Why Is Fire Emblem So Dark On Switch? It Reportedly Runs On The Same Emulator Used On Wii U

That’s pretty disappointing, but not surprising.

Brightens up by 45% when you find the Blade Of Light, thought this was common knowledge?

Lazy emulation is lazy, no wonder people hack consoles

I'm sure it's not new but man you take a peek behind the curtains and you see a lot of cutting corners. Where is the Nintendo Quality anymore with their titles?

Really strange. Considering they’ve implemented an entirely new script, the extra work required to bump up the brightness and saturation to normal levels is really not a lot, all things considered.

If the consumer base poke and prodded Nintendo on this issue like in Super Mario 3D Allstars case of them adding Inverted Controls after feedback, maybe they will up the brightness on this release?

Nintendo doing a low effort port? No, never.....

I hadn't even noticed. That's interesting of them, to use the old emulator for this.

@N8tiveT3ch I don't see this as cutting corners at all, I bet in general they aren't really even aware of the issue. It could easily be resolved with a patch though which I don't think is beyond the realm of possibility the feedback on social media highlights it

Do better Nintendo!!!

I remember thinking when the trailer first dropped that the game looked a bit dismal. It’s a shame too because the brighter screenshot really makes the whole thing way more appealing.

It's a minor issue. Even if, for some reason, they don't fix it (which I expect they will, but even if) It's not a big deal.

It was only 6 bucks. People spend more on microtransactions in mobile games regularly.

I dunno, maybe the developers actually preferred this look. It's not like there weren't other options available.

Not a huge deal to those that spent 6 bucks, but for the crowd that got the expensive special edition, this will be infuriating.

Odd how they didn't even use the NES emulator that they made for the NES Classic Edition for this. I play this game on my hack NES Classic Edition and it looks much brighter. My only guess is that maybe they are afraid the brightness could be too sensitive to the kids, besides the Switch is a handheld too and playing this game outside makes it looks just fine, it only looks dark if you're playing it dock or indoor.

"Just another case of Nintendo being Nintendo?"

Yamauchi/Iwata era Nintendo had fantastic quality control and standards, especially the former... it's only in recent years they do so many WTF things all the time... That the phrase "Nintendo being Nintendo" has come to even exist is just sad...

Isn't reusing the emulator the very definition of being lazy?

Just another Wii U game ported to switch.

The dark image is for reducing seizures, the patch files in the Pokemon VC releases confirm this, it is a catch-all solution, not using it consistently is a different matter.

There is such a thing as default settings, otherwise I can't explain to you why Ocarina of Time looks fine in Master Quest and Wii VC but is super dark in Wii U VC.

Certain MS and Genesis games on Wii VC are also pretty "vocal" about why they dim, only in certain games.

People actually pay for this crap? Lol

@AlienX

Makes no sense, as the NES emulator on NSO is completely free from this dark filter. Care to explain that?

I remember reading a fair few complaints about the appearance on the WiiU emulator during the actual console's days.

@Lordplops Interesting, so there is an in-game reason why the screen is intentionally dark? I wonder if the game appears at proper brightness once you reach this point.

looks nice darker. Pixel games that are colorful can be very bright for my eyes even when the screen is at the darkest. But l understand the complains.

What a shadow drag....Also, good one @Lordplops.

(I still am extremely excited for this, by the way.)

Black Screens Matter ✊🏿

Maybe NERD is too busy with another project and couldn’t be bothered to port 1 NES game?

Virtual Console games on the Wii U looked terrible, I can’t believe Nintendo didn’t make an effort to fix that, especially as they have a fully working NES emulator on the Switch to use as a reference for what the colour values should be.

That said, given the hacks seemingly made to the Fire Emblem ROM I’m not surprised they didn’t move it over to the Switch emulator entirely as they seem to have made hooks into the emulator specifically for this game which would have had to be recreated.

Of course this means this is yet another Wii U exclusive ported to the Switch. 😉

Oh I remember once when I started playin Sin & Punishment on the Wii U VC and this almost drove me nuts.

I was looking forward to getting this game, but now I am not sure if I want to. I just don't wanna support crap like this.

Things like these are the reason that sometimes make me want to hate Nintendo.

Looks fine to me. I like the slightly darker tone. Fits the game better imo. The greens and blues were super bold and bright in this game. It feels more cinematic now, like how movies put the slightly darker tint over the film footage.

Not that I'd care too much if they changed it, but I actually really do like it how it is. At least for this game (not all games).

LMAO probably the only thing on Wii U that looks better than on Switch.

Strange. Never noticed anything different for the virtual console games on Wii U, though to be fair I mainly play them on tv (yes, I still have a Wii U, lol)

@LexKitteh It's called a "joke"

You have to wonder if this is a test run for something or just...I don't know if I'd call it lazy without more info, considering they could have just slapped FE into Kachikachi (unless it was causing problems and they needed to use Vessel).

