Late last year, Pokemon Sun and Moon ROMSs were leaked onto the Internet a week before release, and Paper Mario Color Splash was leaked not long before that. Now another Nintendo 3DS title has gotten leaked and pirated on the internet, this time almost a month before release — Fire Emblem: Echoes – Shadows of Valentia.
While the leak is of the Japanese version of the game, it has nevertheless showcased a bunch of new information on the game that had not been revealed officially before. We’ve seen everything from the game’s music to character portraits, and even an added sixth chapter that did not exist in the original Fire Emblem: Gaiden game that Shadows of Valentia is based off of.
Other information that has been released at the time of this article’s publication include:
- Character Growth Rates
- Character Specific Spells
- Skill Lists
- Weapon Lists
- NPC and Enemy portraits
- Narrative CG Artworks
Nintendo has yet to make a public statement on the leak. But it should be noted that despite this being a Japanese version of the game, it is believed that the leak was most likely done by a foreign source. This is primarily due to the fact that Japan itself does not have a strong 3DS emulation community, while the United States does (as argued by Reddit user /u/brocopina).
SoV acts as the first Fire Emblem title in almost 10 years to release with the classic formula outside of Japan — the most recent release being New Mystery of the Fire Emblem (a Japan exclusive). Now that the ROM has leaked and made its way to emulators, some fans are expressing concern that it could affect whether we see more remakes of the classic games and releases of future Fire Emblem titles that don’t rely so heavily on the new pairing mechanic.
More importantly, it should also be noted that anyone who uses these pirated files on their 3DS should expect their systems to lose all online privileges. This means not only the loss of your online account’s purchased items, but also your physical device’s ability to connect to the Internet. While this might not be important to some, it led to quite a bit of anger and frustration among pirating players who lost hundreds of dollars worth of purchases.
Fire Emblem: Echoes – Shadows of Valentia releases on April 20th in Japan, and May 19th internationally. Be sure to check back with GameSkinny.com for when the official release launches for reviews, guides, and more!
