Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a tactical turn-based RPG released in 1990 for the Nintendo Famicom. The first game in the Fire Emblem series, it tells the tale of prince Marth of Altea who seeks to reclaim his throne from the titular Shadow Dragon.
Coming in at approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, this TAS is just a fraction longer than ruadath's current 8 minute TAS of the DS remake.
Game objectives
- Beat the game as quickly as possible by killing the boss of Chapter 25, Medeus
- any% (no credit warp)
- manipulates luck
- Emulator used: Bizhawk 2.8
Chapter-by-chapter information
- I'll describe here what's happening at some key moments. In particular, maps that aren't simply a simple 2-turn warp -> kill -> seize approach.
Chapter 1: Marth Embarks
- The thief is dispatched.
- Marth receives an iron sword to save the Rapier's durability.
- Marth and Jeigan make their way to the boss.
Chapter 2: The Pirates of Galder
- A few units drop their weapons to prevent them from counterattacking during the enemy turn.
- Marth receives a Vulnerary to ensure he survives a couple of encounters.
Chapter 3: A Brush in the Teeth
- Lena (and her crucial Warp staff) and Julian move to safety behind Doga.
Chapter 4: Battle in the Lea
- The first of several warp -> kill -> seize chapters.
Chapter 5: Champions of Aurelis
- The Warp staff has 7 uses. The next Warp staff is found in Chapter 12. Of chapters 4 through 11, 5 is the quickest to complete without warping.
Chapter 7: Lefcandith Gauntlet
- Marth got overwhelmed when I tried to 2-turn this chapter, so on turn 1 Marth drops a couple of items and then lets the enemy take a turn to move some of their forces away from the capture point.
Chapter 12: The Ageless Palace
- Boa is moved to safety to enable later Warp chaining shenanigans.
- The thieves are dispatched to obtain an Armorslayer sword and the 2nd Warp staff.
- Marth takes advantage of the first turn downtime to use a power stat boosting item.
Chapter 17: Star and Savior
- Julian (a thief) is used to open the door to the boss room and to be able to get the last Warp staff from a chest.
Chapter 19: Manakete Princess
- Marth kills an enemy thief to get the Lightsphere. Julian gets the Starsphere from a chest.
Chapter 20: Camus the Sable
- Turn 1: Julian gives the Starsphere to Marth; Lena warps Marth to the village to get the Hammerne; Marth deposits it in the Convoy; Boah withdraws it.
- Turn 2: Lena gives the 1-use-remaining Warp staff to Boah; Boah gives Hammerne to Lena.
- Turn 3: Lena recharges Boah's Warp staff. In an ideal world, Boah warps Marth here and Marth kills the boss and survives the enemy turn, to then seize on turn 4. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work - Marth always died. So instead Marth is warped on turn 4.
Chapter 21: Clash in Macedon
- Attempts at 2-turn seize on this chapter always resulted in death, so one enemy turn is used to move some enemy troops away from the seize point.
Chapter 22: A Knight-Filled Sky
- Turn 1: Boah warps Marth to the village to exchange the Lightsphere and Starsphere for the Starlight tome. Lena warps Boah next to Marth.
- Turn 2: Marth gives the Starlight tome to Boah. Boah warps Marth to the boss.
Chapter 23: Dark Pontifex
- Turn 1: Boah warps Marth to the boss. Marth kills the boss. Lena warps Boah next to Marth.
- Turn 2: Boah kills Gharnef with the Starlight tome to get the Falchion sword. Marth seizes.
Chapter 24: The Dragonkin Realm
- Turn 1: Boah gives the Falchion to Marth and the Warp staff to Lena (via an intermediary). Lena warps Marth to the boss.
Chapter 25: Chosen By Fate
- Turn 1: Lena warps Marth. Marth kills one of the Curates.
- Turn 2: Lena warps Gato. Gato kills the other Curate. Marth starts the painfully slow process of whittling down Medeus's Manakete guard.
- Turn 3: Marth attacks. Gato heals Marth.
- Turn 4: Gato heals Marth. Marth attacks.
- Turn 5: Marth kills Medeus's guard. Gato kills the sniper.
- Turn 6: Marth kills Medeus, with 1 HP remaining (naturally).
Additional information
- I made some notes about RAM addresses etc. that may be of help to others.