BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senkihen

BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senkihen
Also known as: BS Fire Emblem: Archanea War Chronicles Developer: Intelligent Systems Publisher: St.GIGA Platform: Satellaview Released in JP: September 19, 1997 This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused text.

This game is defunct. Do note the game no longer works at all without modifications. This is most likely due to the game's servers being shut down. As a result, further official developments with the game are unlikely to happen.

The Fire Emblem series tries its hand at the Satellaview's SoundLink game-with-a-streamed-radio-drama format with BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senkihen, a set of four short stories about what some of Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo's supporting cast were up to before Marth got his start. Players have less than one hour per episode to get the highest score that they can by collecting treasures and resisting endless waves of enemy reinforcements. Since every episode is basically a modified version of Monshou no Nazo, there's a significant amount of that game's content remaining in their data.

It's also one of the few Satellaview releases to have shown up again in any form in the years since the service's demise. Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo includes modified remakes of all four episodes as a little bonus.

Unused Text

All Episodes

In every episode, this dummy string replaces every text string in Monshou no Nazo, excluding the death quotes of those characters who appear in a given episode and whatever in-ROM dialogue the episode contains. Its appearance is accompanied with a different portrait per episode.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
Various	Nyna (Episodes 1 and 4) Minerva (Episode 2) Lena (Episode 3)	ダミーです！	It's dummied!

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Almost all chapter title and objective text strings from the Monshou no Nazo status screen are left over, and can even be viewed in BS Fire Emblem‍ '​s status screens if the byte at 7E07DF is set to any value other than 01. The only missing ones are the title and objective of Monshou no Nazo‍ '​s Part 1 Chapter 1, since every BS Fire Emblem episode overwrites those strings with those of its own map.

Japanese	Translation	Japanese	Translation
第９９章 デバッグがんばれ！のまき	Ch.99 Good luck debugging! Nomaki	第２部　２章　　マケドニアのはんらん	Part 2 Ch.2 Macedon Rebellion
第１部　２章　　ガルダのかいぞく	Part 1 Ch.2 The Pirates of Galder	第２部　３章　　つれされたおうじょ	Part 2 Ch.3 Abducted Princess
第１部　３章　　デビルマウンテン	Part 1 Ch.3 The Ghoul's Teeth	第２部　４章　　よろこびとかなしみと	Part 2 Ch.4 Joy and Sorrow
第１部　４章　　オレルアンのせんしたち	Part 1 Ch.4 Champions of Aurelis	第２部　５章　　グルニアかいほう	Part 2 Ch.5 Grust's Liberation
第１部　５章　　ファイアーエムブレム	Part 1 Ch.5 Fire Emblem	第２部　６章　　あくのす	Part 2 Ch.6 The Nest of Vice
第１部　６章　　レフカンディのわな	Part 1 Ch.6 Lefcandith Gauntlet	第２部　７章　　くれないのけんし	Part 2 Ch.7 The Scarlet Sword
第１部　７章　　みなとまちワーレン	Part 1 Ch.7 Port Warren	第２部　８章　　ソウルフル・ブリッジ	Part 2 Ch.8 Soulful Bridge
第１部　８章　　プリンセス・ミネルバ	Part 1 Ch.8 Princess Minerva	第２部　９章　　まどうのせいいき	Part 2 Ch.9 Sorcerous Sanctuary
第１部　９章　　ノルダのどれいいちば	Part 1 Ch.9 Knorda Market	第２部　１０章　まどうしふたり	Part 2 Ch.10 Two Mages
第１部　１０章　アカネイア・パレス	Part 1 Ch.10 The Ageless Palace	第２部　１１章　アンリのみち	Part 2 Ch.11 Anri's Way
第１部　１１章　かなしみのだいち・グラ	Part 1 Ch.11 Land of Sorrow	第２部　１２章　かりゅうのはかば	Part 2 Ch.12 Graves of the Fire Dragons
第１部　１２章　魔道のくにカダイン	Part 1 Ch.12 An Oasis of Magic	第２部　１３章　こおりのだいち	Part 2 Ch.13 Frozen Land
第１部　１３章　アリティアのたたかい	Part 1 Ch.13 The Battle for Altea	第２部　１４章　あかされたなぞ	Part 2 Ch.14 Mystery Revealed
第１部　１４章　スターロード・マルス	Part 1 Ch.14 Star and Savior	第２部　１５章　おうじのきかん	Part 2 Ch.15 Return of the Prince
第１部　１５章　マムクート　プリンセス	Part 1 Ch.15 Manakete Princess	第２部　１６章　おうとだっかい	Part 2 Ch.16 Retake the Capital
第１部　１６章　ブラックナイツ　カミユ	Part 1 Ch.16 Camus the Sable	第２部　１７章　グラのらくじつ	Part 2 Ch.17 Gra's Sun Sets
第１部　１７章　てんくうをかける騎士	Part 1 Ch.17 A Knight-Filled Sky	第２部　１８章　とうげのたたかい	Part 2 Ch.18 Battle of the Pass
第１部　１８章　あくのしさいガーネフ	Part 1 Ch.18 Dark Pontifex	第２部　１９章　さいごのけっせん	Part 2 Ch.19 Final Showdown
第１部　１９章　マムクートのおうこく	Part 1 Ch.19 The Dragonkin Realm	第２部　２０章　あんこくこうてい	Part 2 Ch.20 Dark Emperor
第１部　２０章　えらばれしものたち	Part 1 Ch.20 Chosen by Fate	第２部　終章１　ひりゅうのたに	Part 2 Final-1 Wyvern Valley
第２部　１章　　グルニアえんせい	Part 2 Ch.1 The Grust Expedition	第２部　終章２　りゅうのさいだん	Part 2 Final-2 The Dragon's Table

