As Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave launched on the Nintendo Switch 2, reigniting the tactical RPG genre with its rich tactical combat, expansive branching story, and coterie of weird little guys, one publisher has been left conspicuously absent from the conversation — Sega. While the Fire Emblem series has long defined the genre, a vocal segment of the community is now calling for a revival of Shining Force, Sega’s own ’90s-era tactical RPG that shares DNA with the franchise but has languished out of the spotlight for decades.
Fortune’s Weave, the latest entry in Intelligent Systems’ long-running series, arrived on the new console to critical acclaim, drawing praise for its deep turn-based battles and social-sim-inspired mechanics that helped popularize the genre globally. But for those who remember the original Shining Force games, the recent release serves as a reminder of a tactical RPG lineage that deserves a second act.
A ’90s Classic That Defined a Genre
While the early Fire Emblem titles were largely Japan-only releases, Shining Force was released for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive in the early ’90s in both North America and Europe. Thanks to a hand-me-down console, Shining Force (1992) and Shining Force 2 (1993) marked the first exposure of many players to the genre, and they remain fun to play even all these decades later. Both games are included in the Sega Genesis library that comes with a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, making them more accessible than ever to a new generation of gamers.
Even players who have only encountered the recent Fire Emblem entries — Three Houses, Engage, and Fortune’s Weave — will find a great deal familiar about the Shining Force games, even beneath three decades of dust. You assemble an army of fighters of varying classes: archers, mages, monks, knights on horseback, and axe-wielding warriors. Eventually, there’ll be so many of them that you’ll have to choose only your favorites and maybe even bench some longtime stalwarts in favor of a dazzling new recruit with impressive skills. And yes, like Fire Emblem, your characters can be promoted after reaching a certain level and obtaining a rare item.
Oddballs and Elaborate Pixel Battles
One area where Shining Force stands apart is its oddball characters that don’t really fit into a typical RPG class. Sure, Fire Emblem throws the occasional dancer and pegasus knight your way, but Shining Force lets you recruit a werewolf, a robot, a flying jellyfish, a turtle, and more endearing weirdos. Shining Force 2 features a goofy phoenix character called Peter who looks like Sesame Street’s Big Bird with a Gen Z broccoli haircut, but he absolutely whips ass the entire game. Appearances can be deceiving.
In battle, you’ll deploy your motley crew onto a grid-based map, moving your troops into position bit by bit before the enemy gets their chance to respond. When fighters are in range, the action switches to another screen, with elaborate (by 16-bit standards) pixel art showing off your characters attacking and defending against their foes in stylish fashion. Depending on the map, you’ll encounter terrain that can hinder your movement or harm your characters, and you’ll either need to take down every foe in sight or just vanquish the enemy leader. The series also featured some memorable map variety, with battles strewn over a series of precariously floating rafts at sea, in a circus tent, and even an homage to Peru’s Nazca lines.
Sega’s Own Version of the Formula
While it would be fair to assume Shining Force was directly inspired by Fire Emblem, which came out two years earlier, apparently that’s not the case. Developer Hiroyuki Takahashi told GamesTM in 2010: “The tempo of that title [Fire Emblem] was so bad that it wasn’t something I even wanted to play.” Despite that bold assertion, even at a glance you can tell these games are pretty darn similar.
Sega still owns the rights to the Shining series, but has moved it in a less overtly Fire Emblem-ish direction since the Saturn era, releasing a Japan-only trio of action-oriented tactical RPGs for the PlayStation Portable in the 2010s. At a glance, they’re much closer to Valkyria Chronicles than Fire Emblem. Sega also launched the action RPG Shining Resonance Refrain worldwide in 2018, but it’s an entirely different animal than the Shining Force of the ’90s.
“The tempo of that title [Fire Emblem] was so bad that it wasn’t something I even wanted to play.”
Hiroyuki Takahashi, Shining Force developer
Looking Ahead
As the tactical RPG landscape continues to expand with titles like Ubisoft’s 2022 entry, last year’s stellar remake, and this year’s excellent Star Wars Zero Company, the window for a modern Shining Force revival has never been wider. Fans are now openly calling for an updated Fire Emblem competitor with some modern Sega fan service incorporated into it — from recruiting Yakuza’s Kiryu or Super Monkey Ball’s adorable AiAi through secret optional missions, to maps inspired by Sonic’s Green Hill Zone or the domed futuristic cities of Phantasy Star 2.
For now, the original Shining Force games remain available to those with a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, offering a taste of what a modern revival could build upon. Whether Sega decides to answer this call remains to be seen, but with the genre clearly in a golden era, the demand for a Shining Force comeback has never been louder.
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