The best way to play the Fire Emblem games in order is a tricky question to answer. Story-wise, only a few games follow on from one another and in terms of release date, a lot of the games either didn’t release outside of Japan (if they did it was years later) or are only available to play on original hardware. This has made playing through the entire series an almost impossible mission.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on the GameCube, for example, is a highly sought-after game but it is now rare. As such, you’d be expecting to pay upwards of £200 to play it these days and you’d need to do so on the GameCube or Wii only.
Regardless of issues like this, though, Fire Emblem remains a series that is absolutely worth playing. Its tried-and-true strategy RPG formula, support mechanics, and memorable characters have engrossed fans since day one. This is a big-ticket Nintendo franchise these days with spin-offs and everything. You don’t want to miss it.
Read on to find out what the Fire Emblem games release date order is, what its story order is, and what we think the best order is to play the games.
What’s the best order to play Fire Emblem?
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The best order to play Fire Emblem is in whatever order you like – most of them are totally standalone stories with new characters, kind of like Final Fantasy. Considering the rarity of some of the games, however, we’d recommend you stick with the most recent releases.
On the Switch you can play through Fire Emblem Warriors, Three Houses, Warriors: Three Hopes and Engage. It’s probably best to start with those, in that order. Of those, Houses and Hopes work nicely as a duology.
If you’ve got a 3DS, however, it’s best to start with Fire Emblem Awakening before you move onto the Switch. This is a brilliant game to introduce you to the game’s settings, characters, and gameplay (it just so happens that it’s one of the finest entries in the franchise to date).
The best place to start if money is no object, however, is with the original. If you can find a copy of the remake on the DS (Cex often has it), definitely go with that as Marth plays a big role throughout the series, even getting involved in Engage.
Ultimately, though, you’ll be fine with whatever order you play the games in. Each one is worth playing and each one can be enjoyed without having played any others, yes, even those rare direct sequels.
Fire Emblem games in release date order
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The Fire Emblem series began back in 1990 with Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light on the NES. This game was never released in the UK until 2008 as the DS remake: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. It took until 2003 for the first Fire Emblem game to release outside of Japan, on the Game Boy Advance: known simply as Fire Emblem. Since then, the tactical RPG series has gone from strength to strength and it is now one of Nintendo’s main franchises.
The first six games in the Fire Emblem series didn’t get released outside of Japan, but we’ve included them in the list below (along with any remakes/rereleases) so you can get a picture of the entire list. Be warned, too, that most of the games in the series are only available to play on their original release platform so do come at a high cost these days. Without further ado, here is the complete list of mainline Fire Emblem games in release date order:
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light – 1990, NES (Japan-only)
- Was remade on the Nintendo DS in 2008 as Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (buy from Cex for £85)
- The original was released in English for the first time as a limited-time eShop title on the Switch in December 2020 until April 2021
Fire Emblem Gaiden – 1992, NES (Japan-only)
- Was remade on Nintendo 3DS as Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia in 2017 (buy from Cex for £28)
- It’s also available to download on the 3DS eShop until that closes)
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem – 1994, SNES (Japan-only)
- Was remade on Nintendo DS as Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem in 2010, again, Japan-only
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War – 1996, SNES (Japan-only)
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 – 1999, SNES (Japan-only)
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade – 2002, GBA (Japan-only)
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade – 2003, GBA (buy boxed from Cex for £130, unboxed for £40)
- Released worldwide as simply Fire Emblem
- Is also available to download on the Wii U eShop while that is still open
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones – 2004, GBA (buy boxed from Cex for £135, unboxed for £40)
- It’s also still available to download on the Wii U eShop while that is still open
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance – 2005, GameCube (buy from Cex for £220)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn – 2008, Wii (buy from Cex for £75)
Fire Emblem Awakening – 2013, 3DS (buy from Cex for £35)
Fire Emblem Fates – 2016, 3DS
- There are versions of this game, each with a different story and playable characters:
- Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (buy from Cex for £25)
- Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest (buy from Cex for £30)
- Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation (download separately on the 3DS eShop)
Fire Emblem: Three Houses – 2019, Switch (buy from Amazon for £53.99)
Fire Emblem Engage – 2023, Switch (buy from GAME for £49.99)
What about the Fire Emblem spinoffs?
