Ahoy! I've posted a bit on here on the Echoes forums, but allow me to introduce myself proper.
I'm Ark! I'm a long, LONG time Fire Emblem fan. My very first Fire Emblem game was Gaiden, using the broken patch by j2e. I was probably only 10 or 11 at the time, so I was really just interested in the gameplay, not the story, and I was in LOVE with it. I played it for hours, leveling up, grinding my troops, and discovering the Dread Fighter loop which I thought was a bug as a kid. Even so, I adored it. The next one I played was actually Sacred Stones. I didn't even realize FE7 had came out in the US, and just hopped on the next one, and given my familiarity with Gaiden I felt right at home. Grinding, multiple promotion paths, 2 protagonists, etc. Again, I loved it. I toyed around with FE7, but it lacked the things I enjoyed about Sacred Stones and felt like a real step backwards. I also adored Awakening, disliked Fate, and fell in love with Echoes all over again. I really feel like they did Gaiden more justice than I ever could have dreamed of.
Which brings me to where I am today! I'd like to try my hand at digging into the old Fire Emblem games. Specifically the Super Famicom era. I think Mystery of the Emblem seems very interesting, but I'm also quite interested in Genealogy of the Holy War. I think it was crazy innovative for the time. I'm staying away from Thracia 776 until I can get my bearings on Genealogy's story. So which do you suggest trying out? I know that Mystery has a pretty decent translation patch, but I'm not sure if Genealogy does and that would definitely be a huge factor for my enjoyment. Being able to read what I'm doing is important. I tried playing Princess Crown, a Sega Saturn action/RPG with a translation guide but I got lost and frustrated quite frequently and don't look to recreate the experience.
Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Looking forward to your suggestions!