Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light Reviews
Fire Emblem's original 8-bit adventure is back and for the most part, Shadow Dragon * the Blade of Light still holds up well.
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and The Blade of Light it's a hard pill to swallow for all the recent fans, as its gameplay and graphics haven't aged that well. But it's also a great return to the past for old time fans, and for just five bucks.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A good majority of NES titles are hard to recommend to anyone this day and age when most are either outdated or have superior versions players can pick up.
In the end, Nintendo gave what they promised: a localized port. It’s still a fun Fire Emblem game at its core though, and I can only hope that we get more Japanese-only Fire Emblem games localized because there are many improvements in every entry.
Although very much of its time in visuals and sound, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light holds its own in the modern day thanks to solid gameplay and structure. Almost everything you know and love about the series is here, and the game is worth picking up if only for the insight into early parts of the franchise. It's not an essential Switch game by any means, and quite alienating for beginners to the series, but it's practically compulsory for fans of Fire Emblem.
For its time, it's easy to see how Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light had a massive appeal to fans looking to get into the SRPG genre.
With the original Fire Emblem's first Western release, Americans can finally enjoy the excellent, debut game in Nintendo's popular strategy-RPG series.
If you want to check out where everything started, this is a decent trip down memory lane.
As a more complex genre that also relies on narrative, the improvements to Fire Emblem titles are multiplicative. Things like UI elements, a more streamlined inventory system, customizable skills, support conversations, and even the Weapon Triangle are all absent. Turning back the clock strips away not just iconic gameplay ideas, but gradually gathered quality of life improvements. This leaves a bare framework in their place. This is Fire Emblem through and through, make no mistake. It’s just the absolute minimum of what a Fire Emblem should be.