The game is a remake of Book 2 of Mystery
of
the
Emblem, for the Nintendo DS.
It will be released in Japan on 15th July 2010; no release date has
been announced for other territories yet. As well as the standard
single-player mode, a Wireless/Wi-Fi multiplayer mode will feature,
allowing a maximum of 2 players to play (so far, so similar). The
game's graphical style is almost
identical to Shadow Dragon.
Famitsu review
The game was awarded a score of 34/40 (9, 8, 9, 8). I haven't been able
to locate any scans, but you can find a summary of the review at 1UP.com.
For reference, here are most of the scores that the previous games got
from Famitsu, credits to Game ~mein~:
Introduction video - Along with
the game's commercial, this can be accessed from the site's front page.
It briefly introduces the various basic concepts of the game, such as
My Unit, battles, comrades and Wi-Fi options. At the very end, it
describes the difference between Casual and Classic mode (for instance,
characters have different quotes when they reach 0 HP), as well as the
Guide function. Fans probably won't be surprised that forging makes a
return and that female characters can now Reclass to Cavaliers.
Commercial - There are five
versions of the commercial - Tactics 1, Tactics 2, My Unit, Casual Mode
and Special. The last one, which has the male host singing the opera
version of the
Fire Emblem theme, won't be
televised. Overall,
the commercials seem lighthearted and aimed at casual gamers, as the
male and female hosts casually chat while playing the game.
Characters - Malice is a
tomboyish mercenary hired by the Akaneian
empire. Sirius and Roro are both mysterious masked characters. Hardin
is the 24th ruler of Akaneia and one of the game's primary antagonists.
20th anniversary guidebook
An official guidebook to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Fire Emblem series was released
(and officially announced...) in Japan on 30th June 2010. The book covers
the entire series and features various character and miscellaneous
artwork; you can view some sample pages from the publisher's site.
Despite being advertised as featuring artwork from this game, only a
few artworks appear to be present - the only ones that we haven't seen
being Hardin and that of a new masked, axe-wielding character named
Roro. Presumably we'll also see these artworks when the official site
updates again.
Official site update (22nd
June)
The following sections have been updated.
Characters - Katarina, Rody and
Luke are all members of
the 7th platoon of Altean knights (which My Unit is a part of as well).
Rody always keeps a calm composure,
while Luke is rash and stubborn. Shiida/Caeda is the princess of Talys
and Marth's fiancee.
Basics of Battle - The Weapons subsection contains
information on the weapon triangle and
class weaknesses, and includes two videos. The Classes subsection briefly
describes some of the unique traits of classes, Reclassing and
promotion,
and includes four videos. It also contains a link to every playable
class in the game. All the Shadow
Dragon classes return, except Ballisticians who have been axed
in
favour of sword-wielding Dancers.
Linde casting Aura
Expanding the fun of New
Mystery of the Emblem - First unveiled yesterday in Nintendo
Dream, a
remake of the BS Fire Emblem
games, known as Shin Akaneia Senki (the original was entitled BS Fire Emblem Akaneia Senki, Senki
meaning "war records" or "chronicles"), will be included.
Nintendo Dream news
Hopefully there will be complete scans soon, but here are some of the
known details for now.
A number of new characters are introduced including Altean
knights Luke and Rody, Sirius the masked knight and Malice, a female
sellsword. The first three characters appeared in the original Mystery of the Emblem, while Malice
appeared in the first of the BS Fire Emblem
games.
The BS Fire Emblem
chapters will be included in the game's Extra Mode. These chapters,
originally designed for the Satellaview
add-on for the SNES, took place chronologically before the beginning of
Shadow Dragon. This will
be the first time since 1999 that players can properly play these
chapters (although I have a feeling the original voice-acting will be
absent).
Official site update (11th
June)
The remaining three sections of the official site
are now available to view.
What is Fire Emblem? -
A brief discussion of what a Fire
Emblem game is like and what this game is about.
Basics of Battle - Describes
the flow of battle and includes a
video. Clearing a map typically requires conquering the enemy's castle
or base, but the site mentions there are some battles where the victory
condition might be slightly different. If Marth or My Unit's HP reaches
0, the player receives a Game Over. At the very bottom are two
subsections Weapons and Classes, which have yet to be added.
Merric warns Ellerean about the dark
bishops
Expanding the Fun of New
Mystery of the Emblem - Contains various topics about the new
features added to the game, including: My Unit, Casual Mode, Character
relationship diagram, Downloadable content, Saving methods,
Communication battle, Loan unit and Online Shop. Most of the details
have already been revealed elsewhere or are identical to Shadow Dragon. The most interesting
new detail is that the downloadable maps are confirmed to be new
chapters. Episode 1, "Wind and Thunder", seems to focus on Merric and
Ellerean, possibly before the main game begins.
Press release
The Japanese media are widely reporting details about the game. It's
mostly things we already knew though.
As if it needed to be confirmed, this game is explicitly stated
to be a remake of Book 2 of Mystery
of the Emblem. For those who don't know, Book 1 was a remake of Dark Dragon and Sword of Light, the
very first Fire Emblem, which Mystery
of
the
Emblem was a sequel to. However, that game has already
been recently remade as Shadow Dragon,
and
besides
Book
2
was
always
intended
to
be
the
actual
Mystery
of
the Emblem.
The only real new detail is that the game boasts "over 300
conversation events that affirm character's bonds". What this exactly
means is unknown, as it could be referring to events in general, base
conversations and/or support conversations. We'll probably find out
soon anyway.
Now that there's a larger version of the game's boxart,
you can see that the game's code number includes "TWL". I'm not 100%
sure, but this seems to suggest that the game will be released on a
DSi-enhanced cartridge; the game should run on all DS models, but may
contain enhancements when run on a DSi. Unfortunately, in what appears
to be the trend these days, one of these enhancements could be
region-locking for DSi owners. Don't quote me on this though!
