Feature: Best Fire Emblem Games Of All Time

Looking at this list hurts my soul... Well at least Shadow Dragon's on there.

E: I just realize that every international game is actually on the list, so yeah, there goes that compliment.

There are going to be a lot of upset Ike fans in this thread...
Personally I'd only swap Awakening and Three Houses. Portable Fire Emblem games are just so smooth and easy to pick up.

I think this list was put together specifically to piss off Fire Emblem fans who have played more than the last three games.

I feel like the same reasoning for excluding TMS#FE would apply to FE Warriors.
Oh well, not my list.

Oof.
Fates should be last.
You either should count both TMS#FE and Warriors, or neither.
Why not add the card game while you're picking spin-offs.
Echoes should be much higher, and PoR>RD, and Blazing Sword>Sacred Stones.
Echoes might even edge over 3H for me. They have a lot in common including combat arts, full voice acting, and (at least a few) characters who can class into anything you want.
A major difference is Echoes doesn't have the monastery, which gets repetitive very quickly.

Seeing any of the GBA games ranked above PoR/Radiant Dawn is throwing me for a loop. But Fates was the real gut punch tbh.

For me in no particular order:

Rekka no Ken
Three Houses (and I still have not finished a route)
Path of Radiance
Echoes (I can say this as I played the original numerous times)
Birthright (I enjoyed the shake up to the formula even if it was easier- I like the rest of Fates but I felt the other two were weaker story wise)
Awakening

I like something about all of them...but these are the ones that I will replay no questions asked. Echoes is still in shrinkwrap so I know its good but I have not had the chance to play it yet.

Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn lower than Shadow Dragon?

C'mon...

And Fates at #3?!

Three Houses is definitely my favorite so far, though.

I normally don't care about these lists but this should be taken down as it fails to achieve anything positive.

Lol I don't agree with any of these placements.

Yeah this list is horrific. Shadow Dragon is easily the worst both gameplay wise and character wise since it’s bare bones. Fates is not good at all and terribly balanced so it should probably be way down the list. Not including the Japan only ones is pointless as Thracia and GotHW are well worth playing despite the Roy one being rubbish. Awakening and Three Houses are probably the two best games but I’d edge it in favour of Awakening just because of a few niggly issues with 3H.

I know I'm just the outlier, but Three Houses is not even close to my top pick. It's like it took all of thing things I loved about FE (Tactics battles) and dialed it way back and cranked up the things I hate to eleven (Pointless fetch quests, dating sim, tea time...). It's not a bad game, but not even close to GBA/GCN/Wii/3DS FE titles for me.

awakening is straight up a badly designed game and out of fates only conquest is good and even that sucks in every way except gameplay
no sales figures or muh waifus will not change my mind

I know why they’re not there, but 4-5 are amazing.

Oof, this list is clearly by someone who got into the series AFTER they turned it into a dating sim.

Where's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?

Actually happy to see Fates so high, the gameplay is great and although people complained about the dlc, look at how much less Cindered Shadows offered for more money than an entire new route of Fates.

Although yeah I can't help but shake the feeling that it's only there due to recency bias. PoR and RD rating so low is gonna be a yikes from me and a lot of others. But I'm sure my own list would piss off even more people, haha.

Fates should definitely not be so high if youre counting all of them (You shouldnt anyway because all of them focus on different things, its like bunching Oracle of Seasons and Ages together). Revelations is considered the top 3 worst fire emblem game of all time by the community and birthright isnt considered very good either. Conquest story was AWFUL but it had the best map design in the series. Also the Tellius (Ike's games) games being so low is insane when the community praises them so very highly to the point its their favorite games in the series. Opinions are opinions I guess...
EDIT: Where the heck is the japanese only released games. Cant compare all of them without including those. The community loves Genealogy of the Holy War and Tharcia 776 (I dont, they aged poorly).

I would put Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn above Sacred Stones at numbers 4 and 5. I especially loved the third tier classes in Radiant Dawn, and I found the story in both games compelling.

Well, they got first place and last place right, but I disagree with pretty much the entire rest of the list. I guess Fire Emblem games are pretty controversial though, and people like them for different reasons so it was impossible to make a list that pleases everyone.

But still... Tellius at the bottom???

I honestly wish they brought back recruiting characters by talking to them on the battlefield. It was kinda like an extra little objective.

As for this list, 11 and 10 shouldn't be on it cause they're not even good. And fates is too high. The Japanese only ones are some of the best FE games so you might as well include them in a list of the best FE games even if they weren't localized.

And I'm not sure about 3H at 1. It has the most interesting story I've seen in an FE in quite a while but the gameplay is so easy that it made some of the new stuff completely redundant like gambits and combat artes. Still I'm really loving it so far tho but not sure about it being 1.