Japanese	Translation	Japanese	Translation
バグをかんぜんにとる	Find all of the bugs	てきのしろのせいあつ	Seize the enemy castle
ぎょくざのせいあつ	Seize the throne	メディウスをたおして ぎょくざのせいあつ	Defeat Medeus and seize the throne

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Episode 1

A pair of event placeholders. Like the above dummy string, Nyna is on speaking duty here.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
0x7190E	Nyna	時間イベント（　必殺）	Timed Event ( Critical)
0x71933	Nyna	時間イベント（　宝箱） Ｍ	Timed Event ( Treasure Chest) M

A mysterious bit of dialogue, with no counterpart in the final version of the episode. Its contents are so vague that it's basically impossible to come to any conclusions as to what it could have been for, who the speaker was, or what "you lot" were supposed to get their hands off of.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
0x719AC	[Class generic] Armored knight	よかゃた...まにあったようだな... おまえたちは手をだすな!	Thank goodness... It looks like I was just in time... You lot, get your hands off of [it/them]!

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Episode 2

This short dialogue with Minerva and Frost was likely intended for an event in which the player would manually recruit Frost. In the final version, Frost is automatically recruited after a certain amount of time has elapsed, with the discussion between himself and Minerva leading to his joining being a) delivered in the streamed voice-acting, b) much longer, and c) much more sympathetic toward Frost.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
0x719AD	Minerva	フロスト司祭？！ 貴公まで悪事にかたんするとは… へんとうしだいによっては、司祭といえども ゆるしはせぬぞ！！	Bishop Frost?! That even you would be party to such crimes... What you have to say for yourself permitting, I cannot abide this - not even from you, Bishop!!
	Frost	あわわ…ミネルバさま！！ もうしわけございません！ 私は降伏いたします… どうか、どうかお許しください！	Eep... Princess Minerva! I am so terribly sorry! I surrender... Please, please forgive me!

A brief bit of dialogue, spoken by Palla, leading into the epsiode's ending. In the final version, the end of the episode still features Palla returning to the scene, but goes on much longer this and adds speaking bits for both Minerva and a generic Macedon soldier. This dialogue entry also calls Palla's unused portrait.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
0x71B03	Palla	ミネルバさま！ マケドニア軍をつれて ただいまもどりました！！	Commander! I have returned, and I have brought Macedonian forces with me!!

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Episode 3

As with Frost in the previous episode, there are two brief dialogue exchanges intended for Rickard to recruit Dice and Malice respectively, passed over once again in favor of doing it with streaming audio and an automatic pre-timed event that recruits both characters at once.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
0x718A9	Rickard	ねえ、おいらの味方になってよ 金はすきなだけやるからさぁ	Hey, you should join us. You can have as much gold as you want that way.
	Dice	うっ、うそじゃねぇな… よし、ひきうけだぜ！！	Bwuh? You gotta be kiddin'... Right, it's a deal!!
0x7194C	Rickard	ねえ、おいらの味方になってよ 金はすきなだけやるからさぁ	Hey, you should join us. You can have as much gold as you want that way.
	Malice	なに、ほんとうか？ よし、ひきうけたぜ！！	What, are you serious? Right, it's a deal!!

