He is the lead character of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade; within the story, he is the son of Eliwood and heir presumptive of Pherae, who eventually becomes a major military leader.

Roy continues to make recurring appearances in subsequent Fire Emblem media, such as a manga series and spin-off video games.

[citation needed] The story begins when King Zephiel, ruler of the kingdom of Bern, conquers Ilia and Sacae and sets his sights on Lycia.

To promote his appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, an amiibo figure of Roy was featured as an exclusive release at GameStop.

[12] Roy's character was designed to be free-spirited and emphatic to appeal to younger players and a wider audience, in contrast to earlier titles.

[21] Due to popular demand from Japanese fans, Roy was added in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a DLC character.

[23] Lucas M. Thomas from IGN felt his moveset in Melee was too similar to Marth's, preferring Ike replacing him in Super Smash Bros.

[26] Roy was the subject of criticism for his low strength in Binding Blade, with Hardcore Gaming 101 writer Kurt Kalata feeling that all of his popularity was from Super Smash Bros. Melee due to his lack of appearances and his comparative weakness to characters like Ike, Hector, and Sigurd.

[27] Real Sound writer Kensuke Sakata noted that he had poor growth rates for his stats, including strength and speed, causing him to be used less, especially during the middle of the game where enemies and allies grow more powerful.

[28] Mike Moehnke of RPGamer criticized his weak in-game attributes for the majority of the game, feeling that this detracted from an otherwise satisfactory gameplay experience.

Despite these gameplay criticisms, Penn felt that Roy is a decent character in terms of personality, and that his popularity is "rightfully warranted" in spite of his glaring flaws.