Section 1: Introduction

Q) What should I know about this game?

A) The game is a Nintendo DS remake of the very first Fire Emblem game, Dark Dragon and Sword of Light. It stars Marth (of Super Smash Bros. fame), the royal prince of Altea, as he fights to reclaim his homeland from an evil empire. It was released in Japan on 7th August 2008.

Q) Why are some of the names on this site different to the ones on my game?

A) The Shadow Dragon section of this site uses the names from the European version, some of which are different to the ones in the North American version. If you’re having difficulty figuring out who’s who, please refer to the name chart.

Q) What are the differences between the American and European version?

A) There seem to be no major changes, besides a few different names and some very minor script changes.

Q) What’s the story about?

A) Adapted from the Japanese official site:

Long ago, the continent of Akaneia was invaded by the Dolunian Empire, led by the Shadow Dragon, Medeus, and the people lived in fear and despair. However… a miracle occurred. Anri, a youth from Altea, slayed the Shadow Dragon using the divine Falchion sword. The Kingdom of Akaneia was restored and the world entered an age of peace.

But 100 years later… Medeus was resurrected. He joined forces with Gharnef, the Dark Pontifex, who shared his ambitions of ruling the world, and launched an attack on Akaneia. Akaneia was defeated by Grust’s General Camus, and, aside from Princess Nyna, the royal family was wiped out. Cornelius, the king of Altea and successor of the heroic Anri, left to battle Medeus, with the Falchion in hand.

Meanwhile, Cornelius’s only son and the prince of Altea, Marth, awaits his father’s return as he passes his days with his martial arts training…

Q) Does this game contain a remake of Gaiden and/or Mystery of the Emblem?

A) No.

Q) What’s new in this game compared to the original?

A) Well, it’s still more or less the same game as the original, but now it has improved graphics and the gameplay is more streamlined. Also several modern features have been added, such as the weapon triangle, forging and promotions for most classes. There are some brand new Prologue and Sidequest chapters as well.

Q) What changes/new features are there compared to previous games?

A) There are two main ones – Reclassing and Multiplayer battles.

Q) Huh? Why do people call this Fire Emblem 11? It’s not a new game…

A) The game’s internal coding refers to this game as the 11th Fire Emblem, which is also what Intelligent Systems refers to this game as. At the end of the day, numbering games is just a convenience, so, as long people know what a particular number signifies, it’s not really that important.

Q) Does Marth promote in this game?

A) No, but it he can go past the usual maximum of Level 20.

Q) Are there battles outside of the main story where you can train your characters?

A) No, this is a feature unique to The Sacred Stones (and Gaiden, it’s inspiration).

Q) Does this game use the Touch Screen?

A) Yes, you can use it for moving units on the battle map, or for navigating menus. If you don’t want to use the Touch Screen, you can use the regular buttons as well.

Q) What are Loan units and how do they work?

A) Loan units are characters, from the single-player campaign, which are loaned to/borrowed from another player via the Wireless or Wi-Fi connection. As well as transferring Loan units in real-time, they can also be uploaded to/downloaded from Nintendo’s Wi-Fi server. If you loan out an character, they still remain in your game.

Loan units can only be used in the single-player mode. When used, they substitute the existing character with the same name. Any experience points obtained by the Loan units are awarded to the character they’re substituting. A total of 10 Loan units can be stored on your cartridge, but you can only use 1 per save file.

Q) How do you save in battle? Is there a Battle Save option like in Radiant Dawn?

A) There are two ways of saving progress in the middle of a battle:

• Map point saves: These can be created by making a unit move onto a Save Point (map tile) and choosing “Save” from the Actions menu. Once the save is made, the Save Point disappears. Saves created in this manner can be loaded as many times as you want.
• Suspended saves: These can be created anytime during a battle map, by using the “Suspend” option in the Map menu. If save data is loaded (including the suspended save) or a new game is created, the suspended save is immediately erased.

