Fire Emblem (universe)


 * This article refers to the entire Fire Emblem universe. For the Game Boy Advance game, see Fire Emblem (game).

The Fire Emblem (ファイアーエムブレム, Faiā Emuburemu) universe refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's and Intelligent System's Fire Emblem series of fantasy tactical-roleplaying RPGs. The long-running series was primarily a Japan-only series that Nintendo declined to localize abroad until the appearances of two of the series' characters, Marth and Roy, as playable characters in 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee, sparked enough global interest that the series began international distribution. Since then, more recent protagonist Ike has received a similar starring role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Franchise description
Fire Emblem is a long-running series of tactical-roleplaying RPGs developed by Intelligent Systems, with nine installments released thus far and a tenth that will be released on Wii. However, it is somewhat similar to the Final Fantasy series in that it is not often that games in the series are set in the same fictional worlds and universes as each other. Five universes and chronologies within five fictional fantasy worlds have been depicted in the series thus far. The first Fire Emblem, whose subtitle translates as "The Dark Dragon and Sword of Light", was released in 1990 for the Famicom as one of the earliest games in the turn-based strategy genre, and it was officially the first such game to incorporate elements from role-playing games. Hence, it would not be dubious to credit the game with single-handedly starting the tactical-roleplaying genre. This is the game that introduces the character prince Marth. Nintendo decided not to distribute the game abroad, however, feeling that it would not have been successful outside of Japan based on how the original Final Fantasy for NES did not sell well abroad at the time (a heavily ironic concept under today's circumstances).

The next five games released under the name Fire Emblem would not be distributed internationally either. Fire Emblem Gaiden, the last game ever to be released exclusively for Famicom in 1993, was a side-story to the first game set in the same fictional world, but it took place on a different continent and was therefore only tangentially related to the first game (Marth did not make a return appearance). The third game after that, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, released in 1994 for the Super Famicom, was both a retelling of the first game and a continuation of that universe's story concerning Marth. The fourth game, Fire Emblem: Geneaology of the Holy War, released for Super Famicom in 1996, was the first to introduce a separate Fire Emblem-style universe, and the fifth game, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, the last commercial game to be released for Super Famicom (in 1999), is a midquel taking place in between chapters of the previous game to expand on that universe. All these games have become choice import titles for emulation players.

When Super Smash Bros. Melee was being developed, Japanese fans requested that Marth be featured as a playable character, and HAL Laboratory obliged. Intelligent Systems was also developing the sixth Fire Emblem series game, Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals, released on Game Boy Advance in 2002, and it introduced another separate Fire Emblem universe, with the swordsman prince Roy as the main character. It was decided that Roy be included as a playable character alongside Marth in SSBM as a promotional preview character for the game. Nintendo was initially apprehensive of keeping the characters in the game when it came time to release it in the West and in Europe because the characters were believed to have appeal only to Japanese gamers, but enough Western players previewing the game approved of the characters that they were kept in the game. Melee's U.S. release and the subsequent introduction of the Fire Emblem franchise through the game prompted international attention to the franchise, and Fire Emblem titles from installment seven onwards were released internationally and were each met with success. Melee can be credited with indirectly making the franchise famous.

With Fire Emblem now an international game franchise, Intelligent Systems followed up on the sixth game with the seventh game in the series as a prequel, named simply "Fire Emblem" but often referred to by its Japanese subtitle, Blazing Sword. It was released in the United States late 2003 and depicted the father of Roy, prince Eliwood, in an epic story taking place five years before Roy is born and twenty years before Roy's adventure in Sword of Seals takes place. It was designed with introducing U.S. and European gamers to the Fire Emblem-style of tactical play, so the first ten chapters serve as a tutorial storyline and the 20+ chapters afterward are the main game. After this game, subsequent Fire Emblem titles have been released internationally at a standard rate, including 2005's Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones for Game Boy Advance, which is a stand-alone world starring twin nobles Ephraim and Eirika; Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for GameCube, depicting a racial conflict between humans ("beorc") and transformable demi-humans ("laguz") and starring a young mercenary named Ike, and it is the first game to feature full-motion video cinema sequences and voice acting; and to be released on Wii in 2007 is the storyline sequel to Path of Radiance, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

