Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi

Fire Emblem: The Dark Dragon and Sword of Light is the first game in the Fire Emblem series, developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. It was first released on the Famicom (known…

55 20 April 1990

Role-playing (RPG) Strategy Tactical Turn-based strategy (TBS) Fantasy Warfare

Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi is a role-playing (rpg) developed by Intelligent Systems, released 20 April 1990 on Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Wii and Family Computer.

Verified 18 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi is

Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi is a role-playing (rpg) game developed by Intelligent Systems and released in 1990. It was published by Nintendo. It is available on Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Wii and Family Computer.

The premise, in the publisher's words

Marth is prince of Altea and a direct descendant of Anri, the warrior who slew the shadow dragon Medeus. However, after an attack from the neighboring kingdom of Dolhr, Marth is forced to become an exile in the neighboring nation of Talis. His sister Ellis is taken hostage after his father is killed battling the evil priest Gharnef. With the help of the Altean knight Jagen, the Talisian Princess Caeda, and others, Marth embarks on a quest to find the sacred sword known as Falchion and the Fire Emblem that will allow him to wield it. Only then will he be able to confront Gharnef and the resurrected Medeus, win the kingdom of Altea back, and rescue his sister.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are fantasy and warfare. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Fire Emblem series

Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi is the first of 66 entries we hold in the Fire Emblem series. The next entry was Fire Emblem Gaiden in 1992. Its critic score of 55 is 25 points below the series average of 80. The highest-rated entry is Super Smash Bros. Melee at 100.

See all 66 Fire Emblem games in release order →

How it was received

Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi holds a critic score of 55 out of 100. That places it above 9% of the 3,813 rated role-playing (rpg) games in our database, which average 73. Games released in 1990 averaged 65, so it scored 10 points below the year average.

What it launched against

Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi launched on 20 April 1990, within three weeks of Smash T.V. and Gargoyle's Quest. All of them reviewed better.

Released around the same time: Smash T.V., Gargoyle's Quest.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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