Up until the release of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Emblem franchise tended to stick to handheld devices after its famicom days, seldom if ever breaking away from the charming pixel artwork we've come to associate with series. The pattern held true until the release of Path of Radiance on the GameCube, and its follow-up game Radiant Dawn on the Wii, before the series retreated back to handheld releases for the DS. But what if we told you there was almost an even earlier Fire Emblem game on console?

During a 1997 interview with IGN ( via the Wayback Machine), Shigeru Miyamoto answered questions about games that were at the time in development for the Nintendo 64DD, a Japan-only console that went down in flames as a commercial failure. Released in December 1999, the console was discontinued by February of 2001 with only nine games on it, making it a mayfly among the generally long-lived Nintendo consoles. The optimistic developer stated that 'Mario RPG II' and 'Fire Emblem 64' were both in development for the 64DD at the time of the inte⭕rview.

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Fire Emblem 64 was later officially announced via several Japanese gaming magazines in 1998 as "Fire Emblem: Maiden of Darkness". Apart from being an extremely cool title for a game, the title also indicates that this lost project probably saw a lot of changes before being reworked into the Fire Emblem game that actually ended up releasing next: 'The Binding Blade'. That said, Idunn, one of the antagonists of Binding Blade, is at times referred to as "the Dark Priestess". It's possible that she, or a concept version of her, was present and prominently featured in the otherwise-vague development history of Maiden of Darkness. We also know from commentary in the 25th anniversary Making of Fire Emblem book that the only characters to survive from that game into the rework were Roy and Karel. This book was only releas𒀰♍ed in Japanese.

While The Binding Blade never made it to a 3D console, it did lead to many other series firsts. It was the first game released for the GBA. It also was the first game in the franchise to have no relation to the continent of Archenea, likely due to the fact that series creator Shouzou Kaga left Intelligent Systems during development and attempted to create Emblem Saga, which would have continued the Archenea story. Nintendo disliked this, and his project ultimately bore a different title following a legal battle. Much more crucially than the lore-departure from the first games, however, Binding Blade spawned a prequel game that wound up being the first Fire Emblem game ever released outside of Japan.

This widespread release may have been possible because of the success and popularity of the GBA console, making the potential profits of international release much more appealing. Binding Blade also outperformed the previous entry in the series, likely because Intelligent Systems decided to walk back the difficulty a little to appeal to newcomers. And, famously, Roy's appearance in Super Smash Bros: Melee sparked an interest in the then-lesser-known franchise in the west, which led to both a demand and good opportunity for a global release. Whatever the reason, if the series had continued onto the failed 64DD console, it's possible that the franchise wouldn't have made the next few steps towards the international popularity it enjoys todﷺay.

In a different timeline, where the franchise had already suffered through a failed release and the series fo🍃under leaving as back-to-back event🐎s - that success may have never come at all.

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