Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi

Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
Also known as: Fire Emblem: The Sword of Seal(s), Fire Emblem: (The) Binding Blade Developer: Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Game Boy Advance Released in JP: March 29, 2002 This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has a notes page

To do: More unused content can be found documented here. Bring over the info. Create a prerelease page and document the prerelease stuff from here. Info on the event-only battle maps. Look at the Chinese localization prototype. Document custom palettes assigned to bosses that go unused due to oversights. There are unused tiles for drawbridges in some of the tilesets. The first chapter has data for an unused village reward, apparently. The attract mode after waiting on the title screen twice seems to be based on enemy layouts from earlier in development, is there any interesting data that can be gleamed from this?

Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (officially called Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade in English) is the sixth entry in the series and the first one for the Game Boy Advance. The game is more colloquially known as "the one with Roy in it", whose appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee brought exposure to the series worldwide. This game also marks the very first debut of Eliwood and Hector, who appear as non-playable characters in the story but would later appear as main protagonists the next game in the series, which was localized and released worldwide.

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Notes

Build Date

Region	Offset	Text
JP	0xF9794	2002/03/02(SAT) 11:15:03

The date is the same in the unreleased Chinese version.

Unused Enemies

William

A boss named ウィリアム (William). He shares his portrait with Roberts, a mini-boss who appears as a reinforcement in the hard mode version of Chapter 11A. He does not have a custom palette for battles.

His character base stats are as follows:

ID	Level	HP	Str/Mag	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Description
0x54	7	8	6	1	0	4	1	1	(Blank)

Note that if he were to actually be used, these would be added to a class' base stats (likely Paladin in this case) to get a full set of statistics.

Idunn

Idunn in her human form only appears in cutscenes as an NPC Shaman in the final game. She uses her unhooded portrait that is otherwise only used in a cutscene before the final battle. She does not have a custom palette for battles.

Her character base stats are as follows:

ID	Level	HP	Str/Mag	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Description
0x65	4	2	1	1	1	5	0	2	『暗闇の巫女』 ゼフィールの命を受け 世界の『解放』を目指す (The Dark Priestess. Seeks to liberate the world by Zephiel's command.)

Note that if she were to actually be used, these would be added to a class' base stats (likely female Shaman in this case) to get a full set of statistics.

(Source: Serenes Forest)

Unused Classes

To do: Rip the unused sprites associated with these classes if they are present & unused.

Divine Dragon

This class is used to facilitate Fae's Manakete's transformation mechanic in her battle animations to enable swapping to an entirely different animation from human form during combat. As a result, it behaves somewhat irregularly if one attempts to use it as a regular class as it was never intended to be used as such. Due to being unneeded, the class does not have an idle standing sprite, instead using a crop of the head from the movement frames as placeholder. Additionally, the map sprites use a custom palette that differs from the standard map sprite palette and does not look correct when loaded as a normal class as a result.

The class' battle animations are set to be played when using Anima, Dark, or Light magic, instead of dragonstones, weapon types the Manakete class typically cannot use. This may be due to their breath attacks using the same animation system as magic, as all magic classes are set to be able to use all magic types, animation-wise.

Base stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
40	10	N/A	5	5	0	12	10	8	25

Max stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
80	30	N/A	30	30	30	30	30	15	25

Growth Rates

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance
95	45	N/A	30	25	25	55	10

Fire Dragon

This class is used to facilitate the enemy Manakete's transformation mechanic in their battle animations to enable swapping to an entirely different animation from human form during combat. As a result, it behaves somewhat irregularly if one attempts to use it as a regular class as it was never intended to be used as such. Due to being unneeded, the class does not have an idle standing sprite, instead using a crop of the head from the movement frames as placeholder. Additionally, the map sprites use a custom palette that differs from the standard map sprite palette and does not look correct when loaded as a normal class as a result.

The class' battle animations are set to be played when using Anima, Dark, or Light magic, instead of dragonstones, weapon types the Manakete class typically cannot use. This may be due to their breath attacks using the same animation system as magic, as all magic classes are set to be able to use all magic types, animation-wise.

Base stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
40	10	N/A	5	5	0	12	10	8	25

Max stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
80	30	N/A	28	28	30	30	28	15	25

Female Mercenary

Has an alternative map sprite which resembles a cross between the final Mercenary and Myrmidon designs, but no battle animations.

