Fire Emblem Awakening is a tactical role-playing game created by Intelligent Systems and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was first sold in Japan in April 2012 and later in North America and PAL regions in early 2013. This game is part of the Fire Emblem series and the first in the series designed for the 3DS. Like earlier Fire Emblem games, players move characters on a grid-based battlefield to fight enemies. Additional features include building relationships between characters to improve their skills and using multiple camera angles during battles.
The story takes place 2000 years after the events of the original Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem Gaiden. It follows Chrom, a prince from Ylisse, and his army, the "Shepherds." They rescue Robin, a character who has lost their memory and whose name, gender, and appearance can be chosen by the player. Robin becomes the group's tactician. Throughout the story, Chrom's army travels across Ylisse to protect it from undead enemies called the Risen and attacks from the rival nation of Plegia.
Development of Fire Emblem Awakening started in 2010, with many experienced Fire Emblem developers working on the project. Intelligent Systems led the development, with guidance from Nintendo. Because earlier Fire Emblem games had lower sales, Awakening was planned as the final game in the series, combining elements from all previous Fire Emblem games. At the time, the 3DS was still being improved, so the team made decisions about game content and graphics based on what was possible with the hardware.
After its release, Fire Emblem Awakening was widely praised by critics and sold well worldwide. Many reviewers highlighted its story, characters, and new gameplay features, as well as how it made the game easier for new players. However, some features, such as the option to disable permanent character death (a common feature in the series), received mixed reactions. The game was nominated for several awards and is often considered one of the best games for the 3DS and one of the greatest video games ever made. Its success helped increase sales of the 3DS and ensured the Fire Emblem series would continue. It was followed by Fire Emblem Fates in 2015.
Gameplay
In Fire Emblem Awakening, the player starts the game as one of the main characters, a customizable Avatar. The default name is Robin, but players can choose the Avatar’s name, gender, hair color, features, and voice. There are two game modes: Casual Mode and Classic Mode. In Classic Mode, characters who are defeated in battle cannot be used again for the rest of the game. Casual Mode allows players to disable permanent deaths, so fallen units return after a battle ends. If Chrom or the Avatar dies in battle, the player sees a "Game Over" message and must restart the battle. The game has four difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, Lunatic, and Lunatic+. Lunatic+ is unlocked after completing the game on Lunatic mode. Players choose the mode and difficulty at the start of a new game.
After forming a party, players travel across a world map to new and familiar locations. The time of day on the map matches the player’s real-world time zone and time. New locations may include main story missions or side stories where new characters can be recruited. Previously visited locations have shops where players can buy weapons and may also have random enemy battles. Between missions, players can visit a customizable base called the Barracks. Here, they can watch scenes between characters and do other activities. Excluding characters from downloadable content, players can recruit 49 characters: 28 in the main story and 21 in Paralogues. The game uses Nintendo 3DS features like SpotPass and StreetPass through the world map. During navigation, players may meet others and interact via StreetPass. Players can battle up to 10 characters from another player’s world, and the winner gains access to that party. Avatars can also be befriended or defeated in battle and loaned to other players using this feature.
The game uses a turn-based tactical role-playing battle system. The top screen of the 3DS shows the battlefield terrain, while the bottom screen displays unit information. Before each battle, players select a limited number of characters from their roster to use. These characters can be controlled manually or through an auto-battle option. Movement follows a tile-based system. During combat, player-controlled characters and AI-controlled enemies each take turns positioning units. An extra turn is added if unaffiliated AI units are present. Characters next to each other in battle support one another, giving them bonuses like blocking attacks. Two characters can pair up as a single unit to attack together. As relationships grow stronger, characters gain more benefits when paired in battle. During combat, the view switches to a 3D scene between combatants. Players can use the 3DS stylus to activate optional camera angles, including a first-person view through the eyes of playable characters.
