Those who haven't followed the Fire Emblem series, now 11 iterations deep, will likely recognize the game's lead protagonist Marth, who has guest appeared in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series. Marth's adventure in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is the standard stuff—a once peaceful kingdom is threatened by the resurrection of the Shadow Dragon Medeus, forcing our hero to rise to the occasion, take up arms against evil armies and restore peace to the Kingdom of Archanea.

The majority of Fire Emblem's trademark turn-based strategy gameplay remains unchanged, but developer Intelligent Systems has done much more than simply remake an NES title for the first Nintendo DS entry.

Can Marth's modern day re-imagining defeat his retro past?

Loved
Classic Mechanics: The core of what makes Fire Emblem so appealing hasn't changed dramatically over the years, generally for better than for worse. The turn-based gameplay, rock-paper-scissors weapon system, and ally recruiting remains intact. But Nintendo has refined the interface, adding the best improvements from the series' evolution to Shadow Dragon.

Smart Use Of The Platform: Intelligent Systems uses the DS's top screen to great effect, packing it with helpful info, from character stats to helpful single-screen tutorials. Given the DS's popularity, the developer has made the game more friendly to those new to the Fire Emblem series, making the learning curve easier than ever, adding mid-battle save points, padding the story of the original with a series of prologue chapters that act as painless tutorials.

Lovingly Crafted Presentation: The visual care that's been a hallmark of the Fire Emblem series hasn't been overlooked. Characters are beautifully rendered, as are storytelling splash screens. The excellent battle animations that make one-on-one fights imminently watchable return, but seemingly based on pre-rendered 3D models. They're still smooth, but lacking in the detail of the hand-animated versions seen in previous games. The English localization, as expected, is generally spectacular.

Online Multiplayer: Shadow Dragon adds online multiplayer via the Nintendo DS wi-fi adapter. While the appeal of multiplayer battles isn't nearly as strong as the single-player story mode, it's feature rich enough (but just enough) to make online battles compelling and Shadow Dragon replayable.

Oh, The Replayability! Over twenty five chapters, loads of characters, ample upgrade options, rare weapons via the online shop, and an excessive six levels of difficulty should ensure that your purchase of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is money well spent.

Hated
Middling, Scattershot Story: Perhaps it's the antiquated storyline or the generally humorless cast of characters, but Shadow Dragon's storytelling is probably the least attractive aspect of the title. It excels in the gameplay department, but makes for a rather bland tale, despite its various factions and political intrigue. But, hey, if you like political intrigue in your fantasy turn-based strategy games, it's here in spades.

Mid-game Confusion: While the game does a decent job of welcoming the new player to the world of Fire Emblem, it isn't as generous with its later game tutorials. The game may leave players hanging when it comes to understanding character classes (and character re-classing), and weapon forging, forcing them to *gasp* refer to the instruction manual. Veterans likely won't scoff at such trivial things, but new players may feel a bit lost.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon may feel overly familiar (and possibly overly easy) to fans who have played the localized versions of the series on the Game Boy Advance, GameCube and Wii, but the core gameplay is still compelling enough for another spin on the DS. The addition of multiplayer and touchscreen controls is welcome, as are the less punishing save mechanics, especially to those of us who aren't as tactically gifted as we'd like to be.

Intelligent Systems has done a capable job of making a nearly two-decade old adventure feel fresh, even if the ultimate result is a very good, but not great, turn-based strategy game. Consider Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon recommended to fans of the developers Advance Wars series and newcomers ready to dabble with a simple-but-deep role-playing strategy game.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon was developed by Intelligent Systems, published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS, released on February 16th. Retails for $34.99 USD. Played campaign to completion, tested online battle modes.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Shadow Dragon is Marth’s chapter of the Fire Emblem story, and Nintendo is relying on his Smash Bros. fanbase to overcome the 18 year gap between Famicom and DS. The game has got the full music/graphics makeover going for it, along with a pretty spiffy localization job (somebody knows thy olde English). Alas, there’s only so far cosmetic surgery can go; visually, Shadow Dragon just doesn’t stack up to, say, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings or Wild Arms XF. The talking heads cutscenes are pretty enough, but the Battle Chess-style fighting animations and map sprites look so pixilated you could grate cheese on them.

Forget the graphics, and focus on the gameplay. I slammed turn-based gameplay in my Fallout preview (and I’m not taking it back, so nya!), but I acknowledge it as a linchpin of SRPGs. It’s also one of the biggest stumbling points for SRPGs on portable systems.

