Rory’s Wii U Game of June 2016

For my Wii U Game of the Month for July, I will be featuring a game that combines two franchises together. One franchise comes from Nintendo, and the other from Atlus.
Music and idols play a key part in this game, which took a total of five years to go from conception to finished product. The finished product is a JRPG – in almost every sense of the term, considering the game is set in modern-day Tokyo.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is a crossover title, bringing Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei together into a single game.

In the game, Tokyo has been beset by attacks from an alternate dimension called the Idolasphere. Strange beings called Mirages have been harvesting an energy called Performa from humans, and causing mass disappearances – one of the player characters was involved in one such disappearance, seemingly the only one to not be affected.
A talent agency called Fortuna Entertainment recruits young people who fight the threat from the Mirages behind the scenes, whilst actively being part of the entertainment industry.

The main protagonist of this story is a boy called Itsuki Aoi who initially doesn’t have much interest in the entertainment industry. However, after becoming a Mirage Master, he starts working for Fortuna Entertainment and is always willing to provide support for his friends.
Itsuki’s Mirage is none other than Fire Emblem: Awakening‘s Chrom. The Mirages possess no memories at the start of the game, so naturally they decide to fight alongside the Mirage Masters in order to find out more about themselves.
Of course, Itsuki is joined by a few other Mirage Masters. First to join him is his classmate Tsubasa Oribe, an optimistic and hard-working lass who seeks to become an idol. Her Mirage is Caeda from Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (or Shiida, if you go by the spelling used in the European version of the Fire Emblem games where she appears).
Another character that joins is Touma Akagi who seeks to become a hero – by getting a part in a tokusatsu show. His Mirage is another one from Shadow Dragon, Cain – or the first red Cavalier for those who are aware of the archetypal characters.
Of course, there’s more characters than that who will join as active combatants, and you also have the supporting cast, including an ‘Uta-loid’ by the name of Tiki – of course, that’s the Fire Emblem Tiki, more specifically the younger form that appears in Shadow Dragon.

So we’ve covered the words ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Mirage’ from the title, but what about the Sessions?
Well, this is related to the battles. Like your typical JRPG, battles are turn-based affairs. The Fire Emblem Weapon Triangle plays a part here, and you also get the spells used in the Shin Megami Tensei games – Zio, Zan, Bufu and so on.
By using an attack the enemy is weak against, you can trigger ‘Sessions’ – basically combo attacks. These can really rack up the damage against your foes.
Characters also can use special attacks, which are best reserved for ‘Savage Enemies’ or bosses.

I was able to get hold of the ‘Fortissimo Edition’ of the game. This came with the game, of course, an artbook, a sound selection CD, song lyrics cards, stickers and a code for all the downloadable content.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE brings the worlds of Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei together, and creates a unique experience that works well as its own thing.