I will buy Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. Without exception, every handheld rendition of the series has been stellar, and I’ve long maintained that Fire Emblem is the perfect portable game. Relying on the auto-save feature that saves one’s progress after every single move, I would often pull out one of the Game Boy Advance titles during the smallest of waits (say, in line to buy a movie ticket), make a couple of moves, and then flip off the power as soon as my name was called — secure in the knowledge that my precious army was safe. Now that developer Intelligent Systems has upped the ante with a real strategy-based versus mode, Wi-Fi and voice chat, there’s no question that a portion of my holiday cashflow will be diverted to Nintendo’s coffers.
At the 2008 Nintendo Media Summit, we spent considerable hands-on time with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. Read on to hear how the enhanced DS remake of an eighteen-year-old NES game stacks up against its portable predecessors.
Item: Presentation
Verdict: A cut above 2D predecessors
I took it for granted that Shadow Dragon wouldn’t look like an NES title, but the series has actually received quite the 2D face lift for this first DS installment. Featuring character illustrations by Masamune Shirow of Ghost in the Shell fame, all-new art panels to illustrate plot points and battle animations more fluid and detailed than earlier titles in the series, Shadow Dragon has a pretty thick layer of polish — thick enough that it can actually obscure the action. On the battlefield, individual unit icons are now detailed and colorful enough that on the small screen I actually had trouble picking out my own units.
Item: Interface
Verdict:Touchy — if you want it to be
The first Fire Emblem on Wii — Radiant Dawn — was criticized more than once for failing to make any use whatsoever of Wii-specific controls. Here, it seems Nintendo has learned their lesson. Shadow Dragon can be manipulated entirely by the touchscreen, entirely via button input, or both at the same time; I found myself naturally using the D-Pad to select units and the stylus to direct them. If you, however, find that you prefer one or the other, you can turn off whichever you aren’t using in the options menu to reduce the possibility of accidental input.
Though scrolling around the map with the stylus was a bit of a pain, touchscreen users will find that the process of attacking enemies has been slightly streamlined — rather than have to choose a path that lands you in a square next to an enemy you wish to destroy, you can simply tap directly on the foe to tell the game that you’d like to move within attack range.
Even so, I’ll be sticking with standard button presses; it’s all too easy to accidentally tap twice when you meant to tap once, and leave your favorite character in a vulnerable position.
Item: Gameplay
Verdict: Old school with some modern frills
As a remake of the first game in the series, it’s only natural that Shadow Dragon wouldn’t feel quite the same as some of the later Fire Emblem titles, and even so, Intelligent Systems has made some efforts to soften the old-school blow. Unlike the original Japanese game, Shadow Dragon has the familiar Axe -> Spear -> Sword triangular weapons hierarchy; unlike the original, the game includes a prologue that serves as tutorial. Healing units not only gain experience when using staves, but do so at a variable rate — no longer will you need to heal exactly ten times to have your healer gain a level.
But though quite a number of things have been updated, there are some notable exceptions. Shadow Dragon has no support system; characters don’t develop relationships (and elemental affinities) when standing next to one another. There is no Rescue ability; once you’ve dropped a critical character right in front of a nasty foe, you can’t send in a horseman to bodily toss them over a shoulder and ride out of harm’s way. This, in combination with the fact that castles no longer occupy only one space (and thereby, you cannot fully surround bosses) amps up the difficulty level considerably. If you are careless, you will lose a lot of men.
Thankfully, there are three considerations that have been put in play to counteract this increased difficulty. The first is a new type of save point, placed as beacons in physical locations in many of the game’s levels. Though each beacon can only be used once, all you have to do is get a single party member to touch the point right before a desperate assault or difficult boss and voila, you have the opportunity to restart close by in case you fail.
Second, when enough troops do die, the game gives you an opportunity to get more via extra, optional stages. After I got thoroughly trounced in a slightly modified version of level 17, losing half my army in the process, the game diverted me to a side story level where I could meet a new character or two with whom to join forces.
Third, if you do still have men but not the right men for the job, the game’s new Class Swap is just the ticket. Using Class Swap, most any non-lord character can have their class changed before battle to better suit the task at hand. Though a Nintendo representative warned that not all characters were suited for all classes — it depends to some degree on that character’s base stats and their inert potential, as each Class Swap has a fixed basic skill transfer — the stats game will no doubt be deeper than ever before as gamers attempt to figure out which characters make the best Archers, the best Cavaliers, the best Mages and so on.
Item: Online
Verdict: Hell yes!
You’d think most decent strategy titles would include multiplayer, but Fire Emblem has gone nearly twenty years without. Though the GBA titles included a rudimentary “Link Arena” feature whereby one could unceremoniously pit teams of five characters directly against their opponents in a battle of stats and luck, even the most recent GameCube and Wii titles had nothing resembling a multiplayer strategy game. This changes now.
Through both adhoc multi-card and full internet Wi-Fi play, Shadow Dragon players are able to engage in actual matches with the works: castles to raid, fog of war, terrain bonuses, and collectible cards (unlocked via Wi-Fi battling) that convey special stat bonuses upon your characters. “You develop a theme for your unit,” explained Julian Chunovic, a localization coordinator on the title. “Maybe you’re going to focus more on long-range magic attacks with one or two strong units to back them up physically. What if you want to bolster the defense of all your units so you don’t have to worry about your mages being targeted? You might have a card that gives your mages additional defense against long-range weapons.”
Conflict is not the only reason to hook up with a buddy over Wi-Fi — you can also loan them one of your units for a time. Got a character you usually leave on the sidelines? Let your friend borrow ‘em for a bit, and perhaps by the time they return — retaining all of their earned experience — they will be useful enough for you to consider deploying them yourself.
Lastly, Wi-Fi is where you’ll find some of the game’s rarest items. Using in-game gold at an online shop, you can enhance your campaign mode by purchasing from an time-sensitive list of rarities — including one item, we hear, that will unlock a whole new character class.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is slated for the first half of 2009 in the US, and should arrive December 5th in Europe, for the Nintendo DS.
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