The goal of any “portable” game is that you can stop playing and put it down whenever you need to. And I’m not talking about just closing the DS; this might shock you, but there are times when you really have to turn the damn thing completely off. For SRGPs, this is a problem, because the good ones have battles that can drag out for well over half an hour. Shadow Dragon addresses this problem by adding a mid-map, one-use save point. This acts as a quicksave function, since you can usually bypass the save have one character close enough to it at any time to use it during a turn (before the nice flight attendant snatches the DS from you).

You can also use it as a halfway point to save yourself if you get owned spectacularly in the the last three moves of the battle. This is really handy, considering that Shadow Dragon practices perma-death. That’s right. You can’t revive your units at the next town. No matter how important they may seem to the story, they can die; and if they die, they’re not coming back. Also, if they’re carrying a quest item in their inventory (say, the Dragon Sword or a dungeon key), they take it with them when they die and you can really fuck yourself in a boss fight without that Dragon Sword.

Despite that casual slice of brutality, Shadow Dragon has a gentler side. You can scale back the difficulty from “merciless” to “hard” (yeah, the lowest difficulty setting is “hard” – they didn’t screw around back in 1990) and go through the user-friendly tutorial that gently breaks perma-death to you about an hour in (even Marth was like, “He’s coming back, right? Right…?!”). There are also “supplemental” chapters to the story, should you lose one too many story characters in battle. I had this super nice princess chick riding a Pegasus lead me towards her father’s castle, only to bite it at the hands of a mage halfway there. Her daddy was awfully nice about it and two cutscenes later, I had a new Pegasus-riding chick from somewhere completely different that joined my party.

A major new addition to the game is the multiplayer mode. You can choose a unit you’ve trained and go head to head against a buddy on WiFi, or – if you’re one of those “nice” types – you can loan one of your units to a buddy for them to use. I didn’t get to see this in action, but I’m told that if you loan a unit, it’s not like you lose it – it just creates a copy of it on your friend’s game for them to use temporarily. A loaned unit will generate XP for the borrower only, I guess (lame), but if you’re too lazy to train your own units in the arena, unit loaning sounds like a good deal.

A lot of care and attention went into bringing Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon to the DS. It may not show in the graphics, but it’s dead obvious from the moment you start playing, whether you played the original or not. The Marth factor might only matter to Smash Bros. fans (and there’re four brand new prologue chapters for your back story fix); but SRPG fans owe it to themselves to give this game a go.

In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, death is still permanent, but Battle Saves can make it less frustrating. If you need a mulligan in a nasty fight, load up a mid-battle save point. Hardcore fans will be happy to know, however, that in the game's hard mode, Battle Saves are not an option.

Another change that wasn't in the Japanese version of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, or its Gamecube predecessor is a native 16:9 aspect ratio, giving HDTV owners a better look at the battlefield. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn may not push any graphical boundaries—though its pre-rendered cutscenes are simply gorgeous—but we appreciate the extra space.

More gameplay changes for the Wii Fire Emblem include a new terrain mode, one that will add a new layer of strategy. Units on higher ground can attack those on lower ground, to an advantage of course, when not on the same level of terrain. New destructible portions of the map also open up new opportunities.

Other new additions include the revamped elemental magic system, new customizable skills and counterattacks from healers.

The game controls quite well with simply the Wii remote, either in vertical or horizontal position, but for those looking for something more familiar, Gamecube and Classic controllers are also supported.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is out in just a few weeks, giving players little time to properly play the game before Super Mario Galaxy hits. Regardless of the holiday crunch, fans and newbs should both give it a look.

The story of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is one of a world in chaos following a cataclysmic meteor storm that leaves 90 percent of the population dead. The scattered survivors live in a diseased, war-torn world controlled by roving bandits and power-hungry warlords. The tone is muted, the dialogue dreary, the characters devoid of smiles.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin also takes the series back a step, gameplay-wise. The Dual Strike CO powers from the previous Nintendo DS Advance Wars are gone, and CO powers in general are said to have been toned down. The tides of war won't turn so easily this time.

Also absent from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin are dual screen battles, with maps and information occupying the top, gameplay shown in the bottom.

Days of Ruin does add some new units to the series, though, bringing a Motorbike unit to the list of infantry units. Motorbikes can capture buildings and factories like other infantry, but they have better range and better firepower. A new Flare unit, incapable of attacks also joins the ranks, cutting through the fog of war—now a permanent dust cloud kicked up by meteorites. The Duster, a new air unit that wasn't available for hands-on play is also promised for the final version.

Actually playing Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is much speedier than its Nintendo DS predecessor. The team has refined the interface so issuing orders takes fewer steps, resulting in quicker battles. The game's assets have been completely redone, giving the maps and enactments of your firefights a new look.

