Fire Emblem Awakening (Japanese:ファイアーエムブレム覚醒Fire Emblem Awakening) is a turn-based strategy role-playing game for theNintendo 3DS console, released in Japan in 2012, and the rest of the world in 2013. It is the thirteenth overall game installment in theFire Emblem series, the eleventh original title and the first original installment in the five years sinceRadiant Dawn. It is a distant sequel toMystery of the Emblem andNew Mystery of the Emblem, set thousands of years in the future of the continentArchanea, now a very different world. It follows the story ofChrom, prince ofYlisse and distant heir of the Hero-KingMarth, as he leadsThe Shepherds in observing and combating the bizarre activities of the neighboring countryPlegia.

Awakening is the first title on aNintendo console to facilitate the creation and sale ofpaid downloadable content, here coming in the form of purchasable maps and characters, sometimes providing completely uniqueclasses andskills. A special edition package for the game was produced and available in both Japan and America, containing aAwakening-themed "Cobalt Blue" Nintendo 3DS system with unique printing on the shell; the Japanese version of the package also contained a physical copy of the game and 1000 eShop points, while the American version has a digital copy of the game pre-installed on the Nintendo 3DS system. The European release received a similar bundle, except with aAwakening-themed Nintendo 3DS XL, the larger variant of the console.^[2]

Originally released in Japan in April 2012,Awakening was not released internationally until the following year. A European release was tentatively confirmed in February 2012, with no specific release date provided, and a United States release was accidentally confirmed byReggie Fils-Aime at theElectronic Entertainment Expo 2012;^[5] solid release dates were not confirmed until December of that year.^[1] In the United States of America,Awakening was the subject of an extensive advertising campaign to a scale unprecedented for theFire Emblem series, receiving extensive preview coverage on Nintendo of America's Facebook page.

Plot summary

Two thousand years have passed since the Shadow DragonMedeus died his final death at the hands of the Hero-KingMarth and the continent of Archanea was united under a single flag under his rule. In this time, countries have come and gone, Archanea has once again split into three nations, and the descendants of Marth and his wifeCaeda are now the royal family ofYlisse, a peace-loving nation which reveres theDivine DragonNaga; this royal family possesses theBrand of Naga on their bodies and are the owners of the divine bladeFalchion and theFire Emblem.

In the time of the rule of ExaltEmmeryn, reports of bizarre and dangerous behavior have emerged concerningPlegia, a kingdom neighboring Ylisse which instead worshipsGrima, the Fell Dragon which once threatened mankind and opposed Naga. In response to this troubling news, Ylisse's PrinceChrom, Emmeryn's younger brother, has convened a small militia calledThe Shepherds to observe Plegia's actions and repel violent acts from their neighbor. Among all of this, there are reports of strange undead creatures roaming the lands, anda swordsman claiming to be the Hero-King Marth himself has appeared, wielding the same Falchion now in Chrom's possession.

Plot

Prologue

The game begins withChrom andRobin in a strange building, fighting a man namedValidar. After defeating him, Validar attempts to kill Chrom, but Robin takes the blow instead. With the battle seemingly won, Robin's eyes glow red and they stab Chrom in the stomach, killing him. There is an ominous laugh as the scene fades.

Ylissean-Plegian War

During the time ofEmmeryn's reign overYlisse, Chrom began a small militia called theShepherds. On route toSouthtown, they encounter a collapsed amnesiac, Robin, and help them, but find themselves heading to South Town in order to deal withPlegian Barbarians. After disposing of the threat, the group rests in a nearby forest, only to find the earth collapsing under their feet and setting fire to the forest. Eerie undead beings appear from a portal and try to kill Chrom andLissa. Chrom disposes of one and with the help of a man who appears through the portal, disposes of the second one. After killing the remainder of the beings, the masked man asks to be referred to asMarth and quickly leaves after telling the royal family that tonight was just a prelude to the future.

Chrom returns to Ylisse's capital and has a discussion with his sister and the rest of the council about the new threat, deciding to call the undead beingsRisen. Chrom is tasked to seek aide from the northern country ofRegna Ferox. Once Chrom arrives at Regna Ferox, the border guard accuses him of lying about his noble birth. After winning the guards' trust through battle, the Shepherds arrive at Regna Ferox and talk to the East Khan,Flavia. While she is willing to help, she needs the Shepherds' help to win ruling power from the West KhanBasilio in a tournament to do so. The Shepherds fight for the East Khan against Marth and his warriors. Before battle, Chrom realizes Marth has a similarFalchion to his own and the two clash in single combat, their battle skills and stances echoing one another. During the battle, Marth states that his father taught him how to fight. After Chrom wins, Marth disappears, leaving the prince to gain a new ally in Regna Ferox.