@mikegamer The only way to explain it would be to say that the dark filter isn't a requirement. Just how NES games on 3DS can't be displayed pixel-perfect but the SNES titles can, it's a design choice.

Didn't notice it being too dark but it is a good indication of how long this translation must have taken! So if they are working on Mother 3 (rumours suggested it back in the Wii U days so this actually makes it seem more likely now), I guess it will be a similar situation. It also explains why this game was solo, it was intended for Wii U!

Is it M rated now?

@Clyde_Radcliffe

the issue with the dark colours on nes games was something which started with the wiiu though wasn't it? there was also the same issue with n64 games on the system.

im hoping in this case its something that gets fixed via a patch,

Lazy all stars package, now this... ugh...

I know this article is a product of journalism and as such is a matter of opinions backed by facts deliberately chosen to support these.

But... With the NES and color presentation it really can be a matter of preference. If it's too dark, that's the preference by the perceiver talking, and the reason can by designers preference, by indecision, by accident, or, obviously for the nefarious purpose of demanding attention from the sharpest speculators on the planet.

So the headline likely has a realistic answer. The game appears dark because that's how the emulator used presents it.

My interest in this topic is probably the result of the kind of brain damage that's always a risk when doing hours of OSSC tuning and nerding out with reading FirebrandX and Retrorgb articles on NES composite palettes and NES palette comparisons.

Anyway, carry on with the "lazy" and "too expensive" comments

@AlienX They should have used the NSO emulator instead, not the garbage Wii U one.

Extra work is not the Nintendo way.

Easy cash and no questions asked.

And still no virtual console on Switch.

I can assume that after 3/31, it will be included as a part of NSO, thus utilizing the better brightness of its emulator.

In the case of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, we might see these games appear as NSO subscriber exclusives, ala Tetris 99 and the limited time SMB 35.

God, Nintendo, at least f'n try!

Oh noooooooo.... whatever shall we doooooooooo....

Infuriatingly puzzling? This infuriates you? What the fk is with you guys lately?

My guess is that it was easier to use the Wii U emulator for the localization and implementation of the feature set they wanted. Maybe the Switch Emulator is not as easy to work with for what they wanted to do?

Nintendo = lazy

I remember people saying bad stuff about wiiu vc and honestly I never had an issue with it. Game looks perfectly fine to my eyes

Maybe it was intended to be a Wii U release for the 25th anniversary but got cut because Nintendo decided to abandon the Wii U in 2015.

Cool I'll get to save some money by not buying this.

Looks fine to me. Not saying people don't actually notice but I dont understand the issue. Its perfectly visible and I dont see the reason to "hold out" on buying the game because of it. The game is absolutely awesome so far.

Oh poor poor Capcom they’ll have to relinquish their crown of being the laziest porters.

@Menchi The irony is they don't appear to care to compete with piracy. I'm condoning piracy, but they want someone to buy the product when there are better emulated free versions? This is their IP, if anyone should know how to do it properly...

Nintendo and their dark filters...why why why?

I’ve said it before, retroarch to me is the minimum standard for emulation. If your emulated game runs worse than it, then it’s not worth the for sale price.

Ah. I never had an NES and thought that the dull and dark image was just being "close to the original". Annoying to learn that it is not. Because I immediately noticed it in a negative way weeks ago on the eShop screenshots, but just accepted it as being an old game.

Hope they fix this! Perhaps if Nintendo Life contacts Nintendo for a comment?

Vessel allows patches (F zero X deadzone got patched), which enables them to put the translation in. Perhaps the emulator for NSO and Nes mini doesn't allow for such patches easily? Regardless the brightness can be patched if it is a big deal for some users.

@StevenG do you throw everything away and buy it new again after one use? Is using the same game engine on multiple games lazy? Should they code a new emulator for each new rom they want to run? Do you try to reinvent the wheel every time you need to go someplace? Do you design new sneakers, and go to a factory and design new machines to make said sneakers, and then teach a new person to run new equipment to make your new sneakers, every time you need to put on sneakers? Or do you use what works already and is proven stable and you have on hand?

@nessisonett considering you could easily remove the dark filter easily on Wii U VC games via PC suggests Nintendo were furious having to give in to fan demand and added the filter as a middle finger to fans who demanded the low price upgrade deal from Wii VC.

@FargusPelagius Inteseresting theory, but maybe Starfox 2 debunks it? I can't see them not releasing that game without some debug tweaks

I wish that fast-forwarding could be triggered with the shoulder buttons instead of being an all or nothing situation.

I have completed the first map so far. I doubt that I will ever complete this game (sssooo clunky) but I would love to see some more remakes of the classics. I haven't played much of Three Houses yet, but it seems excessively convoluted and deviates too much from the gameplay of the originals (at least out of battle) as I am not terribly fond of excessive exposition in games. Awakening and Fates got the balance just right, I think.

Such a non-issue.

I didn't notice until you pointed it out. I'm pretty unobservant, though, and I don't care.