Path of radiance and fire emblem GBA are far superior to any of the 3ds games

Remember the rule of FE: If you got sword, you're likely in Smash.

I like the list a lot actually

It's your list, so I'm not saying you're wrong at all. But I can't stand Three Houses. It's like trying to play this beautiful fun game but in between the good stuff you have five miles of busywork and mostly pointless conversation. Echoes hits the top sweet spot for me.

...Tellius lower than Shadow Dragon?
Fates lower than Echoes?
Blazing Sword lower than Sacred Stones?

Looks to me like you all just don't enjoy challenge in your Fire Emblem games and hate Tellius for some weird reason.

Oof, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn being so low kills me. For me, I would move both of those much further up the list. I would also drop Fates down to just above Shadow Dragon. I wouldn't say that I agree with most of the list but those two things are where my opinions differs the most with this list.

Newcomer to the series with three houses, so that makes it my nr. 1
Intrigued with playing the GC/Wii and 3ds Games though if they're ever to be ported.

And another list where the Switch game is #1 and below that are the 3ds games, this site really is just a commercial in disguise. Also you can't just name articles like these ''the best x games of all time'' when the staff just picks their favorites, at least change the title to ''the best x games of all time according to Nintendolife,'' or something.

I’m sorry. I played all of the FE games released in America (and a translated version of Roy’s game) and Radiant Dawn and Path of Radiance reign supreme! Three Houses is awesome and features a plethora of modern series refinements. It also has the best soundtrack of the series.

However, no main character can hold a candle to Ike. Griel was a better mentor character than Jeralt. The Death Knight is a poor man’s Black Knight. And no FE story comes close to the one told in PoR and RD. They also arguably have the best And most memorable cast in the series.

Sacred Stones is the best from the GBA era. And Valencia is the best 3DS game in my opinion.

FE is a great series but the console versions beat the handhelds any day of the week

So I was one of the like 10 people who actually likes fates, but...number 3? Better than Shadows of Valentina? Really?

Awakening > Three Houses in my opinnion ,but both are great games. I actually really like the new social aspects in modern Fire Emblem games. It's not about waifus or husbandos, it's more of a way to really make the characters shines and show us their stories, growth and personalities in a more fluid and personal way. Also the tactical aspects (the real core) remains fun, you may argue on the difficulty but not in how fun the battles are. (This is my humble opinnion, also Lucina is best girl in smash)

Blazing Sword is my 2nd favourite game of all time. Don't agree to this list. Three Houses is good but better than Blazing Sword? Please.

Path of Radiance remains my personal favorite, followed closely by the first North American GBA release. Both such classics.

Fates was a horrible game. I just found the story and characters ridiculous, and I really don’t like the whole making your own character, the dating and castle/sim aspects.

I haven’t played Three Houses but going from what it looks like and this list I’m guessing it won’t be my cup of tea.

Fire Emblem on GBA is the best FE game I’ve played so far. It just has a great story, great characters and was fun to play. I wish they would go back to that style, but I’m guessing we’re stuck with weird dating soap operas from here on out.

The next entry should be something like "Fire Emblem Adventures" imo, and do it more RPG. Like Shinning Force, you know.

My list would probably be:
1. Path of Radiance
2. Blazing Sword
3. Shadows of Valentia
4. Radiant Dawn
5. Three Houses
6. Sacred Stones
7. Awakening
8. Warriors
9. Fates
10. Shadow Dragon
11. Heroes

Heroes would've been higher but FEH pass was the last straw about microtransaction greed.

You people clearly aren't very familiar with the franchise, are you? This list is disheartening, to say the least.

Funny how the little subtitle thing for this article is "Fancy a game of Swords-Lances-Axes?" and the #1 game on this list threw that mechanic out the window...along with support, marriages, training, and more...god what's with games having this "Less is more" philosophy? And why are fans ok with that?

Three Houses number one?! Wow. It's a really average Fire Emblem game, with dull characters, boring music, weak visuals, and a seriously faltering frame rate. All of the 3DS games destroy it.

@Josh2396 opinions are implied. If you had to state an opinion everytime you said it than that would be so stupid. Although I don't like this list either

The Sacred Stones is #1, best story, characters, endgame objectives, items, etc. Still a wonder to play.

Shadow Dragon was a step down from the colorful GBA games but it's still great to play.

PoR was great but I disliked the game not having traditional monsters, it was just humans vs humans with the occasional wyvern or pegasi thrown in. Final boss is just a letdown.

Radiant Dawn was more interesting but a bit too crowded with characters.

Blazing Sword, I have never finished, unfortunately.

...and also Mia is mía but also M.I.A since 2007.

I only played Sacred Stones, a very, very good game. Unfortunately, all the school section of Three Houses does not seem my cup of tea, so I skipped it.

