Some thoughts on Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi

Oh, good question. I had actually started playing this Fire Emblem on an emulator on my PC for a while before I remember the 3DS as an option. I played through the fan-translation of Mother 3 this way last year as well.

I have a DS flashcard called a DSTwo, which runs well on a 3DS as long as you update the card's firmware. I had originally picked it up in order to play Fire Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow for the DS once it had been fan-translated. I'd also recommend that title, as it introduced a lot of features (most notably a customizable player character and casual mode) that got more wide exposure due to Awakening.

In any case, there is a GBA emulator that works with the DSTwo card called TempGBA. I tried it for a few platformers and found it ever so slightly choppy, though still quite playable. I figured I'd give it a try with the slower pace of a turn-based strategy game, and it worked like a charm.

No judgement on you at all for not emulating. I primarily use it to play titles that have been fan-translated. Various Fire Emblems, and Valkyria Chronicles 3 being more recent examples, but I also first played Final Fantasy V with a fan translation years before it got its PS1 release here.

The other reason I'll occasionally try something on an emulator is control-related. For example, last year I bought both Ace Combat: Skies of Deception, and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops on my PSP. In both cases, I found the controls were a big detriment to play, so I tried them out on a PSP emulator on my PC with a PS4 controller and some button remapping, and really enjoyed them.

I get your point on Awakening. I haven't felt the need to replay it, but that has been the case for most Fire Emblems, though I did start replaying Path of Radiance before lending it out. I enjoy them, but I just don't get that replay urge. I'm sure I'll play through each of Fates' campaigns once, but I imagine it will follow the same pattern.

I think that likely played a part in the method of releasing Fire Emblem Fates. I might not want to shell out for a few DLC maps, or replay the main story unless I go back to it years later, but I'm happy to shell out $20 for another full length campaign. Makes a certain amount of sense that way.

lukefonfabre388

Was just going back and re-reading old Fire Emblem threads. Since this was 3+ years ago, you likely already know this, but Steam has native support for the PS3 controller these days

I would agree that we're unlikely to have a localized version of Fūin no Tsurugi show up in its original GBA form...however

There have now been a few remakes in recent years:
Shadow Dragon on the DS (remake of the remake of the orignal FE from the Famicom)
New Mystery of the Emblem on the DS (or Heroes of Light and Shadow as the fan translation used) (remake of Mystey of Emblem on the Super Famicom)
Echoes: Shadow of Valencia on the 3DS (remake of Gaiden on the Famicom)

So, with the 2 Famicom, and the first Super Famicom titles remade in recent years, it wouldn't surprise me of Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 got remakes on the Switch. They're actually related titles. If recall correctly, Genealogy of the Holy War has a big time skip, and the second half of the game takes place a full generation later. Thracia 776 takes place during that time skip. It would be neat to see it done as a single remake covering that whole saga.

Along the same lines, if they do end up remaking the remaining Super Famicom Titles, the GBA ones would be next. The first two GBA titles take place on Elibe, the first featuring Roy, and the second a prequel about his father Eliwood, and friends Lyn and Hector, I'd love to see them retell that story in a remake as a single, multi-generational tale.

That said, as you've made clear many times Maestro, you basically hate post-GameCube/GBA era Nintendo (or even post N64 for some titles), and nothing they could do would ever convince you to buy or enjoy their stuff again, so it is probably a moot point. I'm honestly not even clear if you had played any of the Fire Emblem series before, since you mostly just pop into threads to mention that you hate the post-GBA character designs.

-------------

New Mystery of the Emblem on the DS didn't make it over here, but Heroes of Light and Shadow is a fantastic fan translation patch that I very much enjoyed. (As mentioned above, Fūin no Tsurugi has a great translation patch as well, and I believe that is the case for Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 on the Super Famicom.)

Edit:

If you did really want to try Thracia 776 Maestro, here is a link to the the Reddit thread announcing the release of the fan-translation patch. I've not used it myself though, so you'd be on your own for finding a ROM, and following the instructions to apply the translation patch. If you do give it a shot, please let us know how it is. Reputedly, it is one of, if not the hardest game in the series.

The Radiance duology are great entries in the series.  FE has done a few of those over the years, and I like how you'll often see the consequences (good and bad) from the war in the first part carry over to the second.  

I'd really enjoy seeing those two ported to current gen systems to get a bit more love.  They still look very nice, so could probably be done as a high-res remaster, rather than a full ground-up remake.  I also wouldn't mind seeing a return to the continent of Tellius, where the sub-series took place.  This could either be a direct continuation of those events, or take place in a different time period, but use the same setting (similar to the way that Awaken's settings is the same as the Marth games, and Gaiden, but hundreds of years later).

One of the few things I didn't enjoy about Path of Radiance was the transformation system for the Laguz.  They are a species who are normally humoid, but can take powerful animal forms. (Maestro would know this, but repeating here for anyone who hasn't played and might be interested.) When they're human-form, they can't initiate attacks, and they're very weak, but as they take damage, they fill a gauge and can eventually transform into power beast forms. However, combined with the series perma-death mechanic, I found when I played Path of Radiance, it made me very reluctant to use the Laguz characters, particularly early on.

There are items that mitigate this.  Laguzstones allow instant transformation, but have limited uses.  These are similar to Manakete stones, Dragonstones, etc used in other entries in the series.  There are also rare items that allow Laguz to permanently shapeshift, but only at half strength. and a more powerful version usable by Laguz royals late in the game that allows unlimited, full strength transformation.  

Path of Radiance also has a bonus xp system that allows you to keep some back-bench units at parity with your main fighting force in case there's a map where they'll be particularly useful.  On subsequent playthroughs, I found I used a lot of this bonus xp to keep some of the Laguz you get early on up to snuff, and then would deploy them occasionally.

----------------------
Note: One thing I really did like about this mechanic is that it fits very well with history of the Beorc (humans) and the Laguz.  You have a history when these two species who share common ancestry living together until racial tensions had the beroc begin to persecute the laguz, until modern times when some Laguz have left to live separately, and others have been enslaved.  Even though Laguz have these alternate forms that are far, far stronger than a human, few can transform at will, and so it is possible to overwhelm them with numbers.  So, the game mechanics actually do fit established lore of the Radiance games.
----------------------

I don't think I was the only one who had these issues with the Laguz mechanics, as they were adjusted in Radiant Dawn, largely for the better in my opinion.  Untransformed Laguz can now counter-attack, even if they can't initiate combat.  They're still weak in human-form, they gain experience much faster in that state, so there is more noticeable payoff for risking them on the front line.  One their transformation gauge is full, they no longer automatically transform, but gain a transformation command, allowing you to be a bit more strategic about unleashing their monterous strength.

I also really enjoyed the expansion of the Heron sub-species in Radiant Dawn, where you can get three characters instead of one.  The Heron largely fill the same roles as singer or dancer classes in the other games.  No combat ability, but they have singing commands called Galdr, which can have a variety of effects depending on the character (stat boosts to nearby units, allowing another unit to move a second time, etc.). 

(I've always liked these support classes in Fire Emblem, and they're done well in Radiance sub-series.  Some units, like the heavily armoured knights, always feel left-out of late-game fights, since their movement speed is terrible. So unless you're playing a very defensive strategy, it can be hard to get them in place to be effective.  Units like the herons (or sings and dancers in the other games) really help with getting those strong, slower units into the fight.)