Characters earn experience points (EXP) for successful actions during battles. Their level increases by one when they earn 100 EXP, and their stats improve as their level rises. New skills are also learned. The game has 42 character classes. Each character, including the Avatar, starts with a class. At Level 10, they can upgrade or change classes using special items called Master Seals and Second Seals. A Master Seal improves a character’s class, stats, and abilities. A Second Seal lets a character change classes, or "reclass," if they are at Level 10 or have reached their Advanced Class. Reclassing resets a character’s level to 1 but keeps their stats and abilities. Most characters can only reclass into certain classes, but the Avatar can reclass into any class available for their chosen gender. Characters keep skills learned from previous classes. A character’s class affects their attack power and movement: for example, mages and archers attack from a distance, mounted units have stronger attacks, and flying units move faster and attack farther.
Relationships between characters are built through Support conversations between chapters. Relationship rankings range from C to A, with A meaning a close friendship. For characters of opposite genders, an S ranking is available, where they fall in love, marry, and have children. Stronger relationships give battle benefits, like increased mobility or automatic guarding. Children from married characters can be recruited in optional chapters. Their abilities and appearance depend on their parents. Most characters can only have Support conversations with specific units, but the Avatar can build relationships with all characters. Depending on the Avatar’s chosen gender, they can marry any unit from any generation, as long as the unit is not a direct descendant.
Synopsis
The game takes place about 2000 years after the events of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Gaiden. Long ago, the Fell Dragon Grima tried to destroy the world. To stop Grima, the Divine Dragon Naga chose the ruler of the Halidom of Ylisse, called the First Exalt. Naga gave the Exalt two magical items made from her fangs: Falchion, a sword that can kill dragons, and the Fire Emblem, a magical shield. The Exalt defeated Grima, sending it into a long sleep. Over time, the continents of Archanea and Valentia became known as Ylisse and Valm.
Today, Ylisse is divided into three countries. The Halidom of Ylisse still honors Naga and is ruled by Exalt Emmeryn, protected by the Shepherds. The kingdom of Plegia worships Grima. Regna Ferox is a country where rulers often compete for power. Fifteen years before the events of Awakening, Emmeryn’s father, the last Exalt, fought a war against Plegia. This war harmed both countries and caused lasting anger. Ylisse has since recovered because of Emmeryn’s peaceful efforts.
An amnesiac person named Robin wakes up in a field and is found by Chrom and the Shepherds. Robin joins the Shepherds after showing skill as a tactician by helping defend a town from Plegian bandits. After forming an alliance with Regna Ferox, the Shepherds fight Plegia’s forces and creatures called Risen. They are helped by a masked man named "Marth." During a battle, Validar and his followers nearly kill Emmeryn, but "Marth" saves her. "Marth" is later revealed to be a woman. Soon after, Plegian forces capture Emmeryn while she tries to negotiate with King Gangrel. Emmeryn refuses to accept Gangrel’s demands and sacrifices herself by jumping off a cliff, becoming a hero to both Ylisse and Plegia. The Shepherds eventually defeat Plegia, killing Gangrel and restoring peace.
Two years after Gangrel’s defeat, Chrom becomes king of Ylisse, marries, and has a daughter named Lucina. When Emperor Walhart of Valm threatens to attack Ylisse, Chrom leads the Shepherds again. "Marth" returns and reveals she is Lucina, who comes from a future where Grima has returned. She used a time-travel spell from Naga to return to the past and stop Grima’s resurrection. To stop Grima, Chrom must perform the "Awakening" ritual by combining the Fire Emblem with five magical gems from different nations. The Shepherds find four gems, but Validar, the new king of Plegia and Robin’s father, tricks them into accepting the last gem. Validar takes control of Robin and steals the Fire Emblem from Chrom, revealing that Robin was born as Grima’s ideal vessel. Lucina learns that Grima used Robin to kill Chrom in her timeline and tries to kill Robin. Chrom stops her, believing Robin can resist Grima’s control. If Robin is Lucina’s husband or mother, Lucina decides not to kill Robin. The Shepherds defeat Validar, who tries to kill Chrom, and recover the Fire Emblem.
