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Fire Emblem General
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Contents (Use Ctrl+F, and then the abbreviation in brackets to jump to the desired game)

Beginner

  1. [FE8;]: Sacred Stones
  2. [FE11;]: Shadow Dragon
  3. [FE7;]: Blazing Sword

Intermediate

  1. [FE12;]: New Mystery of the Emblem
  2. [FE9;]: Path of Radiance
  3. [FE10;]: Radiant Dawn

Advanced

  1. [FE6;]: Binding Blade
  2. [FE4;]: Genealogy of the Holy War
  3. [FE5;]: Thracia 776

Other

  1.  [FE2;]: Gaiden
  2.  [FE1: Fire Emblem (Original)
  3.  [FE3;]: Mystery of the Emblem

Part 1: Beginner Games

FE8; Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. GBA

Logo_FE8.jpg

In comparison to Awakening, Sacred Stones is the most similar. It's one of two other games in the series to feature a world map. As such, since we're easing into the series, it's the one you should play first. As you know, the world map allows you to double back for an infinite supply of EXP any time before or after story battles. That's fine for now, but it's not a strategy you'll want to rely on (Bar one other game, which we'll get to later. However, Awakening is unique in one regard that no other game allows. Level caps. In every other game they matter.

You know Second Seals, correct? In Awakening, you use Second Seals to reset any character's level and class, allowing for more level ups and skills. Well you can forget all that starting now. In every other game you typically get a maximum of 39 level ups to improve your stats. After that, that's it. Your characters are as maxed as they'll ever be, and won't be getting any better. (There is one incredibly odd exception to this rule, but it's so insignificant, I might as well not cover it). But this means you have to be careful when managing your units. If a number of them get a few poor level ups in one chapter, consider resetting.

As for Sacred Stones itself, due to the fact it's balanced around expecting players to use the map system, it's fairly easy  provided you do use the map. After completing Chapter 8, you'll have access to the Tower of Valni. A challenge run of sorts, that lets you play through 7 maps with simple routing objectives, which you can complete as many times as you like. After chapter 8, you have to unlock each following floor, by completing the next story mission. The first level of ToV however, is the most efficient for grinding EXP, as it will always contain at least one Entombed. Remember those yellow guys who give buckets of XP from Awakening? Well they're here too. Remember to weaken them so units that need xp get them.

SS stars the twin lords Eirika and Ephraim. You start off as Eirika, who is proficient in only swords. Chapter 8 however, you are joined by Ephraim, who uses lances. After completion of Chapter 8, the two split to complete different missions, and you must chose to accompany one or the other, resulting different missions, until the two reunite, after which, only minor details change, depending on who you joined. Eirika's route is typically considered to be the easier of the two.

Advantages to Eirika’s Route

Advantages to Ephraim’s Route

Something else worth mentioning is that certain units of specific classes can only promote using promotion items made solely for their respective class. This feature is unique to the GBA trilogy. Master Seals do appear, but not until a great deal progressed.

If you have a GBA with a functioning backlight, it’s not a bad experience. If you have a DS however, it’s easier on the eyes to use that. It was also part of the Ambassador Program on 3DS, but if you knew that, you probably would’ve played it by now.

General Tips

Recommended Units: Note that this section is not meant to tell you who specifically to use. These are unit that are commonly agreed upon by the community to perform well. Keep this in mind while reading other sections.

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archeytype. See above for more info.

FE11; Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, DS

(Written by /u/RJWalker)

Fire_eblem_shadow_dragon_lo.jpg

This game stars what should be a familiar face, Marth. Shadow Dragon is a remake of the very first game in the series and adds in elements of Book 1 of FE3 which itself was an abridged remake of the first game. The intention behind this remake was to present Marth's story mostly unaltered with very few drastic changes. The only real drastic change would be to Marth's personality but in general some mechanics from later games are added while many others are left out. This can be disappointing to some and perhaps rightfully so. But what it also does is condense the series and present only the essential elements. If you want to experience Fire Emblem without any of the clutter, this is the game for you.

