How Relevant is Fire Emblem Actually?

[@Faerghast]

Click my link bit.ly/4fnvScS to check Sword of Convallaria, available on PC and mobile now! Use my code SOCCREATOR to get rewards in game! Valid until Sep. 14th.

[@joanfarjas4836]

That is tru Pokemon is the media fenchais that has made more mony in hitory you àre and Mario t'he one that has Solé more you àre compering t'hem to t'he verí bèst in history

[@RufioTheThird]

Saying the series is mainstream, yet the genre isn't is such a perfect way to sum it up

[@OrlandoAguirre222]

I was in the middle of commenting such till I saw this. One extra tidbit, when I tried to introduce my sis to the series, she didn't feel up for playing the older ones just because they're old. Wonder if recommending older games as FE fans might be a turn off for others.

[@mafiousbj]

​@@OrlandoAguirre222my girlfriend is what I would consider a very casual gamer. I remember trying to introduce her to gaming via pokemon since she had watched the anime as a kid. But did so using gen 3 since those are some of the best for me and could easily be played in an emulator. Turns out she was turned off by the "ugly" graphics. But when I bought Sword and Shield for the Switch she ate that game up in like a week 😂. Tldr: 90% of people care greatly for graphics. Also it never bodes well for a franchise when people firmly believe the best games in it have been released decades ago. We are lucky FE lords are in Smash otherwise many people would have never tried the games😂. Also there's a huge disconnect between what "hardcore FE" players enjoy and what the mainstram does. Social aspect and flexible character classes of 3H were lambasted by hardcore yet it sold like 3 times more than Engage, which was basically a nostalgia trip with V-tubers aesthetics. Lesson in there 😂

[@RufioTheThird]

@@OrlandoAguirre222 That's an interesting perspective. As someone who's always been able to appreciate older games, I can understand why it might be a turn-off for some to play an older game, like, if we're talking either GBA and older or even Mystery of the Emblem DS and older, who's to say? I'd say the old Fire Emblem games do not look very impressive to some newcomers, nor are a lot of them easy to get into and that's just a result of the genre not really being about the graphics as a focus, or hell, about them being accessible. Also, glad to hear your thoughts about my comment

[@Sylvainjose-satoyumiyato]

​@@OrlandoAguirre222 Yeah, I'm a newer fe fan (2022 with FE3H), and I can't play most of the older ones (excluding fe7 and 13) because they are waaaaay to hard for me (I suck at games in general lols), so I think that recommending the older ones might not be the best

[@OrlandoAguirre222]

@@mafiousbj yes, graphics are a huge deal for non gamers or casual ones, as my sis has played and beaten fe3h

[@imprudentdev1503]

Id say that it's less that Fire Emblem is mainstream, and more that Fire Emblem 3 Houses on its own is mainstream

[@mikethepokemaster2012]

Very true if fire emblem want to stay in relevent matbe copy what others like about 3H

[@TheAwesomeDarkNinja]

I know more people that have played only Three Houses compared to people that played it and the series in general

[@adv78]

I think its hard to define that line because them... Is Awakening main stream? It sure has a very high popularity on release and also sold a lot compated to other RPGs... We cant say for certain whether the series will continue to sell this good or not. Engage was a definitely smaller game on a smaller budget with a smaller scope so i always find that using it as proof the franchise is "dying" is pretty dumb. (Also selling 1.5M units is still great tbh) IS is definitely working on a bigger game for the next console, pretty likely that they were even working on it simultaneously with Engage, so only them for us to know if this popularity will be a series-wide thing or just 3H

[@Evilgood1]

3H is FE’s BOTW or FF7; popular within the franchise fandom, but in truth has its own fandom.

[@mafiousbj]

@@imprudentdev1503 When I saw 3H sold like 4.5 million out of the 20 M the franchise has. Damn. One single game did over 20% of sales. Why they decided to go with V-Tubers aesthetics and make a literal nostalgia trip that sometimes spoils older game with Emblems when a more grounded medieval aesthetic and an isolated setting had worked so well I will never understand. I don't want a situation where we need another hit like Awakening to save the franchise if new entries keep selling less and less that's all.

[@nothingbasic8147]

Fun fact: 3H thumbnails get clicks

[@lsrrr3857]

Woke FE zombie fans: bUt ThReE hOuSeS iS nOt ReAl fIrE eMbLeM

[@TheWanHui]

I’m a simple man. I see Claude; I click

[@mafiousbj]

@@nothingbasic8147 Engage thumbnails would get confused with generic V-tuber stuff 😂 They really forgot they were supposed to be a medieval fantasy. God I hate the character design in that game so much 😂

[@brandonwilliams6119]

You’ve heard of: *”But Awakening saved the franchise!”* Now get ready for: _” But Three Houses is the best selling game in the franchise!”_ People still have a hard time moving on from the first statement whenever something bad is said about the game, despite Awakening being over a decade old, like yeah, everyone knows that it saved the franchise but I feel 3 Houses defenders are keep on echoing the second statement in defense of that game.

[@mafiousbj]

@@brandonwilliams6119 ask the Castlevania fans how it feels when a franchise is abandoned (save for the recent Netflix shows that sadly didn't get Konami to get a new game made). As a huge DMC fan I know what it feels like your fav game is being abandoned by a overly greedy company. We were lucky to get DMC5 after the failed reboot, but it happened 11 years after DMC4. People take games for granted but give us a few more games with bad sales and FE hardcores will be screaming for a game with the mainstream appeal of 3H to "save the franchise". And it was a perfectly good game too, not like a gatcha or anything. Just want to balance the hate for it I see among "hardcore fans". I just hope whatever CEO is managing Intelligent Systems doesn't learn the wrong lessons from Engage's underperformance.

[@Xertaron.]

Engage selling far less than Three Houses was a foregone conclusion. As someone relatively new to the franchise who, when it was announced, was still going through each game for the first time, I wasn't interested in it at all. And the reason why is because it focuses on the moment to moment gameplay, while putting next to no effort in aspects that make it even remotely interesting for anyone who isn't a fan of the genre (or likes really loud character design). Fighting games used to be mostly competitive games and put no effort in attracting casual audience or new players until Mortal Kombat 9 changed that by adding the story mode so even people who are completely new to fighting games had something fun to play and maybe learn and grow to like it. This is why MK has by far the largest casual audience of any fighting game today and why Street Fighter and Tekken started doing the same. Conversely, hardcore audience is small compared to casual one, the hardcore audience of SRPGs is even smaller. So Fire Emblem has every reason to be casual friendly more than most other franchise. Before the invention of casual mode, it was one of the most unforgiving series ever - we like to present games like Dark Souls as an example of a hardcore game, but in Dark Souls you don't lose anything permanently if you die - your progress is slowed, never impeded. In Fire Emblem, if one of your units die, you can't use them for the rest of the playthrough, which could mean several hours. And that was a damn hard sell for a casual player. Solving that, it encountered a second problem - turn based games are generally not as exciting as real time ones and thus less appealing to casuals. Three Houses solved this by putting more emphasis on the world, the story and the characters - even if you have never played this type of game, you can still enjoy it. Thronebreaker (single player spin off of Gwent: The Witcher card game) did the same. Baldur's Gate 3... well, everyone and their mother knows why it's great. Engage meanwhile dropped the ball on that completely. Worse, rather than to casuals it tried to appeal to gacha enthusiasts, which makes sense on the surface, FEH is their golden goose, but gacha enthusiasts do not give a damn about something that isn't a gacha, casuals don't care about FEH or gacha in general, while FE fans play FEH just because it's a Fire Emblem and would drop it overnight if FE got an MMO or something, so advertising FEH to them is rather pointless - it screwed up on every level when it comes to finding the non-hardcore audience. Tldr of all of that is - IS needs to look at why Three Houses succeeded and why Engage underperformed by comparison. Three Houses is considered "unfinished" mind you, and it is still the most successful game in the franchise and for good reason. You make a feature complete game with similar design philosophy and the mainstream will eat it up.

