Fire Emblem is a franchise of Turn-Based Strategy RPGs. Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi, the first game of the franchise, was released exclusively in Japan for the Famicom in 1990. Since then, the franchise has released games on the Famicon, Super Famicom, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. The first six Fire Emblem games were released exclusivley in Japan, while the seventh through the eleventh were localized worldwide. The twelfth saw no English release, but the franchise has recently regained a North American presence with Fire Emblem: Awakening.
Although Fire Emblem only had a cult-following for much of its existance, it gained mainstream popularity after two of its characters, Marth and Roy, were playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, followed by a third, Ike, being playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This, combined with an increased western presence since Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, has caused continual recent growth in its fanbase. The franchise now exists across seven seperate timelenes, with Fire Emblem: Awakening connecting them for the first time.