Base stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
16	3	N/A	5	6	0	2	0	5	8

Max stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
60	20	N/A	20	20	30	20	20	15	20

Female Cavalier

Features moving map sprites and an early version of the Fighter's map sprite as placeholder for the cursor hover frames. The map sprites seem to have been made in an earlier palette and do not display properly in the final release's map sprite palette. It lacks battle animations.

Base stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
18	5	N/A	3	3	0	6	0	7	9

Note: The class holds a base weapon rank of D in swords and E in lances. The reverse of the ranks its male-counterpart holds.

Max stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
60	20	N/A	20	20	30	20	20	15	20

Female Paladin

Features moving map sprites and an early version of the Fighter's map sprite as placeholder for the cursor hover frames. The map sprites seem to have been made in an earlier palette and do not display properly in the final release's map sprite palette. It lacks battle animations.

Base stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
23	6	N/A	6	11	0	7	6	8	10

Note: The class holds a base weapon rank of C in swords and D in lances, while its male counterpart's weapon ranks are the reverse.

Max stats

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution
60	24	N/A	28	24	30	24	26	15	20

Growth Rates

HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance
70	25	N/A	35	25	25	12	17

Unused Items

The game has a handful of unused items.

ID	Icon	Name	Inventory description	Use menu description	Notes
0x4F		ウオッチ Watch	屋根で見えなくなっている場所を 見えるようにします (Provides visibility to areas obscured by roofs.)	見えない場所を のぞきます (Peek into unseen areas.)	Nonfunctional when used, even if the unit has the requisite staff rank of C and is in the presence of covered buildings.
0x55		魔竜石 Demonstone (lit. "Demon Dragonstone")	謎の力を秘めた石 戦闘時には・・・ (A stone that hides a mysterious power. When in battle...)	イドゥン専用 (Idunn only)	This presumably was an early weapon for the game's final boss, Idunn, the Demon Dragon. However, it does not function properly if given to her, as it softlocks the game when it attempts to play animations. The statistical bonuses granted by it are +15 strength, +15 skill, +20 defense, and +15 resistance.
0x66		はね橋のカギ Drawbridge Key	(Blank)	はね橋をおろし 渡れるようにします (Lowers drawbridges, allowing units to cross them.)	Drawbridges appear as obstacles in other games in the series. This item was possibly discarded earlier in development than the Demonstone and Watch Staff, as unlike the other items it has a blank description when viewed in inventory management screens.

• A name string for ブリザード (Blizzard) exists between エイルカリバー (Aircalibur) and サンダーストーム (Thunderstorm/Bolting), though there appears to be no actual item data for it. Tomes named Blizzard appear in other games in the series.

Unused Graphics

Dummy Portrait

Like the other two later GBA Fire Emblem releases, this game's first portrait in the data is a dummy portrait. Unlike the shared dummy portrait appearing in both The Blazing Blade and The Sacred Stones, this one is different. It appears to be an actual portrait with greatly simplified shading, though its general shape doesn't exactly match any used portrait.

Though not immediately evident, it appears that the dummy portrait uses an earlier version of the palette for Roy's portrait, possibly from when the game used darker palettes earlier in development, as seen in pre-release screenshots.

• 

  The dummy portrait

• 

  Roy's portrait with the Dummy portrait's palette applied to it

Boss Portrait Palettes

Wagner, Legance, Randy, Oates, Raith, and Monke each have two unused palette swaps near the end of the portrait list, while Orlo has just one. While every one of these characters has his portrait recolored for at least one other boss, the thirteen color variations shown here are not used by any characters. Perhaps worth noting, Wagner and Raith each have an unused portrait recolor bearing strong similarities to the colors of minor Black Fang bosses from The Blazing Blade.

• 

  0xE5 Wagner, green robes

• 

  0xE6 Wagner, brown robes (Early Zoldam?)

• 

  0xDE Legance, blue armor

• 

  0xDF Legance, red armor

• 

  0xD6 Orlo, orange robes

• 

  0xCA Randy, white hair

• 

  0xCC Randy, green hair

• 

  0xC5 Oates, green robes

• 

  0xC8 Oates, orange robes

• 

  0xE1 Raith, black armor

• 

  0xE2 Raith, red armor (Early Wire?)