[@Faerghast]

Sorry if this video is a little rambly! But I just wanted to talk about something that I cared more about than I thought. Did you play Fire Emblem when it was still considered niche or not? Let me know down below. Also, because I've just moved, I might be a little spotty on uploads, so you might see some segments of some livestreams for content up until I settle down and get back into the swing of uploads. Thank you so much for your support as always and please check out the patreon if you're interested! Patreon: www.patreon.com/GhastPatreon

[@danielfarrugia8494]

Ghast we would all listen to you ramble for 4 hours, it was a great video!

[@jaidora]

I’m currently on my 15 minute break but I want to just add this comment, if it wasn’t for Smash Bros and my interest in Ike I wouldn’t have been a fan of FE nor discover this channel. Awakening and Three Houses absolutely made me into a big fan while Fates, Awakening, and Engage to a degree helped me speculate what I like about the series and what I don’t like about it. My only hope is to see a revival of the older fan favorites from the SNES and GBA era.

[@DOW1100]

Just a minor correction: 10:12 Fire Emblem is NOT the only SRPG on the list you showed. Super Robot Taisen/Wars is another Japanese turn-based SRPG series with limited recognition in the West. It also started in the 90's and even uses a grid-based system like FE or Langrisser but with a mecha sci-fi setting. Give it a try if you have time, I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you enjoyed Fire Emblem. I find the gameplay, story and characters really compelling!

[@insanekashi009]

Originally I was only into Pokemon but then a friend brought over Smash Bros Melee and I ended up getting hooked into a lot of the series in the game including of course Fire Emblem which became one of my favorite series. My first FE was Path of Radiance and have been into the games since (ironically never beat Blazing but am working on it currently lol). I don't think any other series have I tried to play as many fan translations as this series. Personally I see FE as more main stream now, not because of its sales but if you say you're into the series people will know what series you're talking about. I'm more than happy to listen to someone else rant about FE so keep the videos coming!

[@grammy_hnng]

when i was a kid i used to wonder where tf the lords from smash came from (it was only marth and later lucina and robin) and i remember screaming when i realized i recognized the guys when i saw them on the eshop

[@MikeDrayton91]

First Fire Emblem game I played was Sacred Stones. Still in the midst of GBA being the big handheld. It was honestly the perfect introduction for me to strategy games, specifically SRPGs. The accessibility of Sacred was enough to really have me hooked on the overall narrative/mechanics of Fire Emblem to try 7, then 6, then the Gamecube titles after. No regrets, cause I genuinely love the series.

[@OrlandoAguirre222]

Same bro. Some folks think it was weird I played a game called "Fire Emblem Sacred Stones" before I touched Contra or Mario. Love em all tho. While not related but something I'd like to say regardless, my first Zelda game is The Legend of Zelda Four Swords 25th anniversary on my Nintendo DSi XL. So bizarre I just kinda wanted to lay it out there.

[@SonicLegends]

Ditto, the cover for Sacred Stones caught my attention much more than Blazing Blade's cover. It does not help that at the time it was just called merely Fire Emblem which as a kid made me not know what that was supposed to be.

[@chocov1233]

For me it was the Switch limited English release of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. I've surprisingly enjoyed playing it despite me not really playing games like this and for an NES game it has aged well. I already was familiar with the series because of Smahs Bros. and Smash KZbinrs. Made me try Marth in Smash Ultimate more and he's really fun to play.

[@jordanfrench4321]

Don't murder me, but my first ever fire emblem game was three houses. I had watched shadypenguinn play shadows of Valencia and loved it. Once I got my hands on three houses, I fell in love with the series and I look forward to seeing what comes next for fire emblem and plan on going back and playing the older games. In fact, fire emblem introduced me to games like triangle strategy and octopath traveler

[@rykyia2414]

OMG SAME three houses was my first and i only got into it cuz of shady which i also watched him play echoes thats crazy we had like the same experience. I would love to play the older games but idk how i would go about doing that

[@mafiousbj]

@@jordanfrench4321 you are not alone most likely. 3H has over 20% of the total sales figures of the franchise. That's why I hate when other "harcore" FE focused channels gatekeep and hate on 3H or call it casual bait. Like dude, we all started as casuals. I played the GBA games and didn't understand a thing but I liked the anime characters in a medieval fantasy setting that was it. I got hooked! 3H re-invigorated my love for the series for sure and I'm glad the series has so many new fans because of it. That means I have more people to discuss and talk about both the older and upcoming games. Just wish the franchise can retain said fans, since Engage certainly was a step backwards in popularity.

[@bificommander7472]

I played a bit of the FE7 rom, but 3H was the first game I really sunk my teeth into. It helps that it's one of the few games playable on easily available hardware. So far I played Awakening all the way through, halfway through Engage before I dropped it, and a bit of FE4 and FE9, which I found a bit tricky to get into, although I want to try again when I have some time. So far, none grabbed me like 3H did.

[@PeruvianPotato]

​@@bificommander7472 Damn that's pretty much my own story. I should really finish my old FE7 save file as I'm two or three chapters away from finishing Eliwood mode

[@BaltoDork]

@@rykyia2414 I'm not an expert at all considering I also started with 3h but iirc you can play a majority of the games in the series on a modded 3ds. not all of them but like, most of them.

[@bramv7174]

3Houses got me into the series, then went back to the 3DS games and the Warriors titles, then came Engage and now busy with the GBA games. But I'm still basically the only person in my friend group who plays FE

[@CaptainAstronaut]

I started with FE7 and that was 20 years ago and now I feel old

[@U2B4U]

Come on, nobody else recognizes you? I’m the only one? Lol, love your videos and I’m subscribed to your channel.

[@Diamond_Aura]

Is Fire Emblem Mainstream? Vs Is Fire Emblem Niche? Illusion of Choice Another 5 years of Three Houses discourse for some reason

[@GRK_2024]

it makes perfect sense how people still talk alot about 3H even after 5 years. the timeskip is real

[@LunalynDragon]

Funny that Metroid and Fire Emblem are right next to each other, given that they're my two favorite Nintendo franchises. Couldn't possibly be any more different from each other, either!