There are also a few Fire Emblem spin-offs, which are listed in release date order below:
BS Fire Emblem – 1997, SNES Satellaview (Japan-only)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE – 2016, Wii U
- Crossover with Shin Megami Tensei
- Has been ported to Nintendo Switch as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (buy from Amazon for £44.99)
Fire Emblem Heroes – 2017, iOS and Android
Fire Emblem Warriors – 2017, Switch and New Nintendo 3DS (buy on Switch from Amazon for £30.99, buy the 3DS version from Amazon for £8.99)
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes – 2022, Switch (buy from Amazon for £35.99)
Fire Emblem games in story order
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Only a small handful of Fire Emblem games follow on from one another in terms of story and the majority offer perfectly good standalone plots. Games in the series are easy to bundle together thanks to the use of shared timelines with similar settings, returning characters, and themes, however. There are six shared timelines across the Fire Emblem universe.
First, is the timeline of Archanea, Valentia, and Jugdral. This is by far the largest of the six timelines and where the most shared story and characters take place. The story order of this timeline is as follows:
- Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
- Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
- BS Fire Emblem
- Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
- Fire Emblem Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
- Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
- Fire Emblem Awakening
It is in these games where you will see Marth most often, with Shadow Dragon a major player in the series along with its direct sequel Mystery of the Emblem (one of the few direct sequels in the franchise). It’s all connected but it isn’t necessary that you play them all to understand one larger plot or anything like that. Typically speaking you can pick any of the games up and play them in whatever order you’d like.
The second timeline is the timeline of Elibe. There are just two games in this timeline and both are on the GBA:
- Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
- Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (known as simply Fire Emblem in the west)
In The Blazing Blade, Eliwood is the hero. And in The Blazing Blade, it’s Roy, his son. The Blazing Blade is a prequel, being the later-released game of the pair. This is the only one we got to play outside of Japan, unfortunately.
We then move onto the timeline of Magvel. There is just one game in this timeline and it appears completely separate from the rest: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.
After this is the timeline of Tellius. As with the timeline of Elibe, Tellius tells two stories with one game very much following the other in terms of characters and plot. The two games in this timeline are as follows:
- Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
In these games you play as Ike and his army, with his story continuing in Radiant Dawn. Radiant Dawn is set practically straight after Path of Radiance and adds Micaiah into the mix. It is perfectly possible to enjoy one game without the other but to get the most out of either game it’s best to play both (if you can afford it).
The timeline of Hoshido, Nohr, and Valla is next and this is where Fire Emblem Fates and its three games come into play. Fates is an interesting game as it is split into three alternative stories that take place at the same time:
- Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
- Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
- Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation
All three are fantastic games and worth playing. Interestingly, two of the DLC packs are related to the timeline of Archanea, Valentia, and Jugdral, set before and after the events of Fire Emblem Awakening.
Finally, we are left with the timeline of Fόdlan. This is the setting of Fire Emblem Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. There are some loose ties in these games to the events of the timeline of Archanea, Valentia, and Jugdral but it’s unknown how the two timelines are tied with no clear connections story-wise.
It’s unclear where Fire Emblem Engage fits in. It’s set in Elyos, which is a new area but it contains heroes from past Fire Emblem games from across the timelines. Maybe it will tie them all together? Marth, at least, looks to be playing something of a large role.
If you’re looking to learn more about the timelines and go into great detail on the larger plot, it’s worth checking out Fire Emblem Wiki. Again, though, it’s worth pointing out that, for the most part, you can play the games in whatever order you’d like thanks to largely self-contained plots.
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