This game introduced the Reclassing feature. However, it works quite differently than in Awakening. Reclassing is free and does not require any special items and can only be done in between chapters. You can switch back and forth as many times as you wish without any effect in between chapters. Reclassing does not reset your level or experience. It only switches the class, and alters stats based on that class. For example, if you were to switch a character from mage to knight, their resistance and magic would decrease, while their defense would increase.. Reclassed units don't start at E rank in their new weapons as tier 2 units. There are 3 reclass sets that are shared between all units. Male A, Male B and Female. Each set consists of 5-6 classes and any unit in a particular set can reclass to any of the options in their set. You cannot reclass all of your units into a particular class as the game restricts the number of units of a particular class that you can have at any given moment. Reclassing in this game is more focused on the strategy aspect instead of skill grinding. It can be used to plan out your strategy for the next map. This way, the current class of your unit actually matters in the context of the current chapter. The effects are more immediate.

There are several side missions in this game. However, accessing them requires you to have no more than 15 units alive at set moments in the game. This means you have to kill off characters to access these chapters. This is a universally hated aspect of the game. Each side mission offers one recruitable character and some items. However, you're not required to get these chapters and the game does not force you kill off your characters.

There are no support conversations in this game. However, the game's localization is particularly great. It uses flowery language to great effect and thus, even single lines of dialogue end up being very profound and inspiring.

The game also has 6 Difficulty levels. There is Normal mode and 5 increasingly difficult Hard modes. This is to allow players to select a level that is appropriate to their experience and skill in regards to the series. There is a special Prologue if you play in Normal mode that you won't get in any higher difficulty mode. My suggestions is to start the game in Normal mode and finish the prologue. After that, start the game in Hard Mode 1 where you'll immediately start in Chapter 1.

The game is readily available on DS. Finding a copy should not be hard.

Bonus Chapter Unlock Methods

General Tips

Recommended Units:

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archetype. See above for more info.

FE7; Fire Emblem aka Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken/The Blazing Sword, GBA

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The first Fire Emblem to be released outside of Japan, is also widely regarded as one of the best in the series. You could call this game “Fire Emblem Vanilla.” It holds some of the best instances of all the tropes found throughout the series, and has one of the richest stories. This game has a whopping three lords that require attention. Lyn, aka Lyndis, who specializes in Swords, and later Bows. Eliwood, a sword user similar to Eirika. And finally Hector, master of axes. Each lord has a good section of the game dedicated to them. Your first time playing, you’ll spend the first 10 chapters hanging out with Lyn, as the game teaches you its mechanics. If you’ve been paying attention the past 3 games, it shouldn’t be any trouble. Afterwards, the game shifts focus onto Eliwood, thereafter Lyn and Hector join up with him.

After completing the game for the first time, you’ll unlock Hector mode, which makes several changes to the game’s structure. There are 2 new characters to unlock, several new chapters, and the game is told from Hector’s point of view. Additionally, you also have the option of skipping Lyn’s story all together, and going right into Hector or Eliwood’s story.  This is not recommended however, as the units recruited in Lyn’s story will lose out on XP, and join much weaker than they normally would.

For play methods see Sacred Stones.

Bonus Chapter Unlock Methods

Because Hector Mode adds additional chapters, the chapter number for Eliwood Mode will be marked with E, and H for Hector Mode.

General Tips

Recommended Units:

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archetype. See above for more info.

Part 2: Intermediate Games

FE12; Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo: Hikari to Kage no Eiyū, aka Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, DS

FE12title.png

Another game starring Marth. A relative cakewalk on easy mode, though the challenge increases significantly on normal and higher difficulties. The standout feature of this game is the ability to create and customize an MU, making it the first in the series to feature the player as a combat unit. However, instead of the player starting with a unique class, you are given a selection of normal classes. Myrmidon and Pegasus Knight are exclusive to female characters, while Mercenary and Fighters are exclusive to males. For a complete guide to customizing your character’s growth rates, go here.

This game features the exact same mechanics and visuals as Shadow Dragon. Even a few maps return.if Shadow Dragon wasn’t any trouble, you should be right at home here. The only major departures are some new characters and maps.

Unfortunately, the game was not released outside of Japan, so unless you speak fluent Japanese, I would not recommend importing. However, ROMs and english patches are easily found on the internet. I recommend Desmume as an emulator.

Bonus Chapter Unlock Methods

General Tips

Recommended Units:

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archetype. See above for more info.