Gangrel, the King of Plegia, then threatens Ylisse with war over the fact that Ylissean noblewomanMaribelle crossed the border. Plegian barbarians then attempt to take Emmeryn's life, but Chrom steps in and he kills one of them, giving Gangrel reason to declare war between Plegia and Ylisse. After saving Maribelle, the Shepherds and their Exalt return back to the capital. That night, Marth again returns to warn Chrom of the impending future. Marth then dispatches an assassin that suddenly appears, leading Chrom to trust Marth completely; a second assassin then appears and is able to cut off Marth's mask before Chrom kills him. It is then revealed that Marth is actually a woman. Marth and Chrom then head into the castle to defend Emmeryn from more assassins, defeating their mysterious leader,Validar. Marth then leaves the royal family, as they are once more safe. However, in the darkness, something revives Validar.

Emmeryn is brought to a second castle, but along the way, the Shepherds are ambushed. Emmeryn decides to return to Ylisse, but not before handing theFire Emblem to Chrom, instructing him to take care of it. Chrom and the group ask Regna Ferox for aide as the two countries go to war against Plegia. At the height of the war, Emmeryn is taken hostage while Gangrel demands that Chrom give him the Fire Emblem in exchange for her return. Instead of allowing Chrom to save her by giving up the Fire Emblem, Emmeryn decides to sacrifice herself to protect her people. She walks off the edge of the cliff where she is held hostage, ending her life and severely damaging the morale of the Plegian army. Chrom and his shepherds then continue their assault on Plegia, eventually killing Gangrel and bringing peace back to the continent.

War against Valm

Sometime after the war, Chrom marries a woman and has a daughter namedLucina, who bears the Brand of the Exalt in her left eye.Virion and his escort,Cherche, bring word of a new threat coming to the continent of Ylisse:Walhart, the emperor of the western continent ofValm, seeks to expand his rule and is coming to claim Ylisse. Chrom seeks aide from Validar, the new king of Plegia, to help them gain ships to head towards Valm. Validar agrees, but during the visit he also introduces Plegia's most-esteemed hierophant, who mysteriously shares Robin's appearance and name. On the return route, Marth returns to protect Chrom from being killed by Risen, and inadvertently calls him her father. She reveals her true name, Lucina, and that she has traveled from ten years in the future to preventGrima's reawakening.

Chrom and his shepherds then war against Valm. After taking control of a Valm port and savingSay'ri, they head forthe Mila Tree and saveTiki,Naga's voice and one of the few remainingDivine Dragons. Tiki mentions that in order to prevent Grima's awakening, they will need to perform theawakening onMount Prism with the completed Fire Emblem. Chrom manages to free the south fromYen'fay's side of the Valm army while West KhanBasilio and East Khan Flavia fight against Walhart, who manages to defeat Basilio. Basilio gives one of the gemstones needed for the Fire Emblem to Flavia and instructs her to run. Chrom gathers his troops and they fight against Walhart twice, finally defeating the conqueror and bringing a temporary peace back to the world.

Grima's return and the ending

Searching for the last remaining gemstone for the Fire Emblem, Chrom heads to Plegia on the request of Validar. It is there that Validar ambushes Chrom and his troops. Before they can escape, Validar takes control of Robin, explaining that since Robin is actually his child, Validar can use Grima's blood between them to control them. After obtaining the Fire Emblem from Chrom, Validar escapes to theDragon's Table. Thousands of mind controlled people arrive at the table and the Shepherds defeat Validar before he can revive Grima. However, the hierophant from before arrives and states that they are the Robin of the future and use the remaining energy and life force in Dragon's Table to refuel their energy, making the dragon form of Grima reappear.

Seeing that they have little time left, the Shepherds head for Mount Prism. After defeating the Risen that plagued the mountain, Chrom arrives at a temple and completes the Awakening inside. Naga, seeing Chrom's conviction, lends him her power and unlocks Falchion's power which laid dormant within the sword. The Shepherds then head back to the west and ride upon the back of Grima to begin the final battle. Two scenarios can happen, depending on the player's choice.

If the player chooses to have Chrom deal the final blow, Grima falls asleep for another thousand years, after which he will return to destroy the world. Chrom comments how that Robin belongs with them, even if Robin's future linage is stained with Grima's blood. The Shepherds then decide to make the world a better place and plan for Grima's eventual return.