The enemy has been confirmed to be a
Barbarian
Some eagle-eyed fans have noticed an odd-looking enemy,
which
looks
like
a
Pirate,
but
has yellow clothing. If it's anything
like the original, I'm guessing that enemy is probably a Bandit.
Famitsu news
The setting of the game appears to be the same as the original Mystery of the Emblem. Following
the events of Shadow Dragon,
Hardin, the prince of Aurelis and Marth's trusted ally, ascends as the
emperor of the holy kingdom of Akaneia. Marth receives orders from
Hardin to suppress rebellious nations and so he leaves Altea on an
expedition.
The "Light and Shadow" in the game's title refers to the two
heroes of the game - Marth and the player's custom character, dubbed
the "My Unit", a member of the 7th platoon of Altean Knights. Before
Marth's journey begins, there is a prologue
(likely comprised of a few chapters like in Shadow Dragon) that introduces My
Unit into the story. This prologue also acts as a tutorial, where
players can learn the basics of game.
Marth and My Unit were already shown on the official site, but this is
the first time we see Shiida/Caeda, as well as a brand new character
called Katarina. Katarina is the purple haired girl with an extremely
worried expression. She joins the Altean Knights along with My Unit and
aspires to be a Tactician.
There is a brief section on My Unit customisation, but it doesn't offer
many details. The
magazine does mention Knights and Pegasus Knights as being possible
class choices. More interestingly though, there will be new Base
Conversations akin to those found in Path
of
Radiance and Radiant Dawn,
where
My
Unit
can
speak
with
other
characters
before
the
beginning
of
the
battle.
Otherwise, the rest of the magazine contains information that was
already revealed (well, leaked) in the earlier retailer meeting. This
includes things like four difficulty settings and Casual/Classic mode.
As some fans suspected, difficulty and mode are independent of each
other (so you can play Classic Lunatic or Casual Lunatic, etc.). The
downloadable maps seem to be new chapters (or perhaps Trial Maps like
in Sword of Seals or Path of Radiance).
Retailer meeting
According to Japanese sources, New
Mystery of the Emblem was brought up at one of Nintendo's
occasional retailer meetings. Below are some details that were
discussed. I'm sort of hesitant to post this since I cannot find the
original source, but it apparently comes from the same source who
leaked details of Shadow Dragon
early (and got everything correct, such as the difficulty levels and
new classes - I just never decided to post it back then).
General
features
Wi-Fi options - You can download new maps, battle other players
on special multi-player maps, loan characters and communicate with
other players.
Modes - In Casual mode (designed for beginners as the name
suggests) your characters don't permanently die when they're killed.
For Fire Emblem regulars,
there's Classic mode, where fallen characters do not come back as
expected.
Guide - A function that lets
you learn about character relationships and background information on
the game's nations.
Online Shop - Buy rare items online, such as the Master Sword,
using the in-game currency.
Reclassing from Shadow Dragon
makes a return.
From the very beginning, you can choose from four difficulty
levels:
Normal, Hard, Maniac and Lunatic.
The prologue, which starts after creating your custom character,
doubles as a tutorial.
My
Unit customisation
You can set the following details:
Name
Class
Males can choose from Mercenary, Knight, Cavalier, Fighter,
Archer or Mage.
Females can be a Myrmidon, Pegasus Knight, Cavalier, Archer or
Mage.
Appearance
This includes 13 hairstyles, 10 hair colours and 10
types of eyes.
There are even Mohawk and Afro hairstyles. You can set
eyes to be closed or have eyepatches, and there are also mouth masks.
Character's fortune
(presumably, this affects your stat growth)
You can find the game's official site here. Right
now only the following sections are open:
Story - Briefly describes the
events of Shadow Dragon,
where Marth joined
forces with Hardin to defeat Medeus. One year after the war's end, a
youth visits Altea with the aim of becoming one of Marth's trusted
knights. Also includes a short chronology of the continent of Akaneia
(this
has been translated multiple times, so I'll skip it for the time being).
Characters - Currently only
includes two characters: Marth and My
Unit. My Unit, which has its own section, is one of the main characters
of the game and they're created by you. Their profile
describes them as a youth of Altea who volunteers to join the Altean
Knights.
My Unit - Similar to the
Tactician feature in Blazing Sword,
the
player
can
make
their
own
character
who
participates
in the game's story. You can
choose your own name, gender, appearance, starting class and
background.
There are many conversations that your character can have, such as
gaining hints for upcoming battles or just getting intimate with
your comrades. Not only that, but there will be brand new chapters that
are deeply related to your custom character. The prologue chapters
follow
your character's rise from a rookie Altean Knight to one of Marth's
personal guard. Meanwhile, sidestory chapters are new maps that can be
unlocked by satisfying certain criteria. Maybe
you can recruit some new characters here, such as Shadow Dragon's Wrys...
The sections to be opened are What is Fire
Emblem?, Battle Basics and
Expanding the Fun of New Mystery of
the Emblem.
Fire Emblem World
Besides the teaser video, which doesn't show any gameplay footage, the
preface offers an interesting tidbit about the game.
"It has been 20 years since the birth of the first Fire Emblem.
Up to now, many stories about heroes have been written.
We believe the players who guide and support them are the Heroes of
Shadow."
That person
A translation of the text in the teaser video.
"There is not a soul who does not know the name of Marth, the Hero King
who saved the world
But there are few who know of "that person"'s name
Marth swings his blade in battle
By his side are many renowned heroes...
As well as "that person"'s figure
"That person" was Marth's confidant and friend
A shadow who supported Marth's victories
The history books held no record of this hero of shadow
Another main character of the War of Heroes
Their name was---"