FE9; Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, GameCube

FE9_Game_Logo.jpg

Another widely regarded classic, this game stars Ike, and Elincia to a lesser extent. Similarly to Fire Emblem 7, the game is tightly knit and well balanced, features a great story, and one of the most user friendly support systems in the series. It’s much more straight forward than 7 however, as it never shifts focus away from Ike and co. So much so I don’t really have much to say about it. It’s one of the easiest to pick up and just start playing.

One things worth mentioning however is the skill system. It does not allow for much freedom or creativity. Each character is only allowed one or two skills. Also, the way skills are earned and applied would make you think that different skills can be removed and shared between units. You’d be wrong. If you remove a skill, it’s gone for good.

As obtainment methods go, this is one of the trickier ones. (Everything said here applies to Radiant Dawn). Physical copies today are extremely rare and expensive (ranging from $60-$100 USD, used), and ROMs, while easy to obtain, run rather poorly, even with a decent computer. Pick your poison.

General Tips:

Recommended Characters:

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archetype. See above for more info.

Notes about transferring data between Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn:

FE10; Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Wii

Radiant_Dawn_logo.png

Arguably the biggest FE to date, Radiant Dawn sports over 60 playable characters, and 45 chapters. Ike returns to the starring, joined by one of only two magical lords in the series, Michaiah. The first thing that should be mentioned is the way chapters are broken up. The game is divided into 4 Parts. Across these 4 sections, perspective switches from group to group in accordance with the story. Keep this in mind, as you may find yourself with a completely different roster of units each chapter. I won’t go into any  more detail here, as it’s hard to without spoiling.

One large mechanic worth mentioning, is elevation. Very early on, you’ll begin to notice most maps have platforms, stairs and the like. This plays a huge role in executing certain strategies. Most elevated platforms that are not fenced off are climbable. (Flying units overwrite this rule). However, climbing takes up a great deal of movement, and can be blocked by enemy units standing in your way, or vice versa. More importantly however, are the adjustments to hit and dodge rates. Early game, a units who has the high ground will always hit their target, and low ground units will almost never. (Ranged weapons are required for attacking units separated by elevation). Keep this in mind, as archers and mages will wreak havoc on your squishier units if you do not foresee this, and position yourself accordingly.

An important change has been made to Bonus XP in RD. In PoR, you could use however much BXP you wanted with no penalty. Not so this time around. If a unit levels up via BXP, they are only guaranteed 3 stat growths. A work around is to give them 99 BXP before battle, and the next action they take that chapter will give a normal stat boosts. If a unit has maxed out all but 3 stats, it’s not a bad idea to use bonus xp on them. Pouring BXP freely into Laguz units is not as bad. Since their base stats double when they transform, they are essentially gaining 6 stat points per level up. Alternatively, Level units up regularly for a time, then pile BXP on once they have 3 or 4 stats not capped.

Radiant Dawn also introduces a 3rd class tier, and SS weapon rankings. This allows for much higher stat caps. Similarly to PoR, units will automatically promote after surpassing level 20. Or, you can use Master Crowns to instantly promote 2nd tier units above level 10. 3rd tier units have loads of wiggle room to work with skills. Now skill can be shared freely. Be careful however. Most units start off with a skill that takes up a slot, but no points. If that skill is removed, it costs points to re equip it.

Another tidbit worth noting, is that the shop will always have a special section of valuable items that changes each chapter. Remember to check it every chapter in case it has something you might need.

General Tips

Treasure Locations

        Much like in the desert chapters of other games, treasure is frequently scattered across multiple maps in this game. This is a list of treasure locations per chapter. You have a chance of finding the treasure with any unit, but will need to use Sothe if you want to guarantee obtaining the treasure that turn.

Chapter 1-4

Chapter 1-6

Chapter 1-8

Chapter 1-9

Chapter 2-2

Chapter 2-3

Chapter 2-E

Chapter 3-4

Chapter 3-6

Chapter 3-E

Chapter 4-1

Chapter 4-2

Chapter 4-3

Chapter 4-5

Recommended Units:

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archetype. See above for more info.

Part 3: Advanced Games

FE6; Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi, aka Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, GBA

Get your rear in gear, because this is where things start to pick up. Also keep in mind, all these games are JP only, so emulation might be your only option.

