

There were more than a few times that my palms got so sweaty (mom’s spaghetti) I had to take a break after finishing the chapter just to destress. Each map is a ton of fun to fight through and, even if I’ve shied away from it in the past, the permadeath adds tension to every moment. Going in, I expected to be a little underwhelmed by Shadow Dragon’s gameplay, but I’m happy to say I was totally wrong. While this game may not have various mechanics introduced later on like support conversations, explorable areas, or even the weapon triangle, this is still a rock-solid foundation that every other game was built on. If you’ve played any game in the series, you know exactly what to expect in Shadow Dragon: a strategic and difficult adventure where you move units individually around the battlefield to attack enemies. While his plucky band of heroes starts small, he’ll need to recruit powerful new allies on the battlefield to stand a chance against overwhelming odds and foes who can permanently kill his friends in an instant. Shadow Dragon follows Marth, prince to the kingdom of Altea, as he leads an army to take back his homeland and defeat the evil Dohlr empire with the ancient dragon Medeus at its head.

30 years after its original release, the first game has finally made its way westward as Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, but how does this NES game hold up after all that time? Since FE didn’t leave Japan until 2003 with Blazing Blade, simply titled Fire Emblem outside of its home country, there are quite a few games yet to be translated into English.
BLADE OF LIGHT SERIES
While its newest entry, Three Houses, is extremely successful it’s widely known that Awakening on 3DS could have been the end of the series thanks to previous titles’ poor sales. The Fire Emblem franchise has had a wild and tumultuous history.
