Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

The Nintendo DS remake of the first Fire Emblem, retelling Marth's war against Gharnef and Medeus.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo DS, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The eleventh entry in the series, it remakes the Famicom original Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and came out in 2008 in Japan and Europe and in 2009 in North America and Australia.

On the continent of Archanea, Marth, prince of Altea, is driven into exile by the sorcerer Gharnef and his master Medeus, the Shadow Dragon of the title, and must build a new army to reclaim his throne.

Quick Facts

Developer

Intelligent Systems

Publisher

Nintendo

Producer

Toru Narihiro; Hitoshi Yamagami

Director

Masayuki Horikawa; Masaki Tawara

Artist

Masamune Shirow
Daisuke Izuka
Masahiro Higuchi

Writer

Koji Kawasaki
Toshiyuki Kusakihara
Kouhei Maeda

Programmer

Yuji Ohashi; Takafumi Kaneko

Composer

Yuka Tsujiyoko; Saki Kasuga

Facts from the source article.

Background

Marth forges alliances with neighbouring kingdoms to recover the sacred sword Falchion and the Fire Emblem shield, the two things needed to defeat Gharnef and Medeus.

The DS layout puts the map on the bottom screen and story scenes, unit stats and battle animations on the top. Gaiden side chapters unlock depending on how many units have been lost, and every unit is subject to permanent death. Thirty classes are available, and from Level 10 a Master Seal evolves a unit's class; a new re-class option swaps units between classes. Online multiplayer, a first for the franchise, allows voice chat, five-unit matches and loaning units.

Development began in 2007 while Radiant Dawn was being finished. Director Tohru Narihiro and original composer Yuka Tsujiyoko returned, Daisuke Izuka redrew the character art with contributions from Masamune Shirow, and 8-4 handled the localisation. Reception was generally positive, though sales stayed low for some time after launch.