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Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (ファイアーエムブレム エコーズ もうひとりの英雄王, Faiā Emuburemu Ekōzu: Mō Hitori no Eiyū-ō, Fire Emblem Echoes: Another Hero King) is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console in 2017. The game is a full remake of the 1992 Family Computer video game Fire Emblem Gaiden, the second entry in the Fire Emblem series.
Following childhood friends Alm and Celica as they fight on opposites sides of a war between their respective nations, Fire Emblem Echoes carries over the core gameplay mechanics of the Fire Emblem series while incorporating mechanics from Gaiden and new elements including dungeons.
Development of Fire Emblem Echoes began in 2015 following the completion of Fire Emblem Fates.
Gameplay
The player commands two armies on opposite sides of a war on the continent of Valentia. There are two difficulties which are; Normal and Hard, two modes that decide the fate of characters that fall in battle. In Classic Mode, a fallen unit is subject to permanent death, a recurring mode in the Fire Emblem series that removes fallen characters from the rest of the game (though it is possible in Echoes to revive fallen units a limited number of times). Casual Mode enables units to be revived at the end of a battle.
The player navigates Valentia using a world map, visting various story-based and optional locations. Fire Emblem Echoes uses a turn-based system where each unit on both sides is given their chance to move and act. Battles take place on a grid-based battlefield, with turns being given for players and enemies.
Plot
The main storyline remains the same as in Fire Emblem Gaiden.
Development
Development for Echoes began following the completion of Fire Emblem Fates in 2015: Nintendo series producer Hitoshi Yamagami began considering developing a Fire Emblem game for the new Nintendo Switch home console, but it was too early to be developing for that system.
According to Nakanishi and Kusakihara, the original story had been underdeveloped compared to later Fire Emblem titles, to a remake would enable them to redesign the narrative to suit the tastes of modern Fire Emblem players. The story of Gaiden was expanded with the inclusion of the core conflict between the two nations that was previously confined to the original version's manual, and cast the character Saber in the role of narrator so as not to limit the scope of the story.
Release
The title was first announced in January 2017 during a Nintendo Direct broadcast exclusively dedicated to the Fire Emblem series. In Japan, multiple versions of the game were released; in addition to the standard release, there was also a limited edition with a special soundtrack, and a "Valentia Complete" edition featuring the contents of the limited edition with added items, including an artbook. In Europe, a bundle was released which includes; the Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia game, Alm and Celica amiibo figures, a Sound Selection CD Disc, a set of character pins for Alm, Celica, and Marth; and a reversible cover sheet that looks like the packaging for the original Famicom game this new one is based on.
The North American bundle is almost the the same as the European one, but it doesn't come with the Alm and Celica amiibo figures. The game features full voice acting—a first for the Fire Emblem series—for all but minor characters, but the English release does not include dual audio unlike Awakening.
Reception
Famitsu gave the game a positive review, with all four reviewers praising the mechanical quality, dramatic story and the mechanics carried over from Gaiden. One reviewer said that the efforts spent on Fire Emblem Echoes had elevated Gaiden from being the series' black sheep