Set on the fictional continent of Archanea, the story follows the tale of Marth, prince of the kingdom of Altea, who is sent on a quest to reclaim his throne after being forced into exile by the evil sorcerer Gharnef and his dark master Medeus, the titular Shadow Dragon.

Beginning development in 1987, it was conceived by designer and writer Shouzou Kaga: he wanted to combine the strategic elements of Intelligent Systems's previous simulation project, Famicom Wars, with the story, characters, and world of a traditional role-playing video game influenced by Kure Software's First Queen (1988).

The scale of the game meant that the team needed to find ways around memory storage problems, and make compromises with the graphics and storyline.

The game was officially localized and released outside of Japan for the first time on the Nintendo Switch on December 4, 2020 in commemoration of the franchise's 30th anniversary.

This updated version features new quality-of-life improvements such as fast-forwarding and rewinding through player and enemy turns, and the ability to create save states in the middle of gameplay.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a tactical role-playing game where players take on the role of Marth and his growing army during their campaign across the continent of Archanea.

[1][3] Long ago, the continent of Archanea was invaded by the Dolhr Empire, led by the Shadow Dragon Medeus.

However, Gra betrays Altea to Dolhr; Cornelius is killed, Falchion is stolen, and Elice sacrifices herself so Marth can escape.

Marth first rescues the kingdom of Aurelis and enlists the aid of its king's younger brother, Duke Hardin and his retainers.

Marth is contacted by Gotoh, a wise old sage, who informs him that Gharnef wields the tome Imhullu, making him invincible; the only thing capable of defeating him is the magic of Starlight.

Gotoh sends Marth to the Fane of Raman to find the materials needed to create Starlight; he also rescues the divine dragon, Tiki.

[4] It began after Intelligent Systems turned its attention away from developing hardware for the Famicom towards creating what they called "simulation games".

[7][8] The graphics and character art was cooperatively handled by Tohru Ohsawa, Naotaka Ohnishi, Satoshi Machida and Toshitaka Muramatsu.

[5] Kaga wanted to create a scenario where players would care about the characters in a similar way to a role-playing video game.

[13] The artifact's title made reference to war and the power of dragons, which would form a key part of future entries.

[14] The use of such an extensive story approach was a rarity in Famicom games at the time, which were still beset by memory storage problems.

[7] The initial plan was to create setpiece graphics for key story moments, similar to simulation titles on PC games.

[21] To commemorate the franchise's 30th anniversary in 2020, the game was officially localized for the first time and released as a standalone title for the Nintendo Switch in North America, Europe, and Oceania.

According to Kaga, upon release Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light received extensive criticism from Japanese publications.

[7] In contrast, popular opinion was more positive: in a poll taken by Family Computer Magazine, the game scored 23.48 points out of 30.

[5] According to Kaga, a notable journalist devoted a Famitsu column to the game, and this prompted sales to pick up around half a year after release.

[33] Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light not only launched the wider Fire Emblem series, but is also seen as the reason tactical role-playing genre became popular in Japan.

[32][34][35][36] The basic mechanics within Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light would form the basis for the gameplay of nearly all subsequent Fire Emblem titles.