You know you've messed up when FE Warriors is included in the top ten. It's a much weaker version of Hyrule Warriors but with less love packed into it.

Why no Smash Bros Ultimate?

anyone who tries to argue that this isn't a Fire Emblem game has clearly never played it.

I feel like this should've been a site-wide poll before showing up. I personally would rearrange about half of the list, though I'm behind on some FE titles.

I also prefer Radiant Dawn to be in the top 3 slots ! It was so so good overall! Better than handheld versions, along with the GameCube one. I remember the final boss in RD was very difficult but beatable!

Personally I think Awakening is the best one. Three Houses added in some really cool things but it just can't top the adventures of Chrom and the Shepherds. One tiny thing that Awakening has over Three Houses is that if when you select a unit and move them to the wrong grid space you could press B and you would go back to selecting the unit's place. In Three Houses if you put a unit in the wrong space and you press B the unit is completely deselected and sent back to their original position.

The part that I really liked about Three Houses was the Monastery. I love being able to control the main unit and go around a location and talk to the other units. I also like how you can repair weapons at a shop. What I would like to see is Intelligent Systems to remake Awakening with those great additions from Three Houses. Have specific spots on the world map, like Ylisstol and Regna Ferox, where you can visit and roam around and talk to your units and buy things.

As for the other Fire Emblem games I haven't played them yet so I can't say anything about their placement but, I do plan on playing Fates or Shadows of Valentia soon.

Also I think that this should have been a poll like the best Game Boy games feature.

Not only do I disagree with this list but the reasoning for each leaves me feeling as though it's unjustified. Was he writing about what the games are? Anyone can google that, defend your answers and explain them Gavin.

Just for the sake of salt, let's throw out my own list of western games. No explanation unless asked for, just hot takes.

1) Conquest
2) Path of Radiance
3) Sacred Stones
4) Radiant Dawn
5) FE7
6) Birthright
7) Shadow Dragon
8) Awakening
9) Three Houses
10) Echoes
Also 10) Revelation

I’m played three houses, so far so good 👍

@Whyita

Not completely true about the Lances > Swords > Axes > Lances mechanic.

Three Houses does feature that mechanic in the form of “breaker” abilities (Swordbreaker, Lancebreaker, and Axebreaker). However, they have to be unlocked by a character’s B weapon skill level before the ability can be equipped.

Three Houses didn’t leave this out completely.

Can't say I remotely agree with this article, but to each his/her own. Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn were both far superior to everything else on this list, IMHO, largely because they stayed "on track" with great battles and an excellent, connected storyline, and didn't get bogged down in an overkill of mundane busywork in between.

When I saw Path of Radiance that low I wanted to protest, but can't really do it because I like them all. I'd probably move Shadows of Valentia higher.

@HammerKirby I've had to take multiple general writing courses in which I learned opinions should never be implied, it should always be obvious. Just changing the title of the article to ''Nintendolife's favorite FE games'' or something like that gets that job done, it doesn't have to look stupid. I guess the title just really rubs me the wrong way because of those lessons.

Makes a list of the best Fire Emblem games.

Puts Warriors and Heroes on the list.

EDIT: Oh looks like it only includes the games with official translations.

Three Houses may be the best game because it is on Nintendo's new console, has better graphics than the 3ds and for some the inclusion of the monstery.

If Awakening was redone for the Switch, it would beat Three Houses hands down.

For me, Three Houses has gone in the wrong direction. The Monstery has turned a good strategy game into an average RPG with a Fire Emblem game as a big side quest.

@WiiHawk Thank you very much

I was going to quote other people who made level-headed comments on how Fates is terrible and PoR isn't, but then I'd have to add over half the commentators

Eh the Tellius games are overrated anyhow.

@Josh2396 ...and they didn't have the decency to put a question mark after the heading.

Personally, I'd have put Path of Radiance on top and Fates on the bottom, but that's just me. Kinda shocked to see Sacred Stones is now rated higher than Blazing Sword considering how much flak that game got when it first came out for being "too ez". Sacred Stones has been enjoying a bit of a rebirth lately and I'm glad to see people are finally realizing that it's not the crap the elitists made it out to be.

A total lack of any of the Japanese releases like FE3 and 4 is like a knife in my lil onion heart though. 3 and 4 should have been on the list at the very least. For me, my top 3 would be Path of Radiance, Monshou no Nazo (FE3), and Seisen no Keifu (FE4).

As if there was ever any doubt what they were going to put at number one... So according to NintendoLife and these lists, the best:

Mario ever is... the latest Switch one (with the Amazon link)
Zelda ever is... the latest Switch one (with the Amazon link)
Smash Bros ever is... the latest Switch one (with the Amazon link)
Mario Kart ever is... the latest Switch one (with the Amazon link)
Monster Hunter ever is... the latest Switch one (with the Amazon link)
Fire Emblem ever is... the latest Switch one (with the Amazon link)
Console ever is... the Switch (having only been on the market for less than two years at the time)

Your recency bias is absurd. It's like asking N64 Kid on Christmas morning what his favorite console is. Except he'd probably give you a more considered answer...

