While Roy’s game remained in Japan, Marth’s game finally made the jump overseas as a DS remake. Image: Nintendo Marth’s New Appearances in the West Despite the fact that Marth and Roy were the ones that sparked interest in Fire Emblem in the west, neither of their original games were made available to English speakers. Positive reception of the two Fire Emblem fighters in Melee resulted in The Blazing Blade being localized, along with most Fire Emblem games after that. Western players became curious about this particular fighter and began wanting his games made available to them, but they had to wait many years until their wish became true. Even though both of them were unknown in the west, they became very popular, especially Marth. However, during localization, both characters were well-received and were included in all other versions. Prior to the release of Melee, Marth and Roy were intended to be playable only in the Japanese version of the game because of this situation. Many Nintendo franchises had already made the jump overseas, including the similarly medieval-inspired Legend of Zelda series, so it seemed strange that Fire Emblem had not yet. However, Marth’s lack of representation in the west stood out due to the fact that Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light was already released, yet not available to English speaking audiences. Many players did not know who Roy was either, but that was partially because of the fact that The Binding Blade was still in development. Melee, Marth because of his status as the first Fire Emblem lord and Roy because of his upcoming game. Marth and Roy are both unlockable characters in Super Smash Bros. on Marth’s PopularityĪ few years after the anime aired, Marth finally made his gaming debut in the west. Image: Nintendo The Effect of Super Smash Bros. Due to its length and the lack of interest in Fire Emblem outside of Japan, not many people learned about Marth and Fire Emblem in general until Super Smash Bros. Since this was the very first piece of Fire Emblem media translated into English, there were multiple localization errors, such as referring to Marth as Mars. The anime is very short, with only two episodes being produced.
A 1997 anime, simply called Fire Emblem, was made available in English. Melee, this was actually not his first appearance in the west. While most Nintendo fans were introduced to Marth through Super Smash Bros. Divided into two books, Mystery of the Emblem includes two books one is a retelling of Marth’s first game, and the second is a direct continuation of it. Even though it was released only four years after the first game, Mystery of the Emblem is partially a remake of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. Mystery of the Emblem was the first Fire Emblem game for the Super Famicom, released in 1994.
Marth’s journey is usually considered to be the peak of Fire Emblem by the Japanese fandom, but since the western fandom did not have access to Marth’s story for so long, they typically prefer Path of Radiance.Īfter being absent in Gaiden, Marth made a return in Mystery of the Emblem,the third game in the series. He sets off to acquire the sacred Falchion and the Fire Emblem itself in order to defeat both Medeus and the priest that resurrected him, Gharnef. Marth is the very first protagonist of the series, a prince that fights in the War of Shadows against the dragon Medeus. It was then that Japanese players became acquainted with Marth and the world of Archanea.
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Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light was the first game in the Fire Emblem series released for the Famicom in 1990. Until then, Marth was only known from his Super Smash Bros.
A few games were made available outside of Japan after The Blazing Blade, but Marth did not make his official western debut until Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon came out in 2008-2009 on the Nintendo DS. Eventually, interest in Fire Emblem was created by Super Smash Bros, resulting in The Blazing Bladebeing released internationally. Fire Emblem was relatively unknown to westerners due to all of the games in the series being exclusive to Japan. Meleewas first released in 20, many players outside of Japan were surprised by the inclusion of one specific unlockable character: the Hero-king Marth, from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.