[@audreyschicksalholmwiltz3872]

As long as Three Houses is still being brought up, FE will forever be relevant (still waiting for that particular "Remake" For Switch 2 title tho 🤫)

[@icarue993]

You know what would be awesome for the remake? If they manage to A) finish up the routes that were not finished (Edelgart's) and B) polish up the routes in general. I might be biased, but Golden Deer felt the most complete with cutscenes and plans (even if the last boss makes little sense), then Blue Lions, which had less cutscenes that were subed by still images. And Edelgart's route felt very unfinished... And we if are in super wishfullfillment land: Add the split of the party members, whose combat files you can datamine from the games. I know all these are VERY unlikely to happen... but I can wish

[@mafiousbj]

Gameplay is nice but stories are usually what stays with you forever. That's why people keep reading books even when we have movies and videogames 😂 But for real if they manage to streamline the monastery bits, at least for new game+ playthroughs and give us a bit more options like turning on/off individual statues bonuses and no gender locked classes, we have a winner (and yeah, finish some routes and give us more agency, like being able to soften or harden house leaders to get different endings would be nice) On the other hand I don't think anything other than a re-write and re-design of the characters can give Engage staying power outside of the hardcore FE players 😂

[@Ardava-r5f]

​@@mafiousbj hardcore gamers play for the gameplay not for stories. Story is the only a huge factor for casual players.

[@mafiousbj]

@@Ardava-r5f and hardcore gamers are a minority and I want my franchise to stay alive so we need to appeal to casuals as well. Most of those will never explore the depths of gameplay. That's why Candy Crush brings millions every year. But everyone can get behind a good story Even Dark Souls decided to soften up a bit and add some quality of life features and bring the GOT author for the worldbuilding with Elden Ring and it proved more successfull than anything they had done before. I just hate when "harcore" FE focused channels despise 3H and praise Engage because "gameplay is better" but fail to mention all the other aspects that game fell flat in. Sales figures don't lie. I wouldn't want a situation where we need a hit like Awakening to save the franchise again.

[@Ardava-r5f]

@@mafiousbj The safe progression for Fire Emblem is making a Persona 5 like games with life sim and tons of social links and cutscenes. Guaranteed success.

[@lukaskunz-yl3sz]

I started with tree houses 2 years ago, I never played a S-RPG before but I wanted to try it because it sounded like it would be a lot of fun. I remember playing around 10 hours a day in the first week I had the game, it really felt like it was made just for me.

[@thekoifishcoyote8762]

It's weird how many Nintendo games are mainstream versions of niche things. Fire Emblem: SRPGs Pokemon: monster collectors Metroid: horror Zelda: adventure And probably a lot more

[@Ultimabuster92]

It will be tough to surpass 3H's popularity. I STILL hear people talking about it, see new fanart almost every day etc. after more than 5! years. The game, while not perfect of course, did so much right, i get excited from just imagining an even better FE in the future, but will it come? And if yes, when?

[@LeviAuren]

Fire emblem is relevant enough to warrant advertisers of SRPGs to target the fan base via KZbinrs (looking at you, Unicorn Overlord).

[@robertspearman8008]

It's really great to hear that someone else had the same experience playing the first game released in the west. Idk how I managed to beat the game as a kid when it first came out. Actually reading and learning the mechanics of that game has made the series a favorite of mine. Great video @Faerghast.

[@MythrilZenith]

Trying to piece out "niche" is a tough call, especially when you are within that niche. It is REALLY tough to get into the mindspace of someone else, and as such it's incredibly difficult for a FE player to get an accurate idea of how "niche" the game or the genre is. With strategy games becoming a smaller and smaller piece of the overall gaming pie over time [mostly because new gamers aren't jumping into strategy games like older gamers were], franchises like Fire Emblem represent the last bastions of public visibility for the genre. Fire Emblem is broadly known. But how many other strategy rpgs can the average person name? Maybe triangle strategy or Final Fantasy Tactics, both of which are carried by connection to existing brands? Unicorn Overlord had its moment in the sun, but that is the only other major release in the genre in the last few years. Even as a fan I'm struggling to name more than a handful of SRPGs in my head in general, let alone recent releases. Engage was over a year ago. Three Houses was 5 years ago. Yet it's still THE biggest name in the genre, the only one people still talk about generally outside of "oh yeah that game exists" types of mentions. Maybe it's just that these games are buried by more popular releases, or aren't advertised well, but I can't think of any SRPG that wasn't a Gacha or mobile game to come out in the last five years outside of Engage, UO, Triangle or Mario x Rabbids [if that even counts]. If that isn't a niche genre, I don't know what is.

[@JaceyMitchell]

Is it really becoming smaller and smaller? Super Robot Wars 30 was the best-selling entry in the franchise since the PS2 era. Triangle Strategy sold over one million copies. Tactics Ogre: Reborn topped the Japanese sales chart, and there are more SRPGs being localized for western audiences than at any other time in history. The Switch alone had two Fire Emblem games which both rank among the biggest sellers in the franchise's history, two new Super Robot Wars games and two ports of games that were originally released on the Vita, two Front Mission games, two SD Gundam G Generation games, Triangle Strategy, a new Valkyria Chronicles game, a whole bunch of indie games from Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, to Banner of the Maid, to Wargroove 1 & 2 and Banner Saga 1, 2 & 3. Outside of the 90s/early 2000s RTS boom strategy has never really been the biggest genre, especially strategy RPGs. But has there ever been a time this many big SRPGs sold respectable numbers in the west? Or even got western releases at all? I don't think so.

[@Handles_be_dumb]

​@@JaceyMitchellTriangle Strategy is literally the only one most people have heard of, outside of FE.

[@JaceyMitchell]

@@Handles_be_dumb That's irrelevant to the point, I even said strategy has never been a huge genre outside a brief RTS boom mainly on PC. The OP said it's becoming smaller and smaller. I asked if that was really true, considering that outside PC RTS games there are more strategy games (particularly SRPGs) getting western releases and meeting their sales targets during this current generation than arguably at any point in gaming history. Your answer would make sense if I had said strategy is a huge genre. But that's not even close to what I said.

[@hatlock8531]

Strategy gaming of any kind will always be mostly niche since it demands a lot of the player to understand the rules of the system. They, at a minimum, have a high barrier to entry and require learning. They require a big investment to review well and most strategy gamers will probably withhold their opinion unless they understand the game.

[@thebravegallade731]

​@@Handles_be_dumb Well there is one SINGLE franchise i can think of that is a bigger name that does tactical RPG, and its xcom...? Other then that the only names that get recognition are FFT/triangle strategy from square(and even then you can argue both of them are FF/octopath spinoffs), then diisgaea and valkyria chronicles. Thats. It.

[@cjt217]

This is such a good video and I'm glad I finally got around to it. There's definitely something to the genre's overall niche status that made 3H impress me. As a fellow FE7-era fan, I think I usually attributed my interest stemming from Melee (as I didn't play Adv Wars either)

[@schmae3503]

Yeah I think this is a good summary. At worst we’re just kinda in a brief period of lacking content. I imagine IS is working on something that will likely be in the first half of the lifespan for whatever the switch’s successor is. I myself am kinda taking this time to replay both Houses and Hopes to get a good glimpse at the majority of the switch Era of Fire Emblem before whatever comes next.

[@techpriest6962]

I fear for the future of the franchise honestly, IS isn't becoming less CorpScum and neither is Nintendo who has IS well trained to be its lapdog.

