Five Years Ago, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Walked so Three Houses Could Run

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The history of Fire Emblem is fraught with record highs and perilous lows. Though the franchise has been around for 30 years, it has only been international for 20 years, and has only been widely-popular for 10. The series almost saw its end before the success of Fire Emblem: Awakening, which resurrected the series into a world-wide sensation. However, among its many historical titles, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia–the last Fire Emblem title for the 3DS that released five years ago–flew under the radar of far too many fans.

Though most games in the series reimagined the features of its predecessors, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia managed to simultaneously pay homage to the game’s history while breaking the mold in unexpected ways. It retains the core elements of a Fire Emblem game, but its experiments with new mechanics pushed the boundaries of what a Fire Emblem game could be. Though a remake of an old Fire Emblem title, Shadows of Valentia provided an uncommon experience that laid the groundwork for the success of Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

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Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second entry in the franchise. As with many other early Fire Emblem games, Gaiden was never localized for a western audience, so Shadows of Valentia was the first introduction to protagonists Alm and Celica for many players. With a drastic shift in gameplay from other Fire Emblem titles, Gaiden is often called the “black sheep” of the Fire Emblem family, and is compared toZelda II: The Adventure of Link and Super Mario Bros 2.

In many ways, Shadows of Valentia followed in the footsteps of the original. Plenty of Shadows of Valentia’s