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FE6 stars Roy, who we’ll talk about first. In the early game, he’s a decent unit if you put enough effort into building him up in the early game. However, he’ll fall out of usefulness soon enough, as he is not allowed to promote until towards the very end of the game. So consider putting him on the sidelines, or keep him at the back of your group until then, once he reaches level 20. Once he does promote, he’ll be given the Binding Blade, that drastically increases his power. It only has 20 uses though, so use it wisely.

Gameplay wise, it’s just a tougher, and debatably, less fair version of the other two GBA games. So if you loved the style of those games, but wish they had a bit more of that Retro-Hard edge to  them, this is the game for you. The objectives are much less creative, and literally all of them are capture the throne missions. So making sure Roy is well protected is a top priority. Some of the later chapters will usually have one or more enemies using bolting to pick off your weaker units. In most cases, this will be Roy. Your two options are to either have a competent unit carry Roy to safety, while you position a unit with high dodge rates to tank the bolting shots; or have a unit with high resistance soak up all 5 of the offending mage’s bolting uses.

One feature you should know about before starting is the branching paths system. On two occasions during the game, certain factors will force you down one of two paths. The first time you are given a choice will be during Chapter 9. By visiting the left village in the northeast corner, or no village at all, you will trigger Path A. Visiting the right village will trigger Path B.

Advantages to Path A

Advantages to Path B

The second path branch occurs after Chapter 16 or 16x, if you unlocked it. If the units Shin and Sue have obtained more EXP than Thite and Shanna (aka Thanny) the Sacaen route will trigger. If the reverse occurs, the Illian route will trigger.

Advantages to Sacaen Route.

Advantages to Illian Route

Bonus Chapter Unlock Methods.

To unlock the true ending, all bonus chapters must be completed, the Divine Weapons therein must be intact by the end of Chapter 22, and Fae must be alive.

General Tips

Recommended Units:

FE4; Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu aka Genealogy of the Holy War, SNES

FE4_Intro.gif

If you’ve made it this far, then you must’ve learned a lot. Well get ready to forget most of it. FE4 is one of the biggest departures from series norm you’ve seen so far. It’s a wild ride that must be seen to be believed. However, it can be difficult to discuss without getting into major spoiler territory. So once you’ve finished Chapter 5, come back here and read this guide, that talks about what happens after that.

The first thing you’ll notice is the massive size of the maps. The prologue dwarves even the biggest maps from other entries you’ve seen. This means that mobility and surveillance are key. You also receive fewer units to make use of than what you’re used to, so you’ll want to keep your army grouped up at all times. Thankfully, you’re rarely required to split your army into more than 2 groups.

Capturing keeps is the key to everything. Every time one is captured, more often than not, more enemies appear. So before capturing them, make sure everyone is in position to move the next turn. (More on this later)

Arenas are much different as well. Instead fighting a random and infinite menagerie of enemies, you are given 7 enemies to fight through, each one more powerful than the last. The kicker though is that if you lose, instead of dying, the unit will be reduced to 1 health. Abusing this can lead to turning your healers into your most powerful units, by putting your weaker units through over and over again until your healers have healed them enough to get to level 20, then returning to the starting base, and promoting.

FE4 also features a love system. Similar to Awakening, paired units pass traits onto their children. (More on this in Part 2) If you want two units paired, you need to have them fight or stand next to each other at the end of the turn to gain love points. It is recommended not to pair up Finn with anyone, as it can handicap him later in the game. To check the status of a units’ relationship, enter town and select the fortune teller. He will tell you the character that unit is closest to falling in love with. Plan your moves accordingly if the answer pleases or displeases you. When two units do fall in love, there is no reversing it, nor is there any sort of notification. You have to bring up the stats screen for that character to check.

Something that can easily catch you off guard if it’s your first time playing, is that gold is not global amongst your units, and items cannot be traded. The only way to transfer items is to go into any town, sell the desired item at the pawn shop, and then buy it back at double the price. This is easiest to do with married units. To transfer gold, move adjacent to the unit you wish to give gold, and pick “give”. All the units gold should be transferred onto the other. As items cannot be traded, make sure to check all bosses for items. If an item is dropped by them, it will be indicated by a bag icon next to that item. If a unit on your team is in need of that item, make sure the boss is defeated by that unit.

