Fire Emblem Heroes Spent Five Years Catching Old Games Up to Modern Popularity
As fans of Intelligent Systems' tactical RPG franchise are likely well aware, Fire Emblem was going to end with 2012's Awakening on 3DS. There was a surge of popularity with the series' first western releases on Game Boy Advance (GBA), spurned by Marth and Roy's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but that did not carry over to the Tellius entries on GameCube and Wii. Long-time producer Hitoshi Yamagami said Nintendo threatened to cancel the series if Awakening did not sell 250,000 copies; its unprecedented success led to a huge revival with projects such as Fire Emblem Heroes.
The original Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light released on NES in 1990, setting the stage for a storied franchise with a myriad of mechanics across its entries. Fire Emblem Awakening was meant to feature everything but the kitchen sink, grabbing as many ideas as possible for a grand finale. That philosophy carried into all future entries, creating a sort of «new,» beginner-friendly Fire Emblem that left its older titles behind in the eyes of many fans. As a celebratory mobile game, Fire Emblem Heroes has kept its series' history alive and given various characters new life over the last five years.
The Next Fire Emblem Should Lean More Into Branching Story Paths
Fire Emblem Heroes debuted on February 2, 2017. It was the second game to release after Awakening, following Fire Emblem Fates in 2015 (not counting Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem crossover Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE on Wii U). Heroes is a gacha game, in which players collect a premium currency called Orbs through various tasks or microtransactions that allow them to summon heroes from regions across the franchise.
Rather than letting this concept stand on its own,
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