• 

  0xCF Monke, yellow coat

• 

  0xD0 Monke, teal coat

Battle Palettes

Early-game bosses Damas, Ruud, Slater, Erik, Dory, and Debias all have fully-functional personal battle palettes defined for them in the game's data. Slater and Debias' palettes are actually duplicates of each other, with only extremely minor differences from the generic enemy palette for the Knight class. Additionally, Bartre and Juno have unused palettes seeming intended to be used for those characters before promoting (as a Fighter and Pegasus Knight, respectively), which go obviously go unused due to the two only ever appearing in their promoted classes in The Binding Blade. The boss palettes, meanwhile, don't show up in-game because the bosses are all unpromoted classes, while the palettes are mistakenly assigned as their promoted palettes. Oops.

• 

  0x19 Bartre as a Fighter

• 

  0x30 Juno as a Pegasus Knight

• 

  0x39 Erik

• 

  0x56 Debias and 0x58 Slater

• 

  0x57 Ruud

• 

  0x59 Damas

• 

  0x5A Dory

World Map Names

There are several English graphics for unused place names from the World Map.

• 

  Phestos

• 

  Siene

• 

  Alesia

• 

  Terina

• 

  Calach

• 

  Regia

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 Item Icons

Several icons from the previous game in the series, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, are left in the game, albeit with a different palette. None of them are associated with item data. Pre-release screenshots of Fuiin no Tsurugi show that icons from Thracia 776 were used as placeholders earlier in development.

From left to right, the item icons belonged to the following in Thracia 776: Sleep Staff, Torch Staff, Return Staff (also unused in Thracia 776), Repair Staff, Thief Staff, Watch Staff (also unused in Thracia 776), Berserk Staff, Unlock Staff, Barrier Staff, Rewarp Staff, Kia Staff, Broken Staff, Luck Ring, Life Ring, Speed Ring.

Unused Growth Rates

Some playable characters (Mostly trial map-characters) have growth rates, despite joining at the maximum possible level, meaning they never get to utilize them. You're missing out on very little here. (Although Galle and Narcian are under level 20, units cannot gain experience in trial maps.)

Character	HP	Str/Mag	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance
Yoder	20%	30%	15%	10%	20%	10%	20%
Galle	40%	20%	20%	15%	30%	30%	5%
Eliwood/Guinivere	60%	20%	30%	35%	25%	15%	5%
Hector/Narcian/Zephiel/Brunnya/Murdock	85%	50%	10%	10%	30%	10%	5%

Event Distribution Maps

To do: Upload magazine scans of the promo images of the maps, since those are the only known available images of the maps. Pics of the transfer process.

There were four trial maps that were given out for promotional events that were held in Japan via V-Jump Magazine. They were essentially DLC, and none of their data exists on the game cartridge, instead being downloaded into in the save data itself. As of writing, no save files with the data for these maps has been known to have been preserved and as such the maps themselves are currently lost.

The names of the four trial maps were:

• Graizel Execution Court
• V-shaped Map
• J-shaped Map
• Defeat Bandits

(Source: Fireemblemwiki.org, Sme)

Accessing the map transfer menu

The menu used to actually transfer the map the game's save data is fairly easily accessible. Simply press Left on the D-pad twice, then Right on the D-pad twice, then the L Shoulder Button twice, then Start.

(Source: Flame, FEUniverse)

Thief Stealing AI Oversight/Oddity

In the game, playable thieves can only steal items, not weapons. Enemy thieves follow this rule... mostly. What enemy thieves will steal is determined by a list of items. Curiously, this list features four items (three of which are... weapons) that probably shouldn't be there. These items are the Firestone, the Divinestone, the Demonstone, and the Bridge Key.

The Bridge Key is a completely unused item, and is likely left over from earlier in development. It being there has no obvious effects on the player end of things.

The Dragonstones are another matter. Since they are weapons, the player cannot steal them back if an enemy steals them, meaning that Fae (the playable dragon character who uses the Divinestone) can possibly permanently lose her unique personal weapon. Not to mention the unused Demonstone.

The Firestone being here, meanwhile, results in the infamous exploit that allows a berserked player thief to steal a Firestone (since berserked characters are under the control of enemy unit AI) from an enemy dragon, something not normally possible.

Regional Differences

Like many iQue GBA localizations, the unreleased iQue prototype translated many text and images that were left in English in the Japanese original.

Japan	China (Proto)

Japan	China (Proto)

Japan	China (Proto)

There is a minor graphical bug in the unit list where the "力" part of the category header doesn't scroll properly during transitions.