Your units will frequently converse with each other. Every time you capture a base, open the stats window, and flip through it. If a unit’s name appears under the ‘Talk’ section, talk to them with that unit. Doing so usually results in an increase in love points, a small stat boost, or a special item obtained.

Strategies by Chapter

Remember to check for conversations between units after capturing castles, and on the starting turn of the chapter.

        Prologue

Chapter 1:

        Chapter 2:

        Chapter 3:

        Chapter 4:

        Chapter 5

Guide for Part 2

Recommended Pairings

Note that these are purely optional. You may pair up anyone if you so choose. It is possible to not pair a female unit, but know that in doing so, their children will be much less powerful. I give recommended pairings instead of units, due to the limited number of units available in the game.

FE5; Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, SNES

(Written by /u/estrangedeskimo)

If your translation patch still has japanese characters in it, use this guide to help you along. (Written by /u/peacefulzealot)

Thracia776.jpg

        

Thracia 776 is often regarded as the most challenging FE game at base difficulty. It is not as difficult as the higher difficulties in other games, but there is no “easy mode.” You just get thrown into the deep end. As such, this should probably not be a game you play until you are well into the series. T776 stars Leif, a character you may remember from Genealogy, and focuses on his adventures that take place in between chapters 6 and 8 of Genealogy. T776 has some of the most unique mechanics in the series. I will assume familiarity with the GBA Fire Emblems and Genealogy as I describe these mechanics.

One of the flagship mechanics of T776 is Fatigue. Basically, every unit has a number in their status screen called “fatigue” that increases by 1 every time you enter battle, use a staff, or dance (it increases by more than 1 for higher level staves). Once the fatigue number exceeds a unit’s HP, that unit will have the “fatigue” status. They will be unable to participate in the next chapter. However, if you let a unit hold a special item called a “Stamina Drink” in the battle preparations menu, they can be selected for battle, and their fatigue will reset to 0. Once a unit sits out for one chapter, their fatigue will also reset to 0. Fatigue doesn’t start taking effect until chapter 8. Leif is exempt from the fatigue system. Stamina drinks can be purchased in the shop in chapter 9, but otherwise are extremely rare and limited.

The capture mechanic is the biggest selling point of T776. Generally speaking, if one of your units has higher build than the enemy unit (more on build later), they can attempt to capture the enemy. You can capture an enemy with any melee weapon from a range of 1. When you attempt to capture, you will see a battle-preview screen. Your stats will be cut in half for the battle. If you kill the enemy (with your half-stats) you will capture them. Now, capturing can be risky: you will only have half your speed and defense in battle, so you will likely take damage. Also, when you are holding a captured enemy, several stats will be cut in half, similar to the rescue penalty in the GBA games. So only capture if you are sure you are not in immediate danger of being killed. Now, what are the benefits of capturing? Lots of them! The biggest one is that you can take all items off of a captured enemy, including equipped weapons. This is a huge benefit, not only because it gives you access to many powerful and unique weapons, but shops are very rare and money is only obtainable by selling things in shops. So capturing will be your primary source of items. Also, if you see an enemy with a unique portrait, but can’t recruit them with a conversation, try capturing them, and don’t let them go. Some units can only be recruited by capturing them. If you let a captured unit go, it is the same as killing them. Units without any equipment can be captured without any fight. This is especially true for enemy healers, who often have no weapons, but many nice staves to take. Also, sleeping units can be captured with no battle. Mounted units cannot be captured unless they are sleeping (more on that later). And lastly, brave weapons work especially well for capturing.

You probably remember constitution and weapon weight from the GBA games. In T776, the constitution (called “build”) stat is much more prevalent and important. it is one of the principal stats, like HP, strength, and skill. This means it has a growth rate. There are many advantages to having a high build stat: if a weapon’s weight, is greater than your build, you lose the difference in speed, just like in the GBA games (note that mages lose speed from tomes regardless of their build). If your build is greater than an enemy’s build, you can try to capture them Also, if your build is greater than enemy build, the cannot capture you! (Yes enemies can and will capture your light, unequipped units, so keep healers safe!) If your build is greater than an ally’s build, you can rescue them (it works just like it does in the GBA games). If you are using a thief, they can steal any weapon or item with lower weight than their build if they are faster than the enemy. You cannot steal equipped weapons, but you can steal equipped tomes. Any unit with 20 build cannot be captured at all.