If the player decides to sacrifice themselves, Robin deals the final blow and disappears in the air, hoping they meet Chrom again in another life. After the credits, the beginning of the game plays again, with Lissa and Chrom wondering what to do about the person on the ground. After picking Robin up, who no longer has theFell Brand on their hand, Chrom states that it is finally over and welcomes them back.

Gameplay

The development team ofAwakening described the game as being intended as an "all-star" assortment of ideas from pastFire Emblem series installments.^[7] Many of these features return fromGaiden andThe Sacred Stones, acting as another spiritual successor to the former.

• Theworld map system, similar to that ofGaiden andThe Sacred Stones, allows the player to walk across the map to different locations to battle or shop.
• Two new mechanisms are introduced which are additions to thesupport system:Dual and Pair Up. The Dual system grants the player's units statistical bonuses in battle when standing next to each other, which can be boosted through gaining supports. The Pair Up system allows two units to fight together to defeat their enemies, with the supporting unit having a chance of dealing more damage to the enemy or protecting their ally from damage the enemy would deal.^[6]
• As inNew Mystery of the Emblem, theAvatar concept is used again - a customizable main character, representing the player and playing a large part in the story.
• Also returning fromNew Mystery of the Emblem is theCasual Mode, a gameplay option which disables the series' traditional permanent death and allows "dead" characters to return at the beginning of the next chapter.
• Branching promotions return fromThe Sacred Stones, allowing for further unit customization.
• Returning fromGenealogy of the Holy War is a multi-generational character system, in which the characters of the game's first generation can fall in love (this time through the mechanics of thesupport system) and ultimately marry and have children with each other, with different parent combinationsaffecting the children's stats and skills. Unlike inGenealogy, these children are not the subject of a separate second-generation story and instead fight alongside their parents through time travel.

Chapters

Main article:List of chapters in Fire Emblem Awakening

The main story ofAwakening is comprised of twenty-eight chapters – an introduction, a prologue, twenty-five chapters, and the finale. Additionally, there are twenty-threeparalogue chapters in the game, six of which can only be received viaSpotPass. Twenty-five completely new chapters can also be obtained throughdownloadable content.

Characters

Main article:List of characters in Fire Emblem Awakening

Including all bonus StreetPass, SpotPass and DLC characters,Fire Emblem Awakening has the largest playable cast in the main series with 170 unique characters. If each variation of a single character is counted separately, the list goes up to 186.

The core game ofAwakening features 49 playable characters, divided roughly into three groups. There are 30 initial units, comprising a "first generation". These thirty characters can, like inGenealogy of the Holy War, be paired up to have a set of 13 children characters who primarily join inparalogue chapters. Withone exception, the children characters are completely optional, and it is entirely possible to not receive them by simply not pairing up the parents or by not visiting the paralogues in which the children are recruited. An additional six characters are available in paralogues distributed viaSpotPass and unlocked only immediately prior to theEndgame; these units can only support withRobin, this game's avatar character.

Outside of the core 49, a vast array ofbonus units can be obtained throughStreetPass or SpotPass, or throughdownloadable content (though the closure of the Nintendo eShop has made the DLC unavailable for players who had not purchased it prior). A total of 120 unique units are available through SpotPass, comprised of an assortment of returning characters from priorFire Emblem series titles, with another 17 available with redesigned art through downloadable content. In addition to this, the Avatars of players are transmitted to other players through StreetPass and can potentially be recruited in the same way. Any single save file can only have twenty such bonus units active in their party at a time.

Support conversations

Main article:List of supports in Fire Emblem Awakening

Development

Main article:Fire Emblem Awakening pre-release information

Fire Emblem Awakening was first announced in Japan, only generically known as asFire Emblem 3DS, in a Nintendo 3DS conference held by Nintendo on September 13th, 2011. As a result of theFire Emblem series experiencing declining sales over the preceding few titles, Nintendo had delivered an ultimatum on the series' fate to the development team at Intelligent Systems:Awakening needed to reach at least 250,000 copies sold, otherwise the series would be brought to an end.^[8] In response the developers eventually settled on constructingAwakening as a culmination of elements and lessons from the pastFire Emblem titles, with a particular emphasis on individual characters and the bonds between them; the latter led to the introduction of thePair Up system as a way to further units supporting each other in battle.^[7]

As withFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, the translation and localization process forAwakening was contracted out to the Japanese firm8-4, rather than being handled in-house by Nintendo of America's Treehouse division like earlierFire Emblem titles.

