Game-wise, there is nothing different between the US version of Fire Emblem and its recently released Japanese counterpart, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, except of course for the English translation, which according to the Nintendo representative we spoke with, is not final and still in stages of editing. Various name changes that don't correspond with map graphics will be fixed, according to the representative.

Fire Emblem is a strategy role-playing game, in which you play through story-based missions, controlling units such as mages and knights. The first ten missions are training scenarios designed to teach players the mechanics and basics of the game. The rest of the 20+ scenarios continue the storyline and get progressively more difficult.

Completing the ten initial scenarios opens up an extra menu that contains a sound test and multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode allows you to organize teams of 5 according to any of your save data, and you can pit your teams against other players' teams in 1 on 1 fights to see who is stronger.

The gameplay, of course, is very similar to Advance Wars. The major difference is that Fire Emblem is set in a fantasy setting, and that you control unique characters, each with their own personalities and attributes. Cavaliers (knights) ride horses and use lances and swords. Being on horseback allows them to travel more terrain in a single turn than foot units. However, they are weak to certain weapons. Mages can cast powerful spells but have weak defense and small movement. Thieves have weak attack power but can steal items from enemy units.

In addition, just like the transport unit in Advance Wars, your units can carry other units as long as they have lower weight. Although they can carry only one unit at a time, they can pass that unit along to another unit, and using this strategy, you can transport a unit with short range movement over a far distance.

Having played the Japanese version, the only thing I can really comment on about the English version is that the English text is really well done. Character personalities stand out just as much as they do in the original Japanese text. My only hope is that, since the game is still in the editing process, they will fix some of the class names. What were formerly social knights are now cavaliers, although the change could be due to a space limitation. However, the main character class, Lord, has been changed to Noble, which is a change that really makes very little sense. (The Japanese version even has the class as 'Lord', it does not use a Japanese word that could have been translated as 'Noble'). This, however, is only a minor gripe for an otherwise excellent localization.