So in some ways, it makes sense as a standalone release. Not only does it have some new quality-of-life features, but it’s also a text-heavy game that had to be localized. I fully understand that rereleasing the original Fire Emblem is more involved than most Switch Online titles. Nintendo’s remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden is a love letter to a 25-year-old strategy game An unprecedented Nintendo leak turns into a moral dilemma for archivists A release like Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light changes this. And it’s in the unique position where most of the games it announces as coming soon, whether it’s Donkey Kong Country or Super Metroid, are ones that fans are already familiar with. Switch Online isn’t quite the same as those, but it still needs a steady stream of new (retro) releases to keep people subscribing.
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It’s why Netflix spends so much on original series and Microsoft dropped $7.5 billion on Bethesda to beef up Xbox Game Pass. These kinds of surprise releases are important to drum up excitement for any streaming service. In the past, Nintendo has even added unreleased games, most notably Star Fox 2, a canceled SNES game that first debuted as part of the SNES Classic mini-console, as well as Mario Picross, which didn’t originally launch in North America. It’s turned into one of my favorite things about the Switch. In order to lure players to its fledgling online subscription service, Nintendo added a Netflix-like feature, featuring a growing library of NES and SNES titles to play through. Selling classic games individually is how Nintendo used to operate, of course, with its Virtual Console on platforms like the Wii and Wii U. While it’s mostly a straight port, there are some nice modern touches, including a rewind feature, the ability to bookmark mid-battle, and an option to fast-forward through the incredibly slow enemy turns.Īs much as I’m enjoying the game, I do wonder why it’s not part of Switch Online.
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It’s particularly great as a Switch game, where I can knock out a battle, or even just a few turns, whenever I have free time. I actually found it surprising how well Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light holds up. There are some nice twists in terms of your goals and the map’s geography, and the game neatly interweaves story with combat. This almost always means defeating every soldier and capturing the castle. You control Marth and a small army of soldiers, traveling to different kingdoms to ward off enemies. Instead, the focus is almost entirely on turn-based, strategic combat. It doesn’t have any of the relationship-building that eventually became a staple of the franchise. If you’re coming to Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light after playing a more recent entry in the series - like, say, 2019’s Three Houses - you’ll probably be shocked by how straightforward the original game is. But it also points to Nintendo’s increasingly confusing strategy for its large library of classic games.įirst, the game itself. It’s a solid, no-frills port that’s only $5.99, making it an enticing option for fans looking for a history lesson.
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Three decades later, that’s finally changing with the release of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light on the Nintendo Switch. It’s not my fault, though: the original game never actually launched outside of Japan. 1990’s Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light kicked off what has slowly turned into one of Nintendo’s most important franchises, a series that blends tense tactical battles with character-driven storytelling.
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Like many longtime Fire Emblem fans, I’ve never actually played the first game in the series.