Last week, Nintendo dropped a huge surprise to its fanbase when it revealed that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will be released to the West for the first time. To those unfamiliar, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is the first Fire Emblem game that was only released to Japan in 1990. Now, Nintendo unveiled the upcoming game's file size alongside a brief overview of what it will contain.
According to the official listing of the game at the Nintendo eShop, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light will only require 30 MB of free space on the player's console. Of course, 30 MB is not surprising given that the upcoming Switch title is only a port of the original, which was first released in 1990. However, despite the game's small file size, it still contains a pretty heft amount of content that includes all 25 chapters of the original game, more than 50 playable characters, and over 20 classes for players to choose from.
However, one important thing that players should know is that Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a limited-time release and will only be available to purchase via the Nintendo eShop until March 31, 2021. Nintendo will also offer a special 30th Anniversary Edition of the game that includes a download code for Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, a map, an art book, and other collectibles. Both the digital and special versions of the game will be released on December 4.
Unsurprisingly, the 30th Anniversary Edition of Fire Emblem sold out just minutes after preorders opened last week. Now, scalpers are already taking advantage of the situation, and prices for the special edition of the game are getting out of hand. Originally, the 30th Anniversary Edition retails for $49.99, but listings at eBay and other similar sites are currently going for double the original price, if not more.
Meanwhile, shortly after Nintendo announced the localization of the first Fire Emblem game to the west, fans of Earthbound became excited - not because of Fire Emblem, but because of Nintendo's renewed interest localizing some of its older games. It is worth remembering that ever since the game's release back in 2006, fans of the third game in the Mother series (known as Earthbound outside Japan) have been begging for Nintendo to localize the game to the west. Of course, while the decision to localize Fire Emblem is a step in the right direction for the company to revive more of its older games, Earthbound fans shouldn't get their hopes too high, especially since Nintendo hasn't even dropped a hint regarding a future localization of the Earthbound series.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light releases on Nintendo Switch on December 4th, 2020.