The game formula consistent among Fire Emblem titles is a departure from other tactical role-playing games; whereas in games like Final Fantasy Tactics the emphasis is on equipping weapons and armor on each unit and using area-of-effect magic spells and skills to affect multiple units, Fire Emblem games place emphasis on positioning stronger and weaker units relative to each other on the field and preserving the life of each individual unit, with weapons (that each has a durability meter that lowers after each attack and breaks after the meter is empty) and healing items being mostly the only items in each unit's inventory. A hallmark of the series is that whenever a unit falls in battle, regardless of how important a character that unit is to the storyline, that character is gone for the rest of the game, which can result in harder difficulty and missed plot developments, and it's an automatic game-over if the game's main hero dies. Since a general objective to each Fire Emblem installment is to keep the dozens and dozens of game characters that comprise your unit stable alive, many players reset the game whenever an ally is slain. This makes for a game series that is intense and hardcore, and is therefore popular with tactical players, and it is also popular for its anime depictions of high-fantasy characters and worlds.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
The case of Fire Emblem in Super Smash Bros. Melee is odd; it features two Fire Emblem characters, their respective game trophy sets, appropiate musical and sound selections in the sound test, and absolutely nothing else, whereas other franchises additionally have stages, items, and more trophies as well, giving reason to classify Fire Emblem as being a "bonus" franchise in the game. There is evidence that a Fire Emblem stage was planned, however; hidden in the game's debug menu is a stage titled AKANEIA, named after the fictional continent where Marth's story takes place, but it was apparently never designed because selecting it from the menu will crash the game. Additionally, at the time of Melee's release, no Fire Emblem title had been released outside of Japan, making Marth and Roy the first Japan-only characters to appear in the Super Smash Bros series.

Characters

 * Marth: The prince of the kingdom of Altea, Marth (who had been "properly" named "Mars" in subtitles of the Fire Emblem OVA) is forced to become an exile in the neighboring nation of Talis when the kingdom of Dolua attacks Altea, killing his father and taking his sister Ellis hostage. He embarks on a quest to find the sacred sword of light known as Falchion and the Fire Emblem shield that will allow him to wield it, and when he does he takes the fight to the driving force behind the Doluan invasion, the evil priest Garnef and his resurrection of the dark dragon, Medeus. He slays them and rescues both Ellis and Altea. As a Melee fighter, Marth is widely considered top-tier for his effective blend of speedy and powerful swordsmanship, with an effective "sweet spot" at the tip of his Falchion, and he is the favorite character of "King of Smash" Ken Hoang. His effectiveness as a fighter as well as his decidedly bishounen character design have contributed to his status as one of Melee's most popular characters.
 * Roy: The star of the sixth Fire Emblem, Sword of Seals, Roy is the 15-year-old son of Eliwood, the star of the game's prequel that was the first game in the series to be localized and distributed internationally. He is upstanding and idealistic like other Fire Emblem main protagonists and is also rather perceptive and cunning for his age. When the militant nation of Bern wages war on the league of nations called the League of Lycia, which Roy's Pherae is a part of, and when Eliwood falls ill, he is called in to lead Pherae's armies. He ends up journeying across the continent of Elibe on a quest to defeat Bern's King Zephiel and stop his mysterious thirst for world domination, an effort that will eventually avert a catastrophic war between humans and dragons. As a Melee fighter, Roy is a slower clone of Marth, but his forward smash is more powerful at the center of his blade. He is made to be a good character to use against opponents in single-player mode, but he is lower-tier than Marth because he lacks Marth's vital advantages.

Music

 * 33: Fire Emblem: A medley of two Fire Emblem tracks, the first of which is the "character recruitment" music in Fire Emblems 6 and 7, and after some piano-based music, the second tune is the official Fire Emblem series theme. This is heard as a secondary track on Hyrule: Temple and is often heard accompanying Marth and Roy in Single-player mode.
 * 48: Fire Emblem Team Victory: The victory fanfare of Marth and Roy is the last line from the aforementioned "character recruitment" theme, and can be heard as the last line in "33: Fire Emblem," before the music loops back to the beginning.

Full Trophy List

 * Marth's three game trophies
 * Roy's three game trophies

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Perhaps in response to Fire Emblem gaining popularity worldwide, the series is visibly represented in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So far, a playable character and a stage have been announced, with other content such as an assist trophy also confirmed.

Character

 * [[Image:Ikebrawl.jpg|180px|right]]Ike: The main character of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Ike is shown in his Ranger outfit from the beginning of his first game. He is very obviously a swordsman, but it seems that unlike most swordfighters in the series thus far, he will focus less on speed and more on power. He will be able to use his Aether skill as a special ability, which involves him throwing his sword into the air, jumping up and catching it, then bringing the sword crashing down on his opponent. Ike also has a chargeable B-move called Eruption.

Stage

 * Castle Siege: Contrary to much speculation when the stage was first shown in trailers, this stage does not represent any specific Fire Emblem title, but rather the series as a whole. The stage takes place on top of a castle under attack. As time passes, the roof will collapse and fighters will be able to do battle in the castle's interior, which will feature destructible statues. After yet more time passes, the ground will give way and players will fall into the underground. Details of the underground are officially unannounced, but photoshopped (to increase visibilty) versions of an image on Brawl's website reveal what appears to be a cavern filled with lava.

Music

 * Fire Emblem: Fire Emblem Theme: An orchestrated version of the Fire Emblem theme, with Latin lyrics, performed by the same group behind the main theme.

Assist Trophy

 * Lyn: A major character from Fire Emblem 7, she charges her blade, then vanishes and reappears while slashing an opponent.

Trophy

 * Ike

Sticker

 * Ike