Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi | |
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Developer(s) | Intelligent Systems |
Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
Composer(s) | Yuka Tsujiyoko |
Series | Fire Emblem |
Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
Release date(s) |
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Genre(s) | Tactical RPG |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Media/distribution | 64-megabit cartridge |
Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi (ファイアーエムブレム封印の剣 , translated as Fire Emblem: The Sword of Seal in Japanese-published sources[1] and Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade in American-published sources[2]) is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The game was released on March 29, 2002 in Japan, is the sixth game in the Fire Emblem series and the first of three games in the series that have appeared on Nintendo's Game Boy Advance handheld. Its working title was Fire Emblem: Ankoku no Miko (暗黒の巫女 , Maiden of Darkness). It stars Roy, who previously appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
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Fire Emblem is a turn-based tactical role-playing game in which players move a small group of units around a square-based grid, battling their enemies in order to complete a certain predefined objective. It is reminiscent of other tactical RPGs with features such as character classes and the ability to level up.[3] For more information, refer to the Fire Emblem gameplay basics.
Fūin no Tsurugi takes place in the fictional continent of Elibe, which is split into six nations of diverse ruling styles: Lycia, Bern, Etruria, Sacae, Missur, and Ilia. There is an archipelago to the northwest called the Western Isles, composed of Caledonia, Fibernia, and Dia.
The game stars Roy, the son of Fire Emblem protagonist Eliwood. Roy leads the League of Lycia's army against the forces of the militant country of Bern shortly after his father falls ill.
The story begins when King Zephiel, ruler of the kingdom of Bern, finishes the brutal conquest of Ilia and Sacae and sets his sights on Lycia. With the war coming to his own country, Roy is sent home to lead Pherae's army to oppose Bern, but soon after he meets Guinevere, the princess of Bern and Zephiel's younger sister, who has escaped from her homeland to search for a way to stop the imminent war between Bern and Lycia.
Upon the death of marquess Hector, Roy carries on the Lycian League and makes many promises: to protect Princess Guinevere and Hector's beloved daughter, the mage Lilina, and most importantly, to save the entire continent from Zephiel's mysterious thirst for world domination.
The Fire Emblem in this game is the Imperial Seal required to assume or recognize the Bernian throne.
Fūin no Tsurugi is set twenty years after its prequel, Fire Emblem. Because Fire Emblem takes place two decades prior to Fūin no Tsurugi and was designed to introduce western audiences to the gameplay of the Fire Emblem series, its plot is structured so that no knowledge of Fūin no Tsurugi is required to enjoy the storyline.
Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi has a total of 62 playable characters, which was the highest in the series prior to the tenth installment, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
The soundtrack was composed by series mainstay Yuka Tsujiyoko. In addition to its original music, Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi also features versions of songs from Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu; the character recruitment theme of Seisen is reused, and the general battle theme is used in Fūin no Tsurugi as the arena and multiplayer battle themes. The player turn's music for the Trial Maps was also taken from the player turn's music from Fire Emblem Gaiden.
Roy appears as a secret player character in the Nintendo GameCube fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was originally intended to be included in the Japanese version of the game in order to promote the upcoming release of Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi along with Marth, the protagonist of the first and third Fire Emblem titles. Both Roy and Marth speak Japanese in the North American version, which relates to the fact that their games were Japan-exclusive.
In January 2001, it was revealed that a Fire Emblem game was coming and to be released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan. The game was known as Fire Emblem - Maiden of the Dark, and was unknown if it was going to be released in the Western world, where little is known about the series. It was going to follow gameplay from the previous installments of the series as a tactical role-playing game. The storyline was going to be quite similar to the previous series in tone. It was going to be set on the continent of Elibe, and concerns a lone hero named Roy, "whose town is being attacked by the neighbors of Bern for mysterious reasons. For centuries, the two lands were neighbors and compatriots; suddenly, they are bitter enemies, and nobody in your homeland knows the reason for the outburst of violence. Players will have to uncover the mystery behind the turn of events, as well as keep their own city safe from disaster." It was also likely that the Game Boy Advance version of Fire Emblem was resurrected from the work on the cancelled Nintendo 64 sequel of Fire Emblem, which would have had the same 2D graphics and control. An American version was unannounced and was also unlikely.[4]
In 2001, Nintendo Space World showed some video game footage of Fire Emblem's gameplay, but a release date was unknown. It was known that players will have the ability to raise and fight their troops in battle and will also be able to play against friends on multiplayer on other Game Boy Advance systems.[5]
In March 2002, Nintendo started airing a commercial for Fire Emblem on television networks in Japan. The company had also created a "director's cut" version of the commercial, with no game footage, on its website. The game was developed by Intelligent Systems, and featured the same style of turn-based strategy as Advance Wars, though Fire Emblem was set in a "fantasy environment complete with knights, wizards, and mystical creatures." It was set for release in Japan on March 31, 2002. Nintendo of America had revealed that the series will come to the US, but had not announced a release date.[6]
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