While our play time with Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was limited to only a trio of chapters, we were introduced to many of the game's characters. Leading man Will replaces Andy and Jake, with tactician Lin, a morose female officer, his companion. Captain Brenner, a "grizzled war veteran", leads the Independent Legion to which Will and Lin belong.

Most of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin's gameplay remains tried and true, it's simply boiled down to the core formula. Players of previous Advance Wars games may initially be unsettled by the frequent references to murder, pillaging and destruction—there's even a line from a barbarian named The Beast who wants more ears to add to his ear necklace—but the storyline feels more engaging than the light-hearted fare of games past.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin boasts a feature set that should have fans excited. Wi-fi multiplayer battles over the Nintendo Wi-fi Connection are finally here, bringing voice chat with them. Also coming is the tentatively titled Map Center, making map creation and sharing a worldwide affair. Players can take their map designs, upload them, and rate and download others via the Map Center, adding hundreds of maps to the 170+ already included.

It may be a big change, but Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a welcome addition to the series and one that should breathe new life into the game.

In the meantime, check out new screens and loads of gorgeous artwork for Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

A pair of in-game screen shots is after the jump, showing off the all-new, more detailed sprites, plus giving us a look at the new cast and the new motorcycle unit. I firmly express my "Do Want."

The mystery of how one "plays" Otona No DS Kao Training—what we call Face Training DS—has been unraveled in Nintendo's latest TV spots for the Nintendo DS non-game. Working toward a more beautiful Japan, developer Intelligent Systems will be buffing the faces of pleasant young Japanese women as they strive to strengthen their brow and cheek muscles. Personally, I can't wait, as my hideously sloppy visage could stand to be on the receiving end of some tightening.

Super Paper Mario is the new 2D/3D sidescroller/RPG by Intelligent Systems. And while we've already heard that it's pretty awesome, inquiring minds need to know the exact level of awesomeness that we are talking about here.

So hit the jump for our Frankenreview: every word that matters in the world, all in one place (minus my daily unrequited love musings to Ash).

GameBoyz
Although [graphics are] generally good I have to mention that the 3D worlds could have used more work. They were just as bright and vibrant in terms of colors, but they seemed to lack the overall punch that the rest of the game had. I think they just weren't as interesting as the 2D levels....[but] this whole lack of oomph is not a deal breaker...


RPG Gamer
While the dialogue in Super Paper Mario is abundant and the game could be considered pretty text-heavy, nearly every line is well-written and punchy. Because the game doesn't take itself seriously, it makes fun of just about everything in some very clever ways. With a charming cast of heroes and villains, every single character is appealing...if you don't take the time to constantly talk to people, you're missing out on a good portion of the game's hilarity.

Nintendo World Report
Let's get one thing straight: Super Paper Mario is not a Super Mario Bros. game with Paper Mario visuals. In fact, this game is more accurately described as Paper Mario without turn-based battles...Super Paper Mario focuses on more leisurely exploration...The dungeons and Bowser mini-stages from The Thousand-Year Door are analogous to Super Paper Mario's gameplay and pacing.

UnderGroundOnline
At any time Mario has the ability to "flip" the world, turning the 2D environment on its ear, allowing you to explore the "depth" of the level. It's a little hard to explain, but imagine mixing Super Mario with the original Crash Bandicoot and you can sorta begin to understand. Most of the game's puzzles involve this "flipping" as secret pipes and items are often obscured by rocks and pipes. Getting past a previously inaccessible mountain is as simple as flipping and walking right past it. After an hour or two you'll be looking at the world in both dimensions at once.

IGN
Super Paper Mario proves the point that even as Nintendo makes titles like Wii Sports and Wario Ware, it hasn't forgotten about the hardcore gamer. The title not only harkens back to the days of the 2D platformer, but retains enough of the RPG mechanics to satisfy players who liked the previous outings in the franchise. And unlike some Wii titles, which can be completed in an afternoon, this undertaking will keep you busy for a good 20 hours, give or take...

So who out there has tried the game? I'm looking forward to a vicarious play session tonight as my wife probably won't pass off the controller anytime soon. Mark Wilson

Want to go classic? Turn the Wii-mote sideways. Want to justify the pricepoint of your Wii Classic Controller? Plug it in (for once)! Masochist? Thanks to lovable developer Intelligent Systems, you can even use your Gamecube controller.

Now you're playing Fire Emblem with power! Michael McWhertor

These look a tad more complicated, so zen origami patience may be required. FLORIAN ECKHARDT

Advance Wars Papercraft Units