How odd that they'd use the Wii U-based NES emulator instead of the NES Online emulator that Switch online uses or the Flog easter egg that has long since been removed from the Switch.

So not only do western players have to pay extra for what Japan gets in NSO, they get an inferior product as well? You can stop with “fantastics” with that release.

I honestly think that this game was intended to come out during the Wii U's lifespan with full translation, and would have been sold for a couple of more bucks than other Wii U NES Virtual Console games.

The reason why I say that was during that generation, Nintendo released Earthbound Zero on the Wii U, and while they did not translate it, gave The Mysterious Murasame Castle a release on the 3DS.

Given Fire Emblem's popularity, Nintendo could have seen some money out of translating the game on the Wii U, especially if they could cross-promote it with Smash Bros for the Wii U.

Well, long story short, I think the Wii U market collapsed faster than Nintendo intended, and they dropped the project.

They likely tossed it into a vault somewhere. Since the Switch does not have a Virtual Console where you buy retro games separately like on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, Nintendo likely did not see the value of putting it out with the rest of the NES games on the Switch's Online service.

Well, fast-forward to 2020, and Nintendo is likely behind in terms of having stuff ready to go. Fire Emblem turns 30 years old this year, Nintendo decided to cash in and pad their schedule, and they pull their dusty Shadow Dragon translated rom that was intended for the Wii U out of their vault, touch it up a bit, and then put it out on the Switch.

I would bet a coke that this was intended to be a Wii U VC release that got scrapped and then dug out a few years later on the Switch.

It just seems odd they would randomly use a Wii U NES emulator for a Switch game as opposed to the one the Switch uses, a modified version of the ones either the 3DS or NES Classic use or simply create a new NES emulator for Shadow Dragon.

Why dig out the Wii U emulator which had issues back in the day?

@dartmonkey

It's actually numbers within the emulator. Nothing prevented Nintendo from updating those numbers. It's likely that this was supposed to be a Wii U VC release but it's weird that Nintendo released it for Switch without updating that parameter. It reminds me of how long it took to add GameCube controller support and camera options in Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Such simple things Nintendon't do.

Here you can see how easy the dark filter is removed by users:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/install-fixed-n64-games-without-dark-filter-on-wii-u-tutorial.526283/

Lazy port money grab, seems like this is Nintendo’s mantra lately

@Clyde_Radcliffe rose-tinted glasses. Plenty of bad games (and ports) were released during Iwata’s leadership

@JaxonH Fire Emblem on NES is as cinematic as an Atari 2600 game on steroids 😂😂😂
All in all, I also don’t have a problem with the brightness. I do believe that they needed to use the Wii U emulator due to translation implementation issues. Did not occure to anyone how Puyo Puyo 2 and Panel-De-Pon were not translated on the NSO emulator?

@N8tiveT3ch yeah never mind all the incredible first party games they make, this is a 'DARK' time to be a Nintendo fan.

It's only like this because they implemented a new gameboy style screen filter. If you tilt your switch or TV under bright light it looks amazing.

@Kyloctopus yeah I thought about that too. Perhaps it was because the game was already up and running in Vessel (released in Japan on Wii U) so it didn't require transfering to another emulator. The whole thing is "odd". It isn't a huge deal tho, just a quirky curio. Look at some ports in collections (mega drive collection) and this is small potatoes compared to some of the issues with those emulations (crap sound, alot of input latency etc).

I'll skip buying this unless they make the fix.

@Heavyarms55 it is a big deal IMHO. I was already gonna pass to protest the limited release, but if i wasn't, this would stop me from buying it.

Guy in the tweet in the same thread: "Yes it's a bit dark, but in no scens of the way is this port even remotely lazy."

This whole comment section: "Yeah, we knew it. Nintendo lazy as always because they didn't do the thing I wanted. Even though they did a lot of work, I'm the most important person and if they don't do the thing I want it's 100% lazy and they should be codemned for it." -17 likes- & -22 likes- & -15 likes-

To add to games being translated for the first time on the Wii U, even in Japan there was Game and Watch Gallery 4 as a new old game for the Wii U VC. (The original GBA release was cancelled in Japan.)

So the push to release older stuff that'd never been seen locally was even a thing in Japan in the Wii U era.

Just put the translated ROM onto your NES Classic Mini, and play it without the added darkness!

I hope this gets patched for sure, I would play my Wii U far more if the VC wasn't like this, Gameboy Advanced games look wonderful.

@TheWingedAvenger I think that's what I'm gonna do (and keep my Collector's Edition sealed).

@tylerryan79 When the platform changes so drastically? Yeah, you at least fix issues like this. God forbid QA be done at all.

@Chrysologus
You've bought the Switch version, so now download the fan-translated hacked ROM which has been available on the internet for years, and play that. That way, you won't have any of the darkness that the Switch version is apparently suffering from.

@Chrysologus Yep!

I really hope they patch this eventually to make the colors more accurate to the Japanese version...