Well since some others are doing it I might as well post my own dumb list since I do feel kinda strongly about this series and I do have the benefit of having played all of the main series aside from the weird Satellaview game or w/e.

From best to worst:
1. Shadow Dragon
2. Thracia 776
3. Radiant Dawn
4. Mystery of the Emblem (Fire Emblem 3)
5. Binding Blade
6. Shadow Dragon and the Sword of Light
7. Path of Radiance
8. Sacred Stones
9. Fire Emblem (7)
10. Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
11. Fates Conquest
12. New Mystery of the Emblem
13. Genealogy of the Holy War
14. Gaiden
15. Fates Birthright
16. Three Houses
17. Fates Revelations
18. Awakening

Conquest and everything above that are something that I would consider good games, more or less, and everything below that is something I didn't really enjoy.

Oh look, the top entries have affiliate links attached to them 😉😉😉 Say it isn’t so, NintenDough Life

For me personally, Sacred Stones was my favorite. I can't say I particularly care for all the extra guff and busy-work that's in FE games now.

My vote went to Path of Radiance all the way.

3 houses game of the year (2019) for me

As someone whose only played the 3ds games, the 12th game and Three Houses. This list is a bad idea. It's inevitable that the most popular games will be considered the best regardless what fans think. And this is coming from someone who only enjoys the games with no permadeath.

If this is just FE games then it would be on this thread. I would say instead BoTW would be the start and best since 3 yrs on is still selling.

That moment when the article excludes unlocalized entries only to end up branding Awakening "the most accessible to date" despite the franchise pioneering its "casual mode" a game prior.😅

Fire Emblem Warriors is my first "musou" (not counting the briefly tried Hyrule demo on 3DS), but its degree of control over ally units, the bunch of FE mechanics and the amount of content to grind and unlock has done a lot to grow me fonder to the genre. Action gameplay or not, it's really a Fire Emblem game as much as a Warriors one, a real time tactical slasher taking which lightly as "a mindless button masher" can screw you over in many ways, especially if you're playing the classic mode.

After years of fruitlessly waiting for a proper local Google Play release, I've recently sideloaded Heroes as well, and I beg to differ about time mechanics - frankly, I often grow weary for the session long before my stamina is depleted. Small battlefields and limited deployed characters made me expect a rather lite package as well, but in practice there's SO much involved in and out of battle that the complexity is indeed only second to the flagship games in terms of how much time you spend staring at the screen in deep thought (if not outright stupefaction). Add the extensive skill system, plenty of modes and a very welcome abundance of narrative content - plus a taste of many characters otherwise still unavailable in the west officially, - and it may well be Nintendo's most meaty mobile offering to date indeed. Not that I've played Dragalia Lost yet.

Among the flagships themselves, for a long time my acquaintance with the franchise was limited to a campaign and a half of The Blazing Blade, back in the emulation days and specifically on one of my phones (Nokia E61 whose rich keyboard and consequently smaller screen might be labeled heretical in this day and age😏) before moving on to a different model left me without the save files. There's a reason I retain a particularly soft spot for the cast - Lyn, Florina, Eliwood, Serra... But after finding that the name was deceptively dolled-up to sound like the first entry it never was, I decided to apply the chronological binge method, went on to resist a skip leap towards Three Houses and even Awakening that I've had along with my 3DS itself for almost four years now... but as I've mentioned before, it wasn't until recently, under the combined pressure of Warriors, Heroes and Tokyo Mirage Sessions (much of whose Mirage cast hails from the inaugural chronicle) that I finally started Shadow Dragon as the remake of the first game. On my flashcard, mea culpa - forget the usual "pretty penny" variants discussed in the article (which give Nintendo no money either and which no one on eBay would agree to ship to Belarus anyway), how about having to buy a Wii U before your account lets you invest in the otherwise regionally available VC incarnation?😂 Same will go next for the patchable New Mystery of the Emblem and likely for the many GBA/GC/Wii entries down the road (unless their Switch ports start growing like mushrooms in the meantime), but since I'm going by remakes regardless, my third binge course is planned to be a proper 3DS title come May - namely Echoes, the remake of Gaiden.

But for now, wish me luck with the first "book" of Hero-King Marth chronicles - all the Characters to gather, all the maps to reload a dozen times (I deliberately aim to keep everyone alive, headache-inducing as that may be), all the gaiden chapters with their consequently draconian requirements - no pun intended - to ignore (except for one which I've read can be tricked with convoy mechanics and a certain staff)... my main journey in this one multiverse is only beginning, and I expect a lot. Because what I've tasted before has been nothing to sneeze at in itself.

