Nintendo launched the Fire Emblem: Choose Your Legends event last week, giving series fans the chance to vote on which characters will make a special appearance in Fire Emblem Heroes. Although the polls will remain open through Jan. 31, Nintendo teased fans with a list of the most popular heroes thus far, and it shows that fans need to place their bets a bit smarter, going forward.
Here are the current leaders of the #FEChoose Your Legends event. The margins are slim, so keep voting until 1/31! https://t.co/D6ADuwXYQ7 pic.twitter.com/9m2gvjjXCl
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 26, 2017
By that, we mean the contest doesn’t just ask voters to choose their favorite individual Fire Emblem heroes; it also implicitly crowns the most popular version of said character. Even though, say, Marth appeared in multiple Fire Emblem games, he doesn’t just take up one slot on the poll. He occupies multiple positions, depending on which of his games players prefer.
Because of how Nintendo organized the event, votes are split across numerous games for recurring Fire Emblem characters. In the case of Ike, who’s currently leading the poll, this doesn’t appear to be an issue. Not only is Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance’s version of Ike holding onto the top spot of the charts, his Radiant Dawn look rounds out the top five.
For well-known hero Marth, on the other hand, this method of voting seems to be keeping him out of the upper echelon of the ranking. His Shadow Dragon appearance is sitting at number six, while his role in its Japan-only sequel Mystery of the Emblem weighs in at just number 14. If Marth fans just stuck to one of the two games — or if Nintendo didn’t split the vote between them — chances are things would be looking a lot better for him right now. (Characters like Anna, who has appeared in numerous Fire Emblem games, also don’t stand to benefit from how the votes are assigned.)
That being said, it’s likely that Ike’s much higher level of visibility would have kept him at the top anyway. He’s starred in two Fire Emblem games that made it stateside, but he’s also been a popular swordsman in two Super Smash Bros. entries as well. While Marth has been a Smash Bros. staple since the GameCube days, his sole Western Fire Emblem appearance received a tepid response from players.
Fear not, Fire Emblem fans: Although the male and female contest winners will appear with special costumes in Fire Emblem Heroes, which hits iOS and Android on Feb. 2, the free-to-play game will have a ton of different characters on deck. They’ll likely be hidden behind microtransactions, however, but we’d expect popular characters to still make it into Heroes in some fashion.