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Fire Emblem on mobile - What will it look like on iOS and Android?

What's Nintendo got planned for us?

Fire Emblem on mobile - What will it look like on iOS and Android?
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Recently, we took to pondering what a mobile version of Zelda might look like in a post-Super Mario Run world. Continuing along that line of speculation, let's turn our attention to Fire Emblem.

Intelligent System's fantasy strategy franchise has a dedicated following off the back of some truly brilliant handheld games. But what really interests us here is that we know Nintendo is already working on a mobile version. It announced as much back in April.

It's with an added sense of expectation, then, that we ask: what will Fire Emblem look like on iOS and Android?

The Fire Emblem we know

Super Mario Run may resemble the 2.5D Mario games we've seen over the past ten years, but of course it'll be closer in style to the autorunners we see on mobile. Will Nintendo follow suit with Fire Emblem?

Not in the main, it seems. According to a company statement, "Nintendo aims to offer the great value of a role-playing strategy game".

That sounds an awful lot like the Fire Emblem we know and love to us. That means engrossing turn-based battles with multiple unit types, environment-based considerations, and an RPG-like character development element.

However, don't expect a like-for-like experience...

More accessible

While the style will be similar to Fire Emblem entries on the Nintendo DS and 3DS, the company will still be mindful of mobile's different requirements. Concerning the mobile Fire Emblem, Nintendo has said that it is "making it more accessible in comparison to the Fire Emblem games for Nintendo’s dedicated gaming systems".

It sounds like we're going to be getting a recognisable but streamlined strategy-RPG experience, probably with simplified controls and smaller, briefer levels.

So how will it play, exactly? Just like with Super Mario Run, there is a precedent for what such an experience could end up playing like on the App Store.

Warbits and pieces

There are a few strategy games on iOS and Android that give us a glimpse at how Fire Emblem might play. We've mentioned a few times that Warbits is a lot like Advance Wars, but Advance Wars (which is also made by Intelligent Systems) is pretty much Fire Emblem set in a futuristic world. Kind of. There's also that RPG-like element we mentioned above, but the core mechanics a worthy of direct comparison.

Risky Lab's game takes the turn-based, top-down strategy underpinnings of Advance Wars/Fire Emblem and rebuilds it with mobile in mind. It's got shorter, tighter scenarios than the sprawling efforts found in Intelligent Systems's games.

Lost Frontier from Mika Mobile is another similar example, but with a wild west theme.

Nintendo always marches to the beat of its own drum, of course, but there's ample evidence that it won't need to compromise the original Fire Emblem vision on mobile.

Free to play

One potential fly in the Fire Emblem ointment, at least for die-hard fans of the original franchise, is that the mobile iteration looks set to follow a freemium model.

Nintendo's mobile development partner, DeNA, confirmed to The Wall Street Journal back in may that Fire Emblem would be a "free-to-start" app, and Nintendo later confirmed this statement.

How this will work with Fire Emblem, which is typically story-led, is anyone's guess. Perhaps the first mission will be free, and you'll need to pay to unlock subsequent missions. Perhaps there'll also be additional special units available for purchase.

Or perhaps Nintendo is ditching the heavy story element of the game altogether in favour of a more casual, story-light experience.

What do you think a mobile Fire Emblem will look like? What should it look like? Is it as simple as replicating the DS and 3DS approach? And how will that freemium model help or hinder the core game?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.