I dont think it's a terrible list to be honest. Mine would go:

1. Fates (lovely special edition with all 3 paths)
2. Awakening
3. Sacred Stones
4. GBA FE
5. Shadow Dragon
6. Three Houses
7. Warriors
8. Shadows of
9. Wii
10. Gamecube

The home console ones are really slow and a I'm not a fan of the character design. Three houses didnt have enough battles and the ones it had werent memorable.

Fates tops my list as I felt it had more creative maps than awakening but it's a tight call between the two. The 3 path special edition was definitely worth the extra 30 quid (especially cos you could just sell it on for double once you were done)

I'm pretty okay with this list except for Echoes and Fates, both of which I'd rank much lower and move everything but Heroes and Warriors up.

Three Houses as number 1? You're kidding me right? It's an awful Fire Emblem game. It's more about the sim life than anything else.

You guys have awful taste in video games.

Happy to see awakening at number 2. Should be Number 1 but 3 houses has a lot to offer. But I think Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Fire Emblem should be more in the top 1-8. Mainly Because Fates was horrible and has no business passing those lovely games.

Personally
1. Awakening
2. Path Of Radiance
3. Radiant Dawn
4. Fire Emblem
5. Echos
6. Shadow Dragon
7. 3 Houses
8. Sacred Stones
dead last would be Fates

Delete this i bet you havent even played path of radiance

Here's my list of my favorite FE* games:
*May or may not be actual FE games

1. Awakening
2. Path of Radiance
3. Blazing Blade
4. TearRing Saga
5. Thracia 776
6. Three Houses
7. Radiant Dawn
8. Fates Conquest
9. New Mystery of the Emblem
10. Shadows of Valentia
11. Genealogy of the Holy War
12. Fates Birthright
13. Sacred Stones
14. Heroes
15. Warriors
16. Fates Revelations
17. Binding Blade
18. Shadow Dragon
19. Tokyo Mirage Sessions
20. Super Smash Bros Ultimate
21. Code Name STEAM
22. Dragalia Lost

Own a bunch of Cipher cards but don't actually know how to play...

Games yet to play:
-Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light
-Gaiden
-Mystery of the Emblem
-Akaneia Saga
-Berwick Saga
-Vestaria Saga

What?! This is one seriously bogus list

This was as bad as their greatest Zelda list

FE7 on GBA is my personal best. The most iconic sprite sets ever, solid story, memorable character, 3 routes, no bs.

Why not just screw the pooch for the final time and make it Fire Emblem Style Savvy Checkers and call it a game series ender. Let's face it, that's where it's headed.

I'd sooner pay hard cash for fan remakes than either 3H or Heroes.

It was bold to publish this NL, lolol.

Think this list was meant to generate a lot of responses because I heavily disagree

3 houses should be in 3rd place actually

@Peppy_Hare what do you suspect, Nintendo never questions the real zelda fans or listen to them

oh no wait it should be in 4th place

oh idk its a bad fe game.
talking about 3 houses

@LUIGITORNADO xD so true!

@Dartmonkey looking at the comments it seems your Fire Emblem list has people very divided on how to rank all the games. Maybe a follow up article with a survey with the nintendolife readers picking there top 3 out of the games on this list.
To be fair, I'm not certain how the list would end up ranking all the games as they are all top games. It could be an interesting way of doing things while we're in a quite time of the gaming year.

For me it's
1. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
2. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
The Ike saga is a straight forward epic story driven take on the genre with a variety of well-designed stages & interesting characters and well-written dialogue. That's how I liked it the most. I liked so many characters in these two games: Ike, Black Knight, Titania, Sothe, Soren, Ilyana, Nephenee, Zihark, Jill, Ranulf, Haar, Tibarn. I played no-death + collect all characters. When someone died I reloaded the battle. My 2 Fire Emblem picks. Also, very good soundtrack!

I'd swap Echoes with Fates and Three Houses with Awakening personally. And put Shadow Dragon in dead last.

Three Houses is the very first fire emblem I've ever played, I find it hard to believe that it's instantly the best. It would like if somebody got introduced to Street Fighter by playing Street Fighter V. Yes it's good, but you're merely scratching the surface.

It seems to be a common opinion that Fire Emblem Awakening is among the best in the series, and I really don't get that. The "pairing up" mechanic (before they improved it in Fates) destroyed the strategy of the entire game both by making things too easy to win and by making outcomes harder to predict and more prone to randomness. A strategy game that doesn't let you plan ahead and always lets you win anyway is barely a strategy game. And the story was tedious, filled with insufferable characters and implausible plot devices. My wife and I have played a lot of Fire Emblem games, and that's the only one we've thoroughly disliked. Fire Emblem Heroes I would rate higher, for sure. (If you include it, which I'm not convinced about.) It's become bloated, but at its core it's a fun little strategy game.

