Double Time

Between the early-morning shift, getting my bathroom renovated, and binging 90's cartoons, I somehow squeezed in time for games from one of my favorite IP's, Fire Emblem.

Fire Emblem Heroes (Mobile)

I've dropped FEH for a minute after getting stuck in Story Mode.  But since getting advice from an unlikely source, I'm breezing through missions with my team of 5-star, Level 30+ heroes.  Now firing up FEH after the batteries of another game ran low, I started by summoning heroes as I usually do.  And I must have slept on tons of in-game events as I usually do.  Running through one free summon after another, I've gotten some new heroes, a few duplicates, and at least 3 5-star heroes corresponding to said events (above).  Looks like my newest team has been decided for me--as soon as I figure out the damn search engine.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Life (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Speaking of sleeping on stuff, up next is a game I've played on and off since its digital release on the Switch in 2020.  The very first Fire Emblem game, it was originally released for the NES in 1990, and then on Japan's Virtual Console throughout the early 2010's.  Localized in North America for the franchise's 30th anniversary, I paid the extra money for the physical special edition bundle over the $5 download (and the free online ROM).

Besides such quality-of-life additions as save states and rewind, Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Life is we've come to expect from the Fire Emblem games to come.  Except the weapons triangle, which I follow regardless.  But I didn't play too long before switching to . . .

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Nintendo DS)

After buying a busted DS Lite off the street for $5, and getting it repaired at my local game shop for way more, I already had this game when I decided to fire it up to test the handheld console.  Then I loaded the game onto my DSi XL and it looked and felt way better.  Once I added some protective gear to the XL, this version of Shadow Dragon has become my go-to whenever I could squeeze in some playtime at work (or Fire Emblem Heroes when the batteries died).  Basically the original game with a facelift, I guess I prefer the 2D graphical style of the remake over the 8-bit sprites of the original.  But as much as I loved it, I'd eventually move on.

Pokemon FireRed (Game Boy Advance)

With all the online discourse surrounding the upcoming releases for the Switch, even I've debated whether to pluck down the $20 for either Pokemon FireRed or Pokemon LeafGreen, as per my personal rule of buying just one mainline game from each generation (with one exemption, which I'll reveal in good time).  Torn between what are basically emulated ROMs with no quality-of-life improvements, no online functionality, and Pokemon I've already collected and stored in the Pokemon HOME app, I realized I've already had the solution in the palm of my hand.

In hindsight, I should've started with LeafGreen instead of FireRed to go with this R36S console.  I could always just switch games; I'm not even on my first Gym Leader yet.  But the Pikachu on my team was a bitch to catch considering Squirtle's my starter Pokemon.  My point is that I'm skipping the Switch ports to play ROMs I've almost paid $20 for.  And besides the bad matchups I've had so far, I'm really out of practice since starting--and failing to finish--the last 2 generations.  Hopefully I'll stay with this game long enough to get out of that rut.

And that about does it for now.  Join me next time when I try even more game, and maybe post a toy-themed blog I've promised weeks before.  Hope you tune in then as I continue scaling my way up to the Top of the Heap.