Fire Emblem/Trivia


 * Cash Cow Franchise: In Japan, the series has been this since Mystery of the Emblem, but Invisible Advertising resulted in the series being lesser known out of Japan until Awakening debuted on the 3DS in 2012/3, with extensive advertising, thus putting the series on the road to being one of Nintendo's biggest IPs out of Japan too. 2017 was the year the dam really broke, with Shadows of Valentia, Heroes and Warriors all landing that year (Shadows of Valentia having the shortest mainline turnaround time to export in franchise history), with both packaged games selling very well and Heroes turning into a legitimate global phenomenon that could crack the top 5 grossing charts in America and contribute to Nintendo's bottom line so heavily that they discuss it at length in investor reports.
 * Fan Nickname:
 * The official term used when a unit becomes a different class, on both sides of the Pacific, is Class Change. Since units get a boost in stats, weapon proficiency and/or a level reset, (Western) fans always say they promote.
 * A Radiant Dawn Lets Play named the reinforcements who appear near the starting point of the map "Asshole Reinforcements". It's true. "Ambush-Spawning Reinforcements", or simply Ambush Spawns, is used to refer to reinforcements that move the turn they arrive.
 * It's common to refer to the powerful but unfortunately named Bolganone tome as "Bologna".
 * Fan Translation: Given that all the Fire Emblem games from The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light to The Sword of Seals were never released outside of Japan... They vary somewhat in quality and level of completion; however, nearly all of the games have been translated over 90%, and are certainly playable to Western audiences.
 * No Export for You: The entire series until, well, you know...
 * Sadly, given how late it is in the lifespan of the Nintendo DS and how long it's been since its Japanese release, New Mystery of the Emblem seems to have headed this way too. Nintendo has made no comment on the notion of translating it, nor have they issued a cease and desist order to the fans who are doing their own translation.
 * Thankfully this seemed to be an isolated example, as Awakening came to America with a bang. This might give New Mystery a shot in the arm, but it's unlikely.
 * For similar reasons, barring remakes it seems unlikely that either Jugdral game, Binding Blade, or Gaiden will ever be exported - in some cases the source code for the games may no longer be available.
 * Reclusive Artist: Shouzou Kaga is quite the enigma. He directed and designed every game through Thracia 776, then abruptly splintered off from Nintendo to start up his own studio, created Tear Ring Saga (which got him and the game's publisher sued for being a little too much like Fire Emblem), made an obscure sequel to it that came out 4 years later, then fell off the radar entirely. What's he been up to since? Your guess is a good as anybody's. It's also not clear why Kaga left Nintendo in the first place, and it seems he hasn't felt like making himself available to talk about it...
 * What Could Have Been:
 * There's evidence Soldiers were once intended to be playable in Mystery of the Emblem.
 * Jake - along with Beck, Darros, Wrys, Roger, and to a lesser extent Gotoh - was meant to return as playable characters in Mystery of the Emblem, but was scrapped during development.