Nintendo is bringing the original Fire Emblem — yes, the 30-year-old Nintendo Entertainment System-era game — to Nintendo Switch. It will be the first time the original Fire Emblem will be officially localized into English for a North American release, and Nintendo is offering the game only for a limited time.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light will be released Dec. 4 on Switch for $5.99 through the Nintendo Switch eShop. Nintendo says the 8-bit Fire Emblem will only be available on the eShop through March 31, 2021. (Yes, that’s the same day that Nintendo says it will stop selling the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection and shut down Super Mario Bros. 35, its battle royale platformer.)
Nintendo will also release a 30th Anniversary Edition of the game at retail in December, priced at $49.99. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light 30th Anniversary Edition will include “a nostalgic, stylized physical NES box and a replica NES Game Pak art piece with a protective sleeve,” according to Nintendo, as well as a 222-page Legacy of Archanea deluxe hardbound art book and a game download code. Also included in the deluxe package are an NES instruction manual “newly localized from the original Famicom release,” a fold-out world map, and a miniature Nintendo Power retro collectible.
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The Switch version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light will include modern gameplay concessions like rewind, fast-forward, and save state features.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light tells the story of Prince Marth — whom many Nintendo fans were first introduced to via Super Smash Bros. Melee — and his journey to recover the divine sword Falchion, defeat the evil Shadow Dragon Medeus, and restore peace to the kingdom of Archanea, all through grid-based, tactical role-playing game combat.
