Nintendo hosted a Fire Emblem-focused Nintendo Direct broadcast today, and during the presentation, they announced multiple new games in development for their celebrated strategy-RPG series. One of these games was an unexpected port for a project that was recently revealed during Nintendo’s recent Nintendo Switch event in Tokyo as well.
Surprisingly, Fire Emblem Warriors, the action-focused spin-off being co-developed between Nintendo, Team Ninja and Tecmo Koei, inspired by Legend of Zelda-themed hack-and-slash game, Hyrule Warriors most notably, is not that far away from release, despite barely any footage being shown for it during the Nintendo Switch event. The game is apparently launching this Fall in North America, along with presumably several other major territories, with an extended trailer showcasing a familiar Warriors-style of gameplay, with Fire Emblem: Awakening hero, Chrom confirmed as the first playable character. Along with confirming the game’s release window, Nintendo also announced a New Nintendo 3DS version of Fire Emblem Warriors, which will launch alongside the Nintendo Switch version! While both games will seemingly boast the same content, it doesn’t appear that Fire Emblem Warriors will be playable on classic Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL and 2DS models, making it only the second first-party Nintendo retail release to restrict itself to the New 3DS line, after Xenoblade Chronicles 3D back in 2015.
Fortunately, an all-new remake of formerly Japan-exclusive Famicom game, Fire Emblem Gaiden (if you don’t know, the Famicom is Japan’s version of the NES), was announced during the presentation for the Nintendo 3DS line, and this game will be playable on any model of 3DS, New 3DS and 2DS. The 3DS remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden will redesign the game from the ground up, while also bringing it to the West for the first time! For reference, the series’ first-ever game was remade for Nintendo DS as Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon in 2009, also marking the first time that the original Fire Emblem game for Famicom was made available outside of Japan, albeit in a remade form.
Fire Emblem Gaiden stood apart for its use of free-roaming and more RPG-focused progression within the series’ familiar turn-based strategy-themed battle system. These unique mechanics will be retained in the 3DS remake, which will be titled Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for its Western release. The title appears to suggest that Nintendo plans to remake more of the older Fire Emblem games under the ‘Fire Emblem Echoes‘ brand over the next several years, as a way of bringing the series’ older entries to the West for the first time, after the first six games ultimately only released in Japan, with the seventh entry expanding the franchise to North America, Australia and Europe for the first time on the Game Boy Advance in 2003/2004. Finally, Nintendo will be releasing Amiibo figures of Shadows of Valentia’s two protagonists, Alm and Celica, alongside the 3DS remake on May 19th, 2017. The figures will seemingly be exclusively sold together in a two-pack, rather than made available separately. It’s currently unknown what kind of bonus functionality they will offer in the game.
In one last small bit of news, Nintendo also announced an all-new mainline Fire Emblem game for Nintendo Switch, which is targeting a 2018 release. No details of any kind were revealed about the game however, beyond its platform.
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