[@kurokinari9721]

I fear if they announce a Jugdral remake it might suffer Echoes' fate, where even though it's a solid game it felt as if it could have sold more units, mainly because it was on a slowly dying platform that was the 3DS after the Switch was released. Even then I have hopes for the future of the franchise with its next release. If anything I learned from 3H's release was that building hype over many months will gain more attention than dropping a bomb 2 total times before a short release.

[@danielgomes8745]

Even if the next game releases on the current switch it probably won't suffer the same problem that sov had because the Switch successor will most likely have retro compatibility

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Show me the evidence that the Switch is dying. And saying "it's old" doesn't count.

[@brandonwilliams6119]

The Remake rumor was probably never real and when the leaker saw Sigurd without knowing it was he was just a Ring Summon the leaker probably thought FE4 was getting remade.

[@AaronPICAR]

I remember reading about Fire Emblem in Nintendo Power Epic Center back in the 90s and really getting jealous and wanting to play it. When FE7 hit, I got it and it is still a desert island game.

[@trustinsenpai]

I started with Path of Radiance. I saw it in Gamestop and enjoyed the box art, knowing nothing about the game or it’s gameplay. Back then, I lived in the middle of no where and had no internet access. Ike became an icon to my childhood. I obviously sold the game to get something else at Gamestop (thanks me) and never picked up the series again until Awakening came out on the 3DS. I saw the title and the blue hair character and just knew it was something I needed to play. Fast forward, I’ve played every title and it’s my favorite series ever.

[@Ari.1460]

I am a new fire emblem fan! over the last 3 months i have played path of radiance, radiant dawn, blazing blade and sacred stones and I'm in love with the series now. I just started Three Houses and I'm having a lot of fun!

[@HydraneousHadokenPent-Striker]

My first Fire Emblem game was FEH. In college my friends and I played a lot of Super Smash Bros and I eventually became a Corrin main cause I love counters and dragons and she had a nice design. With me becoming a Corrin main my friend who had played past FE titles had been trying to get me to play one, not too long after FEH came out and both the friend that played past FE titles and another of my friends had gotten the game. They told me to play it, I asked if Corrin was in it and when they said yes I started playing, and despite how insane powercreep has gotten I still play it to this day. I played 3H when it came out and Edelgard is easily one of my favorite characters of all time. Corrin herself is my favorite character of all time and to cut a long story short its largely due to her being my main in Smash, amongst other factors. At some point I have to finish Engage too, haven't had as much time in my day to day anymore to really sink hours into a game. Anyway that's an abbreviated version of my FE journey!

[@PsychoPenguin1919]

I definitely don't feel like Fire Emblem is losing its relevance, I just think that maybe it's currently not as relevant as it's been at its peak at different points in the past. Engage was certainly a weird case, as it did feel like the general conversation about it fell off in the gaming space rather quickly. Maybe quicker than normal, but that's subjective. And I do think that its lack of compelling narrative and character writing was a big part of that. But you can also look at games like Tears of the Kingdom. I feel like for the amount of praise that game received, no one is really talking about it in the gaming space right now and that came out just four months after Engage. Maybe the lack of conversation is simply cuz I'm not deep in the Zelda community, but I just think gaming conversations move on so quickly these days. Fire Emblem will be much more relevant again, but I do think the next game in the series needs to be stronger than Engage, and not just in its gameplay.

[@Roshuwah]

I feel like the ball dropped in advertising specifically shows with radiant dawn selling less than path of radiance. The Wii sold like crazy, I feel like the install base alone would have propped it up. But also, I remember only finding out the game existed because I had Nintendo power, never a commercial!

[@alexwat5433]

I think you could also think about baldur gate 3 in relation to the appeal for turn based games in the west.

[@CollegeBallYouknow]

Persona 5 is another big one, especially considering its similarities to three houses in terms of both the game and their rise to the mainstream compared to the rest of their respective franchises.

[@MiyuMotou]

The game is very popular for what can be considered a niche genre :P

[@AnimationsANDgameplay]

My first FE was FE7 on the Nintendo Switch online service last year. The core gameplay just clicked for me, and I've been a fan of the series ever since.

[@joecoaxum3851]

There were kids on my school bus playen FE multiplayer matches I got the game and started challenging people like two weeks later, the rest is history.

[@trevor8741]

We can take solace in the fact that Nintendo will probably not pull a dark age of Capcom and see 1 million sales and think they need to reboot it to appeal to the west

[@wallywalrus2]

First FE game was Path of Radiance on GameCube, and have played every one since. My favorite is FE3H, and it's not even close. I just loved the academy life sim aspect of it which made me get to know all these characters so much better than usual.

[@CoolxBreese]

I beat Awakening a few months ago, and just realized that your avatar starts the game with that mark on your hand at 7:00

[@ivanbluecool]

I played sacred stones first but only casually from a friend. First game I bought was awakening on sale so it was amazing to go through. Then went through shadow dragon. Fates special edition. Echoes eliwoods game engage 3 houses etc. I enjoyed my time most with the 3ds era overall as the gba era was ok at best but can be very repetitive and unfun to play. The non perma desu is fine in my opinion for newer players to have a safety net to get a feel for the game series as that can drive people off. Imagine pokemon saying you lose the Mon like a nuzlocke if they faint. They'd have no fans But yeah Fe isn't for everyone and I think that's fine. Keep the hyper casuals out who need to put in some effort to learn to play the game to get to the ending as when Fe is well built it's one of the best experiences ever

[@scottserage9022]

Literally my intro to Fire Emblem was talking with my friend how cool it would be if there was a fantasy style Advanced Wars game. Probably a couple weeks after that my friend had bought Fire Emblem and told me that it was basically that (obviously not but they clearly have a lot of similarities). Loved it and I've purchased every US released mainline FE since as well as played some ROMs. I don't know how relevant the games are as a whole, but I'm grateful to the community for keeping it relevant to a lot of people, especially content creators and ROM hackers.

[@vicentegatica34]

I was 14, and i remember buying sacred stones on the wii u with some Credit left from the mario kart dlc, and star playing it and realizing the game has perma death and L'rachel, and naaa i was hooked jajaja

[@filipower776]

Really cold take but i believe that modern FE (13+) is indeed mainstream, though kinda limited by it's genre, while older FE games are still very forgotten by the players, being only played by those who really adhere to the franchise or retro gamers in general. Of course, a game from 2003 is rarely gonna have as many players as a game from 2023, but I believe this shows how the "casualisation" and implementation of persona-esque mechanics to the franchise really brought the numbers of the franchise to new highs, which is always appreciated. Whether it's a good or bad thing for the quality of the games themselves is a whole 'nother topic, but if the games generate that sweet cash money for big N, many more games of this beloved franchise will come.

