Yuki The Snowman

Editor’s Note:  

This is a collection of notes I’ve written down in my notebook about my thoughts of the Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light Nintendo Switch port that due for release on December 4^th, 2020. Given the nature of sudden shadow drop of the reveal as well as me working on an article for a news website, I did not have time to properly organize this post like my past articles.  I did my best to fix more grammatical errors, but if there are any lingering please forgive them.

NINTENDO’S BULLSHIT LIMITED RELEASE PRACTICES

Once again, Nintendo has pulled their Limited Release practice with another of their beloved franchise:  Fire Emblem.  On October 22nd, 2020, Nintendo shadow dropped a trailer of their latest retro re-release: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.  If you want to learn  more about the release, you can check out this link because I do not have the time to explain every little detail about the digital release and the physical special edition collector’s package at the moment.

As with  Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will have a limited release time window starting from December 4^th, 2020 to March 31^st, 2021. It is unclear why Nintendo chosen March 31^st, 2021 to end production of both Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, but people have theorize that the March 31^st 2021 deadline relates to Nintendo’s ending of their fiscal year on the same date.

Some believe with the March 31^st, 2021 date, this will give investors and stock holders a chance to analyze the market to see if there are enough customers to justify doing normal runs of video game re-releases or to continue with the trend of limited run releases.  Others view this as an ill-will form of  pseudo scarcity: purposely creating a limited amount of copies of Super Mario 3D All-Stars and the collector’s edition of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light to claim that they sold out of copies where they can easier make more or keep the digital copies of both games online.

With that said, we as not only fans of Fire Emblem and Mario, but as customers must be vocal in our demands with Nintendo being more open and transparent about their Limited Run practices. 

We have the right  to know if  March 31^st, 20201 means that Nintendo will no longer produce digital and physical copies of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and Super Mario 3D All-Stars ever again, or if there will only be digital releases Super Mario 3D All-Stars through the Nintendo eShop/Switch Online.  The same apply with the new Shadow Dragon English release.  This in turns creates a scalper culture of sorts.

Now, I have nothing against scalpers and hustlers who purchase 2-4 copies of Super Mario 3D-All Stars to resell at a premium. I won’t have any issue with Fire Emblem fans doing the same with the collector’s edition.   We live in a capitalist society and we are free to make money by almost any means (as long as nobody is getting hurt, killed, trafficked, abused, etc.).

Hell, even I plan on doing some short term flipping with these limited run items myself so I can take advantage of all these feeble-minded  Fire Emblem and Mario fans  with their fear of missing out.  What I do have a problem is with Nintendo enabling people to do these moves rather than producing more games for “quality control” of their products.

Nintendo, listen: creating pseudo scarcity doesn’t make for a thrilling gaming experience.  It only creates a situation for morons with fears of missing out to do fuck shit with your limited releases because they’re mentality weak men and women.

SAMMY SMARTASS KNOW IT ALLS

If you go on twitter right now, you will see people who I like to call “Sammy Smartass” ranting about how it’s pointless to purchase a digital copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.  In their pointless, uneducated opinion, because we live in the a world of advanced technology where smartphones can play the Famicom version of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light or the remake of FE1 through the way of Mystery of the Emblem or the re-remake of FE1 through the way of NEW Shadow Dragon and Sword of Light via emulation.

I will say to you that is yes, little Sammy Smartass, people could (keyword: could) play FE1 through emulation.  Hell, we can even go as far as to say that they can buy a physical copy of Fire Emblem: New Shadow Dragon with a DS or 3DS console.  However, there are a few issues with your “counterpoint”, Sammy Smartass.

First, the average consumer may not be into playing a game through an emulator on a computer, phone, or console separate from the game’s original console.  Sure, you have some outlier normies who may know how to download and operate an emulator and a rom file of  any Nintendo Entertainment System or Famicom game on their phone or computer without destroying their device (because they know a safe rom and emulator hosting website).

But  again, that’s an outlier.

Now, I know what you’re going to say next, Sammy Smartass. “Yuki!  Emulating a Famicom console is much easier than say emulating a Nintendo 64 console.  A five year old can put a Famicom console emulator on his iPhone in less than 3 minutes.”

Correct. 

But again, the five year old  ain’t the average consumer.  And emulating Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Blade of Light isn’t an average task when you consider having to find a stable, complete (perfectly translated) English patch to even enjoy the game (as FE1 is text heavy).  

Following that, you have people and their legality fears.  Keep in mind that downloading roms of official Nintendo games is still illegal unless you own a copy of said game physically. 

While the Nintendo Ninjas aren’t going to go to every person house that download roms of their games and slit their throats in front of their children or parents, some consumers are going to have that fear in the back of their minds. Because of that fear, they won’t mess around with emulation.

Speaking of fear, some rom and emulation websites are littered with viruses, spyware, adware, Fire Emblem hentai porn, whatever. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can easily run into one of these shady rom websites with those things on said website and destroy your computer/smartphone. 

Best case situation you just get flooded with hentai ads and your computer and/or smartphone will be safe. However, nobody wants to explain to their boss or parent why Marianne off Three Houses  is giving her favorite horse Dorte a handjob in a hentai website ad on a rom website because they wanted to play Genealogy of the Holy War that badly on the work or family computer.

