un excelente título cuyas mecánicas son muy atractivas incluso con el pasar del tiempo.
honestly could've been better for the first fe game but shadow dragon (the DS remake) is a better game and shows how the game is really goid
Crusty ass, outdated ass, annoying ass, blue-hair looking ass game.
Probably cool when it came out, damn near unplayable today.
Probably cool when it came out, damn near unplayable today.
this game is so crusty to play
I tried to give it a chance, but maybe I should’ve played another Fire Emblem instead of this one as my first one.
i enjoyed my time with it, pretty cool to see where it all began
Very interesting to see where the series began. Coming to this game from later installments make FE1 feel very slow and sluggish. Game does not tell you vital info like crit chance.
Unit perma death and the rpg mechanics work well in not because of, but in spite of the game. Im glad this series continuted and begun to refine itself.
The ost was good but it got grating after a certain amount of time.
The story is not really that memorable at all.
Unit perma death and the rpg mechanics work well in not because of, but in spite of the game. Im glad this series continuted and begun to refine itself.
The ost was good but it got grating after a certain amount of time.
The story is not really that memorable at all.
i spent 81 turns capping everyone’s str spd and skl
Fun for like two chapters and then it gets tedious. Somehow a strategy game that gives you zero important information to make decisions manages to be trivially easy.
lol, lmao even
Honestly a great rpg for its time. I'd say that other fire emblem games overshadow this one but its still great.
Aged much better than most old rpgs
I was unsure when I started this game whether I would be able to enjoy it much less weather it all the way to the end. Revisiting old NES/Famicom games can be hit or miss. Sometimes I'll have fond memories from my childhood of games I remember quite enjoying. Then upon loading them up 30+ years later, the experience quickly falls apart with poor hit detection, lack of proper hit invulnerability windows or other associated design foibles that have been solved in the intervening years.
As the original Fire Emblem never had an official English localization and release until the limited December 2020 release on the Nintendo Switch, it was a title I never had a chance to experience in my youth. Warnings from other Fire Emblem fans mentioned the game was very rough and could be difficult for modern audiences to endure. Despite that, as I've become a big Fire Emblem fan in the last couple of years, I really wanted to see how the series began. I enjoy playing through a series from beginning to end to see how the series will evolve over time and how the developers choose to tackle and address design and gameplay issues that crop up through the years.
That said, Nintendo's own games seem to do a much better of job of weathering time and standing out as gems of their era among the other releases scattered across their platforms. Nintendo has seemed to often be ahead of their time in terms of basic gameplay mechanics and polish which allows a good number of their older titles to still be quite enjoyable in the modern day.
I'm happy to report that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is another such title that seems to stand the test of time where others of its NES/Famicom brethren are best left to the faint memories of nostalgia. Well... mostly. I mean, it does have some glaring issues which will be enumerated on. But the core gameplay still holds up. (If you enjoy the core Fire Emblem gameplay, that is. This is obviously no Super Mario Bros.)
If you enjoy the tight tactical maneuvering of your units across a map and planning which of your units should engage which of the enemy to achieve success in the battle, I think you might enjoy the core gameplay here. You'll probably need to look up the battle formulas to have a good understanding of how engagements will play out, but I consider that part of the basic Fire Emblem experience. Be warned, much of the basic quality-of-life features that have become standard in the series will have not yet been invented. There's no battle forecast to approximate the outcomes of the battles. There's no enemy range indicators to show which of your units are in danger of being attacked next turn. These are annoying and may turn off some people due to the amount of busy work required to successfully battle through the maps.
However, the biggest issue by far is the basic inventory, trade, and shop systems in place in this first entry. It's rough to say the least. Your inventory is restricted to four slots. There's no pre-battle inventory management. Everything has to be done in the battle map. Each unit can trade with one another, but only one way. Then the shops can only be visited by one unit per turn. Units stop their turn on the shop blocking any other units that may need to visit and purchase something. This often results in large "conga lines" of units waiting to enter the shop each turn if multiple units need to be outfitted. It's frankly quite messy and honestly my biggest complaint about the game. A large bulk of my time on each map was just doing basic busy work of trying to get items passed around or bought and getting all the inventory issues sorted out. Depending on how particular you are about your units being properly geared, this can result in a big time sink for your playthrough.
Despite that, once everyone is ready to go and you're pitting your units against the enemy one after another and slowly turning the tide of battle, the game can be quite fun. I genuinely enjoyed my time with the game and I'm glad to have played it to see how the Fire Emblem series was born. However, I don't think I can ever see myself playing through it again. Once is enough. The lack of quality-of-life features creates enough of a slog that I don't think I could stomach a second playthrough. Plus, there are two remakes of the game in Mystery of the Emblem for the SNES/Super Famicom and Shadow Dragon for the DS if you just want to revisit Marth's story with better QOL features. I look forward to playing them in the future along with the many other Fire Emblem titles in the series. I just wish Nintendo had not pulled a Disney with the limited time release shenanigans so that other people that are later introduced to the series could have had a chance to play through an official English localization. For me, I'm glad I discovered it when I did so I was able to get a chance to see where it all began.
As the original Fire Emblem never had an official English localization and release until the limited December 2020 release on the Nintendo Switch, it was a title I never had a chance to experience in my youth. Warnings from other Fire Emblem fans mentioned the game was very rough and could be difficult for modern audiences to endure. Despite that, as I've become a big Fire Emblem fan in the last couple of years, I really wanted to see how the series began. I enjoy playing through a series from beginning to end to see how the series will evolve over time and how the developers choose to tackle and address design and gameplay issues that crop up through the years.