@FlashmanHarry Great minds This was always going to be a divisive one as they're all exceptionally strong games - seeing your personal favourite labelled '8th best' is tough to swallow no matter how tight the pack is.

Awakening and Fates in the top 3?
Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm not fan enough of the series to be triggered, but I've only played 5 games and these ones aren't even on my podium.

I'm a bit biased here, if you can't tell from my Radiant Dawn icon, but...really? Fates over the radiance games is especially mind boggling. A lot of people commenting seem to agree on that front

I don't think I can ever take a review of this site serious. Not meant that serious, but:
Three Houses is a blender. And Nintendo Life Editors forgot their sunglasses while reviewing it.

My jaw dropped when I saw path, dawn and FE GBA so low, what a terrible list. No doubt it was compiled by people who started playing Fire Emblem at Awakening lol...

For the most part, I think that the first game you play in a series tends to be your favorite (or at least close). Music albums seem to work the same way.

Fate simply does not deserve to be #3. It is the worst modern FE in my opinion.

My top 3 would be Awakening, 3 Houses, and Valentia

@nessisonett I get some of the complaints about "Fates," but how is it terribly balanced? They actually made the Pair Up mechanic more balanced than it was in "Awakening," and doing away with weapon durability (while making the good weapons rarer) was an interesting touch that made weapon upgrades actually useful without really hurting the balance. The only issue I have is that it's too easy to upgrade iron level weapons into being relatively overpowered.

Three houses bored me the second I got to the school. I play these games for turn based strategy not cloying relationship building.
An hour into playing it on release day and it was up on eBay.

@RetiredR You know, many of us consider the dating sim elements to be an improvement to the series and are disappointed at how the Three Houses characters are limited to friendship interactions.

@BulbasaurusRex The problem with Fates is that prepromotes absolutely outclass your growth characters. Outside of complete RNG calamity, there is no reason to use, say, Beruka in place of Camilla. There’s just no point training your characters outside the lords and Corrin, who’s almost as bad as Robin in terms of being able to solo the game. You have to actively try to kill Ryoma since his dodge stats are insane even on Lunatic. They clearly didn’t design the rest of the cast compared to the royals because they’re just way way worse. It’s even worse in Revelations, which you could complete with your eyes closed even on Lunatic since they just throw OP units one after another at you. If you look at the older games and even Three Houses, prepromotes are a waste of XP and are only needed to feed your growth units and they’ll eventually outclass them. I can excuse some issues with Awakening because the cast and story aren’t entirely obnoxious unlike Fates.

@nessisonett Ah, that would be an issue, although it doesn't affect me that much, since I prefer to play the games on Easy difficulty (and Casual Mode) while training all the characters pretty evenly in order to focus more on the story, character dynamics, and gameplay mechanics. After that, I may start another playthrough on Normal difficulty (although still Casual Mode) to truly test my strategic skills.

@BulbasaurusRex I don't care how many casual players share that opinion, it's unfit for the Fire Emblem series that has been around long before Awakening.
They should've created a new franchise instead.

Restarted my save file in The Sacred Stones on the 3DS after years of not playing it.

I was so miserable playing it the first time around, I only got to Chapter 4 before I gave up. I didn't like the permadeath mechanic (still don't), and I couldn't understand how to strategize.

I'm doing better at the game now, and can appreciate it better this time around, but I still don't get much enjoyment out of it, given that I prefer more action-oriented games than strategy-oriented games.

@Turbo857 Ok but even so, is that mechanic really something that needed to be changed at all?

@Whyita

Honestly, nope. They shoulda just left it in. I like the rock>paper>scissors weapon mechanic being an unchanged series staple. I even like it when they include the triangle mechanic with light, dark and anima (elemental) magic, as seen in the Tellius FE games.

Besides, if 3 Houses just incorporated this mechanic by default, it'd free up an extra ability slot.

I’m a newschool Fire Emblem apologist, and even I am offended by this list.

I think No.1 FE is..
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (SNES)
-> The Hard core story, Game Playing, Character, BGM..

I like..
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (3DS)
-> Good remake, Great DLC, friendly for light FE user

@RetiredR It is NOT unfit for such a character and story driven franchise at all! It's a quality improvement on the series and one that was added to the franchise long before "Awakening." Support Conversations were first added to the franchise with "The Binding Blade," and the support mechanic itself is even older. "Awakening" then improved the mechanic even further by allowing the supports to decide on your units getting married.

