With the popularity of Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee a few years prior, Nintendo of America decided to finally localize a Fire Emblem title stateside in 2003--though this is not a port of the original Famicom game. I forget what originally compelled me to purchase this GBA game back then; it was probably due to Melee, and probably also the fact that I liked Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (which, itself, had come out just a few months prior). Regardless, I became a fan out of the series thanks to that game, and I can happily say that over ten years later, Fire Emblem is still one of the best titles in not just the franchise itself, but on Wii U Virtual Console as a whole.

There are so many aspects of the game to enjoy. The combat, a rock-paper-scissors affair, is easy to master, fun to engage, and surprisingly nuanced. The story itself is immersive, with many twists and turns along the way. You’ll accumulate many party members as you continue your journey, but what’s great is that for the most part, they are all intriguing characters with their own distinctive personalities. The game requires an immense amount of strategy to complete, and this can sometimes be daunting, especially late in the story when a certain level of mastery is required and beloved members of your party start to fall left and right, never to return (oh yes, “perma-death” is a feature here). The great thing about the Virtual Console, however, are restore points, so even if you experience death many a time, at least this time around you don’t have to restart the whole chapter again. A bit of cheating, yes, but it’s there if you want a crutch to lean on.

But the experience of Fire Emblem is one that, even if it poses a great amount of difficulty, still remains a completely engaging and enjoyable experience. Everything that I want in a strategy RPG can be found in this amazing GBA title. It might be a little outdated compared to more contemporary fare, but to this day, Fire Emblem remains one of the top strategy titles of its generation.