By Tokyo Mirage Sessions, the Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover that first debuted on the Wii U, got a re-release on the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately it released to less than stellar sales, most likely because Nintendo used the heavily censored western version for the game’s base. It’s quite the shame, as even with the censorship, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (That’s a mouthful) was still an incredible experience for me.
Despite being a huge fan of both series, I skipped TMS when it first released on the Wii U. “Why?” I hear you ask. My family already thinks I’m incredibly weird, the last thing I needed was them seeing me play a colorful game based on Japanese idol culture and all things kawaii. So even though I hate that it’s the censored version, I was incredibly excited for the re-release and picked it up as soon I got the chance. And oh man was I not disappointed. In fact, the game inspired me so much, here’s an on the fly mini review.
Unapologetically Japanese
As I mentioned, Tokyo Mirage Sessions revolves around Japanese idol culture. The main character, Itsuki Aoi, isn’t an idol himself, but all his famous friends keep him around because he caters to their every whim. Oh, and they all have a crush on him, even the male characters.
As you can imagine, being surrounded by Japanese, ghost-busting celebrities makes for an over the top concept. The game is bright, poppy, cute, and sometimes strange. But it’s incredible just how well all of it works. The music and choreography is spectacular! I should just fill this review with a bunch of the in-game music videos, but I won’t, as much as I want to. Ok, just one.
Oh, you want an encore?
You can tell that Atlus really went all out here. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that these characters are actual Japanese pop stars. And I’m not just saying that because I have a crush on Kiria Kurono. See? I’m in an actual love triangle with anime characters. This game is a gateway drug.
Now where does the Shin Megami Tensei/Fire Emblem part come in?
The Gameplay
Fire Emblem is really only in the game spiritually, no pun intended. Tokyo Mirage Sessions plays almost entirely as a Shin Megami Tensei game, but instead of demons, the “mirages” that fight alongside you are the spirits of Fire Emblem characters. And only loosely at that, if you told me the guy below was Chrom from Fire Emblem Awakening, I would’ve never believed you. But this is his mirage.
Chrom and his fellow Fire Emblem mirage buddies team up with Itsuki and his good looking entourage to fight evil mirages that are stealing the energy, or “performa” from the people of Tokyo. In this sense, the game thematically feels a lot more like a Persona game, but that’s not a bad thing. You’ll spend your time between Tokyo and the mirage world, where you’ll be solving puzzles and fighting mirages. The puzzles were surprisingly well done. Some of them were a little tedious, but I never felt annoyed while exploring the dungeons.
The gameplay is pretty standard RPG stuff, there’s nothing really groundbreaking, but it does have a good foundation. Itsuki and two others among interchangeable members will make up the party for combat. Hit an enemy with a super effective attack and you’ll start a session, where even members not currently in your party can join in on a group attack. They also implemented Fire Emblem’s signature weapon triangle to the combat, making Tokyo Mirage Sessions more of a Fire Emblem game than Fire Emblem Echoes, but I digress.
One of the coolest things about Tokyo Mirage Sessions’ combat though, is the ad lib system. As you progress through the story and complete side quests, your team will learn cool performances that trigger during sessions. These performances are a special attack, usually involving a song from the game’s great soundtrack, and are especially effective at disrupting the enemies.
The cutscenes that occur are entirely skippable too, but why would you do that? They are incredibly fun to watch.
As for the story, it’s pretty dumb. It’s not a plot that I feel a lot of thought was put into. While it could be better, the story is easily carried by its fun characters, and great presentation. And I can’t stress just how great that presentation is.
Final Act
Honestly, it’s a complete shame Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is based on the censored version. I can understand why the sales are lower than expected, if they were gonna bother to re-release it, they could’ve at least done it with the version westerners haven’t gotten yet. At least they threw in some extra content in there. The song “She is” is actually new to the Switch version, amongst other things. Oh, and TMSE also comes with most of the DLC released on the Wii U version. I say most, because they skipped out on the Hot Springs DLC, which I’m sure will anger some people even more. I’d be lying though if I said that the censorship negatively affected my time with the game. As a first time player, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I can see myself playing the game again in the future for a second run.
All in all, if you can look past Nintendo’s disappointing and often confusing choices as a publisher, then Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a great game to pick up.
Now all that’s left for me to do is hope that the soundtrack gets a western release. Nintendo recently released some key tracks from Super Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem Three Houses. So here’s hoping.
