So it's awesome to both my wife and I that Port of Badon is your top pick. It's one of our favorite chapters, and just last night we both started a silly arena grind on this level. But yeah, the fight with the pirates is the best. I handled them last night by baiting them all to the bottom left, and killed them in the hallway between villages. It was excellent. Highlight of the fight was when the black fang showed up on turn 2(? could be 3.) The paladin arrived on the map, made a big threat, ran at Lyn and explained calmly to her that she was going to die. She then dodged his attack and one shot him with a Mani Katti crit. The sheer disrespect was amazing.
I gotta say, killing Gheb is a great reason to put Fort Rigwald so high up. In this one chapter alone, he probably has the most amount of war crimes committed (deploying a child soldier, outrage of dignity, 3 counts of chemical weapons, probably some other stuff) of any non-major boss.
23:00 THANK YOU. That mistranslation is the worst mistranslation of any line out of any video game. Out of all lines they had to mistranslate that one. I wonder is this made people not understand Nergal's intentions.
It's so frustrating that the main villain has a dope backstory and character, but the storytelling of the game sucks ass so you never find out any of it 😅
something that makes the mistranslation interesting is that in japanese, he says ae...ir in a way that's phonetically ambiguous (between aenir and aegir) but graphically unambiguous (it is written in the way they write aenir). so it's exactly the type of thing that would fall through the cracks, but still an unfortunate mistake.
@@BadAtFireEmblem yeah there's a blog post about it called _FE7 Blazing Blade - Nergal’s Subtle Tragedy (and its translation error) [JPN vs ENG]_ that goes into excruciating detail. The long and short of it is that Aenir is written as エイナール while Aegir (quintessence) is written as エーギル. The famous line has Nergal say ･･･エイ・・・・・・ル･･･？ which sounds exactly like how you would write ..Ae……r…? with the first consonant missing. The reason we know he was trying to say Aenir is because Aenir begins with エイ while Aegir begins with エー. The kicker is that エイ and エー both sound exactly the same!
Great video! Off the top of my head, I really like Hamill Canyon from Sacred Stones for being an initially pretty tame defense/kill boss map but quickly escalates if you hold off to get Cormag and don't finish the map fast enough before Pablo shows up
Battle Before Dawn is pretty terrible even in non-ironman runs, but that's coming from someone who absolutely hates resetting. I'd happily just continue without Jaffar and/or Nino, but the fact that you can GAME OVER at no fault of your own is just, the worst. The absolute pits. No bueno
I'd trade Kinship's Bond for Cog of Destiny. CoD was the first chapter that I've truly got the feeling that I was fighting a real war, with very big armies facing against each other. It's the same with Victory or Death, but CoD has a more charming side to it, as if memory serves, is the last chapter in which you face "real" enemies, instead of only Nergal morphs
I fully understand, but there is a bone in my body that personally hates Slog of destiny on HHM. So much magical units that doesn't feel like members as blackfang. Status staffs everywhere and the reinforcement zones are very punishing. Killed several ironman runs. Feels like I need to turtle this map for an hour. More like Kaga destiny because no fun.
@@lspuria8440Slog of Destiny haha. The horrors of that map. The days when emulation and fast forward/save states did not exist yet. That map made me rage quit on my first playthrough. There's too many damn reinforcements, I did not train any healers except Priscilla and my mages are basically gone or basically any squishy units I got. The only ones who gave a decent fight were an EXP Sponge Marcus, Hawkeye, Karel and Hector. I shit you not, I did not know how to recruit enemy units back in the day. The Augury is too vague for me. So goodbye Jaffar, Raven, Harken, Guy, etc. Finished the game when I learned how to actually read the convos and train my units.
@@BadAtFireEmblem their opinions only solidify mine, at least to me. It's a chapter that's supposed to feel like an actual war, not a clean sweep. Although I agree that the choice of enemies on HHM is weird, but my opinion stands true for first playthroughs. Ooooh and I remembered another map that I really loved: Day Breaks (Ch17) from PoR. Being split into 4 parts each with it's own objective, receiving your own reinforcements before each part, that map is a blast!
