It might have taken a while for Nintendo’s premier SRPG series to find its feet in the West, but the storming success of 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses proved that Intelligent Systems’ turn-based strategy series is now up there with the Marios and the Zeldas in hallowed Nintendo franchises. The most recent entry, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, has been very well received on Switch 2, so there’s no sign of that changing.
With so many entries and nary a low point among them, we’ve wrangled them into the ranked list below containing every Fire Emblem game released in the West, including spìn-offs. If one thing is clear, it’s that the overall quality of this series rivals any other of Nintendo’s premier IPs in terms of consistency; it’s not really possible to play a ‘bad’ Fire Emblem game.
So, climb aboard your mounts if you’ve got ’em, and prepare for battle as we count down the best Fire Emblem games ever.
Fire Emblem Shadows is a turgid mobile game that serves up dull automated battles involving pay-to-win nonsense, timers, and cooldowns. The main selling point of a unique social experiment/turn-based battle hybrid is very weak in its setup, with neither enough players nor time in combat to create any semblance of actual strategy, and the game itself looks and plays poorly on the battlefield.
There are a few nice cutscenes for fans who persist, and outfits for the outfits fans. But beyond this, it’s thumbs down as far as the eye can see for this failed experiment.
In pure revenue terms, this mobile entry in the series is hugely popular and it’s not without a certain charm. The fact that Fire Emblem Heroes costs nothing to try is certainly a positive, although the mobile game’s trademark timed mechanics and mixture of currencies will no doubt rub series veterans the wrong way.
As a one-handed, ‘lite’ interpretation of the series, it’s not bad at all, although its battles quickly become repetitive once you’ve built a strong team and the gatcha mechanic used to ‘discover’ new allies moves away from the careful weaving of core gameplay, narrative, and character relationships which makes the Fire Emblem formula so special.
It was lovely to see Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light finally localised for the West (in its original Famicom form, no less), but while we can appreciate the foundation this first game in the series put down, it’s tough to return to this comparatively restrictive 8-bit version of the series’ turn-based gameplay, even with a sound understanding of its historical context and a healthy adoration of the series.
Fans will get a kick out of it, and the new features introduced make it less of a grind than it might be, but all but the most devoted FE aficionados will find it difficult to enjoy this one after 30 years of iteration and improvement.
Love ’em or hate ’em, the steady stream of crossover Musou games has helped keep the Dynasty Warriors formula fresh and given fans of other franchises attractive entry points. Zelda fans have the Hyrule Warriors series and Fire Emblem enthusiasts have their predictably named crossovers, too.
Fire Emblem Warriors delivers trademark Warriors gameplay, pitting you against hundreds of enemies simultaneously in real-time combo-licious combat, but adds a layer of unit management, giving you the ability to instruct units on the fly and zip between them across the conflict zone at will. Consequently, you get a Fire Emblem-style feeling for the entire battlefield, in addition to the balletic third-person button-play you’d expect from any Warriors title.
Throw in luscious visuals, loads of characters, and a dusting of mechanics borrowed from Nintendo’s series, and you’re left with a compelling hack-and-slash that even Musou-sceptics would do well to investigate if they’ve got an ounce of Fire Emblem fandom in their veins.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a thoroughly entertaining mash-up of Musou mayhem, strategy, and relationship-building aspects that should more than satisfy fans of both the franchises involved here. It improves upon its 2017 predecessor in several ways, most notably in providing a far more engaging story featuring a narrative that’s ripe for several replays.
With impressively solid performance on Switch and an action-packed campaign that’ll see you blasting your way through tens of thousands of foes for a good 30 hours in a single playthrough, this is right up there with the very best Warriors titles that developer Omega Force has ever served up.
The next game to release after Wii’s Radiant Dawn, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a DS remake of the original Famicom Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light that launched the franchise in Japan but never saw release on the NES or in the West — until surfacing for a limited-time on Switch, that is. Did you get it?
Featuring series favourite (and Smash Bros.) veteran Marth, this remake was the first time people outside Japan could experience the original game, and the DS provided the perfect platform for it. It’ll cost you a pretty penny to pick up a copy nowadays and it’s clearly far less complex than recent offerings, but this is still a great example of the series’ core gameplay.
A co-development between Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD, Radiant Dawn is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance and could even accept save data brought over from its predecessor which boosted character stats. It was well worth doing, too, as Radiant Dawn was noted for its high difficulty and any advantage was welcome.
This Wii entry brought back dark magic into the fold and increased the scope and number of characters in comparison to Path of Radiance, but wasn’t the sales success Nintendo had hoped.
Despite being proclaimed as absolute pinnacles of the series, with many fans citing one of these two as their franchise favourites, the GameCube and Wii entries represented a low point sales-wise, which unfortunately signalled a retreat back to portable hardware only. Indeed, it would be 12 years until the series would grace a television screen once again.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is one of the most colourful, approachable, and downright endearing RPGs you’ll find on the Switch. Its new story chapter, music tracks, and character assists improve on the original to an extent, but not enough to affect its overall quality. Thankfully, what was there was already fantastic, meaning those who missed out on it the first time around really have no reason not to get stuck in now.
On balance, this RPG is significantly more Shin Megami Tensei than Fire Emblem, so Fire Emblem fans take note. But it’s a great time nonetheless, so if you missed this on the Wii U, snap up this one on Switch.
The eighth instalment to be made, The Sacred Stones was only the second to get an international release. It stars royal twins Eirika and Ephraim in a story that sees them separate to protect their homeland of Magvel from invading forces.
While it didn’t add much to the established formula, it’s an exceptionally solid and enjoyable entry and a fittingly impressive swansong for the series on GBA.
It was included as part of the 3DS’ Ambassador Program for early adopters before its price cut, giving owners of that handheld an opportunity to catch up if they missed it on GBA back in 2005 and prepare for the franchise’s ‘awakening’ on that system.