Now "Three Houses" probably takes the between-mission busywork too far, but just being able to have Support Conversations between missions (that may eventually result in coupling the characters off) was an excellent addition to the franchise that increased the care we have for individual characters, which is one of Fire Emblem's strengths over something like the (Advance) Wars series.

Besides, if you really don't like it, you can just ignore it. You'll still get the stat boosts from having characters fighting alongside each other even if you don't read the conversations, so you'll just be losing out on a bunch of post-game units in "Awakening" and "Fates."

My favorite is "Genealogy of the Holy War".

@Turbo857 Well unfortunately Nintendo is changing everything by removing features/series' staples, and people love it, so I guess this is the new normal

Whilst these games are good wish intelligent systems would show some 'Wars' love.

Need to finish Shadows of Valentia. Loved Fates and Awakening. Three Houses is currently on my wishlist. ❤

Still working on FH3H but at this point it’s a labor of love. A lot of the dev interviews have confirmed a lot of views I have on the lore so it’s just a treat to play.

Lol @ listing the new one as the best, so predictable as a way to try and sell that game.

@JayJ gee, it's not like the new one is actually really good and in my opinion is the best and these guy's opinion is also that, nope it's only to get people to buy the game, oooobviouslyyyyy

Advance Wars is the better series ... there I said it

I agree with this list. Fire Emblem: Three Houses deserves the top spot, and Fates: Birthright was my first Fire Emblem game, and I loved it.

I really hope we get remakes of some of the older games, like Radiant Dawn/Path of Radiance and some of the GBA and DS titles from the early 2000s, and ports of Awakenings and Fates would be awesome.

I just hope they release a complete edition of Fates on Switch so I don’t have to buy 3 seperate games. A port of Shadows of Valencia would be great, too... is this request way too much?

This is a reposted article. They changed the main page link to say “best fire emblem games of all time”, so I figured they’d throw in four and five (the SNES ones) and it was an updated article.

They didn’t. It isn’t. Ah well.

I think eight is too high on this list.

@Doofenshmirtz Oh wow clearly your opinion is how everybody should feel.

@fafonio Definitely have to agree with you there. Fire Emblem has always been more for JRPG fans.

Oh joy, this fun list again. Just what I needed to brighten my day.

@JayJ I don’t even mind the anime or JRPG approach....

It’s just that the combat triangle: lance, sword, arrow, is kindergarten levels of basic. Obviously there are complex combinations but the strategy doesn’t hold a candle to Advance Wars.

Advance wars has a higher level of strategy and combat units. I don’t even know why Intelligent Systems abandoned the franchise in favor of FE.

@JayJ Never said that my opinion should be how everyone feels, but ok bud

Where is super smash emblem?

The best Nintendo franchise... EVER...

Radiant Dawn is not better than Path of Radiance. This is not about PoR being my favourite here, but RD being better is scientifically proven to be utter nonsense. IF this were April 1st, I'd shrugg it off, but ... just a hard no on all of this.

As for PoR, I liked the whole Berserk Golden Age vibe the game had going, as well as the larger conflict, that had some serious GoT vibe with dat mad Dragon King of sorts. The game also had plenty of subtext with the way the Laguz were used but just about everyone pretty much as pawns/slaves.

Do I think all of that was a cut abouve Awakenings Time Travel nonsense? Yes, yes I do. I'll grant that Awakening had the bigger cast, which came with more favourites.

As for Three Houses, I've already said my piece about it. It's way too easy for one, there is way too much downtime between either combat or narrative/character development, the replacements for the holy triangle (of sorts^^) were not up to snuff and the whole Hogwarts setting was just not for me.

I vastly prefer them Berserk and GoT vibes as stated above. Still, it was grand to have another console level FE, and I don't hate or anything.

I'd go with 1. PoR 2. Awakening 3. Sacred Stones 4. Valentia 5. Three Houses 6. Fates 7. Radiant Dawn 8. "FE" 9. Shadow Dragon

I see no point in having the mobile and musou game listed, as they just do not compare by any reasonable metric. I quite liked Warriors though, not as a FE game, but as a musou game I could actually get into.

Just my 2 cents ...

Fates better than Echoes? Yeah, bloody no.

It would be nice if Nintendo ported the Radiance duology over to Switch as low-key, no-frills mid-year filler (perhaps with some minor QoL improvements, but nothing to rock the boat), perhaps with higher quality renderings of the video-based cutscenes (which were issued on Blu-ray in Japan) as well as lossless audio (a criminally underused feature with Switch games, as compressing the audio to hell is an extremely easy way to cut on cartridge size cough Smash Ultimate).

Three Houses number 1... Lol

I haven't really played any FE games other than the latest 3 (aside from Warriors and TMS, technically) but I feel like Fates should be a lot lower. From what I heard, the stories and characters of the other games all seem interesting while Fates... kinda felt like they just wanted to get three times the money from one okay game...

