8 Best Fire Emblem Games That You Should Know Update 04/2024

best fire emblem games

As a unique tactical JRPG, the Fire Emblem series has been around for more than 30 years. Your units’ lives are at risk as they go into battle. Lords like Marth and Seliph, Roy and Ike and Lucina and many others would be shown how they overcame the wars they had to go through in the movie. It would also show how their stories would unfold.

Each Fire Emblem game shows its gameplay in a unique way, but it stays the same over time. Some games are better than others, but that’s what makes them fun to play. Metacritic says these are the best Fire Emblem games of all time, even if there were spin-offs.

1. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade Of Light (62)

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon & The Blade Of Light (62)

If you’re a fan of Marth, you’ll love this game. It was the very first Fire Emblem game, and its protagonist was none other than him. Besides launching the Fire Emblem series, this game is said to have popularized the tactical role-playing genre as a whole, which is what this game did.

It was first made for the Famicom in Japan. It was later made for Japanese fans to play on the Nintendo Switch in 2019. If you live in the western world, you can now play this game as well, thanks to the fact that it was finally translated and released for the Nintendo Switch recently. For a short time only, though (until March 2021).

While Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is now seen as one of the most basic games in the series, it started the ball rolling with its mix of RPG character development and tactical gameplay, which made it one of the first games in the series. Besides that, it’s worth noting that the recent Switch port of the game has a lot of nice features, like the ability to speed up the game’s sluggish pace and the ability to rewind one’s moves.

2. Fire Emblem Heroes (72)

Apps for Android and iOS can be found on both of these

As of 2017, Fire Emblem Heroes is a free-to-play mobile game that can be played on both Android and iOS phones. It is a tactical role-playing game that follows in the footsteps of its predecessors and includes characters from other games in the series.

A “gacha”-style system is used to get new characters in the game. There are also microtransactions in the game. Fire Emblem Heroes keeps getting new features, chapters, and characters to keep the game interesting for everyone. Fire Emblem Heroes doesn’t have as big of a map as traditional games in the series, but it can be a good start for people who haven’t played a lot of tactical RPGs before.

3. Fire Emblem: Warriors (74)

Fire Emblem Warriors (74)

Fire Emblem: Warriors on the Wii U and Nintendo Switch made the dream of making a Dynasty Warriors game with characters from Fire Emblem come true, making it possible. In Warriors, you play as your character fights thousands of enemies until the timer runs out or the goal is met. You don’t have to think about anything while you do this.

People from Shadow Dragon, Awakening and Fates are only in Fire Emblem: Warriors. But that could lead to the development of another game. Just make sure you get the Nintendo Switch version, because it’s better and faster than the Nintendo Wii version.

4. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (78)

Path of Radiance would have been fine without a sequel on the Nintendo Wii. Radiant Dawn’s release on the Wii was still a big deal. The western version has a small mistake in the translation of the difficulty options, which led to some bad reviews early on.

Localized versions of the game don’t have Normal, Hard, and Lunatic. They instead have Easy, Normal, and Hard instead. People who are fans of Fire Emblem will see how brutal it can be when they switch teams.

Radiant Dawn is a direct sequel to Path of Radiance. It has a data transfer system that lets players import information from the game’s predecessor if they have already finished it.

Radiant Dawn doesn’t use a traditional narrative structure. Instead, the player’s point of view changes throughout the campaign, allowing the player to control characters on both sides of a single conflict. With a huge number of units that can be used, and thanks to the game’s flexible and customizable item forging and skill systems, players can make strategies that fit their own playstyles. Because Radiant Dawn is so hard, it’s a great game for people who already know the series and want to test their skills.

5. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows Of Valentia (81)

Fire Emblem Echoes Shadows Of Valentia (81)

A love letter to the game it’s based on is what Nintendo 3DS Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia does best, and it’s very good. Many times, Kenta Nakanishi played Gaiden with his father. Before his father died, he played with him. Kenta Nakanishi is the director of the game.

People could tell Shadows of Valentia had a lot of heart and soul in it from the way they showed off what they had made. Nakanishi’s father would be very proud of his son for making a new version of a game that he used to love. The game has beautiful graphics, breathtaking music, and well-developed characters.

Despite the game’s faithful map design, Shadows of Valentia doesn’t have as good a map as other games in the series. This game did, however, introduce the “Mila’s Turnwheel.” This lets players go back and try to fix mistakes without having to re-watch the whole chapter.

6. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (81)

Nintendo DS remaking a game that is also a remake was a crazy idea. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon did well on Metacritic. The West was finally told about Marth’s story. Even though it isn’t very long and only has basic dialogue, Shadow Dragon has a lot of challenges and makes you want to keep playing.

The graphics are old and not the best for the Nintendo DS, but if someone can get their hands on a used copy of Shadow Dragon, they should play it.

Since Thracia 776 was only available in Japan, Shadow Dragon was the first game in the series to not have a support system since then. The game broke new ground by allowing fully realized multiplayer for the first time in the series’ history, which greatly expanded on what was already possible in Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.

7. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GCN)

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance (GCN)

Path of Radiance was the first home console Fire Emblem game to be released in the West and only the third to be translated. Ike, the leader of the Greil Mercenaries, was introduced in the game. When it comes to graphics, this was the first game in the series to use fully 3D graphics. As a first try, it does a good job. By today’s standards, it doesn’t look very good. But as we said at the start, there aren’t any bad Fire Emblem games, just ones that don’t have enough refinements and/or favorite characters. We like Ike a lot, but not as much as some of the greats.

8. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)

Because it was only the second time that The Sacred Stones was shown around the world, it’s called “The Eighth.” Twins Eirika and Ephraim are the stars of this story, which takes place in Magvel, a land that is under attack by other people who want to take it over. While it didn’t add much to the established formula, it’s a solid and fun game and a fitting farewell for the series on the GBA. People who were early adopters of 3DS before the system’s price was cut were given a chance to get up to speed if they missed it back in 2005 and get ready for when that game came out on the 3DS.