Though it may not be a sales juggernaut on the scale of Mario or The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem is one of Nintendo’s preeminent franchises. Like so many of its vaunted stablemates, the series is almost as old as Nintendo’s gaming ambitions, debuting on the Famicom and appearing on nearly every home and handheld console since. Given this prominence, it’s almost difficult to believe that Fire Emblem’s future was ever in jeopardy, but such was indeed once the case; there was a point in time when the series was very much on the verge of cancellation, and it took a dramatic shakeup to reverse its fortunes.
To fully contextualize this rocky period in Fire Emblem’s history, we need to look back at its trajectory in the wake of its belated international debut. Unlike Nintendo’s other marquee properties, Fire Emblem took a circuitous route to Western markets. Though the series began in 1990, its first several installments were never released outside of Japan, and most Western players would end up being introduced to the franchise not through one of its mainline entries, but through Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo GameCube.
Even more so than its predecessor, Melee was a veritable celebration of Nintendo history. The game drew deeply from the company’s rich oeuvre; its roster was stuffed with beloved mascots, and its extensive array of collectible trophies covered the full sweep of the publisher’s gaming legacy, from renowned classics to obscure curios. What generated the most chatter among international players, however, were two particular hidden fighters who hailed from a series most had never heard of: Marth, hero of the first Fire Emblem, and Roy, protagonist of the series’ then-newest installment, The Binding Blade.
Despite their unfamiliarity, these mysterious swordsmen instantly became two of Melee’s most popular characters thanks to their cool designs and nimble swordplay, which helped set them apart from the more recognizable characters on the roster. More consequentially, their newfound popularity among Western players generated immediate interest in Fire Emblem as a whole–a series that, to that point, had been all but unknown outside of Japan. That the franchise was notable enough to warrant not one, but two representatives in Melee was yet more indication of its significance, and only further stoked players’ curiosity.
This upswell in interest (coupled with the critical and commercial success of Fire Emblem’s sister series Advance Wars, which likewise had just made its worldwide debut after a similarly long period of Japan exclusivity) went a long way in encouraging Nintendo to finally bring the franchise to other markets, beginning with its next GBA installment (and seventh entry overall), Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade. The gambit paid off; thanks to its wider availability, Blazing Blade became the first game in the series to sell more than 800,000 copies, solidifying it as another tentpole franchise for the company and ensuring there would be no hesitation to bring future titles westward.
The next few Fire Emblem games saw similar commercial success. The series’ second worldwide release (and final GBA installment), The Sacred Stones, arrived in 2005 and moved more than 700,000 copies over its lifetime, while GameCube’s Path of Radiance followed later that same year and sold more than half a million copies–well enough to satisfy Nintendo’s expectations, considering the system’s age and comparatively small user base.
Gradually, however, the series experienced diminishing returns. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, a direct sequel to Path of Radiance, arrived on the Wii in 2007 and ultimately sold fewer copies than its predecessor, despite the fervor surrounding the console at the time. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, a DS remake of the original 1990 game, followed in 2008 to a similarly muted reception. While the dual-screen handheld had a significantly larger install base than the Game Boy Advance, Shadow Dragon moved an estimated 600,000 copies–a significant drop off from both GBA titles. In the face of this downward trend, Nintendo elected not to localize the series’ next DS entry, New Mystery of the Emblem–the first time in nearly a decade that a Fire Emblem game would not be released outside of Japan.
As with some of Nintendo’s other aging franchises from around the same period, franchise fatigue was beginning to set in for Fire Emblem. The relatively quick succession of releases, none of which deviated very far from the series’ well-worn formula, coupled with their steep difficulty and lack of innovation, led to a steadily dwindling audience. So persistent was the decline that the long-running franchise now found itself at risk of cancellation; according to the development team, the next Fire Emblem would be the last if it failed to sell at least 250,000 copies, which prompted some radical proposals for how to shake the series up.
The resulting game, Fire Emblem Awakening, did not completely upend fan expectations, but it did become a massive hit, saving the entire series. Rather than reinventing the franchise, Awakening was developed as a “grand culmination” of it, tweaking the established formula in inspired ways and reworking staid conventions. The game leaned heavily on the series’ character-driven nature, placing an even greater emphasis on character development and relationships than previous titles. But perhaps even more consequential was the addition of a Casual mode–a feature that originated in New Mystery of the Emblem but had never previously appeared in an international release. Casual mode effectively turned off one of Fire Emblem’s hallmark mechanics, permadeath–a move that once felt tantamount to sacrilege, but had a profound impact on the series’ approachability. With the option to disable permadeath, the game became much more welcoming; now that there were no long-term repercussions for a miscalculated move, players could enjoy the complex narrative and deep gameplay without worrying about irreversible consequences, opening the series up to a much wider audience than before.
Awakening would go on to sell more than two million copies, kickstarting a resurgence for the series. Each subsequent entry would build upon Awakening’s experimental streak, evolving the franchise in unexpected ways. Fire Emblem Fates followed in 2015 and was an even bigger hit, moving more than three million copies. In a page out of Pokemon’s playbook, Fates released in three separate versions, presenting the same tale from three alternate perspectives. Two years later, the series made its mobile debut with Fire Emblem Heroes, which would go on to become Nintendo’s most successful mobile game, while its final 3DS installment, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, followed a few months later and surpassed a million copies over its lifetime.
Fire Emblem has continued to prosper in the years since, with Switch’s Three Houses setting a new benchmark for the series with over four million copies sold. Thanks to an eventual willingness to innovate and rethink long-standing conventions, the storied RPG was able to weather declining sales and the looming threat of cancellation to become one of Nintendo’s stalwart franchises, offering an incisive lesson in how to steward a long-running series. And with the positive reception that’s greeted the newly released Fortune’s Weave, it appears Fire Emblem will continue to occupy a vital place in Nintendo’s pantheon for a long time to come.
