The Nintendo Entertainment System introduced a major evolution in game design, thanks to its higher processing power that allowed a zeitgeist for games to be more than just arcade endurance tests.
JRPGs like the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games really pushed the boundaries in this regard as they transported players to distant worlds with monsters and magic. The Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei franchises were also created around this time,and similarly provided their own spins to the genre.
With Fire Emblem being a tactical role-playing game and Shin Megami Tensei being a monster-collecting RPG, the two games couldn’t be any more different, and yet a crossover between the two was not out of the question.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was the result of this and it is pretty out there in terms of theme and setting. Instead of the fantasy or post-apocalyptic settings that fans of either genre were used to, we instead got a contemporary story starring J-Pop idols.
This Wii U game and its enhanced Nintendo Switch port haves since gained a cult following, and with both the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem franchises receiving incredible new entries on the Switch, it’s about time this crossover received the same as well. Here are five reasons why:
Up The Charts
With the story of Tokyo Mirage Sessions centering around J-Pop idols and their part-time jobs of fighting interdimensional forces, the game provided brief musical respites where the main characters performed in full-scale music videos.
Music can sometimes be an underappreciated part of video games as a whole, and beyond rhythm games, it is nice to see a proper JRPG put so much emphasis on its music. So for a sequel for Tokyo Mirage Sessions, it would be nice to see the team tackle different genres of music, like pop punk or city pop.
Expanded Roster
Tokyo Mirage Sessions has our heroes summoning Mirages, who are basically Personas but based on Fire Emblem characters instead. We got to see Chrom, Virion and Tharja from Fire Emblem Awakening casting spells, as well as a handful from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.
As great as these characters are in these roles, it would have been nice to see even more Fire Emblem characters be added to the mix. Super Smash Bros. fans may be more familiar with the likes of Roy, Ike, and Corrin, so having these characters as Mirages would be a great treat for fans.
Inspiring Personas
In many ways, Tokyo Mirage Sessions functions a lot like a light version of a typical Persona game. In fact, Tokyo Mirage Sessions was released in between Persona 4 and 5, and it definitely served as a bridge between the two games in many ways.
So while the social link aspect is there in Tokyo Mirage Sessions, the expansion of the day-to-day activities seen in Persona 5 could make for an interesting gameplay experience, especially with players juggling between something like college work and their idol career.
House of Heroes
Many might think that Tokyo Mirage Sessions leans more towards its Shin Megami Tensei and Persona roots, with the high fantasy stylings of the Fire Emblem saga being quite sparse in the grand scheme of things.
To remedy that, a sequel should have players commanding entire armies of Mirage Masters, just like how they would command units in a traditional Fire Emblem game. Have massive hordes of demons attack the streets of Shibuya, and have the player amass an army to defend the city from it. How epic would that be?
Gameplay Shakeups
One of the greatest things about Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ turn-based gameplay was how fast it was, which was substantiated further with how players could combo their attacks to create an orchestrated symphony of attacks, which is known as a “Session”.
Now they could keep this battle system and refine it further, or go the complete opposite direction and go for a completely action-RPG system. Since both franchises had their own musou spin-offs, Persona 5 Strikers and Fire Emblem Warriors, maybe a new spin on the battle system is needed to get a renewed interest.
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