Chapter 15: The Black Dragon
Chapter 15 delves into the origins and evolution of the Fire Emblem series, highlighting its foundational game, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, and its impact on the tactical RPG genre. It also covers significant remakes and sidestories like BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles and New Mystery of the Emblem, which introduced key mechanics such as reclassing and the Support system.
The Fire Emblem franchise began on April 20, 1990, with the release of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light for the Famicom. Developed by Intelligent Systems, this title established core conventions for the series and the genre, blending chess-like strategy with RPG elements like character experience and equipment management. Shouzou Kaga was the main creative contributor up until Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.
Before international releases, five additional Japan-exclusive titles were released, culminating with Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance.
Key remakes and sidestories include:
- BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles: A sidestory on the Super Famicom, briefly playable via Satellaview. It consisted of four chapters using the Mystery of the Emblem engine, serving as prequels or sidestories to Mystery of the Emblem, focusing on survival and loot collection.
- New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow: The 12th game, a DS remake of the third. It improved the original by expanding character personalities through the Support mechanic and introduced "reclassing." Reclassing allowed characters to access a pool of additional classes, resetting their level for stat-farming and skill-tweaking. This remake also included a self-insert My Unit character and Casual Mode. It is considered a significant improvement over Shadow Dragon and a crucial title for the series' 3DS era boom.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon also featured side chapters (Gaiden chapters) that become available if a certain number of units are lost, offering new recruitable characters to maintain roster strength.