Valkyre of destiny in HHM is designed to beat Hector, you get all pumped up with his high def stats and high strength where all the pegasus knights get cut like a hot knife through butter and you get hit with purge+Bolting+Valkyrex2+Berserk... And if you aren't dead and the berserk staff user missed, then you are put down to sleep... I'm doing an hector hard mode solo run, and the map is something more than a mild inconvenience 😅
Love these chapters for sure, but Rath is giving his big intro in Lyn Mode, that was enough for me to be ready to get my own Uhai unit. He's solid every time, especially promoted
You, sir, have nice tastes. Battle Before Dawn, Cog of Destiny, Light and Victory or Death strike me as the nice maps for Fe7/ Father and Son, River of Regrets and Last Hope are my picks for Fe8. Also special mention to Renault, my favorite character of the entire franchise, whose entire existence seems dedicated to lore as he reveals much of the struggles of characters he has supports with, but also Nergal! The support between Isadora and Renault is truly amazing.
I love Port of Badon too, it's at that sweet spot when your units are still pretty weak and untrained, so they're not powerhouses, but they're also already getting better and able to double enemies no problem. I love that Dart appears here, even if you recruit him later, as he's one of my favourite units, and overall it is really fun!
Good list but I cannot agree with the high praise for Hero of the Western Isles. I like that it has multiple objectives but you don't have a fair chance of completing them unless you've played the map before. On my blind ironman run, I tried to recruit Thea with Shanna, but that only turns her into a green unit so she suicide-charged into the boss. The soldiers that spawn with Klein are similarly disinclined to living so you really have no chance of saving them unless you know exactly when and where they are going to appear. I'm sure it's a good map on repeat playthroughs but I feel that a top 3 map should meet the criteria of being good both on first and repeat playthroughs. The best map missing from this list is Last Hope, one of the most fun/challenging defense maps in the GBA trilogy.
That's fair For me personally I feel like you only play a map for the first time once, but you can replay it unlimited times so that outweighs. But if you're into blind ironmans then that's a different kind of pain 🤣
Cog of Destiny in fe7 is my favorite gba map overall. Splitting up your team into 4 parts to do an all out assault with 3 while keeping a small team for the reinforcements that spawn at the starting point is a great way to keep you on your toes.
Good video, definitely some idiosyncratic choices (especially all the defense/fog maps). Some of my personal picks from each game: FE6: You mentioned both Rescue Mission and Hero of the Western Isles and I cannot disagree. Excellent choices. I think FE6 has the weakest maps of all the GBA games, I'm not a fan of either Ilia or Sacae. FE7: Dragon's Gate is probably my favorite map in the GBA games. Genesis is a potentially odd inclusion but it's a great challenge imo. I also enjoy the war of attrition, deluge of black fang troops in Cog of Destiny. FE8: Of all the GBA games I think FE8 has the best overall map design (it even has a good desert map). Father and Son is excellent and so is Hamill Canyon. Some of the Lagdou Ruins maps are also a lot of fun.
One thing to add about Light's dragon fight It's both simple and complex at the same time Let me explain What I've done every time is have the lords and anyone else who can do damage fight it while Athos heals with Fortify. However, even though I've trivialized it, it still gets my heart pumping (for reference, I've beaten the game four times, so it's not a new thing for me)
I've noticed that quite a bit of them are defense chapters, which makes sense, I love them very much. My fav gba map is probably Genesis because I am a masochist
You just gained a subscriber. I feel you on your thoughts about each and every map. I remember sucking at fire emblem as a kid, being so stubborn to restart even though my marcus had died so I was stuck with isadora, sain, oswin, pent, louise and my low level lords, even with those units I managed to complete battle before dawn with jaffar and nino recruited only to die repeatedly in cog of destiny and finally thinking that it was impossible. Those were better times 😢
My favorite chapters of my favorite FE are 17a through 20 of Thracia 776. 17a has a ton of stuff going on, Houses being threatened by bandits, two recruitable characters, Four different enemy armies and an event where all the enemies get mega buffed and the center turns into a defend map. Then there's ballistas defending the Boss. 18 has your army split with the right side gathering loot and the left side trying to do the craziest FE recruitment ever. 19 has half your army stranded and chased by really strong enemies with extra Mov, but you can Recruit half of the starting enemies and they turn green to cover your escape. 20 is a Huge defend map with your army split up, like individually split up around a castle as waves of enemies advance from the south.
