A reinvention of the original NES titles with revamped graphics and intuitive touch control, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon will finally introduce longtime fans to the stories that gave birth to the series nearly 20 years ago in Japan, while introducing the Fire Emblem franchise to a broader audience of strategy and chess fans. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon also reveals the back story of Marth, the original lead character in the Fire Emblem series introduced and made popular in North America by the Super Smash Bros. series of fighting games.
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Had a surprisingly good time with this little bugger. The character art style grew on me, though the art stills are excellent, and the variable difficulty was honestly visionary. Had a great run on H3, a fun revisiting of Marth's story. Tight maps, pleasantly busted weapon forging, cute little prologue, can't complain.
Yeah this game has strategic depth or whatever but why is it so UNGLY
Really solid Fire Emblem with a really cool aesthetic. Honestly don't have much to say other than I had a really solid experience, even if this is a super back to basics Fire Emblem.
The world building is where I was interested in the most because of the seeds that Kaga put in regards to the dragons. It's just super cool
The world building is where I was interested in the most because of the seeds that Kaga put in regards to the dragons. It's just super cool
olipa vaikee peli (ei oikeest mitä vittua)
Shadow Dragon is a great SPRG with tight, focused design trapped inside such a swagless, unappealing shell that it turned a game that should have reinvigorated interest of the series into one that almost killed it outright.
The turn to turn gameplay of Shadow Dragon holds up great. If you're in the mood for a "vanilla" Fire Emblem game, despite reclassing and reforging, this scratches that itch more than most other entries in the series. Maps are designed with the limitations of your party in mind, with a clear flow that still allows for creativity in how you clear them. The new mid-map save points mitigate some of the more frustrating and antiquated aspects of FE1. The game gives you a ton of cool tools to play with, and begs you to break them further with the reforging system It's a game that I've went from not getting past the few extra chapters, to one where if I have to kill an afternoon or a long bus ride, much like Final Fantasy 1, I can breeze through in about six hours and have a great time. I don't usually enjoy challenge runs in the Fire Emblem series, and I'll abuse save states/resets if my favorite units chip a nail, but Shadow Dragon's just built in such a way where death feels bad, but not something to avoid at all costs. While much of this praise can be levied towards the original, the remake doesn't get in the way.
I didn't know this until close to ten years after the game came out, because it looks and sounds like a Jagex game. This game's sound font sucks shit, if I could have an option to listen to the original NES version, it would stay on at all times. The concept art on the cover for this game (on this website) looks nice, but that's probably the only audio or visual element of the game I don't think fails. The art style's probably my least favorite in the series, including the Grannvale's yaoi chin epidemic. The color pallet is drab, to such an extent where I'll look at my individual units on screen and everything will just blend together until I focus my eyes. The battle animations are the nadir. Under no circumstances did they have to resort to these animations. There were no expectations for this pseudo-3D presentation. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was a year old at this point with minor improvements to the artystyle, mostly consisting of putting the added screen real estate to use. Front Mission 1's remake was older, they ripped most of the assets straight from the original, and it was the best way to play that game until the recent remakes. This isn't a SPRG studio release done on $500, Marth was in Super Smash Brothers. What's the excuse?
The presentation of Shadow Dragon is something I harp on because it really did kill a lot of the causal interest in the series stateside till Awakening, and it didn't have to be this way. They put so much effort into the feel of the game, and assumed that people would understand how self evidently good the game is (or they'd see a portable Fire Emblem and gobble that shit up) and get on board. Shadow Dragon's reputation among the community, myself included, has improved considerably since the game's release, but it's really hard not to be frustrated with just how hard they dropped the ball. It's a lot of fun reforging a Wing Spear and tearing shit up across the countryside. Unfortunately, that fun is tempered by my functioning eyes and ears.
The turn to turn gameplay of Shadow Dragon holds up great. If you're in the mood for a "vanilla" Fire Emblem game, despite reclassing and reforging, this scratches that itch more than most other entries in the series. Maps are designed with the limitations of your party in mind, with a clear flow that still allows for creativity in how you clear them. The new mid-map save points mitigate some of the more frustrating and antiquated aspects of FE1. The game gives you a ton of cool tools to play with, and begs you to break them further with the reforging system It's a game that I've went from not getting past the few extra chapters, to one where if I have to kill an afternoon or a long bus ride, much like Final Fantasy 1, I can breeze through in about six hours and have a great time. I don't usually enjoy challenge runs in the Fire Emblem series, and I'll abuse save states/resets if my favorite units chip a nail, but Shadow Dragon's just built in such a way where death feels bad, but not something to avoid at all costs. While much of this praise can be levied towards the original, the remake doesn't get in the way.
I didn't know this until close to ten years after the game came out, because it looks and sounds like a Jagex game. This game's sound font sucks shit, if I could have an option to listen to the original NES version, it would stay on at all times. The concept art on the cover for this game (on this website) looks nice, but that's probably the only audio or visual element of the game I don't think fails. The art style's probably my least favorite in the series, including the Grannvale's yaoi chin epidemic. The color pallet is drab, to such an extent where I'll look at my individual units on screen and everything will just blend together until I focus my eyes. The battle animations are the nadir. Under no circumstances did they have to resort to these animations. There were no expectations for this pseudo-3D presentation. Final Fantasy Tactics A2 was a year old at this point with minor improvements to the artystyle, mostly consisting of putting the added screen real estate to use. Front Mission 1's remake was older, they ripped most of the assets straight from the original, and it was the best way to play that game until the recent remakes. This isn't a SPRG studio release done on $500, Marth was in Super Smash Brothers. What's the excuse?
The presentation of Shadow Dragon is something I harp on because it really did kill a lot of the causal interest in the series stateside till Awakening, and it didn't have to be this way. They put so much effort into the feel of the game, and assumed that people would understand how self evidently good the game is (or they'd see a portable Fire Emblem and gobble that shit up) and get on board. Shadow Dragon's reputation among the community, myself included, has improved considerably since the game's release, but it's really hard not to be frustrated with just how hard they dropped the ball. It's a lot of fun reforging a Wing Spear and tearing shit up across the countryside. Unfortunately, that fun is tempered by my functioning eyes and ears.
Really fun game and Marth is amazing Hero.