Section 2: Early to mid-game

Q) What’s the difference between Normal and Hard mode?

A) Normal mode is, naturally, the default setting and is suitable for beginners to Fire Emblem or those who don’t want such a hard time. Hard mode has the same amount and types of enemies as in Normal mode, although the same enemies have higher stats and often have different and stronger weapons.

Also reinforcements in Hard mode appear from the beginning of the enemy phase (as opposed to the end). Finally, Hard mode actually has 5 difficulty levels to choose from (ranging from Lv 1: Hard, the lowest, to Lv 5: Merciless, the highest), although these just affect how strong enemies are statistically.

Q) What do you do after recruiting Gordin in Prologue IV? I can’t do anything!

A) Send a character that you don’t want to the highlighted Fort. That character will act as a decoy to lure the enemy away. By the way, you can’t send Marth- if you try, you’ll be told to send someone else. If you’re really desperate, an alternative method is to get everyone other than Marth killed and then have Marth wait in front of the northern gate.

Q) Will the character that you send off to lure the enemy ever come back?

A) No, never, so choose wisely…

Q) Can you recruit Frey and Norne in Hard mode?

A) Since Hard mode automatically skips the Prologue, no.

Q) What the? What’s with the Sidequest chapter requirements?!

A) I don’t know either. However, those are indeed the requirements to get to them.

Q) Who are these weird characters I got, with names like Zas or Unil?

A) Those are generic replacement characters. You get them whenever your character count falls below the maximum number of characters that you can send out in a particular chapter. There are 31 “unique” replacements in total, but if you manage to get all 31 killed, you’ll loop back to the first. Additionally, the replacements just use the player class growths for their Level ups, while their starting Level is based on the average Level of your party.

Q) Can you recruit Minerva and the three Pegasus Knights in Chapter 7?

A) No, you recruit them in later chapters. On a related note, if you “kill” any of the four, you can still recruit them later.

Q) Can you recruit Heimler (the enemy Paladin) in Chapter 12?

A) No, he’s just a sub-boss.

Q) Do characters promote to their next class automatically?

A) No, you have to use a Master Seal (or Elysian Whip if you want to promote to a Falcon Knight).

Q) What is the maximum Level for classes?

A) It’s 20 for most classes, but Lord, Thief, Ballistician, Chameleon and Manakete can reach a maximum Level of 30.

Q) Where can you get an Elysian Whip and/or Brave weapons?

A) They’re obtainable from the Online Shop only and they only appear on certain days. Some enemies are equipped with Brave weapons in the harder difficulty levels, but you cannot obtain them that way.

Q) Where do you get the Cards (eg. Strength, Skill)?

A) You get them by winning multiplayer battles.

Q) How do you defeat Gharnef (the enemy Sorcerer) in Chapter 15?

A) You can’t at that point in the game. He leaves automatically after the end of Turn 6 of the Player Phase.

Q) Are there any items hidden in Chapter 15’s desert?

A) Unlike in recent games, no.

Q) How does Xane’s mimicking skill work?

A) Xane will copy the stats and weapon proficiency of any allied character, besides Manaketes. Note that, after transforming, his initial HP will be the same as his untransformed HP. After 5 Turns have passed, he will untransform automatically, but only at the beginning of your own Turn.

Q) Can you use the Starsphere with staves?

A) No, and not for items either. It will work with any other weapon though, dragonstones included (except when you use it as an item, eg. the healing effect of the Gradivus).

Q) How do you defeat Gharnef in Chapter 23?

A) Use the Starlight tome. It’s obtained from Chapter 22, by making Marth visit the north-eastern village with both the Starsphere and Lightsphere in his inventory.

Section 3: End-game

Q) What features do you unlock by completing the game?

A) You unlock access to the Event Recap and Sound Room. That’s about it.

Q) Do you get anything by completing the Event Recap?

A) As fas I know, nope.