That said, Nintendo's own games seem to do a much better of job of weathering time and standing out as gems of their era among the other releases scattered across their platforms. Nintendo has seemed to often be ahead of their time in terms of basic gameplay mechanics and polish which allows a good number of their older titles to still be quite enjoyable in the modern day.
I'm happy to report that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is another such title that seems to stand the test of time where others of its NES/Famicom brethren are best left to the faint memories of nostalgia. Well... mostly. I mean, it does have some glaring issues which will be enumerated on. But the core gameplay still holds up. (If you enjoy the core Fire Emblem gameplay, that is. This is obviously no Super Mario Bros.)
If you enjoy the tight tactical maneuvering of your units across a map and planning which of your units should engage which of the enemy to achieve success in the battle, I think you might enjoy the core gameplay here. You'll probably need to look up the battle formulas to have a good understanding of how engagements will play out, but I consider that part of the basic Fire Emblem experience. Be warned, much of the basic quality-of-life features that have become standard in the series will have not yet been invented. There's no battle forecast to approximate the outcomes of the battles. There's no enemy range indicators to show which of your units are in danger of being attacked next turn. These are annoying and may turn off some people due to the amount of busy work required to successfully battle through the maps.
However, the biggest issue by far is the basic inventory, trade, and shop systems in place in this first entry. It's rough to say the least. Your inventory is restricted to four slots. There's no pre-battle inventory management. Everything has to be done in the battle map. Each unit can trade with one another, but only one way. Then the shops can only be visited by one unit per turn. Units stop their turn on the shop blocking any other units that may need to visit and purchase something. This often results in large "conga lines" of units waiting to enter the shop each turn if multiple units need to be outfitted. It's frankly quite messy and honestly my biggest complaint about the game. A large bulk of my time on each map was just doing basic busy work of trying to get items passed around or bought and getting all the inventory issues sorted out. Depending on how particular you are about your units being properly geared, this can result in a big time sink for your playthrough.
Despite that, once everyone is ready to go and you're pitting your units against the enemy one after another and slowly turning the tide of battle, the game can be quite fun. I genuinely enjoyed my time with the game and I'm glad to have played it to see how the Fire Emblem series was born. However, I don't think I can ever see myself playing through it again. Once is enough. The lack of quality-of-life features creates enough of a slog that I don't think I could stomach a second playthrough. Plus, there are two remakes of the game in Mystery of the Emblem for the SNES/Super Famicom and Shadow Dragon for the DS if you just want to revisit Marth's story with better QOL features. I look forward to playing them in the future along with the many other Fire Emblem titles in the series. I just wish Nintendo had not pulled a Disney with the limited time release shenanigans so that other people that are later introduced to the series could have had a chance to play through an official English localization. For me, I'm glad I discovered it when I did so I was able to get a chance to see where it all began.
There's a core of a really good game here! Shame it's buried under very slow pace of play, a hilariously annoying amount of inventory management, and a final level that pulls out all the NES bullshit stops.
I'm in a weird spot here because I genuinely enjoyed a lot of my time with it, but the bits where it wasn't working were just the worst form of old video game jank that I can't really say I liked the game. Still, there is a core gameplay loop that could really turn into something great.
I'm in a weird spot here because I genuinely enjoyed a lot of my time with it, but the bits where it wasn't working were just the worst form of old video game jank that I can't really say I liked the game. Still, there is a core gameplay loop that could really turn into something great.
By the traditional meaning of the term, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a bad game. From a modernized perspective, this game has pitifully slow gameplay, clunky battle mechanics, actually garbage item management, and a plethora of laughably confusing design decisions.
...And all of that would be right.
But it definitely has redeemable factors. First of all, the balance is great. The characters you get closer to the start are almost always the best ones of their class. For cavaliers, the best are Cain and Abel, then Hardin, and then Matthis, Roshea, and Vyland. So better players get to use the better units, those being Cain and Abel, if they don't get them killed. Worse players will be forced to use units like Roshea and Vyland the worse they play. It's kinda great, and it's less talked about than other aspects of the game, specifically the bad ones you see at surface level. The same is true with mercenaries. Ogma and Navarre are the best, then Radd, then Caesar. And the gameplay, when you get down to it....it's Fire Emblem. Plain ass, simple ass Fire Emblem, stripped down to it's core, and despite a fair amount of jank, it's fun.
Am I saying that people should play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as their first game in the series? Hell no. Quite frankly, you are insane for thinking that. But should a fan of the series try it out? Definitely. And if this doesn't convince you, then this should.
Oh, and if the person reading this ever plans to play this game, do me a favor...do an Ironman run. Trust me, it makes the game way better.
...And all of that would be right.
But it definitely has redeemable factors. First of all, the balance is great. The characters you get closer to the start are almost always the best ones of their class. For cavaliers, the best are Cain and Abel, then Hardin, and then Matthis, Roshea, and Vyland. So better players get to use the better units, those being Cain and Abel, if they don't get them killed. Worse players will be forced to use units like Roshea and Vyland the worse they play. It's kinda great, and it's less talked about than other aspects of the game, specifically the bad ones you see at surface level. The same is true with mercenaries. Ogma and Navarre are the best, then Radd, then Caesar. And the gameplay, when you get down to it....it's Fire Emblem. Plain ass, simple ass Fire Emblem, stripped down to it's core, and despite a fair amount of jank, it's fun.
Am I saying that people should play Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as their first game in the series? Hell no. Quite frankly, you are insane for thinking that. But should a fan of the series try it out? Definitely. And if this doesn't convince you, then this should.
Oh, and if the person reading this ever plans to play this game, do me a favor...do an Ironman run. Trust me, it makes the game way better.