Roy (Fire Emblem)

Roy is a fictional character from Nintendo's Fire Emblem video game series who, alongside Marth, first appeared in the 2001 crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee as a representative character from the Fire Emblem series. He is the lead character of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade; within the story, he is the son of Eliwood and heir presumptive of Pherae, who eventually becomes a major military leader. The inclusion of Roy and Marth in Melee is cited as one of the reasons Nintendo started localizing the series for international distribution.^[3] Roy continues to make recurring appearances in subsequent Fire Emblem media, such as a manga series and spinoff video games.

Roy
Fire Emblem character
Official artwork of Roy as he appears in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
First appearance	Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001)
Designed by	Eiji Kaneda^[1]
Voiced by	EN: Ray Chase^[2] JP: Jun Fukuyama^[2]

Concept and design

Roy was created for what became Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, a game with a long development cycle. He was originally named Ike, and he and Karel were the only characters kept when what became Binding Blade restarted development in 2000.^[4] Roy's character was designed to be free-spirited and emphatic to appeal to younger players and a wider audience, in contrast to earlier titles.^[5] The renamed Roy was first revealed at Nintendo Space World 2001, where a demo of Binding Blade was being shown.^[6]

When developing Super Smash Bros. Melee, Masahiro Sakurai wanted to include more characters who could cross blades with Link from The Legend of Zelda due to his personal preference for sword-fighting characters and campaigned for Roy's inclusion.^[7] Roy and Marth were kept in the international versions of Melee, and their popularity led to Nintendo releasing future Fire Emblem games outside of Japan.^[8] The first of these was Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, which has a younger Roy designed by Sachiko Wada.^[4]

In response to fan backlash against the addition of further Fire Emblem characters as DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, game director Masahiro Sakurai stated that characters from the series are over-represented in the playable roster for Ultimate.^[9] However, he maintained that it is an unfounded concern and that the development team are diligent in ensuring that each character and the game would be balanced properly.^[10]

Appearances

Roy's first video game appearance was in 2001's Super Smash Bros. Melee, and was reintroduced into the series as downloadable content (DLC) for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.^[11] He also appears as part of the base roster in the series' 2018 entry, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. To promote his appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, an amiibo figure of Roy was featured as an exclusive release at GameStop.^[12] In 2019, plushies depicting Roy and other Fire Emblem characters were released.^[13]

Roy is the lead character of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.^[14] The story begins when King Zephiel, ruler of the kingdom of Bern, conquers Ilia and Sacae and sets his sights on Lycia. In a small region called Pherae, Roy, the son of Pherae's ruling marquess Eliwood, is forced to return home when Bern begins its invasion. As Eliwood is unable to battle due to illness, Roy is assigned command of Lycia's army and eventually assumes command of the army of Etruria.

The next installment after The Binding Blade, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, is a prequel featuring a younger Eliwood as one of its protagonists. Roy appears during the game's epilogue, where Eliwood reunites with his comrade Hector and their respective children are introduced to each other. Roy is available as a playable character in Fire Emblem Awakening as DLC.^[15] Roy also appears in Fire Emblem Heroes.^[16] He later appears as an Emblem character in Fire Emblem Engage.^[17]

Roy appears in the Fire Emblem: The Champion's Blade manga, which was first published prior to the release of The Binding Blade and takes place concurrently with the events of the game.^[18] Roy does not reappear in the 2008 entry Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but was remade in the fan mod Project M.^[19]

Critical reception

Roy's appearance in Melee alongside Marth brought further exposure to the Fire Emblem series outside of Japan, and was cited as a reason Nintendo began to localize and release Fire Emblem games internationally,^[3] beginning with the seventh title in the series.^[20] Due to popular demand from Japanese fans, Roy was added in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a DLC character.^[21] Chris Carter from Destructoid welcomed Nintendo's decision to reintroduce Roy and considered him his "personal favorite", although he found that the character played quite differently in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U compared to his previous iteration in Melee or to other Fire Emblem characters.^[22]

However, Roy's continued presence in the Smash series has invited criticism from some. In 2007, Lucas M. Thomas from IGN said that Roy's moveset in Melee overlapped too much with Marth's and drew an unfavorable comparison to Ike, a playable character set to be introduced in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl and whom Thomas perceived to be more distinctive.^[23] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek downplayed Roy's significance, and claimed that the character was added to Melee as a gamble because The Binding Blade was still in development at the time and Nintendo wanted to promote the game ahead of its release.^[24] Cecilia D'Anastasio criticized Roy for being the same sword fighter archetype as fellow Fire Emblem characters Lucina, Marth and Chrom, who were set to be included in the playable roster of Ultimate.^[25] Commenting on Roy's 30th-place ranking on a 2018 tier list of Smash playable characters published by Polygon shortly before the game launched, Jeremy Parish expressed a preference for Roy Koopa, a Koopaling character instead.^[26]