All units mounted on a horse, dragon, or pegasus have the option to dismount. Dismounting lowers your stats and movement, forces you to only use swords (with a couple exceptions), makes you vulnerable to capture, and removes any weaknesses you have specific to your mount (wyrmslayers, bows, horseslayers). Mounted units must dismount if they go indoors, for both maps with indoor areas and maps that are completely indoors. It is rare that you will willingly dismount outdoors, but it can be useful. Foot units can travel through some terrain that mounted units can’t. Also, a lance-locked unit might want to dismount to use swords if they are faced with many axe-wielding enemies. Also, putting a mounted unit to sleep forcibly dismounts them, so if you have a sleep staff you can capture mounted enemies. Be warned that sleep staves are quite rare, so don’t use them lightly.

Skills work almost the same as they do in Genealogy, with a few exceptions. The skills wrath, ambush, and prayer act quite differently. Also, you can double or critical without the skill.

You will receive several scrolls throughout the game. These scrolls provide rather large modifiers to your unit’s growth rates when they are held in their inventory. The modifiers may be positive or negative, but all scrolls have a net change of +30% growth. Obviously, this makes your stats considerably higher, but only to a certain point: all units in T776, regardless of class, have a stat cap of 20 in every stat but HP. In addition to increasing growths, scrolls provide you with critical immunity. Also, their effects stack, so giving many scrolls to a unit will make them grow incredibly fast.

Staves are quite different in T776 than other games, and have a greater effect on gameplay. There are two major mechanical differences: all staves can miss (staff accuracy is determined by the caster’s skill stat) and healing staves can double-cast.

High level effect and status staves are extremely powerful because status effects never wear off unless a restore staff is used. But staves also increase fatigue extremely fast. So train multiple staff users so you can make sure you never have to enter battle without one.

Gaiden chapters make another appearance. These are very similar to how they are obtained in FE7. But there are very many of them, and some of them make a very big difference on how the game goes by providing extra units and items.

Leadership stars provide a bonus to hit and avoid for all allied units on the map, not just those near you. Each star only provides a small amount, but they stack, so if you have extra team slots for a chapter, pick units with leadership stars. Enemies have these too.

A hidden stat that every unit has is called PCC. It stands for “Pursuit critical coefficient”, and is a number from 1 to 5. On a pursuit hit (AKA, the second hit you get in a battle for being fast enough to double) your critical chance is multiplied by your PCC. So units with high PCCs are much more likely to critical on the second hit. Unfortunately, there is no way to find out a PCC for a unit without looking it up. You can view PCCs for all units here. (This link contains spoilers)

In Chapter 15, you will be able to choose to proceed on two different routes, much like you can in FE6. To take route A, have Leif exit chapter 15 to the left or choose the first option when you have Leif visit the church in the middle of the map. To choose route B, have Leif take the exit to the right or choose the second option in the church. Whichever path you take, it is recommended that you have Leif visit the church, because that will give you a restore staff.

Advantages to Route A

Advantages to Route B

Lastly, movement stars and growths. Units have another set of stars on their status screen called movement stars. Each movement star corresponds to a 5% chance to move again after you have taken an action, much like a dancer’s effect. When Movement stars activate, a musical note appears above their head, and the change back from grayscale to color. Units also have movement growth. Like all growth rates, there is a chance (a very small one) that they will gain a point of movement upon level up. This is a permanent increase. The Dain scroll gives a small, increase to movement growth, and makes it significantly more likely for units to gain movement.

Bonus Chapter Unlock Methods

General Tips

Recommended units:

Other Games

FE2; Fire Emblem Gaiden, NES

(Written by /u/Glaceon10)

Fire Emblem Gaiden, released in 1991 for the Nintendo Family Computer (more commonly named the Famicom). It is not a particularly popular game, as it was not only among the several Fire Emblem games to only release in Japan, yet also deviated from several main mechanics of the series which most fans have become accustomed to.