A future version of Robin appears, explaining that Robin’s amnesia was caused by Grima’s failed attempt to control them. Future Robin restores Grima’s dragon form. Chrom performs the Awakening and summons Naga, who tells him she can only put Grima to sleep for another thousand years. Naga says the only way to destroy Grima is for Robin to kill it, which would also kill Robin. However, Robin might survive if their bond with Chrom and the Shepherds is strong. In the final battle, the Shepherds weaken Grima. Chrom offers to deliver the final blow, but the outcome depends on the player’s choice. If Chrom kills Grima, it sleeps again, but the Avatar feels regret. If Robin kills Grima, both Robin and Grima die. Chrom and the Shepherds refuse to believe Robin is dead and vow to find them. In a post-credits scene, Robin is found alive in a field, where Chrom and Lissa welcome them home.
Development
The planning for Fire Emblem Awakening started in 2010, when Nintendo SPD director Genki Yokota was working on the Wii game Xenoblade Chronicles. The game was made by Intelligent Systems, a company that often creates Fire Emblem games. Some team members had worked on earlier Fire Emblem titles, such as project manager Masahiro Higuchi, who helped develop Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, and producer Kouhei Maeda, who wrote stories for Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. The first ideas for the game came after Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, a remake of the third Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo DS. Development started slowly in the first year, with producer Hitoshi Yamagami organizing the team’s work. Later, Yamagami handed over main tasks to co-director Genki Yokota. The art director was Toshiyuki Kusakihara, and character designs were done by Kusakihara and Yūsuke Kozaki. Kusakihara joined to bring new ideas to the Fire Emblem series, while Kozaki helped create an art style that would be popular outside Japan, similar to his work on the game No More Heroes. During development, Kusakihara and Kozaki had long meetings about the game’s details. These meetings became so time-consuming that Kusakihara compared his situation to the story of Urashima Tarō.
Because sales of Fire Emblem games were falling, Nintendo told the developers that Awakening would be the last Fire Emblem game if it sold fewer than 250,000 copies. This worried the team, who considered adding new ideas like a modern setting or using Mars as a background. However, they decided these ideas might turn off players and kept the medieval style of earlier games. To make the game special, they planned to include elements from all previous Fire Emblem titles. This idea was approved, and the team finished their proposal quickly, though choosing which features to include was difficult. The game’s name, "Awakening," was suggested by Yamagami during a discussion with Yokota and was later chosen as the final title. The team kept working hard despite the pressure, and the game was internally called "Fire Emblem Fin: The Children from the Brink."
Maeda was in charge of the story, creating the basic outline before the team added details for each chapter. Some parts of the story, like the true identity of "Marth," were planned early, while other surprises were added during development. Team members from Intelligent Systems and Nintendo suggested many plot ideas. Two main themes were the love for characters and the relationships they formed. This was shown in gameplay through how characters helped each other. Voice acting was used but limited to short lines to avoid slowing down the game. The team used well-known voice actors for both English and Japanese versions. Special scenes where characters confessed feelings were given unique voiceovers and visuals. Every main character had a personal story and personality, with the child character Inigo being the first to be finalized by planner Nami Kumoru. Many writers created dialogue, and a guidebook with character traits was used to help them. Fans wanted all characters, even soldiers, to have names, so the team gave everyone names and created artwork for each. Designing characters was one of the hardest parts of development. Kozaki considered characters’ backstories, like drawing Gaius, the thief, with a bag of sweets because he loved them. Kozaki also made 2D artwork for character conversations. The soundtrack was composed by Hiroki Morishita and Rei Kondoh.
