Swords and Syntax: How Fan Translations Shaped the History of Fire Emblem

Introduction

When it comes to Fire Emblem's long history, something that I find to be a bit overlooked is the history behind its fan translations. Since the series didn’t have much of an official foothold in the West until relatively recently, you’d imagine that a lot of the fandom lived and died based on the fan translations available to them. Despite that, there isn't much comprehensive coverage or documentation that pertains to the full history of these fan translations online.

That's a bit of a shame because a lot of the history of these translations is interesting in their own right. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that a lot of the drama regarding some of these translations rivals a lot of the internal drama regarding the development of the games themselves. That’s why I wanted to take it upon myself to document the numerous fan translations that exist for the series in one comprehensive blog post. So sit back and I hope you enjoy!

Unboxing a Special Mail Delivery: A Review of Popful Mail (Sega CD)

⭐Introduction⭐

Nihon Falcom is a company that, for a little over forty years, has developed and released games and series that have fundamentally changed the face of role-playing games while also receiving international acclaim. They are often credited with pioneering the action role-playing genre, as well as popularizing the use of personal computers in Japan. While their most well-known games consist of series like Ys, Dragon Slayer, Trails, and The Legend of Heroes, I wanted to talk about a slightly more underrated game from Falcom—Popful Mail: Magical Fantasy Adventure… or just Popful Mail for short.