[@hectorlackless]

I am an awakening original and learned about the game thanks to a friend that downloaded tons of demos of various games in his 3ds and showed them to me, among all of them the one that catched my attention was fire emblem thanks to the dragon symbol and swords since I was alredy a fantasy novel fanatic. I played and for some reason loved the gameplay and started to get to appeal of the anime eastetic thanks to that game, but I only played it them because I had no internet at home at the time or simply didnt knew how to use the eshop of the 3ds. The weeks passed and I entered a game store just to see what cool things they could have and found awakening, I don't remeber if on sale or not but I recognized "Marth" and decided I wanted it for myself. I ended up really liking the story, the characters and the gameplay although I was not playing very well since at grima most of my units fell short it didnt help that I didnt understood english completely. Since then I am a fan of the series, I remember I was really excited for fates thanks to a club nintendo article and some images of the intro that admitedly made it look cooler than it really was.

[@Cpt_crabhammer]

I tried the GBA games when they came out but I was a teenager and found them too difficult at the time. Awakening and its introduction of Casual mode finally got me into the series and I've been hooked ever since.

[@sjk8495]

My thoughts are that Fire Emblem obviously isn't as mainstream as Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and arguably Kirby (Nintendo franchises that even nongamers can recognize). But even if Fire Emblem is niche, compared to other niche franchises such as Xenoblade Chronicles and Bayonetta, Fire Emblem is arguably more mainstream than them. Although, in the gacha realm, how mainstream Heroes is may depend on how popular heavy hitter gachas such as Fate/Grand Order are. And speaking from personal experience, I find that Three Houses is kind of a popular cosplay choice at cons. I've seen cosplays of Edelgard, Byleth, Yuri, Claude, Felix, and Hilda. And the game's English cast clearly adores the game and its characters.

[@sjk8495]

@@jaretco6423 That might be tricky to say since per video game sales wiki, Metroid still has more sales than Fire Emblem. Plus, when it comes to characters, Samus Aran is arguably more famous and influential than any Fire Emblem character.

[@Oceanic587]

Nice video! I like that between the gameplay and gameplay analysis videos and stuff you've really carved out your own interesting and tbh important part of the FE youtuber ecosystem!

[@mjbrownii]

I’m not even gonna lie and say “I’ve played since the beginning” I didn’t play one until 2021 when 3 Houses was already out. And even then my first game was fates birthright, and since then this series has been one of my favorites. I gotta remember to thank that friend that talked me into playing it.

[@Xios_Angelis]

I started Fire emblem after hearing a bunch of my friends going on and on about Awakening. Even before then, Marth was my main in SSBB. So you'd think I either started with Awakening or found a way to play Shadow Dragon? Maybe just played Blazing Blade? Nope. I played Sacred Stones. I was in high school at the time, dealing with problems at home (mom and stepdad divorced), so I was just looking for a story to lose myself in, and I was pleasantly surprised with SS. Not long after a friend let me borrow awakening. It was a good time.

[@icards7986]

I tried Awakening first in 2017 after playing Warriors for awhile, and I couldn't really get into it enough to be bothered with it. I decided to try Three Houses after seeing some story, and I loved that game. Afterward I went back I tried Awakening again, and I understood the game enough to enjoy it and complete it. Looking at this video I wonder if losing the calendar system might have hurt Engage as well for the people who enjoyed the Persona aspect of Three Houses. Splitting the time between main missions by an actual timeline may create an illusion of being less grindy than Engage where you really did have free reign to draw out time between chapters as much as you wanted. Also, this is a hot take, but over a year removed I am not a big fan of the Engage rings as I thought I was. This is less about them giving super abilities and more on how the games Skill Point system was tied to characters having rings equipped, Engage ring or Bond ring. In Three Houses and other games with skills, learning skills just came down to mastering classes or weapon ranks. If IS wanted us to use rings to learn skills then I wished characters just inherited the skills of the rings as their bond level with that ring increased instead of needing a bond level with what was sometimes ridiculous amount of skill points to inherit one skill. Then the "+" version of skills could've been made available only if you equipped the ring after raising the bond level to learn the original version, like having two copies of the same skill stack with eachother. For example you learn "Speedtaker" from raising you bond level with Lyn, and then if you equip Lyn AFTER learning "Speedtaker" and equipping it to the character then you would unlock "Speedtaker +" only when Lyn is equipped. The "++" varients would be eliminated, but that is a small price in my opinion.

[@trevor8741]

FE is Kinda Like Metroid. In many ways people know the characters and has a very passionate fanbase. But then you get down to how many people actually BUY the series. With their highest grossing entries being Dread at 3 Mil and 3H at 4 mil Those aren’t bad. Those aren’t failures. But they’re not Y’know Mario or Zelda or Splatoon which each entry makes far greater sales. Comparatively FE and Metroid well… fine. Now FE is also lucky it has a dedicated studio in the form of InSys to always work on it. So that doing fine is still enough

[@jaretco6423]

I don't think that's an good comparison. Metroid did kinda gotten more popular than Fire Emblem has back in the old days. Sure. It's not Mario, Zelda or Pokemon levels of popularity. But it was pretty big before it gotten even bigger. With games like Metroid Prime or Super Metroid getting alot of praises from reviewers and alike, there were many people who gotten invested with Metroids and still is to this day. Also Metroid did started releasing in worldwide; while the old Fire Emblem games hasn't been out from Japan yet and wasn't till the GBA that finally gotten some weatern fans getting into it.

[@trevor8741]

@@jaretco6423 well, like Metroid has been more relevant in the west, but it famously is not as popular in Japan and it does not sell that well. It sells fine. You know 3 million for Dread is not bad. anywhere between 1 million and 2 million for the prime games is not bad. But like FE, is main stream you know a numbers thing of people who buy it or is it about cultural relevance? because I am fairly certain every person who’s ever played, smash Bros could tell you who Marth or Ike or Byleth is. But that doesn’t mean they’re buying those games I’d personally say both franchises have these die hard audience that has grown steadily over time, but they’re still very much niche Now of course, they’re both exclusives on Nintendo. People argue TRPGs and Metroidvania’s are more appealing to PC players compared to the people in the Nintendo ecosystem . Would that increase the sales? Possibly? We’ll probably never know. Now personally I don’t think FE fans consider their franchise mainstream because of how tied their roots are to being obscure for years compared to Metroid’s base which believe it’s mainstream and like deserves more sales cause of it.

[@jaretco6423]

@@trevor8741 Ah. I see your point. Yeah. Metroid isn't that big in Japan. Although, there are some fans in Japan that likes it. I've seen an good number of Japanese girls cosplay Samus on KZbin and such. But yeah. Metroid is more popularized in the west side than in Japan. Another example I can think of is Dragon Quest; or Dragon Warriors as it once called. Despite being the very first and important games that made RPG of what it is today, it was bigger in Japan, but not much bigger on the west side. We did experienced the first 4 games on NES or the first 3 games have gotten an remake on Game Boy Color ( at least towards North & South America anyway ). But not alot of westerns are familiar with it and wasn't till Dragon Quest 8 was released when many knew about the franchise and I guess it might have something to do with either for it's critical success or how popular Dragon Ball was and the art direction is exactly the same as Dragon Ball.

