The game follows a young mercenary called Ike as he grows from the weak son of a mercenary leader through to a mercenary leader himself. For those unfamiliar with the series, the game plays like a game of chess. The area that you are currently fighting through is divided into squares and each character can only move a predetermined amount of squares each. Once you have finished moving all of your characters, it becomes the opponent's turn.

Unlike chess, however, a lot more strategy is needed on completing each level. Instead of just moving your piece onto an enemy square and securing that place, it all comes down to how many hit points you have, what kind of weapon you have and what kind of enemy you are fighting against. Each character - and subsequently every weapon - has its own advantages and disadvantages against opposing characters (and weapons). While an axe may prove successful against a character with a staff, a character with a sword will be more likely to inflict damage against you. A bow might be good to take down airborne characters or to attack from a distance, but up close and personal you can't help but take damage.

The battle system is fairly easy to navigate, made even easier by the tutorials that pop up each time something new becomes available to you. Select your character, move him to an adjacent square and select attack. Depending on the skills your player has, the weapon he is equipped with, and the character type of the enemy you are attacking the outcome of the battle will always vary. Fire Emblem is as turn based as you can get it, you have no choice of what kind of attack your character will pull off or when he will defend or not, but you can normally guage his win based on what level your character is up to - and it is essential to level up your characters. Thankfully, this is all done automatically and is based on how much damage you deliver per battle.