Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is the eleventh installment of the Fire Emblem series. Announced in 2007, released in Japan and Europe in 2008, and in North America and Australia in 2009, it is a remake of the first Fire Emblem title, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
In addition to being the first Fire Emblem for the dual-screen Nintendo DS handheld, Shadow Dragon is also the first game in the series to feature online play. As a remake, the game follows the protagonist Marth along the same story as Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, but with the addition of new characters, chapters, and other features.
Compared to other titles in the series, Shadow Dragon had an unusual localization history. Initially released on August 7, 2008 in Japan and December 5, 2008 in Europe, the European version uses name translations of characters that differ from those used in the version released in North America on February 16, 2009.
Plot
The plot of Shadow Dragon is a faithful remake of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, with a few notable additions. On normal mode, the game begins with a new four-chapter prologue that details Prince Marth's escape from his homeland of Altea following Gra's invasion, the death of his father King Cornelius, and the capture of his sister Elice.
After spending two years in exile in the island nation of Talys, Marth and the remaining Altean forces return to the mainland of the continent of Archanea intent on fighting back. Marth, the descendant Anri, the hero that had once slayed the the Shadow Dragon Medeus with the Falchion, embarks on a journey to free his homeland and the rest of the continent from forces loyal to Medeus who wish to see him resurrected.
Gameplay
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a tactical role-playing game with turn-based battles. As a remake of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, the first Fire Emblem series, it includes a number of gameplay features, chapters, and characters that weren't present in the original. Some of these features, such as the weapon triangle, were introduced in games prior to Shadow Dragon. The remake also introduces some new mechanics such as:
- Reclassing: Also known as 'Class Swap', this feature allows units to transition from one class to another class of the same tier. For example, a Knight can reclass into a Mercenary.
- Mid-battle Save Points: While prior entries have featured the ability to save mid-battle, Shadow Dragon is the first game in the series to feature single-use save point tiles on maps which, when accessed, allow the player to create a hard save and retry battles from that point as many times as desired.
- Replacement characters: Recruitable units that only appear if the player has progressed through the game while losing specific numbers of units. Most replacement characters are generic stand-ins, but there are a few that are unique characters in their own right such as Norne, Athena, and Nagi.
Online Gameplay
For the first time in the series, players could battle each other online via the Nintendo DS's online service, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, though these online services are no longer available. Online battles employed teams of up to five characters from the single-player campaign. Combat took place on multiplayer-exclusive battle maps, which allowed free movement as opposed to the Link Arena in prior games, though only one multiplayer map exists in the Japanese version of Shadow Dragon.
The basic rules of online battles:
- Battles are between no more than two players.
- Fog of War can be toggled on or off, and a time and turn limit are also active.
- Victory is determined by either defeating the opposing army or securing the central castle's flag before the turn limit is reached.
- Victors are awarded a card for their efforts. Players may use these cards to give their online battle parties special effects. Use of these cards can be toggled on or off.
The online mode also featured a shop where players could purchase items using in-game currency obtained in the main campaign. The online functionality also allowed for loaning units to other players to assist with the single-player campaign.
Characters
See main article: List of characters in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Shadow Dragon features all 52 playable characters originally from Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as well as 7 brand new characters exclusive to Shadow Dragon for a total of 59 characters.
Classes
See main article: List of classes in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Chapters
See main article: Chapters (Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon)
Weapons
See main article: List of weapons in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Items
See main article: List of items in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon
Reception
Shadow Dragon currently has an aggregate score of 81 out of 100 on the review aggregation site Metacritic based on 42 critic reviews. It's considered a well-made, if barebones remake of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
Legacy
Shadow Dragon is widely appreciated among western fans as the first official way to play the first game in the series, especially for the sake of allowing players to play as Marth. Aside from the graphical upgrades, fans have praised the faithful recreation of the original series with some quality of life changes introduced after the game.
One of the most disliked changes to the game was the introduction of several new characters who served as replacement characters. Against the spirit of the franchise, these characters were only recruited if the player's playable roster fell below a certain number, forcing the players to allow enough characters to die if they wanted to use a particular new character. This would be remedied in the next game.
Ultimately, the sales of Shadow Dragon in the west were deemed so low that the follow-up sequel remake, New Mystery of the Emblem, was not localized outside of Japan. Fans have widely attributed the game alongside the remade sequels low sales as part of the reason the franchise nearly died.
Trivia
- Shadow Dragon was the first Fire Emblem game to be localized by 8-4 ltd, who would later localize Fire Emblem Awakening and the remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.
- Shadow Dragon is one of two games in the Fire Emblem series not to have any playable characters in Fire Emblem Heroes credited to it, the other being Fire Emblem Gaiden. All playable characters to have originated in Shadow Dragon are instead credited as hailing from Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem.
- If Caeda dies, Marth will lament her death with Nyna in the ending; however this does not happen in the Famicom version.
- In the Japanese version, there are two images in the in-game guide showing a five-use Vulnerary. In the actual game, including the Japanese version, each Vulnerary can be used only up to three times. However, Vulneraries do have five uses apiece in the original Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light.
- There is a glitch where if you spend 256 turns on a map, the turn counter will overflow on the turncount reel and go to 0.
Gallery