[@trevor8741]

@@jaretco6423 yeah I think it can just be a cultural thing. I remember one of the original Retro Studios Games Thunder Rally was supposed to be a twisted metal style game and the producers from Nintendo saw it and were like “I don’t get it” and the American developer was like “westerners like guns” and they still didn’t get it. And he mentions how he should’ve explained it like “it’s like the green shell in Mario kart” Like there’s different sensibilities on what appeals to who. Why does GoW do so well while DMC does FE numbers despite the similarities in game play? I think FE and Metroid going from a regular over 1 million seller, frequent smash rep, and their names being a point of reference for a style of gameplay like means people know about it culturally but then the question becomes where’s the audience willing to play it. I think Japanese audiences got that down but like America it be more up in the air.

[@painuchiha2694]

Engage may have been a misfire I still like the game a lot But I want to wait for the next mainline FE game or remake to see how relevant the series really is Next game might be on switch 2

[@disgustof-riley]

When i started playing FE, I felt similar to how I felt jumping into Undertale.

[@29go]

my first fire emblem game was the first English one, my parents bought it for me and my brother because they wanted to get us the same game but they had no idea what it was, we had no idea what it was on christmas morning, we were so young, the rest is history, we are still here replaying fire emblem games all these years later, i love it

[@Pogma776]

Fire emblem's main appeal has always been it's story and it's characters, 3H blew up because of that and actual marketing. Engage didn't have that, non fans don't care about gameplay or mechanics since let's be honest it's very boring It also didn't help Engage's deal was the emblems and no one knows about roughly 80% of the characters because IS simply refuses to make any sort of Fire emblem collection. It's quite literally a mainstream series that no one plays TL;DR non fans don't care about gameplay and focus on story/characters and IS is stinky for bad fire emblem availability and no advertising

[@yveshku5583]

Awakening was my first FE, after Fates wass already out. I just thought the characters in Smash looked and felt cool, and had the chance to get Awakening for $10 from a local store I regularly check. I had fun, my friends at the time could tell I liked it though we were all a mixed bag of interests with some overlap anyways. While most of my friends from then have since parted ways for unrelated reasons, I remember a few of them at least tried it, from either FEH or hearing thet got one of the games. Nowadays, do continue to enjoy the series as just one of many games I like. And the collection over the years came to include Three Houses, Warriors, Fates Birthright, and Shadow Dragon. Plus had all the ones that made it into Dragalia Lost I really liked when that was around.

[@jonunciate7018]

Sacred stones was my first game in the series, but I was already a seasoned rpg player. The story, the characters, and the unique style are what keep me going back. I've played, and replayed, fire emblem titles more than any other SRPG. My sister was even more of a completionist than me and replayed sacred stones on easier difficulties just to unlock every support conversation in the game!

[@mafiousbj]

Much like Fates sank the franchise in the eyes of "serious gamers" after Awakening had put it again into the spotlight and sales success, Engage did the same after Three Houses had achieved mainstream success. I swear to god the gatcha can make as much money as they want but I would kill to have two solid games in a row that please most people and actually sell. Don't remember there being a case so far in the history of the franchise, mostly because most games never broke into the mainstream and sold well. And as sad as it is you need sales to keep a franchise going. Hope they stop trying to re-invent the wheel with every game as well with silly gimmicks you never see again 😢

[@ethanwebster3764]

To be fair, some fe fans are pretty vocal about hating 3h and awakening

[@mafiousbj]

@@ethanwebster3764 they are far from perfect for sure but you have to take into account the sales impact (my fav games are the Tellius games depsite me starting with the GBA stuff) People want their franchise to survive long term yet seem to despise anything deemed "casual friendly". Specially many FE focused channels here in YT treat 3H like filth. But those same channels and "hardcores" will literally need to find something else to plays if the franchise dies. Casual friendly stuff is usually the entry to the series that eventually builds fans and harcores. And this is coming from a Castlevania and Devil May Cry fan. DmC survived a failed reboot, but Castlevania hasn't seen games in over a decade 🥺

[@fukunaga-kane]

0:50 I was taken aback by the sudden Hitoshi Sakamoto soundtrack. His work is quite noticeable after playing FFXII and Final Fantasy Tactics.

[@brandonwilliams6119]

Props for mentioning the success of Advance Wars which is what played a part in Fire Emblem games getting worldwide releases, people often forget that fact besides just Marth and Roy being in Melee.

[@fabioalvesshow]

I LOVE Fire Emblem ❤

[@Marianne_fan]

Considering I've beaten engage today, have downloaded feh and I'm planning to buy three houses this week before going on vacation, I have been obsessed with fire emblem these last few months, it's such an interesting franchise, it kinda scratched my itch, it even has a card game (ik it's discontinued) and I'm a huge fan of card games, I'm so glad I discovered fire emblem, can't wait to play some of the older games on an emulator or something similar

[@JaceyMitchell]

Two of the GBA FE games are on Nintendo Online's expansion pass.

[@Marianne_fan]

@@JaceyMitchell that gives me a better reason to buy it then, thanks a bunch

[@GreatAether58]

I also started with FE7 and had no idea what was going on because my dumb kid self skipped all the story and didn't pay real attention to any of the gameplay. I didn't finish the game the first time either. But I only made it to Dragon's Gate, and quite frankly it was a miracle that I even got that far. Now I'm a series veteran who has completed every mainline game in the series from Genealogy to Engage. I've played through many of them multiple times. Especially GBA FE and the Tellius duology. About to finish my first Maddening (NG+) run of Three Houses (Azure Moon). I'd agree with the sentiment that FE is mainstream now but the genre isn't. It's really good to see one of my favorite game series' find so much success. I'll admit I didn't love what they did with FE from Shadow Dragon through Fates. But since then I think they've done a really good job restoring my faith in the future of the series. They made Fire Emblem great again. Looking forward to seeing what the future of FE holds!

[@davidchong5909]

I remember playing Advance Wars as my first Strat RPG on the gameboy. I wonder if it's because I was a kid but I always look back on it as one of my fav games ever. When I discovered a fantasy version of advance wars in the form of fire emblem rekko no ken (FE7), I was an instant fan. I think Fire Emblem will always be a standout game and genre for me since I remember playing it as a kid without any guidance and then later rediscovering it as a teen with the help of gamefaq walkthroughs to help me find those hidden secret shops and recruiting totally missable allies. I think SPRG on the gameboy is a whole trip down memory lane when I remember yuyu hakusho dark tournament on the gameboy and final fantasy tactics as well.

[@kryzethx]

Started with the GBA games as a child, never able to finish any of them, tried again with Awakening, fell in love with the game, went back to play the older games, fell in love with the entire series, continued playing each of the newer games, enjoying each entry just as much as the last

[@artidoesthings3069]

Started with fire emblem this year, with three houses. And have since started playing Awakening, the I plan to play Fates and Echoes! I don’t think I’ll play any older games, mostly because I have a massive skill issue

[@Draylin41]

Smash Melee is also what got me interested in the series and have loved it ever since even if not every entry has been the greatest. It's unfortunately that the genre itself is so niche but that's something I don't really see ever changing. Not everyone likes to have to think a lot when playing games. For many that's exactly the time they want to do the opposite cause of complicating things going on in their lives. For me that's when I want to play strategy games the most because I like to keep my mind occupied with something that actually stimulates it to a decent degree. Having to plan out how a map in an FE game can go and being able to execute on it is very satisfying.

