The IGN AU team recently got a chance to play the import version of Fire Emblem DS and have written up their hands-on impressions of the game. From their playthrough, the game lives up to the expectations of the original NES game. Also, the inclusion of online battles is a welcomed addition. Though IGN AU did have a few gripes about the sprites, they were impressed overall with the remake. The game hit Japanese shelves on August 7th; however, no international release date has been given, so keep your eyes peeled out.

Australia, August 13, 2008 - The last time one of Intelligent Systems' Fire Emblem (FE) productions appeared on a Nintendo handheld was in 2004, when The Sacred Stones proved that the Game Boy Advance hardware was more than capable of running FE's epic version of turn-based strategy. Now, at last, Fire Emblem DS is with us – albeit exclusively as a Japanese import for the moment – and again we've been impressed with the developer's ability to miniaturise the FE gameplay without taking anything away from the recipe.

The Japanese version of Fire Emblem on DS has the subtitle Shin Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Ken, which translates as New Shadow Dragons and the Sword of Light. It's called New because this is basically a remake of the first Famicom Fire Emblem game, which is now 19 years old. Quite a lot of things have been changed for this DS debut, though. Of course the game uses both of the DS' screens, which in itself makes for a different kind of experience. The top screen displays character stats, battle animations, static dialogue encounters and some basic cutscene animations. The touchscreen shows the battlefield and character sprites, as well as the world map.

McClubbin via ds.ign.com »