Demo version

The American and European Nintendo eShops each released a playable demo ofAwakening for free download, released on January 17, 2013 and March 28th, 2013 respectively.^[9] It allows the player to create an Avatar, albeit restricted to being male and lacking some other design choices, and play through the entirety ofPrologue andChapter 1 before ending. All threedifficulty modes are available for play, but Classic Mode is not available and the player is forced to play in Casual Mode. The demo is restricted to being played a maximum of thirty times in the American release, and ten times for the European release.

The demo possesses a glitch: theBullion item does not exist in the demo, butLeif's Blade (which is available throughevent tiles) exists unmodified and so still attempts to load the item if its chance to "steal" a Bullion activates; as there is no Bullion item, the game crashes.^[10]

The Japanese version does not have a playable demo.

Game credits

Main article:Staff of Fire Emblem Awakening

Reception

Sales

In its first week released in Japan,Awakening sold approximately 242,600 copies, rivaling the lifetime sales of previous entries in the series.^[11]Awakening was also number one on the Japanese game charts for its first week.^[12] In the following weeks,Awakening managed to stay high on the Japanese charts.

In a level unprecedented for the series' international incarnation, the United States release was in high demand before and at release with high numbers of pre-orders placed; this resulted in the physical release being marred by shipping delays, with demand far outstripping supply at the release date.^[13]

As of December 31st of 2020,Awakening has sold 2.33 million copies worldwide.^[14]

Critical reception

Japanese gaming magazineFamitsu scoredAwakening at 36/40, broken down between its four reviewers as 9/10 each.^[15]

Awakening has received widespread critical acclaim from western reviewers. The game currently has a rating of 92 on Metacritic^[16] and 92.52% on GameRankings,^[17] both the highest of any installment in theFire Emblem series. A common theme of critical praise forAwakening is its success at striking an ideal balance between accessibility for those new to the series, and with the high intricacy and difficulty for which the series is known.

IGN's Audrey Drake awarded a score of 9.6/10 toAwakening, commenting: "Boasting both the depth and nuance that tactical RPG fans crave and the ease-of-use and fluid tutorial system that newcomers require, Awakening is the ultimate portable strategy RPG, and the new crowning jewel of the Nintendo 3DS's fledgling library."^[18]Destructoid's Chris Carter gaveAwakening a score of 9/10, saying: "While Fire Emblem Awakening may not turn the notch up to 11, it's everything that's right about strategy RPGs. Whatever options you choose to go with at the beginning of the game, it's either one of the most accessible strategy games to date, or one of the most difficult."^[19] The Game Informer review scored the game at 9/10,^[20] as did Electronic Gaming Monthly, despite their misgivings about the visual style of the game's battle models.^[21] The Escapist awarded the game a perfect 5/5 score,^[22] and both GameSpot^[23] and GameTrailers^[24] gave it the equivalent of a 8.5/10 score.

Etymology and other languages

Gallery

• 
  American box art ofAwakening.
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  European box art ofAwakening.
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  Japanese box art ofAwakening.
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  Australian box art ofAwakening.
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  Japanese box art of the Nintendo Selects release ofAwakening.
• 
  Arabian and Southeast Asian box art ofAwakening.
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  American logo ofAwakening.
• 
  European and Australian logo ofAwakening.
• 
  Japanese logo ofAwakening.
• 
  Home Menu icon.

Merchandise and special editions

• 
  AmericanFire Emblem edition box art ofAwakening.
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  Japanese special pack box art ofAwakening.
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  European limited edition pack box art ofAwakening.
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  TheAwakening-themed special editionNintendo 3DS console.
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  A 1,000 yen Nintendo prepaid card included with theAwakening-themed 3DS.
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  A 1,000 yen Nintendo prepaid card included with theAwakening-themed 3DS., still in its holder.
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  1,000 yen Nintendo prepaid card released April 19, 2012.
• 
  1,000 yen Nintendo prepaid card released April 19, 2012, featuringLissa andSumia.
• 
  1,000 yen Nintendo prepaid card released August 9, 2012, featuringTiki andNowi.

Screenshots

• 
  American title screen ofAwakening.
• 
  European and Australian title screen ofAwakening.
• 
  Creating anAvatar unit.
• 
  Lon'qu lands aCritical Hit.
• 
  Chrom prepares to attack a ruffian.
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  MovingLissa to anevent tile.
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  The game'sworld map.
• 
  The game'ssoundtrack.

References

External links

• Fire Emblem Awakening official North American website, archived by the Wayback Machine
• Fire Emblem Awakening official Japanese website
• Fire Emblem Awakening Background official Japanese background website, archived by the Wayback Machine.
• N.O.M Report official Japanese online magazine report
• Fire Emblem Awakening at Serenes Forest