One example of this is the item system. Your units no longer have a list of items which they can hold with them. Instead, they can hold certain items (weapons, shields, and rings, specifically) to increase certain areas of their stats and give them other various small bonuses. You can equip a Steel Lance to a lance-wielder and increase his / her Power (the term for both Strength and Magic in this game), or you could give the unit a Leather Shield to increase his / her Defense, or give the unit a ring to a unit to raise his / her Luck to the cap of forty and give +5 HP every turn. Imagine it being similar to equipping items and weapons in an average RPG, except you can only have one item equipped at a time. All weapons, shields, and rings are also unbreakable, meaning that you have a large degree of experimentation with the unit weapons of your units.

Another extremely different mechanic is its magic system. Instead of equipping tomes and the like, you now have certain spells eternally with a certain unit that can never be removed, and you learn new spells by leveling your units. However, all spells (barring Nosferatu, as it is an HP-draining spell) will take HP away from the user, similarly to how you would use MP in a Final Fantasy game, except it is now combined with your HP stat. Often, better spells will cost more HP. Also, for magic users, Skill is basically irrelevant, as all spells act on their set accuracy and nothing else. It is also worth noting that you cannot rely on True Hit to help you, as it had yet to exist at this point.

All weapons and spells have weight, yet this is incredibly irrelevant for weapons as most weights are extremely low and will very rarely have any possible effect on the battle. The highest weapon weight in the game is 5, and it is for a Devil Sword-like item, and the next highest is 3. However, this can affect certain spell users greatly, particularly those with lower Power. Some spells have massive weights, such as Arrow (11) and Rainarok (20).

On the note of weapons, there is only one Axe-wielding class in the game, and it is an enemy-exclusive class which primarily only appears in the early-game. All units are also locked to one weapon type. This does not matter particularly much, however, as no Weapon Triangle exists - it is only to determine what equipable weapons a unit can use.

Another unique feature is its path system. It may be slightly familiar to those who are experienced with Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (specifically Part IV), but the game has two primary paths, and the player must finish both of them in order to complete the game. These paths are Alm's route and Celica's route and, barring some merchants which you can use to send items between parties, they are largely separate and only join together much later into the game.

Yet another mechanic is that the game has a World Map, the very first of the series, yet the game goes even farther and gives the enemy turns of its own, and the enemy will occasionally send bands of units to attack you. You can also actually go through certain villages and other locations of Valentia (this game's continent) and even speak to the people inside, which can expand the lore of the story, give you advice, or other various benefits. It is generally worth it to speak to everyone in each area. You can also go into Shrines with Lion Head Statues. These statues can grant a certain amount of stat boosts, depending on what stat boosts they offer to begin with (or, in some instances, a Revival Lion Head Statue) and how many "charges" they have.

It is worth noting that the game's final boss can only be killed with the Falchion (or with Nosferatu via some abuses, yet, given the extremely poor defenses of Sisters and Saints and the poor accuracy of Nosferatu, this is ultimately a bad idea), and the Falchion can only be used by Alm. You must search the underground area of Chapter 5 to find it, and engaging in the final battle without it is generally not a good idea.

Similarly to Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the game also has a third-tier system, yet not all units have a third tier. Most units can promote within their earlier levels, and it is recommended that you promote as soon as possible due to how promotion works in this game (it raises you to the base stat caps of the class you are promoting into), the incredibly low growth rates (with most units having growth rates in stats within the 10% - 30% area, barring Resistance, which does not have a growth in this game), and the fact that promoted units suffer absolutely no EXP penalty when killing non-promoted units. You should, however, not promote your magic users until they reach their level cap, as in doing so you will miss learning certain spells. Another form of unique promotion which this game has is the concept of Villagers, the first of their kind. There are four in the game (three of which joining Alm from the very beginning and the other joining Celica in Chapter 3), and they can promote into one of several different types of units, and what they promote into can greatly change how you use them. To promote a unit, take them to a Mila Shrine.

