Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of the Light is, unsurprisingly, the manga adaptation of the eponymous first game in the Fire Emblem franchise. In it, Marth, prince of Altea, has to escape his kingdom after his father gets killed in a fight against the neighboring kingdom of Dolhr. A couple years later, however, his new home is being threatened again and so he, along with several new allies, must take up arms to bring peace to the continent, while also dealing with an ancient evil.

Taken by itself, I’d say this is a fine manga. The pacing is adequate, moving fast enough keep the reader entertained, yet slow enough to not feel rushed for the most part. The main characters get enough development to fulfill their roles, and we have quite the variety when it comes to them. And I’d say on the whole that the biggest disappointment comes from the art itself, which is not so much that it looks bad but dated (not surprising given that it came out in the early 90s). However, when evaluating it as an adaptation, it’s a whole different story.

This is probably one of the most faithful videogame adaptations I’ve seen, and in a good way. The manga manages to capture several of the mechanics of the game, but unlike other series who mostly just lampshade their source, in this case, they’re adapted in a way that actually makes sense for the media and the story it’s trying to tell. For example, the game mostly having Boss maps instead of Route maps is translated as Marth wanting to spare as much bloodshed as possible by going for the generals. The main characters in the manga? Mostly the good units of the game (though most of them make an appearance). There’s even references to the durability system, with the characters breaking and/or replacing their weapons as the story goes on, explained by them getting worn down battle after battle. But don’t think this is just a 1-to-1 adaptation, there are several additions to the lore as well, getting extra backstory on some characters, relations with others, and even new developments later on in the story.

Unfortunately, that faithfulness can also be its cross at times. With over 50 characters in the original, they all cannot have the same level of depth and protagonism, and it feels at times like the mangaka is just adding them for addition’s sake (with the notable exception of one character who, ironically, is very plot relevant and a franchise staple). In fact, it could be argued that the best part of the manga comes in the second half when it stops being as much of an adaptation, and it starts turning into its own story.

If you played the original game, or are interested in the franchise at all, give this a try, as you could argue it’s the best version of this story. And if you don’t, I still recommend it as it’s still a serviceable fantasy manga even on its own.