We love celebrating anniversaries on this site because they help remind us of certain big events that happened in the past while also painting a picture of what the future may hold. Today, we’re talking about the 10th anniversary of Fire Emblem Fates, which was released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2015. The game was important for many reasons. First, this was the first title after the true “revival” of the series via the DS title. Nintendo and Intelligent Systems knew they had to go big to make this one stand out, so they did so in many ways.
The first was to make this not one game but three. Fire Emblem Fates was focused on the story of Corrin, who you could play as a male or female version. They were a child who was taken from their home and raised in another land, and when they are confronted by this fact, they have to make a choice that would decide all of their fates.
That choice led to entirely different games, interactions, boss fights, and reveals as to what the story would be about and how it would end. Happy endings weren’t guaranteed in these titles, either, as Azura fans know full well.
While the game wasn’t without controversy, it was overall beloved by fans, and many of its characters remain iconic to this day. Corrin showed up in a certain Nintendo fighting game, and characters like Camilla are often used in the series’ gacha mobile title…for…uh…” aesthetic reasons.”
Regardless, this trilogy of titles helped further establish the series as an AAA franchise for Nintendo, and for that, we should be grateful to the games. Of course, that was ten years ago, and the franchise has grown immensely since then. So, not unlike fate itself, let us look to the future to see what might happen now.
Currently, the Nintendo Switch 2 has been released, and that means we’re undoubtedly going to get another game from this series on it. The last true mainline game, Three Houses, not only became the franchise’s best-selling title overall, but it also won awards, including a Game of the Year award in a fan poll of impressive scale. Even though the series followed up on that with Engage, it was more a “celebration of the series” and didn’t sell as well. Yet, it still sold over a million and had some great advancements for the franchise as a whole.
With the power of the Switch 2 behind it, the next entry could be something truly spectacular. We’ll just have to wait and see to learn more.