[@TheGreenthunder200]

when I started FE back in 2014 I picked up shadow dragon first and it was rough to say the least but as I kept playing it and struggling, I just eventually got good lol. tbh that's how every new fe game I played at the time felt and that was ok, I was still learning and was engrossed enough by the mechanics and gameplay that I kept going.

[@anniejankovic8056]

I had a friend who bought Awakening and got me to play it, and I adored it. Was definitely one of the people brought in by FE12, even if 3H is my favourite

[@Etnaese]

First FE was the first on GBA way back in the day. Not my first strategy RPG, but loved it the moment I played. Characters, story, gameplay, art, etc. I do come from a time where if X doesn't sell, we won't see more, so I'm in the camp of fearing no more FE despite it doing well now, lol!

[@danny18894]

I started playing Fire Emblem Sacred Stones when I first got my Gameboy when I was a child , That game made me a fan of strategy games and it branched off to every kind of strategy game that I could get my hands on, yet I feel like I met no more than 5 Strategy game fans during my school life. Nowadays I meet so many online that I never realized how niche the genre was back in the day. So it never hit me that the reason why I feel like Fire Emblem isn't bigger was because the genre itself was niche

[@Govant]

My first FE game was Path of Radiance. I instantly fell in love with the characters and world. I then went back and played 7 and 8 while I waited for Radiant Dawn to come out. To this day, Fire Emblem is still one of my top five favorite franchises.

[@ShellytheCollector]

I never pay attention to what's mainstream in my entertainment. lol. My first FE was Sacred Stones. I still remember being freaked out by those dang eyeballs. The next one I played was the Wii one with Micaiah and Sothe, which I loved so much and played multiple times. Engage just didn't hit for me. The combat was fun, but the clipping was distracting and I'm not a hardcore tactical player so that difficulty spike in Ch17 was rough. I don't play any other jrpg's, but I still love Fire Emblem and will definitely pick up anything they put out. Till then, I think I'll be Blue Lions in my next 3H run.

[@caspianbchalphy]

The genre being niche but Fire Emblem not being niche does feel like the perfect way to describe it. I will admit though the series does still sometimes feel niche, like it’s in a strange middle ground. It’s similar to Warhammer (specifically 40K but any GW war game could count). 40L itself is not necessarily niche. if you’re a geek you’ve probably at least heard of it especially if you’re into science fiction. heck you may have read some books that take place in the setting or played one of the video games. The thing is that it is still somewhat niche. It’s a tabletop war game and those are very much so a niche. Tabletop war games are a niche but 40K isn’t (even though it kinda still is, just like Fire Emblem with SRPGs/TRPGs. There’s a lot I could say about it being mainstream and/or niche but we’d be here all day and I’m certain I’d say some things that would upset a lot of people that like FE but don’t like other SRPGs/TRPGs.

[@sentrytortellini4184]

fire emblem seems popular to you because you are a fire emblem content creator in the fire emblem community. most random people on the street have never even heard of a fire emblem

[@EthanKironus8067]

Awakening brought me in. I saw the demo and played it to death over the course of a year, until I convinced my parents to buy it. I've never left. P.S. I sympathize on not knowing what the hell you're doing. I made it through my entire first playthrough without really using Pair-Up because I thought I was worse off by taking away an independent unit. And somehow, for some reason, I did the exact same thing with Birthright my first time through there! P.P.S. I didn't even touch Second Seals for YEARS. Only started because I saw someone at a summer camp using a Paladin Chrom, which finally got it through my thick skull.

[@saliver5909]

It will be relevant as long as it keeps releasing new games and they are good. Now the problem is, the devs sometimes don't know what "good" means.

[@mudkipmercenary3647]

Well, calling Fire Emblem a part of a “niche” genre of games certainly helps clear up why I haven’t been playing it a lot lately. This was a good video, much needed too. I’m hoping that we just get some kind of big new project when the next system is officially announced by Nintendo. And your comparisons towards other franchises, as well as better accurate rankings, easily shows how “niche” of a genre this is. In fact, the only other two legit strategy games I’ve played recently were triangle strategy, and unicorn overlord. Fire Emblem is probably the most recognizable when it come to strategy games, but the genre itself isn’t that noticeable compared to the likes of Mario’s genre and especially Pokémon’s genre. Very informative video, hope the move goes well for you, and here‘s hoping we get the next big FE game announced soon.

[@trainerred1345]

FE3H was my first for over a year now and i have been obsessed with Fire Emblem. Played Engage and recently bought Echoes and Conquest.

[@404_kayjay_not_found]

If nobody hates FE more than FE fans, then nobody kills FE more than FE fans XD

[@sonickhable]

Hopefully the next game won't be like engage story and character wise

[@erm718]

I gave Awakening a shot like a year after Smash Ultimate released and instantly fell in love with it, it's story and it's characters. Fates made me iffy with all the wackiness surrounding it, so I didn't try another FE until 3 Houses was released (and added to smash lol). I loved 3 Houses as well, and have tried more fe games since, none of which I've disliked.

[@GermoDante]

Engage damaged it tremendously after the massive popularity of 3H. But I think that a return to form new game with a proper artstyle, decent story and characters will bring it back with renewed strength.

[@GentlemanGamer94]

When I got into Fire Emblem it was with Shadow Dragon in middle school in 2009. It wasn't a game that stuck with me for the long term, but I remembering having a good deal of fun with the SRPG gameplay and quite enjoyed the main story. As someone who wasn't really plugged into online video game discourse back when I played Shadow Dragon, Fire Emblem seemed to me then to be somewhat mainstream. I realize in retrospect that Fire Emblem was still comparatively quite niche at the time. However, in the circles of middle schoolers I interacted with- most of whom had a DS or Wii - the Fire Emblem series seemed to be generally well known and liked. Either because they liked Smash or enjoyed at least one of the games.

[@kmon9911]

I got into the series with Path of Radiance, I didn't end up playing FE7 until a couple years ago, but Path of Radiance hooked me I love the series and I still have my copy and my Radiant Dawn copy, I've also gone back and played FE4 5 and 6, fire emblem is an amazing franchise and I don't think it's going anywhere

[@Arkholt2]

Every video game can be niche to somebody. JRPGs seem to be a pretty big genre, and fairly mainstream these days, and Final Fantasy, the biggest most well known JRPG series that is known even to people who don't play games in that genre, is still considered by some to be niche series. So the definition is kind of broad. I think the only Nintendo series that can be considered non-niche are Mario and Pokemon, and mainly because even people who don't like or play video games at least know what those are. Even looking at other media besides video games, certain extremely popular properties like Marvel or Star Wars, which Disney would like to have a broad appeal, still tend to have niche audiences for the most part. But I feel like that's a good thing. I think there should be more things that have a more specific appeal to a specific audience. Mario has broad appeal, but mostly because he appears in so many different types of games that appeal to different sorts of people. FE characters on the whole only appear in one type of game, not counting their handful of spinoff appearances. But that's okay, because the games that they appear in are very appealing to the type of gamer that enjoys SRPGs. And I think that's a great thing to aspire to.

[@FereldenKrogan]

I started playing Fire Emblem because I needed more tactical RPGs after playing Final Fantasy Tactics for the millionth time. It was on a list of suggestions on a website.