After Nintendo approved the project, Intelligent Systems formed a small team to develop Awakening. It was the first Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo 3DS, which was still being tested. The team had many ideas but limited knowledge of the system’s capabilities. They struggled to decide how 2D images and 3D environments would work together and avoided making character feet visible to focus on the upper body. Later, they realized ankles and feet could be added but chose to save that for a future game. Another reason was to make heads the largest part of characters.
The design of characters on the map changed. At first, showing equipment and class was enough, but later the team added unique traits. They also included more expressions for emotional scenes and added effects like dust clouds during battles. Full-motion cutscenes were inspired by Taiga drama series and created by Kamikaze Douga and Studio Anima. The team asked Studio Anima to make the world feel alive during key story moments.
The first part of the game to be fully developed was gameplay. The team used the opening map from Mystery of the Emblem as a test. They considered changing character sizes based on camera distance but instead used a system that kept battle frame rates steady. When designing levels, the team created maps that followed the story’s structure.
Release
The game was announced in September 2011 and released in Japan on April 19, 2012, in North America on February 4, 2013, and in Europe and Austriasia on April 19, 2013. To promote the game, Nintendo created a special bundle that included a limited edition Nintendo 3DS with the game pre-installed. The English version of the game took about one year to translate and was completed by Nintendo of America and an independent company called 8-4, which had previously translated Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. The English release also included Japanese voice recordings. Similar to Japan, limited 3DS bundles with the game pre-installed were made for North America and Europe, and the European bundle included the 3DS XL model.
Fire Emblem Awakening was the first Nintendo game to offer downloadable content (DLC) after its release. The DLC included extra maps and characters from earlier games in the Fire Emblem series. The idea for DLC was developed when the game was nearly finished, so the team could not change the main story. For new playable characters, the team selected the most important characters from the main cast and let Maeda make the final choices. Starting with the game’s release, over twenty maps were made available as DLC, one map each week, across all regions. Players could access the DLC using the game’s SpotPass system. In the game’s world, after reaching a certain point, characters could enter an area called the Outrealm Gate to play the DLC maps. Artists who worked on previous games, like Senri Kita, and new artists, like Kimihiko Fujisaka, created illustrations for the DLC characters. One DLC map was changed in North America and Europe, with a scene showing female character Tharja altered to hide her clothing.
Reception
Fire Emblem Awakening received a lot of praise from critics, with an average score of 92 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 72 reviews. After its release, the game was listed among the best 3DS games by GameSpot and placed second on a similar list by GameTrailers. IGN included it in two lists: it ranked #2 on their list of the top 25 Nintendo 3DS games and #21 on their list of the top 125 Nintendo games of all time. Slant Magazine’s staff ranked it the 11th best video game of 2013.
Famitsu said the game was enjoyable for both experienced players and newcomers, praising its new gameplay features. IGN’s Audrey Drake called it "the most fluid and stunning strategy RPG experience on a portable device" and noted its strong storytelling and production quality. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com said the changes made by Intelligent Systems made Awakening "an engaging game that will stay popular for a long time." He criticized the enemy AI for sometimes making the game unfair. Ray Carsillo of Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed about the lack of a restart option but called it "probably the best Fire Emblem game released in the United States." Eurogamer’s Rich Stanton gave the game a perfect score, calling it "a special game" and praising its story and characters.
GameTrailers said the game improved the series with new features like better social interactions and battle mechanics. GameSpot’s Heidi Kemps called it the best Fire Emblem game in years, despite mixed opinions about the interface and multiplayer. Alexa Ray Corriea of Polygon said the developers added enough new elements to keep the game challenging without losing its core identity. Kimberley Wallace of Game Informer said the game made her work hard to win and enjoy every moment. Chris Carter of Destructoid, like Famitsu, recommended it to both new and returning players, saying it was a great starting point for newcomers and familiar to longtime fans.
A blacksmith known online as Man at Arms gained attention for creating a replica of Chrom’s Falchion sword from the game.