As with Episode 2, there's a bit of dialogue leading into the episode's ending, this time spoken by Camus. In the radio play delivery of the final version, Camus still speaks these exact lines verbatim, albeit preceded by a subordinate informing him of the situation and an initial shocked reaction from Camus himself.

Address	Speaker	Japanese	Translation
0x71A4C	Camus	王宮の宝物こをおそうとは 恐れをしらぬ者たちだな、 よし！　全員とらえよ！！	These must be fearless folk indeed, to make an attempt on the palace treasury. Alright! Seize them all!

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Unused Graphics

Character Portraits

Likely as a result of the constraints of the broadcast format, each episode is typically very lean on character portraits and only has the ones that it needs. No portraits from Monshou no Nazo survive at all, and each episode's portraits are removed from all subsequent episodes unless a character reappears. Despite this, a few unused portraits still snuck into some of the episodes.

Episode 2

Episode 2 has an entirely unique portrait for Palla. Although she never appears in gameplay in BS Fire Emblem, Palla does have a prominent role in the episode's opening and ending cutscenes. The above unused ending text for Episode 2 calls this portrait.

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Episode 3

Camus' portrait from Episode 4 is present in the preceding episode. Similar to Palla, Camus makes an appearance in Episode 3's ending cutscene. The above unused ending text for Episode 3 calls this portrait.

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Unused Items

Although only a small selection of them are ever available in each episode, every item from Monshou no Nazo still exists complete with description text and icons, even the unused ones. All of their functionality is intact, except that BS Fire Emblem's total absence of proper animated battle sequences means that using the class change items, dragonstones (except for the Firestone, when used by Episode 4's boss), Starlight, or Imhullu will cause the game to hang.

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Unused Characters

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: Do any of these characters have any surviving stat/growth/inventory data of their own from Monshou no Nazo? Do Palla and Camus have unique stats in the second and third episodes?

BS Fire Emblem retains the full index of character IDs and matching names from Monshou no Nazo, and entries for the handful of new characters in each part are simply appended onto the original index's end. Weapon locks associated with character IDs are still functional, so hacking both a character ID and a matching weapon onto a unit - for instance, character ID 00 (Marth) with item ID 0B (Falchion) - will enable use of that matching weapon.

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Unused Classes

All classes from Monshou no Nazo still have data in BS Fire Emblem, although any classes not used in a given episode have had most, if not all, of their map sprites removed. Classes which are earlier on in the index retain their default standing animation, while later classes are completely blank and, if moved, spawn garbage tiles in place of their movement sprites.

Every class appears to retain all of its functionality, but again as a result of BS Fire Emblem having no full battle sequences, attempts to have Dancers refresh or Freelancers imitate other units will cause the game to hang.

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)

Preparations Menu

The battle preparations menu from Monshou no Nazo still exists in all four episodes, although it is never used as every episode skips it to begin gameplay immediately. All of the menu's functions still work to an extent, but in each chapter only one unit is present in the menu - Nyna in Episodes 1 and 4, Hardin in Episode 2, and Rickard in Episode 3 - so there isn't much that can be done with it.

Unlike in Monshou no Nazo, where Marth cannot ever be deselected on the preparations menu, BS Fire Emblem allows you to freely deselect and reselect Nyna/Hardin/Rickard, and does not prevent you from pressing Start to begin playing the episode without them. Unsurprisingly, though, doing this will cause the game to hang.

The save option still technically works in that it can be selected without causing errors, but doing so does not play nicely with the BS-X BIOS: if the player resets to the BIOS after selecting the save option, then attempts to access the BS Fire Emblem episode again, the BIOS will throw up an error message and delete the episode from its memory. As a side note, since Anna no longer has a portrait to use on the save screen as in Monshou no Nazo, most episodes load junk data as a "portrait" in her place. The exception is the second episode, where a villager portrait appears here instead.

The menu can be accessed by memory editing in a specific window of time when the episode is starting up. Before the game finishes panning around the chapter map, set the byte at 7E07DF (default value 01) to any value other than 01, 15, or anything beyond 2A, and the battle preparations screen will open. In both Monshou no Nazo and BS Fire Emblem, this byte determines the chapter data that is loaded, including whether or not battle preparations should be entered. By setting it to a value whose chapter in Monshou no Nazo has a preparations screen, the game will be tricked into loading the preparations screen even though BS Fire Emblem doesn't have the map in question.

(Source: Fire Emblem Universe)