[@tymemaster]

I actually played FE 7 before smash bros and what brought me to it was final fantasy tactics. I was looking for a game similar but I've been playing srpgs and trpgs way before with shining force and tactics ogre being fun to me back in the day.

[@Crispierick]

I started with radiant dawn at a friend house and i felt i love with the game and i wish we get more and more other FE games in the future ❤😊

[@SkaiaMechanic]

I've been in and out with the series since FE7, enjoying the series but wouldn't call myself a "fan." Yet Nintendo's stellar marketing (for once) for Three Houses drew me in, and the game itself stole my heart. But once you get a series so prominently in Smash Bros, it's hard to deny its ability to be recognized.

[@usvidragonslayer3091]

Cool video! I still play Fire Emblem no matter if the series is niche or not.

[@tbahr123]

I got into FE with FE7 and Advance Wars. Honestly, at that time, it felt like everything but Pokemon was niche. Pokémon was the default #1. Everyone played it, everyone knew it. All other games, no matter what franchise, were a distant second place. Except Melee, everyone loved that one too

[@calgumbo5193]

So m,y first exposure to it was a friend playing Fire Emblem Awakening on her 2DS. She told me all about being in love with Chrom and how archers would always be on maps where she deploys her Pegasus Knights and she was looking forward to Fire Emblem Three Houses so that she could marry Claude. (This was early 2019 by the way). My interest was piqued and I got Three Houses. At first I was surprised by the game but quickly found myself enjoying the game more and more. And then one week later I was saying Glory to the Adrestian Empire, Down with the Church of Serios.

[@jaidora]

Now that I have free time and finished the video, I think FE is in a weird spot between relevancy and notoriety mostly because of its presence in the Smash Bros series. While Advance Wars did introduce the turn base strategy style, Smash Bros was ultimately what exposed FE to the west and its popularity gave way to more exposure, interest, and even ire later down the road. The best horrible way to sum it is “Oh it’s that anime sword fighter from Smash” like “It’s Chun Li from Fortnite”.

[@dolando5837]

It’s just a shame that we haven’t had a second proper game. Engage seemed more like a spin off of the mobile but I know some enjoyed. I’m hoping with a buddy for an awakening remake or something new.

[@RatedMforMeenie]

I started playing when FE8 came out. I only bought and played it because a family friend who worked at Walmart told me it was based on a "really awesome movie" so I played it, loved it, and forgot all about the "movie" it was about (because it didnt exist... and Google barely existed at that point)

[@Dakress23]

Started FE with Sacred Stones on the 3DS Ambassador program 'cause I was curious of how the series was. Like, I knew it was a thing thanks to Marth, Roy and Ike being in Smash, but I didn't know what was it about besides being a SRPG. As for whether FE is niche... mostly no? Besides Smash, most people who know of the series is thanks to Awakening and Three Houses, and to me, that's a sign both games were at least well received enough to let WoM give them free publicity. And if anyone asks me, that's not something I would associate with a niche franchise.

[@rhombusx]

First off - I'm old and I actually have been playing FE since before the games even came out in the West - the Super Famicom FE games were among the first few games I played through emulation in the early 2000s. So I have a long history with the series, and I've played them all at this point (the Tellius games remain my favorites). However, important as they are to me, the Fire Emblem and Metroid series comparison actually proves that Fire Emblem ISN'T mainstream, at least not in the West. They've sold almost identically as a series, but Metroid's success is hugely in the West, while Fire Emblem's is hugely in Japan. I would consider many Nintendo franchises ICONIC but not necessarily MAINSTREAM - due to their age, Nintendo's captive advertising bubble and Nintendo Directs, continual remakes and releases, and especially extensive exposure through Smash Bros. Even with something like the XCOM vs FE comparison, I would wager that longtime PC gamers are way more likely to have played XCOM1 or 2 than a Fire Emblem game - both XCOMs were also critically touted in GOTY type discussions in a way that Fire Emblem never has been. This really brings up the idea of what "mainstream" even means. Just about every media consumer these days is in a tiny echo chamber of media awareness. If I talked to my niece about my favorite games and game series, I guarantee you she would have no idea what The Witcher or Diablo were, but would recognize pretty much every Nintendo 1st party franchise. She's 14 years old and only games on a Switch, so that's just her frame of reference. I tend to both follow gaming news and play a broad variety of games across multiple systems, but even many of my "gamer" friends have much more specific tastes and buying habits - there are plenty who know what Fire Emblem is but have never played any, and a certain number who probably also wouldn't know what it is at all.

[@RuiTsuki]

Correction, Super Robot Wars in 18th place on that RPG ranking is also an SRPG-series. It's just very unknown in the west outside the Mecha crowd because only maybe 10 of the (close to?) 70 titles in the series have been released in the west at all and most of them in recent times. Only the latest title, SRW 30 (named bc it was released on the 30th anniversary of the franchise) was released on Steam in the west, for example. Plus, of course, the rather niche appeal of being Mecha-themed. So Fire Emblem is still the highest-placing SRPG among the Top 20 RPG-franchises, but not the only one. Anyway, I actually got into the franchise with Awakening. Pretty sure they showed off the game in a direct and I was interested. Thankfully there was a demo on the e-shop, which I downloaded, tried out and liked. And then soon after bought the game and pumped an absolutely ludicrous amount of hours into. I skipped the other 3DS games (didn't like Fates' localization and SoV released at a bad time for me) but I really enjoyed 3H and Engage. And currently I'm slowly working my way through Shadow Dragon and I want to experience at least everything I missed from GBA till the other 3DS games.

[@sir_hammy]

I never had handhelds growing up and my first FE game was Path of Radiance. I only bought it because I thought it looked similar to Shining Force 3, which was my favorite Saturn game. I was in college and probably craving some nostalgia based, escapism. I ended up not enjoying it (and selling it 😭) because I couldn't clearly see just how similar the games are. I didn't try another FE game until Engage and now I'm completely re-invested in the franchise.

[@CatsLilaSalem]

Fire Emblem for me went from no one talking about it to most people having at least an idea of the mainline games. And more and more people getting interesed in the mainline games. It still feels kinda niche, but the feeling you're almost the only fan is long gone I knew FE7 before smash, and did not realize the weird Japanese speaking sword boys where also FE lords. It was so cool for me to realize they where from FE, and also that there where more FE games than the one i had

[@troqu]

I've been playing srpgs since the 90s with the shining force series. My first FE was 7 as well and tbh I gelt at the time the series was nothing to write about. Its grown on me since but I'm still unlikely to place any game in the series very high on my personal list of games I'd replay. Three Houses however is among my top for a first time story experience.

[@gurenshirotori]

Honestly speaking, I only just picked up playing Engage again yesterday. After watching a bunch of FE videos it got me thinking "When's the next game coming out? I should finish Engage before it does." As a FE7 baby, I do agree that FE is a niche that is on par with the other big Nintendo IPs. It's the child Ive been missing dearly and want to see grow into a big and successful franchise.

[@athorem]

I hope an FE4 remake would be similar enough to 3H in order to bring those fans in. But the Switch 1 is kind of trailing off, so the timing has me concerned it may not sell. Maybe cross-gen with Switch 2 would be the best idea