General Tips

Recommended Units (Alm’s Route)

Recommended Units (Celica's Route)

FE1; Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, NES

(Written by /u/Ephraim225)

Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light is the original version of Shadow Dragon, released in 1990 almost 20 years prior on the Nintendo Family Computer. It was never released outside of Japan, but a translation patch exists here: http://www.romhacking.net/translations/1593/

        The original Fire Emblem, which paved the way for many more strategy RPGs after it and can even be thought of as the father of a genre, is very much primitive to strategy RPG players today. As there are two additional versions of this game (Shadow Dragon and the first half of the SNES game, Mystery of the Emblem) most players would say to skip the Famicom version. However, as strange and awkward as Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light can be, some find it a fun novelty, as experiencing some of the sillier design choices can be enjoyable. This game isn't very hard compared to other Fire Emblems, so it's playable...just keep your finger on the emulator's speed-up key, the computer moves very slowly.

        In fact, everything moves very slowly, and the interface is quite clunky. For instance, when attacking the game doesn't calculate the numbers and predict how much damage you're going to do like in the later games. In fact, you can't even see the stats for weapons, either. There's no Trade command - units can only give their items to another unit, not take. There's no option to manage items during the preparation screen, you just pick your units and go, and speaking of which, you can't choose their starting positions either, though fortunately that doesn't really matter unless the chapter you're in has your units really spread out. The supply tent can also only carry 31 items, costs 10 gold to deposit an item, and it has a fixed location on every map, also you can't sell items...but don't worry, the game loves throwing money at you, just don't amass more than 655350 gold or else it wraps around back to zero!

        Units still level up and promote as they always have, however several classes that could promote in the later games cannot here. Namely, Knights, Hunters, Fighters and Pirates cannot promote despite the existence of classes that they would logically become. Oh yeah, and Marth can't promote either, and he as well as all the other unpromotables only level up to level 20, not 30. This does not rule any of them out as usable units, however, and for two reasons: One, all stats except HP cap at 20 anyways, so it doesn't take many levels to get close to the caps. Two, promoting a unit will only bring the unit's stats up to the bases for the new class if they aren't that high already. If you wait until level 20 to promote, more often than not you'll only notice one or two stat increases in addition to the level reset and some extra movement points.

        Weapon levels are also very much different. Instead of letter grades that go up when a unit uses that weapon type more, weapon level is a single, numerical stat in this game that goes up when you level up just like any other stat, and units can only use weapons that are equal to or lower than their weapon level stat. It caps at 20, but you never need it to be higher than 9, or 14 if you want a legendary weapon. You can actually abuse this in numerous ways. At the start of the game, you can give Jeigan's Silver Lance to Sheeda, and she can use it! This doesn't work in Shadow Dragon, naturally. (Though I've heard that's why she gets the Wing Spear...)

        And if you think that's crazy, you haven't seen how magic works in this game. Magic spells work like any other weapon in the game, however a Mage's strength stat does NOT increase the amount of damage. So, magic spells always do fixed amounts of damage, though the good news is, almost no character in the game, player or enemy, has any Resistance at all, and the two Mages you get in this game come with exclusive spells that do lots of damage. Plus, you need at least one good Mage to win the game conventionally. Healers have it even worse, though: They don't gain EXP for healing, instead they get the full EXP for a kill whenever they survive being attacked. You could get a healer to level 20 just by placing them on a fort and letting them get attacked, only for the fort to heal back the damage. Don't bother, though, this is completely pointless: the unpromoted healers in this game have some of the worst growths available. A prepromoted Bishop obtained very early on outclasses them all.

        Side note: Ballisticians don't have 3-10 range, only 1-2, so they're basically slower, heavily armored Archers.

        So, if you've managed to absorb all of this and you're still willing to play, here's some essential information that the game isn't very liberal about telling you:

Recommended Units:

* Indicates a unit who is Prepromoted

**Indicates a special unit who does not promote

***Indicates a unit of the Est Archeytype. See above for more info.

FE3; Mystery of the Emblem, SNES

 Coming soon

Tear Ring Saga

Utna Heroes

Berwick Saga

Credits

Written and Edited by Zelkami

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon segment written by RJWalker

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 segment written by estrangedeskimo

Fire Emblem Gaiden segment written by Glaceon10

Fire Emblem: Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light segment written by Ephraim225

Thracia 776 Translation Guide by peacefulzealot

Additional Contributions by RealTJones, Cschollen, cargup, Gwimpage, Eastern-Eagle, Trueblade74, Rynk, Nottilus, b0mda1ama

Images and treasure maps by http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Wikia

Special thanks to Gigamechawolf