Intelligent Systems, Nintendo talk Mars and modern world setting ideas for Fire Emblem: Awakening
When Nintendo published Iwata Asks: Fire Emblem: Awakening in Japanese last year, a few interesting tidbits were translated from the discussion. For instance, we heard that an idea for a new Fire Emblem set in a modern world was thrown around, as was one concept for a title set on Mars.
Now that the Iwata Asks is available in English, we have the full English translation and relevant portion from the discussion. Read on below for the excerpt.
Yamagami: Mainly Higuchi-san. Ever since we made Fire Emblem: Shin Monsho no Nazo, I’d been proposing that we make a new game. The game would be Fire Emblem, but you could enjoy a different world, like—to take an extreme example—the modern world.
Iwata: Huh? The modern world? That’s shocking… (laughs)
Yamagami: All sorts of ideas came up, but they were all going a little too far, so it was hard.
Higuchi: Yeah. We were groping around at one thing or another so that people who have played Fire Emblem until now would be comfortable picking it up, while new players would at least take a little interest. One of those things we were thinking about was a change in the way it looked.
Iwata: What kind of proposals were you making?
Yamagami: (laughs) A game called Fire Emblem 2011.
Iwata: 2011?
Higuchi: Yeah. (laughs) We made proposals that were a complete departure from the medieval worldview so far—like Fire Emblem completely in the modern world or the one which has the sense of an fairy tale. But they were too far out, so we couldn’t get started. (laughs)
Iwata: Maeda-san, do you remember what the other suggestions were like?
Maeda: One idea that came up within the team was, well, it was Mars.
Iwata: Mars?!
Maeda: Yeah. Fighting on Mars.
Iwata: Fighting on Mars?!
Kusakihara: Now I know why Yamagami-san was like, “That’s too much!”
Everyone: (laughs loudly)
Yamagami: I was like, “Is that even Fire Emblem?!” (laughs) In the end, such a drastic break didn’t go very well.
