Fire Emblem Awakening

Fire Emblem Awakening
Developer	Intelligent Systems Nintendo SPD
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo 3DS
Release Date	JP April 19, 2012 US February 4, 2013 PAL April 19, 2013
Rating	ESRB: T

Fire Emblem Awakening is a tactical fantasy role-playing game that acts as the thirteenth game of the Fire Emblem series. It is the first game of the series on the Nintendo 3DS. This game notably revitalized the series, and with this game, the series returned to having international released (after the previous game was restricted to Japan).

Story

The story is set in the far future of the early Fire Emblem games, in which the kingdom of Arcahnea has become a kingdom known as Ylisse. The game follows an amnesiac tactician and Chrom, the leader of the Shephards, in a battle to prevent the return of the Fell Dragon Grima. This involves confrontations with a mysterious warrior who initially appears to be Chrom's legendary ancestor, Marth.

Gameplay

The game follows the basic gameplay of past Fire Emblem games, but it also features some changes. One is splitting the game into Classic and Casual Modes, with the difference being that Casual Mode allows playable units to return in the following chapter if they fall in battle, while Classic Mode retains the traditional concept of playable units permanently dying or otherwise being retired upon falling in the battlefield. Beyond that, the game has three initial difficulty levels (Normal, Hard and Lunatic) as well as an unlockable Lunatic+ Mode. This game also features a world map that can be traversed, with the addition of new story missions and sidequests, and the game will sync up to the system's time of day.

Awakening retains the idea of a playable avatar that was introduced in the previous game. The avatar character's physical features, gender and voice could all be customized by the player. The game also brings back the Support feature, complete with Support conversations, and there is also now a new Pair Up function which allows some units to move and fight together.

Two games can connect through the 3DS's Local Play for battles between teams of three units from each player. The game is also compatible with SpotPass and StreetPass. Through StreetPass, players can contend against the armies of other players. With SpotPass, players can receive new items and maps as well as various characters from past Fire Emblem games who can be fought and recruited. The game also featured DLC in the form of maps and characters.

Legacy

Awakening helped to restore and boost the popularity of Fire Emblem, which has led to the characters being featured in various other games. All three of the game's protagonists (Lucina, Robin and Chrom) would end up being incorporated into the Super Smash Bros. series as playable fighters, and characters from Awakening would be featured in crossovers such as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE and Project X-Zone 2. Awakening characters also featured heavily in Fire Emblem Warriors.

Sequels

The next game to be released would be Fire Emblem Fates, which was released with several versions. It acted as a sequel set in a future generation from Awakening.