FEE3 2023, the marquee romhacking showcase of the year, is now underway! The first four videos have got the event off to a flying start, with trailers from the Thracia-inspired and complete A Vestrian Tale and the avant-garde Two Milkmen Go Comedy, a mind-blowing LTC clear of Cerulean Coast, and more beautiful animation work from the peerless Nuramon.
Videos will be uploaded to this playlist, or you can keep up with the event as it progresses by subscribing to the FEUniverse channel.
Things have changed a lot since the days of The Last Promise. New utilities have made hacking more accessible than ever, while continually pushing the envelope of how far the GBA engine can go. And if that’s not enough, the Tactile and Lex Talionis engines allow for even more innovation in gameplay and graphics.
But some traditions remain the same, and the highlight of every year in the hacking community is Fire Emblem E3 (FEE3), which has been running for over a decade and, by now, outlasted its namesake. FEE3 provides an opportunity for the community to come together and showcase their work, often with trailers or commentated gameplay footage. Many submissions are for projects still in the making, offering a proof of concept and progress, while others proudly showcase hacks and fangames completed over the past year.
This year, FEE3 is slated to run 58 videos over 15 days, starting on the 7th of October with a showcase of A Vestrian Tale, a recently-completed campaign that incorporates many features from Thracia 776. Along the way will be videos as varied as an animation showcase from Nuramon, who has gone on to work for Dark Deity, a number of different roguelike spins on the FE formula, and even Pokémblem, which is exactly what you think and hope it is. It concludes on the 21st, with a trailer for the revival of old stalwart Dream of Five.
The full schedule can be found here. Videos will be posted on the FEU YouTube channel, where you can also find previous years’ entries.
If you’re a fan of Fire Emblem, then you’ve no doubt come to learn about Manaketes. They’re the dragons of the series, and they’re practically as well known as the blue-haired lords that were there at the birth of the franchise; Tiki and Bantu made their appearances as recruitable characters in the first game. Furthermore, you’ve likely come across some varieties of art of various Manaketes across the franchise, from the various iterations of Tiki across the main games and spinoffs, to standards in the main games such a Nowi or Fae. Now, what if I told you that there was a fan base out there that appreciates Manaketes so much, that they created a fan-zine to show their love?
Look no further than towards this, the Manakete Millennium! Manakete Millennium is a SFW zine dedicated to the Manaketes and dragonstone-wielders across every Fire Emblem game, from Shadow Dragon to Fire Emblem: Heroes! They aim to showcase and celebrate dragons in both their humanoid and draconic forms, in both canon and crossover settings.
The zine features over 40 creators: 25+ artworks, 10+ fanfictions and various merchandise (including digital goods and physical goods), and all proceeds will be donated to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (https://www.ifaw.org/). I can’t turn my nose up to a fandom that supports charity!
One of the coolest things about the Fire Emblem community is how devoted fans are. Even with many hundreds of characters, there’s rarely a character, no matter how small, who isn’t loved by some fans.
Another very cool aspect is how resourceful fans can be, when they put their minds to things. Today, I’m happy to share an on-going project that combines both of these.
“The Wind Beneath Me” is an anthology/zine focused on Cyril, the curt but well-meaning Almyran lad from Three Houses.
With so many massively popular characters spawning from Three Houses, you’d be forgiven if Cyril doesn’t make your top 10 list. However, with how big and passionate the community is, it turns out that Cyril has more than enough fans to make an impact!
Besides showcasing their undaunted admiration for Cyril, the zine also promotes a very worthy cause. Proceeds from sales will be donated to the charity, DCIP (Defense for Children International Palestine).
The zine itself features 65+ pages, including 25+ pages of artwork and 8 fics. It’s a SFW (safe for work) zine that has general and shipping content of Cyril in both his pre-timeskip and timeskip guises.
You can order the zine physically or digitally (the physical zine also includes a digital copy).
There’s also a bundle that includes the zine plus additional merch, such as art prints, a bookmark and sticker sheet.
Pre-orders are open until 10th June 2022, via their storefront. International shipping is available. UK customers can purchase from their Etsy store instead.
(Note: This article was meant to be published earlier, but due to the Serenes Forest team’s circumstances, it was delayed.)
For further information, please check out their Twitter and information page.
There are also two very cool promotions.