My MARTH submission was a companion to this hack, so I’m crosslinking it here:
Make A Really Terrific Hack: MARTH - Creative / Contests - Fire Emblem Universe (feuniverse.us)
Let’s just say that Storge players’ll probably get the most out of this hack, hehe.
Hi! I wanted to share a custom cartridge I just commissioned. Playing it blind, it’s a blast so far.
There are some glitches but that’s more than likely a problem caused by the Analogue Pocket who has troubles running some romhacks. I had to disable the battle backgrounds because the game would sometime randomly freeze during some magic animations. Having them on causes some sort of loading error and even without magic is really choppy. I will try to test it on a regular GBA later.
Wow, that’s super cool 
. Glad you’re enjoying the hack!
Well that was quite fun! Filled with random freezes, but thankfully thanks to FE’s generous auto-saves it never was an issue. Reloading the same fight often fixed the problem and if it kept happening I just turned off the fight anims just for that one and put it back on. I took the most taxing characters on purpose to test the limits. (basically if the game randomly had a load issue and that same fight a character used magic or leveled/ranked up it would freeze)
Time for an Emperor Run, still on Normal. It looks like a really interesting challenge, I tested a few weapons loadout and I’m not sure which one would be the best. The other achievements are brutal though, not sure I’ll even ever try.
Just finished my first run! Had a lot a fun with this, it’s a really unique concept and it’s really polished as a game. The fact that everyone were lone mercenaries without needing connections to some greater plot, made the perfect spawning ground for a lot of experimental and frankly, ridiculous units. And that’s not even mentioning the replayability that it offers. Will definitely be playing more of this.
Final Gold: 26306
Final Turns: 69 (yes really)
Roster:
-Munif
-Rorty (DEAD Ch1)
-Cheyenne
-Roscoe
-Imogene (DEAD Ch5)
-Malachi (DEAD Ch2)
-Jamakaya (DEAD Ch5)
-Gage (MVP)
-Senal
-Stamos (DEAD Ch2)
Probably going to try some flying units next time, these guys were super imobile.
Alright, there goes my second run. I had a friend pick out my characters this time around, so my team was a little wonky.
From Chapter 2-4, 2 units died every chapter. It started with me losing two of my healers, which sort of lead to a death spiral.
This caused me to lose my dancer in Chapter 3, and also Radogast just because I forgot he was a flier. Thankfully, Malachi promoted in Chapter 4 and became like a second Gretchen, without him I could not have beat the game.
I misplaced Buchanen in the brave Ballista’s range and he bit the dust, followed by Salonious dying because Cruithne was too occupied with healing others. I genuinely thought this was the end, but miraculously I managed to finish the chapter with spirits held high.
Come Chapter 5, nobody had like any weapon uses left (thank god for the brave sword), and the time limit scared me. The only reason I got through Chapter 4 was because I could camp at the center fort for as long as I wanted to. In Chapter 5, that wouldn’t work. Gretchen and Malachi went full Rambo on this map and cleared probably 90% of the enemies. Cruithne Used the last of her tomes, and Malachi broke both his swords. Gretchen clutched and hit two 70s against Alcaeus with the brave sword, while at low health and Cruithne out of range, before calmly walking into the city.
Gold: 16799
Turn Count: 98
-Drugar
-Buchanen (DEAD Ch4 to Lujcan)
-Leverene (DEAD Ch2 to Rapier Merc)
-Cruithne (MVP)
-Radogast (DEAD Ch3 to Archer)
-Malachi
-Sievert (DEAD Ch2 to Hammer Fighter)
-Salonious (DEAD Ch4 to Lujcan)
-Hikari (DEAD Ch3 to Cavalier)
This is honestly my favorite hack of all time and I just wanted to also express my appreciation for the MARTH sequel since no one else seems to have commented on it.
ALL HAIL MALACHI, SLAYER OF THE GOD EMPEROR, BLOOD SCOURGE OF THE CONTINENT
I did go back to beat it the proper way, but that ending was the most fun by far.
