Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem[a] is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems, and published by Nintendo for the Super Famicom home video game console in 1994. It is the third installment of the Fire Emblem series, and the first to be developed for the Super Famicom.
The story is divided into two parts: the first part is a remake of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, while the second is an original story acting as a sequel to the first game. After defeating the sorcerer Gharnef and the Dark Dragon Medeus, peace is restored to Archanea and Marth restores his kingdom. His ally Hardin ascends to the throne of Archanea, but begins hostile military expansion across the continent, forcing Marth to confront his old friend and the force driving him. Gameplay follows the traditional Fire Emblem system of tactical battles taking place on grid-based maps.
Mystery of the Emblem began development in 1992 during the production of Fire Emblem Gaiden. The staff from previous entries, including series creator Shouzou Kaga and composer Yuka Tsujiyoko, returned to their respective roles. While originally conceived as two separate projects, the team eventually merged the proposed remake of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light with the original story content of Mystery of the Emblem. The gameplay, which had veered away from the first game’s tactical RPG routes in Gaiden, returned to its more traditional stance. The difficulty was lowered to encourage new players to try the series.
The game has been positively received by video game journalists; much praise went to its gameplay refinements and technical quality. It also set the best first-week sales for the series until Fire Emblem Awakening in 2012, and with 776,338 units by 2002 was the best-selling title in the series to that date. A derivative title for the Satellaview, BS Fire Emblem, was released during 1997. A full remake for the Nintendo DS, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, was released in 2010. In 2017, it was rereleased in Japan as part of the Japanese retailer versions of Classic SNES Edition.
1994-01-21