Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

This is the 4th game in the Fire Emblem series. Released in Japan on May 14, 1996, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy War (Seisen no Keifu) also sometimes translated as Bloodlines of the Holy War, is the most imported game in the Fire Emblem series. It has been very popular through emulation in the United States, especially since the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, which virtually lacks reference to this Super Famicom (SNES) game, and it is therefore an import classic. Many who played this game studied Japanese.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy War was the most successful game in the Fire Emblem series. It deviates from the standard Fire Emblem gameplay mechanisms to some extent. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy War has great graphics and sound for a Super NES game. Gunpei Yokoi was the producer of this game. Fire Emblem: GoHW has the largest soundtrack of any Fire Emblem game, composed of 114 tracks.

Story
Fire Emblem takes place in the continent of Jugdral (pronounced YOOG-druhl and based on the Norse mythological name Yggdrasil), located about southeast from Akaneia. The country at the center of Jugdral is called Grandbell. The other countries are the Kingdom of Isaac (pronounced ih-ZAHRK in the game as the katakana transcription suggests, not "eye-zick" as in the Bible), the Kingdom of Silesia, the Lords Dominion of Agustria, Manster District, the Kingdom of Thracia, and the Kingdom of Verdane. The first half of the game stars Sigurd, the prince of Chalphy (pronounced SHAL-fee), son of Byron, a descendant of Baldo. His Chalphian squad includes Arden (a heavy-armored knight), Noish (a social knight), and Alec (a social knight). He has a younger sister named Ethlin and a brother-in-law and close friend Cuan, prince of Lenster. Sigurd and his forces meet their destiny at the end of the fifth chapter. In chapter two, Sigurd marries Diadora, who first appeared in chapter one. In chapter five, their destiny is delivered by Alvis and the Thracian army. The second half of the game stars Selis, son of Sigurd, and his forces, who are either children of the characters in the first half or substitute characters that replace them. Fin, a knight of Lenster, is the only character in the game who fights in both halves of the game. He also starred in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.

Fire Emblem: GoHW starts off with a prologue beginning with the army of the Kingdom of Grandbell attacking the nearby Kingdom of Isaac, and the army of Verdane invading Grandbell, which has only a handful of remaining soldiers: Sigurd, Noish, Alec, and Arden. The first enemy message is when Edin, the daughter of Lord Ring, of Jungby Castle gets captured by Gandolf of Marpha Castle of Verdane and gets taken to Verdane. Siglud had no choice but to take up arms in order to rescue Adean. At the end of the prologue, Siglud seizes Evans Castle and makes it his army's home base in Chapters 1 and 2. At the beginning of Chapter 1, Eltshan shows up and meets with Siglud. Meanwhile, Kinbois passes the enemy message to the Genoa Castle army. Then Ira and Shanan from Isaac (pronounced ih-ZAHK in the game) talk with Kinbois, and Ira says no to double-crossing. At the player's second turn, Adean escapes with Dew the thief. After Sigurd conquers Genoa Castle, thus saving Shanan, he convinces Ira to defect to his army. Shortly thereafter, a fight breaks out between Nodion Castle and Evans Castle. The border guard informed Eltshan, the king of Nodion Castle, about the Heirhein Castle army attempting to seize Evans Castle. Eltshan and his cross knights marched on and easily defeated the Heirhein knights, commanded by Elliot.

The storyline of Fire Emblem: GoHW comes out to be similar to that of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, as Garnef strives to revive the Dark Dragon Medeus, Manfroy strives to revive the Dark Lord Loputousu.