In his review of The Binding Blade, Mike Moehnke of RPGamer criticized Roy's weak in-game attributes for the majority of the game, to the point where his presence detracts from an otherwise satisfactory gameplay experience.^[27] Marianne Penn of TheGamer concurred that Roy is one of the series' weakest lords and a difficult character to optimize for gameplay viability, which is a stark contrast from his playable appearances in the Smash series. Penn felt that Roy is a decent character in terms of personality, and that his popularity is "rightfully warranted" in spite of his glaring flaws.^[28] In North American Fire Emblem character popularity polls running up to the release of Fire Emblem Heroes, Roy was ranked the second favorite male character behind Ike .^[29] The top four characters in the polls received new in-game costumes; Heather Alexandra of Kotaku has praised Roy's original costume by stating that "Roy’s outfit hits all the notes of overclass imagery one", but criticized that Roy remains as a red-colored unit.^[30] Ricky Berg from Nintendo Wire looked forward to seeing the release of a Binding Blade remake with localization; he opined that the brand awareness surrounding the character would serve a hypothetical remake well, noting that part of the appeal for players would be to discover the canon character's original personality, as he is less hot-blooded compared to his characterization in the Smash series.^[31]

References

1. . April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-04-14.
2. "Roy Voices (Fire Emblem)". Behind The Voice Actors. from the original on 2018-10-11. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
3. East, Thomas (April 13, 2013). . Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
4. メイキング オブ ファイアーエムブレム 開発秘話で綴る25周年、覚醒そしてif (in Japanese). Tokuma Shoten. November 28, 2015. ISBN 978-4-19-864056-9.
5. "ファイアーエムブレム〜封印の剣〜". www.1101.com. from the original on 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
6. Nintendo Spaceworld 2001 Official Guide Book. Enterbrain. 2001-08-25. p. 25.
7. "How Super Smash Bros. Melee Introduced Fire Emblem to Western Audiences". Shacknews. from the original on 2021-08-23. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
8. . April 13, 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-10-10.
9. Phillips, Tom (February 5, 2020). "Even Super Smash Bros. boss Sakurai agrees it has too many Fire Emblem characters". Eurogamer.net. from the original on 2021-09-01. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
10. "Tired of sword users in Smash Ultimate? Sakurai says don't blame him". March 5, 2021. from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
11. "Roy, Ryu, And Lucas Prices Revealed For Super Smash Bros. - Siliconera". 14 June 2015. from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
12. "Roy amiibo pre-orders begin today, exclusively at GameStop". Polygon. 21 January 2016. from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
13. "These Fire Emblem Plushies Are Simply Adorable, You Guys". Nintendo Life. May 15, 2019. from the original on July 19, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
14. "Fire Emblem Echoes director would like to remake The Binding Blade – Nintendo Wire". 22 May 2017. from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
15. Drake, Audrey (11 February 2013). "Fire Emblem Awakening: Recruiting Roy". from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
16. "Fire Emblem Heroes adds 'Love Abounds' heroes Lilina, Roy, Hector, and Lyn – Gematsu". 7 February 2018. from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
17. Tu, Trumann (December 11, 2022). "Fire Emblem Engage Shows First Look at Conversations with Ike, Roy, and More". Game Rant. from the original on December 16, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
18. "Nintendo's Fire Emblem Had a Manga Before It Came to America". Screen Rant. 18 February 2021. from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
19. Klepek, Patrick (2 December 2015). "Smash Community In Shock Over Sudden End To Popular Mod, Project M". from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
20. East, Thomas (April 13, 2013). . Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
21. "Why Are There So Many Fire Emblem Characters in Super Smash Bros?". Screen Rant. 29 September 2020. from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
22. Carter, Chris (14 June 2015). "Roy's not quite our same boy in the new Super Smash Bros". destructoid. from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
23. Thomas, Lucas (16 November 2007). . IGN. News Corporation. Archived from the original on 2009-05-15. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
24. "Super Smash Bros. Characters Ranked". Den of Geek. March 7, 2019. from the original on June 10, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
25. D'Anastasio, Cecilia (8 August 2018). "Breaking: Too Many Fire Emblem Characters In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
26. Parish, Jeremy (December 3, 2018). "We rank the Smash Bros. (and friends)". Polygon. from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
27. Moehnke, Mike (January 23, 2012). . RPGamer. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
28. "Fire Emblem: 5 Best Lords In The Franchise (& 5 Worst)". TheGamer. 2020-09-20. from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
29. . USgamer.net. 27 January 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
30. Alexandra, Heather (28 August 2017). "Fan-Voted Favorites Get Stylish New Armor Sets In Fire Emblem Heroes". from the original on 3 August 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
31. Berg, Ricky (25 July 2019). "Roy's Hope – Why Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade deserves to be remade next". Nintendo Wire. from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.