Another classic entry in the Fire Emblem series has been added to Nintendo Switch Online’s retro library.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones was originally released on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 and is the eighth main entry in the Fire Emblem series (but only the second to be released outside of Japan).
Nintendo has now announced that the game has been added to the GBA app for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers today.
The Sacred Stones is unrelated to previous games in the Fire Emblem series, telling its own standalone story. The game is set in the continent of Magvel, where one of the region’s five nations, the Grado Empire, starts invading the others in an attempt to destroy their magical stones, which are needed to keep an ancient demon imprisoned.
It’s up to the player, as protagonists Eirika and Ephraim, to take on the Grado Empire and stop it from releasing the demon, while also trying to find out why it decided to start the war in the first place.
As with other earlier entries in the Fire Emblem series, The Sacred Stones features permadeath, meaning when a member of your party dies they’re gone for good (though players can pause and restart a stage if someone they really like dies).
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is the 25th GBA game to be added to Switch Online in the West (Japan also has Mother 3 and Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, neither of which have been given official English translations to date).
While this is the sixth Fire Emblem to be released on Switch Online, the fact that most of the early series was only released in Japan means it’s only the second to be released on Switch Online in the West (after GBA title Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, simply known here as Fire Emblem).
Nintendo has also confirmed that GameCube entry Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance will be added Switch 2‘s GameCube library at some point in the future, in all regions.
NES, SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color games are available as part of the standard Switch Online subscription, which costs $19.99 / £17.99 / €19.99 for a 12-month individual membership.
However, to play Game Boy Advance games (as well as Mega Drive / Genesis and Nintendo 64 games), players need to have the Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, which costs $49.99 / £34.99 / €39.99.