“But Yuki! If they are scared of viruses and their boss walking on them looking at a hentai ad of Marianne jerking off Dorte and making her face a baby horse daycare center on a rom website, why don’t they just buy an original copy of FE1 and a Famicom console? Better yet, they could either buy a copy of FE1’s two remakes, Fire Emblem: New Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS AND a (3)DS or buy a copy of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem on the Super Famicom with a Super Famicom console.  The remakes are clearly superior!”

Sammy Smartass, please listen; because you’re have become more retarded than your friend Ricardo the Ritardo.

Nobody, unless they are a hardcore collector, a hardcore Fire Emblem fan, or a gaming historian, is going to go out and buy an original Famicom – an obsolete console from the 80s, an original copy of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Sword of Light that came out in 1990. Nor will they go out and buy a copy of the 1993 video game Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem for another obsolete console, the Super Famicom.

Now, you may have an argument with New Shadow Dragon on the DS as the Nintendo 3DS, despite Nintendo stopping production of that console as of 2020 (the year of this blog post), is readily available at online and brick-and-mortar retail stores. 

However, let’s do some math and logical thinking:

A brand new New Nintendo 3DS XL runs at average about S145.99 on Amazon. Fire Emblem: New Shadow Dragon ranges from S21.99 for the game alone to about $120 if you want the game new and sealed. $145.00 + $120.00 = $165.00 before shipping and taxes.  For an extra $50.99 or so, you can buy Nintendo’s current console, Nintendo Switch Lite (a modern console that still being supported) and Shadow Dragon and Blade of Light as opposed to a remake of the first game and an console that has been discontinued and won’t have any games made for it again.  

You can apply the same logic with buying a Famicom or Super Famicom alongside FE1 and FE3.

Therefore, with all of that stated,  the average consumer who isn’t your outlier normie co-worker or 5 year old cousin is going to want ease of access to FE1; even if it means paying $5.99 on the Nintendo eShop. They would rather pay the money for an official localization copy of FE1 than go through unnecessary extra steps to enjoy a simple old Famicom game from 1990 that nobody besides weeaboos who enjoy their little precious weeaboo chess game with RPG elements.

Also, it’s natural for people to look at the origins of the things they love.  Just like with new Spider-Man fans want to read Amazing Fantasy #15 to see the origins of Peter Parker’s alter ego, people are going to want to play the game where Marth first came from. 

Humans are curious after all.

 ON COLELCTOR EDITION SCAPLERS AND SPECUCLATORS

With a fantastic collector’s edition package for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, nobody in their right mind should be shocked that collectors and speculators are drawn to this product.  Like with all things in the realm of limited edition video game collectables, Nintendo limited run practice with the latest re-release of Shadow Dragon has drawn criticism from not only the Fire Emblem community (who may not know how capitalism works), but form the general gaming community as well.

Limited produce copies/pseudo scarcity means speculators and scalpers are going to purchase as many copies of the special collector’s edition as they can and re-sell said copies online for a profit.  Naturally, this causes fans that may not be lucky enough to get the collector’s edition to become piss off at these online hustlers re-selling the package at a premium price. 

I must say to you guys is that don’t hate the hustle.  Hate Nintendo for their bullshit practices.

If you do plan on flipping the special edition package of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light on Switch, you must study the market, think logically and realistically, and plan your flip out on paper.  Go on ebay and see how often and daily pervious Fire Emblem special edition packages have been sold. Check the average prices that reseller are charging for each special edition.  This will tell you if there’s a market out there for those who are willing to buy a special edition package of Fire Emblem. 

With thinking logically and being a realistic about flipping the Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light special edition, you must ask yourself a few questions:

1. Is it possible that Nintendo will come out with a reprint of the special edition package months after the March 31^st 2021 cutoff date; therefore, lowering the value of my sealed copy of said game?
2. How long am I willing to hold on to my copy to make a profit?
3. Is there a cut-off date for me to use the digital code that comes with the special edition?
4. Who can I realistic sell this to?
5. What can I realistically get for this game in terms of making a quick profit?
6. Why do I want to re-sell this special edition copy of Shadow Dragon for profit?
7. What will I do with the money once I sell at a profit?
8. Will this collector’s edition increase or decrease in value over the next 2-5 years?

If you can answer each of these questions truthfully and remove all emotions, you will do well in re-flipping the special edition.  Now, if you’re one of these Sammy Smartasses from earlier who think holding on to the special edition version of Shadow Dragon for the long term (15+ years) as a viable investment, please do not waste space in your closet through the way of 5 copies of the special edition package.

WHAT THIS COULD MEAN FOR OTHER JAPANESE ONLY FIRE EMBLEM/NINTENDO GAMES?

If the official English localization of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a success, this will open doors for other Japanese-only Fire Emblem games to be officially translated by Nintendo with major quality of life changes.  Just imagine if Western Fire Emblem fans could finally experience Shozou Kaga’s masterpiece Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War with Nintendo providing quality of life changes as well as fix all the issues that Genealogy of the Holy War is plagued with.  If Nintendo sees that fans want this, there will be more releases in the manner of Shadow Dragon.  We could get an official English localization of Famicom Tantei Club: a Nintendo visual novel on the Famicom Disk System.  Mother 3 may get an official translation.  Hell, Nintendo did it before with Earthbound Zero/Mother 1. 

Who knows?  There’s so many possibility to think with these Nintendo Japanese-only English re-releases. So, let us hope that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of the Light have that much success.

Just please Nintendo, stop with these Limited Run release shit.