Mediocre sales plagued the franchise, selling enough units to keep the franchise alive, but sales trends in Japan and Internationally were lukewarm at best, despite solid game reviews. Also due in part to the western success of Intelligent Systems's other tactical strategy game Advance Wars, the Fire Emblem franchise began localization with the release of seventh Fire Emblem title, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, known at the time simply as Fire Emblem. The Fire Emblem franchise gained initial exposure internationally when Marth and Roy were included in the 2001 release of Super Smash Bros. It blended the classic chess formulas of various games from the past with classic RPGs features, namely the ability for characters to gain experience from battle and growing stronger over the course of a story as well as swapping equipment for different needs.įor twelve years, five additional games were released as Japan exclusive titles, up until Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, which was released in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. While the game did not create the Tactical RPG or Strategy RPG genre, many video game historians note that this game established many of the genre's archetypes. The Fire Emblem franchise began in 1990 with the release of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, which was released for the Family Computer and was exclusive to the Japanese market.