The main story, however, is the same as before: A hundred years after the epic battle between the evil Medeus and the young hero Anri, which ended with Anri's victory, Medeus is back to get his revenge on the hero's descendants. Among them is prince Marth, who manages to escape the invasion of his land and plans to go back one day to free his people and his kidnapped sister with the help of the legendary sword Falchion. It's an epic story of honor and chivalry and Nintendo is ready to deliver it through a series of strenuous battles that involve knights, mages and numerous other units.
One of the most obvious changes in this version comes in the enhanced graphics. Character models look better, different backgrounds have been added to battles and there are some new animated cut-scenes. The DS's dual-screen features give players better control over battles: They can move units and give them commands on the bottom screen, while looking at the top one to either check a character's stats or the area map. Players can switch between the two functions by either tapping the R button symbol on-screen, or by quickly pressing the R button itself, an action that can easily be performed while holding the system with one hand. Similarly, players can use the A button to open a menu and X to show the enemies' area of attack when planning a battle. In both cases, the real buttons can be pressed or their icons on-screen can be tapped with the stylus.
The weapon triangle system, that has been popular in the series for some time, was not featured in the original Fire Emblem. The development team decided, however, to add it to this remake, probably to stay consistent with the more recent installments. As usual, swords are more powerful when used against axes, axes best lances, and lances can be more effectively used against swords. Players will have to carefully plan every battle and select the right weapon; this can sometimes be tricky, as the weapons have a decreasing durability value and they get permanently broken when this number reaches zero.
Another factor to take into consideration is the terrain, as some units are prevented from accessing certain areas. Knights can't go on mountains, and nobody except pirates and pegasus riders can cross sea tiles. The units who can take advantage of mountains, sea and forests can better avoid enemy attacks, while those who hide in castles and forts get additional defense and can restore a certain number of health points per turn.
The DS wireless features allow players to engage in battle online or in local multiplayer by using special teams made up of up to five characters. After registering their friends' codes, two players can face each other and comment over the battle through an interesting microphone-powered voice chat, or loan each other their best units. Players can also spend the money accumulated in single-player mode at the online shop, an additional store that sells special items not available in the main adventure. The wireless features should add some flavor to a game that could otherwise be too similar to the many classic game remakes that have been released on DS lately. Fire Emblem is due in the early months of 2009.
