Chapter 21: The Crimson Dragon
Chapter 21 explores the historical context of the Fire Emblem series, highlighting its origins and key innovations. It covers early Japanese-exclusive titles, the introduction of significant gameplay mechanics like Support and reclassing, and the evolution of difficulty modes. The chapter also touches upon side stories and remakes that expanded the series' lore and accessibility.
Key historical and mechanical points in this chapter include:
- Series Origin: The Fire Emblem franchise began on April 20, 1990, with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light on the Famicom, developed by Intelligent Systems. Shouzou Kaga was the main creative contributor until Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.
- Early Innovations: The first game blended chess-like strategy with RPG mechanics, allowing characters to gain experience and swap equipment. Five additional games were Japan-exclusive until Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade in 2002.
- BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles: A Super Famicom sidestory using the Mystery of the Emblem engine. It featured four chapters with objectives to survive and collect loot, serving as prequels or sidestories to Mystery of the Emblem.
- New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow: This DS remake of the third game introduced several key features:
- Support mechanic: Expanded character personalities.
- Reclassing: Allowed stat-farming and skill-tweaking by resetting levels and accessing additional classes.
- My Unit: A self-insert playable character, often considered overpowered.
- Casual Mode: Allowed players to disable permanent death, with defeated characters benched but not lost.
- The remake included the BS episodes but not the Shadow Dragon remake.
- Gaiden Chapters: As seen in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, these side chapters become available if a certain number of units are lost, offering new recruitable characters.