3/5 ★ – CyRevenant's review of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

I enjoyed this old thing more than I thought I would. The game dumped be in without any kind of tutorial, as was the way in the era when every game came with an instruction manual. There's not a lot of inputs so the game is mostly easy enough to puzzle out the basics. Interactions with villagers fill out the rest as visiting houses yields mini tips and hints on how it all works. I made heavy use of the fast forward and rewind functions but overall the gameplay wasn't too clunky. Managing inventory was the most amount of hassle but for most of the game just visiting a shop when you run out does you fine. I also managed to squeeze in a lot of grinding at a few of the arenas and spent a lot of time and money at the secret shops. You get so many characters that it's clear the game doesn't intend them all to survive. Though you do get one chance to resurrect. The game is transparent about what a characters current stats are but gives no insight into how they'll grow, something which is all random chance and varies by character. Early game I did some guesswork based on what people's stats were and if they had a unique or generic portrait. But I found later that some characters I was keeping were being outclassed by some who joined later. Eventually I fully switched to checking online. The story is simple enough, and told mostly through dialogue at the start and end of each mission. Though there's some snippets to be gotten from local villages too. I was happy to get to the end and the epilogues for each and every character are cute.