Awakening was nominated for many awards after its release. At the 2012 Famitsu Awards, it received the magazine’s Excellence Award. In the West, it was nominated for "Best RPG" at the 2013 Spike Video Game Awards. It was also nominated in several categories at Destructoid’s 2013 Game of the Year awards, including Game of the Year, Best Role-Playing Game, Best Story, and Best Soundtrack. It was nominated for GameSpot’s Game of the Year 2013 in the Nintendo 3DS category. IGN’s Best of 2013 awards gave it wins in Best 3DS Strategy Game and Best 3DS Story categories. At the Game Developers Choice Awards 2014, it was nominated for Best Handheld/Mobile Game. During the 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, it was nominated for "Handheld Game of the Year" and "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year."
In Japan, the game sold quickly, becoming the fastest-selling entry in the series since detailed sales tracking began. During its first week, it sold 242,600 units, reaching the top of the sales charts and surpassing the debut sales of the previous two Fire Emblem games. It sold 81.63% of its initial shipment, causing some stores to run out of stock. Media Create, a sales tracker, said the high sales were due to Nintendo’s marketing campaign and a five-year gap between releases. Demand for the limited Japanese bundle was so high that the pre-order website couldn’t handle the traffic. Nintendo could not reopen pre-orders later because Japanese law required the game to be sold only as a limited edition. By early 2013, the game had sold 455,268 units, placing it among the top 30 best-selling games of 2012. Nintendo also reported that 1.2 million units of downloadable content were sold by September 2012, earning about $4.8 million.
In North America, the game sold 180,000 units in its first month, with 63,000 units sold through the eShop. These figures were the best first-month sales for the franchise in the region. Sales continued to grow, reaching 240,000 units by April and 390,000 units by September. In the UK, it debuted in third place on the charts. The game and a hardware bundle helped increase 3DS and 3DS XL sales by nearly 50% compared to the previous week. As of January 2017, the game had sold 1.9 million copies worldwide, with 500,000 sold in Japan and 1.4 million sold elsewhere.
Legacy
The strong sales of the game, which went far beyond the numbers Nintendo expected during production, made sure the Fire Emblem series would continue. In January 2015, a new Fire Emblem game called Fire Emblem Fates was announced for worldwide release. It was created for the Nintendo 3DS by the same team that worked on Awakening. The success of Awakening helped other Japanese RPG companies, like Square Enix and Atlus, use the Nintendo 3DS more often.
Awakening's success also led to its characters appearing in other Nintendo games. Two main characters, Lucina and Robin, were included in the 2014 crossover fighting games Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Chrom was considered for the game but was thought to be too similar to other Fire Emblem characters already on the roster, so he only had small, non-playable appearances. However, he became playable in the next Super Smash Bros. game, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, because many fans, especially in Japan, wanted him to be included. His addition led some people to think there were too many Fire Emblem characters in the series and that some were too similar. A stage based on Arena Ferox and music from Awakening were also included in the game.
Lucina and Robin were playable characters in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., Fire Emblem Fates, and temporarily in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for those who used their Amiibo figures. Costumes based on Chrom and Lucina were available in Capcom's Monster Hunter Frontier G as part of a promotion with Nintendo. A free downloadable mission in Fates allowed characters from Fates to visit the world of Awakening just before Awakening's story began. During promotion for Fates, a Fire Emblem-themed trading card game was released. A set inspired by Awakening included a code to download Lucina as a playable character in Fates. Chrom and Lucina are both playable in Project X Zone 2, and many characters from Awakening appear in Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, a game that combines Fire Emblem with Atlus's Megami Tensei series. Chrom also made a guest appearance in the mobile game Dragalia Lost. Characters from Awakening are playable in Fire Emblem Heroes and Fire Emblem Warriors, with the latter launching alongside the first Chrom Amiibo figure. A second Chrom Amiibo figure for Super Smash Bros. was released on November 15, 2019.