Today I translated a summary (or highlights) of a developer interview on Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade from Nintendo Dream’s May 2003 volume. I could not find this magazine despite my searches for the full interview, so settled on translating a Japanese user’s summary of highlights instead.

If anyone has this issue, I’d love to take a look at the interview in full, as highlights may miss some of the fun tidbits!

Enjoy!

Source: Nintendo Dream (May 21, 2003)

Staff:

• Kentaro Nishimura (Nintendo / Supervisor)
• Tohru Narihiro (Producer)

On the production process:

• The production period was about one year, but it was planned to be completed in seven months.
• “Before the end of [the development of] The Binding Blade, the plot was already to take place on parts of the same continent and connect [to it].”
• In order to supplement “Binding”, and to bring in new players, the setting and system were carried over from the previous installment.

On the difficulty:

• Originally, it was a 2-part concept, with the difficulty level at the beginning being easier than the previous game.
• First-timers could clear up to Eliwood’s story, but then from then on it would be “difficult” even for the best of them.
• When it comes to a defeated character being eliminated… “(flatly) There’s no such thing. Absolutely not! (laughs). I think the current trend with “Emblem” is doing the perfect play (clearing without losing a single character), but that is realllllyyyy (emphasized) not supposed to be the case.” – Narihiro

On the new elements of the game:

• The Tactician was introduced to help the tutorial progression feel more natural. Originally, they were only to appear in Lyn’s story, but they were kept for the whole story at Mr. Nishimura’s request. Due to this, completion was postponed to around the end of 2002.
• Monks were added to enable the use of light magic from earlier in the game.
  

On the next game:

• We want to release a new game at a pace of about once a year.
• We’re thinking about the GC next. There is no specific word as to whether it will be a remake or not.

On the production company:

• Intelligent Systems (IS) was originally a company that made development tools for Nintendo game hardware.
• At first they were acting as backups, but steadily IS started to develop original projects.
• Currently, the development staff is made up of 80 people.
• The FE series [games] are planned and proposed by IS, with Nintendo acting as advisors, with the games made based on repeated discussions between them.
• Mr. Narihiro joined IS in 1986, and his first work was “Family Computer Robot Gyro Set” (NES R.O.B).

That’s that!

Please note that I have no way of cross-referencing the accuracy of this summary as I do not have the original magazine. Please keep a degree of skepticism for this information. However, the source site does accurately summarize other interviews listed that the respective sources are available for, so I would say it is trustworthy!

Please let me know if you have access to this Nintendo Dream volume, or know someone who does!