The nine realms are represented by lands like Nifl, Muspell, Hel, and Nidavellir, offering an anime-inspired take on the current zeitgeist of Norse stories in games like God of War (2018) and Valheim. Over five years, the game's main cast has visited other parts of its world that made it increasingly clear Heroes is based around Norse mythology. The player is a self-insert character with the ability to wield Breidablik a divine relic that summons heroes using the aforementioned Orbs. Fire Emblem Heroes' ongoing narrative began with a conflict between the nations of Askr and Embla, which once worked together in order to open and close gateways to other realms, respectively. Rather than letting this concept stand on its own, Intelligent Systems created an entirely new world with its own mythology to facilitate the idea of collecting characters. 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. 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). RELATED: The Next Fire Emblem Should Lean More Into Branching Story Pathsįire Emblem Heroes debuted on February 2, 2017. 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. 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. Fire Emblem Awakening was meant to feature everything but the kitchen sink, grabbing as many ideas as possible for a grand finale. 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.
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. Melee, but that did not carry over to the Tellius entries on GameCube and Wii. 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. As fans of Intelligent Systems' tactical RPG franchise are likely well aware, Fire Emblem was going to end with 2012's Awakening on 3DS.