‘Fire Emblem Echoes’ will be series’ last ‘main’ game on 3DS

By Gabe Gurwin May 5, 2017

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia – DLC Briefing

The Fire Emblem series found tremendous success on the Nintendo 3DS, with Awakening bringing new life into a series that had previously been on the verge of cancellation, but all good things must come to an end eventually. This month’s Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is expected to be the last “mainline” entry for the series on the handheld system.

Speaking with Dengeki Nintendo (via Japanese Nintendo) in the outlet’s June issue, producer Hitoshi Yamagami revealed that Echoes would be the last traditional turn-based tactics game in the series to come to the 3DS. This excludes the upcoming Fire Emblem Warriors, which is arriving to both the 3DS and the Switch later this year.

Though built from the ground up as a new game, Fire Emblem Echoes‘ DNA lies in the Famicom’s Fire Emblem Gaiden. The game’s narrative is shared with Gaiden, and Echoes also features several non-traditional elements — such as exploration — that Gaiden introduced. It also features combat changes, with archers now much more useful in close-quarters battles.

The Nintendo Switch will receive the next main Fire Emblem game as an exclusive in 2018. If the system qualifies as a “home” console, then this will be the first time the series has released an installment on a home console since 2007’s Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, a game that regularly commands prices well above $100 on eBay. Famous for being the most difficult game to make it to the West, Radiant Dawn and its excellent predecessor, Path of Radiance, feature some of the most compelling story lines in the entire series, with racism and the fallout of war giving rise to some interesting conflicts not seen in other games.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is out May 19 exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS. A season pass is available to purchase as well, but it costs more than the standard edition of the game.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

Fire Emblem Engage bond levels: how to get max Bond Levels fast

Marth and ALear cross swords in Fire Emblem Engage.

Fire Emblem Engage has a lot of systems to keep track of. Even ignoring all the different combat mechanics, you have your level, class, Support Levels, equipment, and more to consider. One thing you shouldn't forget about is Bond Levels. Bond Levels are somewhat like Support Levels, only instead of other units, these bonds are between you and the Emblems you collect that contain the spirits of heroes from past games. Leveling up these Bond Levels will vastly increase your power, so here are the most efficient ways to reap those sweet rewards in Fire Emblem Engage.
What Bond Levels do

As mentioned, Bond Levels will greatly improve your character. Once you have increased your Bond Level enough with a specific Emblem, that unit will continue to learn new skills that they can keep even when you unequip that Emblem Ring. As such, you can then mix and match learning more skills from new Emblems as you increase their Bonds and then switch to new ones.
Best ways to increase Bond Levels

Gaming

The best skills to inherit in Fire Emblem Engage

Marth and ALear cross swords in Fire Emblem Engage.

Each Fire Emblem title introduces a new twist for either the tactical combat sections of the game or the social aspects. With Fire Emblem Engage, the stars of the show are Emblem Rings, which allow you to equip rings to your units that pair them with a hero from previous titles. These rings give a few stat buffs, but also allow that unit to use some of the skills of that specific hero, more of which unlock as they level up. Normally, those skills can only be used while a ring is equipped, but you do have the option to inherit skills from an Emblem to keep for good. Here's how skill inheritance works, and which skills are the best ones in Fire Emblem Engage.
How to inherit skills

In order to inherit skills from an Emblem Ring, a few things are required.

Gaming

Fire Emblem Engage makes the wait for a Nintendo Switch 2 more tolerable

Alear and Marth open a door in Fire Emblem Engage.

If you had asked me whether or not I was ready for an upgraded Nintendo Switch two months ago, my answer would have been an emphatic yes. I had just played Pokémon Scarlet and, like many people, was baffled by its poor technical performance. I began to wonder if Nintendo’s aging hardware had finally hit its limits, unable to meet developers’ growing ambitions. Perhaps it wasn’t just time for a Switch Pro, but a new console altogether.

That desire was a reactionary one. Two months after that Pokémon game's ugly launch, I find myself stunned by the Switch’s latest exclusive, Fire Emblem Engage. The tactical RPG is one of the console’s best-looking games to date. It’s a major step up from 2018’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses, with brighter colors that pop on my Switch OLED screen and silky smooth performance that makes it feel like a playable anime.