Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

"My Grandmother said this... fancy flavors cannot hide poor cooking."

Fire Emblem. The first of its kind, this title has been around as long as the strategy role playing game genre itself.

As the eleventh entry into the series and the first on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo decided to produce a remake of the very first Fire Emblem game released on the Nintendo Famicom/NES in 1990. There is no doubt the decision may have been influenced by the inclusion of this game's titular character, Marth, in the Smash Bros. series. A move which has already piqued enough interest for the series to be released outside of Japan.

At first glance this may seem like a promising endeavor. However, when it came to execution, that is another matter entirely and the original Fire Emblem had a lot of problems that were never addressed in this remake.

Your opinion may not follow along the same path as mine, but I urge you to read on and then judge for yourself whether this is a refreshing concoction or a recipe for disaster:


Gameplay: 3/10
There is nothing especially new in this game that you have not already seen before in the previous titles. The updated interface makes it easier to navigate than in the NES original, bringing it up to the same standard as the current titles. Novelty things like item management, while easier to use, do not affect the overall experience of this game in any way.

The game's mechanics have also been brought in line with those seen in the current titles, resembling a hybrid of those found in the GBA games and the Gamecube/Wii titles. This has included additions which were not in the original, such as the weapon triangle, although they not drastically alter the combat within the game in any significant way.

Adding the Weapon Triangle was meant to enhance strategic value via accuracy and evasion modifications depending on your choice of weapon. At the same time, the new calculation for evasion has reduced the rate of dodging for every unit to the point where evasion is negligible and almost every strike will hit regardless of what weapon your character chose to wield. These two elements are counterproductive to each other, most likely due to the lack of proper planning and add nothing worthwhile to enhance the gameplay in any way.

The new innovation which was highlighted for this game is class swap. This allows your units to switch to certain other classes before each chapter, within certain limits. While it had potential, the reality is that only a handful of characters truly benefit from it, with the majority being better off in their original class and ignoring it completely. This appeared to be a promising feature when I had first heard about it, a chance for the series to begin walking down the path of success. Instead, what I was greeted with did not meet my expectations and it was indeed disappointing to see that class swap became nothing more than a completely unnecessary feature.

Another noteworthy change for this remake is the addition of "Gaiden" or sidequest chapters, absent from its predecessors in the series. Yet, there is a serious flaw in that you have to kill off the majority of your characters in order to access them. This could have been an ill-thought out concept to aid newer players, but it does not change the fact that it is a baffling decision to reward you for playing poorly in a game which is meant to promote strategy. A proper feature for less capable players should help them overcome their difficulties, not handwave them so they may never improve.

Overall, there is little to distinguish this edition from the one it originated from. To sum up the playability, most of the features brought into this game are merely superficial additions which only manage to offer small variations and modifications to the existing formula.


Story: 1/10
Without even a need to summarize, this is the stereotypical, paper-thin plot of overthrowing the evil empire in its most base form. The one benefit of this approach is that it avoids becoming riddled with plot holes, something that happens often in the stories

Aside from not altering the story, it would be fair to say a good portion of the fandom would agree that it was a major failure of this game to not add any extra depth to the characters via supports or any other forms of meaningful dialog. In terms of story-telling, this was the one area many had been hoping would be given further development so that they could evolve beyond merely being the one-line wonders they once were.


Graphics: 1/10
It is not a major leap forward as say, having the old 2D sprites come to life in cutting edge 3D graphics, just a quick polish over the 8-bit visuals. While this is certainly acceptable considering the circumstances, the changes made actually detract further from the game's presentation.

The chosen colors are all subdued without any form of light or dark contrasts needed to present the necessary highlights in the artwork, and as a result, they tend to mix together creating an unsightly murky mess at times.

The plain colored sprites do not match with the backgrounds at all. This is made further obvious by the fact that for some reason, each sprite has a very noticeable black border around them, detracting drastically the quality.


Sound: 4/10
Basic would be the most appropriate word to describe the music quality. It is entirely acceptable to use the originals, but simply playing the exact same tunes from a NES game on a more advanced piece of hardware shows a lack of effort. Consider them upgraded from the their original chip tunes to more modern sounding synthesized music, but no attempt was made to fully utilize the DS system's sound capabilities which are capable of much more than what was given.


Game Length: 3/10
The standard twenty-odd chapter length seen in most Fire Emblem games. However, the fact that beginners will start on normal mode, where most chapters can be completed with such ease, will reduce the play time considerably. On higher difficulties, the game time may be prolonged by the occasional need to re-starting chapters when luck plays a bigger role than the tactical challenge it should be offering.


Replay Value: 2/10
On normal mode, inexperienced players who do not plan ahead may simply charge on through the majority of the game without suffering any vital penalties to hinder their progress. For the more seasoned players who find this unappealing, they could try the "harder" modes right from the start.

I must warn against the false hope of any actual challenge in these supposed hard modes. The main difference is merely the same enemies as before become progressively stronger with each difficulty setting, so they will simply need some consideration before you act and the same immobile bosses gaining better durability, and so now take slightly longer to defeat.

The only other noteworthy obstacle would be the unlucky chance of receiving a critical hit, which requires no skill on anyone's part due to its luck-based nature and serves as no more than an artificial difficulty element at best.


Overall: 2/10
The Fire Emblem series has always been known for getting along all these years without any notable changes. The one attraction here that they did remake are the graphical qualities, which really aren't very impressive and certainly don't give anybody sufficient reason to revisit the game. Sadly "Intelligent" Systems decided to spurn the opportunity they were given to improve upon their mistakes in the past and in essence, this is yet another port of a NES game which does not hold up well after so many years.

I will be honest; the amount of fun you find from this title depends entirely on how much you like the old NES game. Even if this was meant to be a a remake, that is no excuse for the minimalist approach that Intelligent Systems have adopted, even retaining the flaws of the original. Apart from bare minimum touch screen functionality, it has not fully taken advantage of the DS's resources. In fact, this could have very easily been released on the Gameboy Advance without any noticeable difference.

At the end of the day, you are still entitled to spend your money however you wish. The first game was a landmark installment, which you may be curious about or perhaps you played the original and require this remake as an excuse to play it again. Just bear in mind that all this was done for the sake of filling in the void before the next true sequel in the series comes along.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/08

Game Release: Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken (JP, 08/07/08)