The Archanea Series (also known as the Akanea Series or Akaneia Series) is a term used to describe the Fire Emblem games that are originally set on the continents of Archanea.
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The Archanea Series is the flagship series of the entire Fire Emblem franchise and is named after the primary continent it takes place on, Archanea. The primary lead protagonist of the series is Marth, following his journey leading the forces of Archanea in the battle against the Shadow Dragon Medeus, leading to his ascension as the Hero-King.
The series boasts two main titles with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light was released on April 20, 1990 for the Famicom as a Japanese exclusive game. Mystery of the Emblem was released on January 21st, 1994 on the Super Famicom also as a Japanese exclusive. The both would receive numerous re-releases through numerous Virtual Console downloads in Japan only. On December 4, 2020, Shadow Dragon received its first worldwide release on Virtual Console on the Nintendo Switch.
Both games also received enhanced remakes, releasing as Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem, the eleventh and twelfth titles respectively. Both were released for the Nintendo DS. Shadow Dragon was released in Japan on August 7, 2008. It was later released worldwide starting in Europe on December 5, 2008 and in North America on February 16, 2009. New Mystery of the Emblem remained a Japanese exclusive title, releasing July 15, 2010.
Connection to Other Games[]
Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia take place within the same world as the Archanea series, even featuring several characters from it and expanded connections in the remake. The plot of Gaiden and its remake is largely disconnected from the events in Archanea and is considered a sidestory. Chronologically, Gaiden takes place directly between the events of Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem with no overlap.
The Jugdral Series has been stated to take place in the same world as the Archanea series, though it takes place roughly 1,000 years prior to the events of the Archanea series and on a completely separate continent as Archanea.
The Archanea Series leads eventually into Fire Emblem Awakening after a time span of 2000 years, in which the continent of Archanea has since been rechristened Ylisse. A number of direct connections to the Archanea of old remain, namely the significance of Marth's lineage and members of the Hero-King's army after the passage of time.
Legacy[]
The Archanea Series, especially Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light are the launching point of the stories of the Fire Emblem franchise and serves as the skeleton work for not only the franchise as a whole, but also has been stated by numerous video game historians as the grandfather of all modern tactical RPG games and their staple mechanics including inventory management and character stat development virtually unseen prior to its release from other games.
Marth, the protagonist of the Archanea series, is the primary representative for the series as a whole due to his numerous appearances since the Archanea series. He was considered as a part of the launch roster of Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64, but was ultimately scrapped due to time constraints. He would later become a fully realized character in the subsequent Super Smash Bros. Melee alongside then upcoming protagonist Roy, both of whom would serve as stewards of the franchise to Western audiences for the first time. Marth remains the only Fire Emblem representative to make an appearance in all subsequent Smash games since the series first made an appearance in the series in Melee.
With Shadow Dragon only selling less than 200.000 units during its debut, New Mystery of the Emblem did not receive a Western release, making it the first title in the series to remain exclusive to Japan since Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade in 2002.
While fan reception was positive at the time, Gaiden's radical and short-lived shift in gameplay were often compared overtime to that of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. While most of Gaiden's new gameplay elements would be discarded in later entries, the concept of class evolution was retained throughout following entries, while the idea of a navigable world map eventually returned in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Awakening, and Fates. Gaiden's remake Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia retains and expanded on its unique mechanics, including town and dungeon exploration and combat concepts like magic usage consuming HP. Shadows of Valentia also introduced new concepts to the series, including a mechanic to rewind turns in order to undo mistakes, and was the first game in the series to feature full voice-acting.
In Fire Emblem Cipher the cards in the Archanea series are represented by the color red and the emblem of the Falchion.
Trivia[]
- Plans were made to return to the Archanean setting in the development of Fire Emblem: Ankoku no Miko for the Nintendo 64. However, the game's development was cancelled in 2000 and rebooted as the Game Boy Advance title Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. In the process, nearly all content created for the project was discarded and an entirely new setting in Elibe was conceived.
- It is the first and currently the only series in Fire Emblem history that is shown to take place on two different continents.
See also[]
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