Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Lightfor the NES is finally coming to the west after being stuck in Japan for 30 years. Thefirst entry in theFire Emblemseries, it released in Japan on the Famicom back in 1990, and is available digitally, fully translated to english on Nintendo Switch.
Unfortunately, it seems that the originalFire Emblem’s emulation may not be perfect. Many fans are reporting on social media thatFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Lightlooks incredibly dark on the Switch, something that has been an issue with Nintendo’s emulated ports in the past.
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Those who are familiar with Nintendo’s consoles of the past may already know whyFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Lightlooks so dark on the Switch. Specifically, fans who owned a Wii U and had experience withemulated ports likeSuper Mario 64might see some similarities withFire Emblem. Fans who played titles such asSuper Mario 64on Wii U criticized the screen’s lighting, complaining that the game looked entirely too dark on modern TV screens. The same issue is popping up with thisFire Emblemport on Switch, as it seems the same emulator used for various Wii U titles is being used forShadow Dragonon Switch.
The confirmation comes by way of emulator enthusiast LuigiBlood via Twitter. In this thread, LuigiBlood confirms that theFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of LightSwitch port is running on the emulator Vessel. This is the very same emulator that ranSuper Mario 64on the Wii U. LuigiBlood even offers a side-by-sideshowcase ofFire Emblemon Switchcompared to the Japanese version of the same game running on the Nintendo Switch Online emulator, Kachikachi.
LuigiBlood speculates further in the Twitter thread that the new features added to the localized port ofShadow Dragonmay have been added around this existing Vessel emulation. Unfortunately, it seems like there is no way to turn up the native brightness, seeing as that’s simply how the emulator is built. However, LuigiBlood’s thread does pose some interesting questions regarding when exactly this localization was completed. Considering it is built around an emulator prominently used for the Wii U, it’s entirely possible that this port of theoriginalFire Emblemon Switchwas completed years ago, and was later reworked for the much more popular console.
Though this is all still speculation, it is not so farfetched as to not make sense. Considering howmassive of a failure the Wii U was, it only makes sense that Nintendo would hold on releasing this localization until now. The Switch has proven itself to be a much more capable console, and its release three years after the Switch’s launch could be due to a myriad of factors. Regardless, it seems likeFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Lightis stuck with a somewhat dark screen on the Switch.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Lightis available now, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
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