Fire Emblem Heroes

Nintendo's free-to-play mobile Fire Emblem, built on a gacha of heroes from across the series.

Fire Emblem Heroes is a free-to-play tactical role-playing game for Android and iOS, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It launched worldwide on February 2, 2017 as a mobile spin-off of the Fire Emblem series, using a simpler style of play and a gacha system for collecting characters from across the franchise.

Heroes was one of Nintendo's first attempts at the mobile market, with the developers aiming to keep the core Fire Emblem formula while making it easy for newcomers.

Quick Facts

Developer

Intelligent Systems

Publisher

Nintendo

Series

Fire Emblem

Platforms

Android, iOS

Released

February 2, 2017

Genre

Tactical role-playing

Modes

Single-player

Producer

Masahiro Higuchi
Yu Sasaki
Hideki Konno

Facts from the source article.

Background

Players control a team of up to four Heroes against enemy teams on an 8x6 grid map, alternating player and enemy phases. It removes permadeath, the main-series mechanic in which a defeated character can no longer be used, so a hero defeated in battle only sits out until the battle is over. Heroes deal physical or magical damage and have a colour that follows a rock paper scissors system, giving some units advantageous match-ups over others.

Orbs, earned by completing in-game activities or with in-app purchases, are used to summon random heroes via a gacha system, each with a star rating that reflects its strength, and duplicates of the same character can be merged into a single more powerful one. Modes include story chapters, a training tower, the AI-controlled Arena and, from 2021, Summoner Duels against other players.

The story centres on a war between the kingdoms of Askr and Embla. The player, called the summoner, aids Askr's Order of Heroes alongside Commander Anna, Prince Alfonse and Princess Sharena, while Embla is led by Princess Veronica and Prince Bruno. By 2025 the game had grossed over $1.3 billion, Nintendo's first mobile title past $1 billion.