The MARTH map was definitely full of loving callbacks to the original, and I ended up having to load my copy of Storge just to remember where my glitchy friend was. Interesting to see who ended up being left behind in canon so to speak, apparently Becker didn’t share my taste in party members.
This is still the best Fire Emblem game I’ve played. I replayed it again today and thought about the story.
It’s a brilliant story with a great focus on the main playable characters, but the main villain feels disconnected from the theme that binds the story together.
Giving the main villain personal connections to the pasts of the heroes or a sympathetic motivation for being evil or a comically tragic past full of random suffering disconnected from the main theme to exposit on his deathbed wouldn’t be right.
I think it’d be better for the story’s theme if he was explicitly stated/shown to have sacrificed his family members and close friends in the pursuit of his ambition and forced people to abandon their dreams in favor of being useful to him and helping him achieve his dream. He could even try to manipulate others (perhaps a child of his own?) through guilt and other forms of verbal abuse. This could make him a villainous parallel to the father at his worst, and without the understandable sympathetic aspect of genuinely loving family and believing wanting what he wants for his child (no matter what that child wants) is him wanting what’s best for that child. Having the main villain mention his father did the same to him and raised him to want to conquer and sacrifice all for the sake of conquest and never embrace true familial love, just as that man’s father did the same to him, could add the sense that a cycle of intergenerational trauma and parents putting their wants for their children over what their children want is broken when the heroes finally mend their familial relationship. The heroes wouldn’t just triumph over themselves at their worst and also some villains, they’d triumph over a villain who ties into the theme and the lesson they’ve learned about themselves and familial love. Love or a lack of it might even tie into his downfall in some way instead of using a dangerous weapon he wasn’t strong enough to handle. The villain lacking the skill to use dangerous weapons wasn’t part of the story’s theme. What if the villain forced his own son or daughter Gretchen’s age to use that cursed blade despite the pain and harm it inflicts on its wielder (or insufficiently powerful wielders like him), dooming him from the moment he was coerced into unsheathing it, and then after harming Becker, chooses to slay his own father while dying so they can have a heart-to-heart in their dying moments? The lack of familial love could doom the villain directly, while the familial love between Becker and Gretchen motivates her to save him and get him saved.
I hope I’m not overstepping any boundaries by saying this. Storge is still the best Fire Emblem game I’ve played, and I still love the story as it is.
apologies if this is rambly lol im tired as fuck but didnt wanna forget to post
this is overlooking some stuff and just taking the base thing. the big bads ego mainly shot it all in the foot, with the downfall starting in 4 where his unwillingness to even consider the idea a merchant could’ve happened to be on a semi-reasonable route to a place and handled what was thrown.
where he then lost both a big chunk of the cult, and his main collaborator who had reasonable sway over things as a high ranking leader. before then doubling down again, and shutting out the novala-copy who clearly hadn’t finished what he was saying about the evil ass shadow sword. ignoring the idea he could be at fault for making poor choices in handling becker and instead just blaming him for it all going wrong.
his downfall is an extreme mirror of beckers flaw, its ego and an unwillingness to believe others could ever be as right or as correct and accurate as he is for even a single moment. to the point that he is the main cause for things going as poor as they do, just like how becker only exacerbated problems he created (like giving his daughter too much work, then doubling it up to “fix it”) until it reached a breaking point that made things worse for him. (heck you can argue semantics too and say that the villains ego exemplifies that he loves just himself to a point where he cannot fathom anyone else bein right if you wanna go that way, idk though im spitballin a lil :p)
tl;dr yeah i think the villain coulda possibly used bit more connection to the core but also talking about it this way over-simplifies the big bads downfall as just being “he wasnt good enough with swords” is a lil unfair to what is there
You’re right, sorry for overlooking the genius way ego was the villain’s downfall just because it didn’t involve familial love. I tunnel-visioned myself into missing that.
