the game as well as various physical items, including a replica NES Game Pak with its own packaging and instruction manual. The game was delisted from the e-Shop on March 31, 2021. Reception According to Kaga, upon release Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light received extensive criticism from Japanese publications. Many of them noted that it was difficult to understand and had fairly poor graphics, awarding it low scores. In contrast, popular opinion was more positive: in a poll taken by Family Computer Magazine, the game scored 23.48 points out of 30. Likewise, sales of the game were flat for the first two months of sales, but improved after word of mouth had spread. According to Kaga, a notable journalist devoted a Famitsu column to the game, and this prompted sales to pick up around half a year after release. As of 2002, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light had sold 329,087 units, being the third best-selling title in the series to that date. According to Metacritic, the Nintendo Switch version received "mixed or average reviews", based on a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 from 29 critics. The website also stated that the game "understandably failed to impress modern critics." In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list. Legacy Despite the slow start, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light proved enough of a success that a sequel was commissioned. This would become Fire Emblem Gaiden, which was released in 1992. Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light was partially remade as part of the third installment, Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, which also continued the story of Marth. A full remake for the Nintendo DS was released internationally under the title Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, marking the first time the content of the first Fire Emblem was made available outside Japan. The setting of Archanea would be used again for the thirteenth entry, Fire Emblem Awakening. Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light not only launched the wider Fire Emblem series, but is also seen as the reason tactical role-playing genre became popular in Japan. It has thus been credited with indirectly influencing the creation of other notable games within the genre, including Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Final Fantasy Tactics, and the Disgaea series. The basic mechanics within Shadow Dragon and the Blade of