My top list would be this:

1. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
2. Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword (GBA)
3. Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)
4. Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS)
5. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GameCube)
6. Fire Emblem Warriors (Nintendo Switch)
7. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (NES, 3DS)
8. Fire Emblem: The Three Houses (Nintendo Switch)
9. Fire Emblem: Geneology of Holy Wars (Super NES)
10. Fire Emblem: Sacred Stone (GBA)
11. Fire Emblem: Binding Blade (GBA)
12. Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 (Super NES)
13. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Super NES, DS)
14. Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (NES, DS)
15. Fire Emblem Heroes (Mobile)

For me it's 3 Houses because I have the JPN, NA, EU CE for each and other FB are on 3DS and don't have a favorite but the Switch is a definite reason to be #1.

@Xeno_Emblem Judging by the comments I'm seeing, most of you are hardcore FE players. In other words, you're the minority of the fanbase. This list caters to the majority, the causal fanbase like myself who honestly find the older FE games to be far too intimidating, even with several FE games under my belt. Most of the older FE games are archaic, slow and way too difficult for most players. Not to mention they don't look asthetically pleasing to the eye. And don't forget that most of the older FE games are either Japan only, hard to come by or are just way too expensive.

There's only three older Fire Emblem games that are still exclusive to Japan: Geneology of Holy Wars, Thracia 776, and Binding Blade. Binding Blade already had a fan translation and is a continuation from Blazing Sword so really fans of Blazing Sword may already play that one. This left Geneology of Holy Wars and its gaiden story Thracia 776 as the only two older Fire Emblem games still exclusives to Japan. Fortunately I think these will be the next FE games Nintendo will remake soon. With Fire Emblem there's no going back to playing the older originals on Famicom and Super Famicom anymore as most of those are getting remakes or had gotten remakes already and as we see with the remakes those help get fans caught up with the series at the same time while also introducing them to the newer entries as well.

After the two Super Famicom games got remake, then the only game left to either remake or bring to the west is Binding Blade. Once that one is done then Fire Emblem could just keep going forward. New fans who never play the old ones don't need to play the old ones anymore, it's the same when Square Enix remake all their older Final Fantasy games. FF1-FF6 all got remake for either PS1, GBA, PSP, and DS that there's no point in going back to play the Famicom and Super Famicom originals anymore that is unless the original game is great like FFVI on Super NES that it makes sense to just go back for that one.

@Xeno_Emblem I just hate seeing lists that have the newest entry as the best one, primarily when said entries are still so new. Feels like a cheap and longwinded way of just saying "play the newest one" whether I agree with others about it being the best or not. That being said, it's also terribly boring when it's the same one mentioned every time with little to no variation in reasoning.

This is a piss poor list and missing Valencia as well. Even without going back the ordering is so wrong.

Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn should have been higher and we all know about Shadow Dragon.

This list is all Subjective not of real substance of one's own opinion only. Trying to compare old to new is already doing dis-service to older hardware and games already. They should list for each hardware and the best of FB on that hardware. Trying to compare different hardware unless the games is the same across the console is a waste of precious Bandwidth on here. That amounts to piss poor review for everything. And becomes more or less Click-baiting article without much meaning.

Why fire emblem three houses nr1

The game which killed the whole franchise for me at 1st place...

As a long time fire emblem fan, this list is upsetting to me. It seems you have it almost completely backwards, literally. I am now only playing old FE games, because three houses is such a let down, it is virtually unplayable. It is not a fire emblem game, no strategy and just too easy. If that's your type of game, fine! They should have just called it something else, put it out and let it stand on it's own. But dont call it fire emble, because it is not. You should be fired for putting out such a terrible list. Path of radiance #9?! Fired!!!!!

@PcTV Yes, the same reasoning that excludes TMS#FE should definitely exclude Fire Emblem Warriors. Except even more so. TMS is a real game and isn't a pile of garbage and is kind of its own thing. It might not be terribly Fire Emblemy, but it isn't just another useless Warriors game. It's kind of unfathomable that Warriors is on the list.

This list is terrible. Everything from the decision to include Warriors and Heroes to the comically bad numbering in general just screams that it's sort of a late April Fool's joke designed specifically to irritate long time Fire Emblem fans.

Also, why does every article on this site have to have some poorly made pun or dad joke as the subtitle?

Path of Radiance should be #2

Hmmm not my picks of course it's all opinion buy in mine Path of Radiance was done dirty. Also I like shadow dragon but it's not that great. Fates seems way too high. Can we have a fan poll

@zool 8 months later. I agree. I think they are both great games but imagine if Awakening was put on Switch, allowing it to have more space for improved graphics and hell even new cutscenes if they decided to do so.

I know 3H has the different paths but I found Awakening extremely re-playable.