Based picks. I don't think I would put Badon or the same defend maps on mine, but I do very much respect them. Here's my quick list from just FE7-8 (I still haven't played past chapter 10-11 of FE6): 10: Battle Before Dawn 9: Talons Alight 8: Victims of War 7: Cog of Destiny 6: Phantom Ship 5: Sacred Stone (best BGM) 4: Turning Traitor 3: Distant Blade 2: Hamill Canyon 1: Light (realistically more like #5 but it's a megaman boss rush, what do you want from me) (Honorable Mentions: Kinship's Bond, Revolt at Carcino, Pirate Ship, Two Faces of Evil, Genesis)
Probably my favourite GBA FE map is Cog of Destiny. It is a long slog, but I love dividing my team up into different teams to handle the many forces, and they spawn when you pass major thresholds so you have to advance carefully. HHM does make it very annoying though thanks to the magic based enemies, but a map I really enjoyed.
FE 7 HHM Chapter 20 Dragons Gate is my favorite map. What's special about it is that every single tile of this map has its uses, including the four corners where enemy reinforcement or secret shop is placed. The more times I play it, the more I admire how insanely efficient the map design is. It's not as large as like FE6 heroine of western isles but it also requires players to rush so that they can recruit Legault and steal the members card in time. Admittedly, there seem to be multiple pathways to reach Legault on the map but I think only one is feasible and that requires your stronger units to cut a bloody path through hordes of enemy nomads and cavs in very narrow corridors. HHM is infamous for swarming maps with a daunting number of enemies while allowing players to only dispatch a tiny squd. While some unsuccessful maps like Crazed Beast do seem very tedious to play with its underwhelming power level of the enemy hordes and repetitive never-ending reinforcements, Dragon's Gate is exactly the opposite. There is really no time to linger, even one turn not efficiently played might get you punished and force you to choose between Legault and the member card. It is because the thief carrying the card gets ahead of Legault and could very easily block your way and you should not just clean him if you want the card. All in all, Dragon's Gate really gives players a surge of adrenalin when cutting down so many enemies on the way and a sense of satisfaction when finally being able to have your lords talk to Legault the Hurricane.
One of the best moments of early FE days was finding the Port of Badon mission without looking up spoilers to get to Gaiden chapters like I do from now on. For anyone that beat the game (I didn't) without knowing about this mission and getting it on our second run we get a dedicated dark magic user who has a really cool story and some awesome supports. But everything surrounding him is not the map itself. This map is probably the best one to replay specifically to get any player ready for the rest of the game. You can take it easy and then arena grind because you are scared to play the rest of the game or you can try to fight the rest of the pirates and learn how scary the rest of the game can be considering they have killer weapons. It's so easy to remember many different runs of this map, including one of my first times taking out the rest of the pirates started with my Erk barely surviving the Killer Bow archer which reminded me that the only reason he survived was because I gave him the Angelic Robe from Lyn Mode in that run specifically. Now I just need to beat FE6, considering the furthest I've ever gotten is the gaiden after the desert map which I just stalled out on and then changed my laptop and didn't send my save file to the next one.
Love the list, watching it I was thinking about light and port of badon the whole time as my favorites wondering if they were going to be on the list, I would probably put light #1 and port #2 personally but great vid
I really like Port of Badon as well. I love bringing some of my weaker units & challenging myself to get all that juicy experience from the high level enemies. They just had to give that archer a killer bow….
Port of Badon can unfortunately be cheesed, which does kinda put a damper on actually going against the tide of enemies in the center as you can bait them one at a time in between the red house and the Vendor shop. My favorite GBA map from each game is probably like this: FE6: Hero of the Western Isles or Ghost of Bern FE7: Dragon's Gate, Four Fanged Offense (Linus), or Cog of Destiny (Eliwood Mode) FE8: I don't remember the chapter name, but it was the one where you have to fight both Caellach and Valter on the same map outside Jehanna Castle.
You put Battle Before Dawn. I like you. I'm really fond of this map in spite of Zephiel and Jaffar sometimes being idiots - it's dark, it's tense, there's awesome loot and you just have to keep the pressure on.
Love the amount of screen time Raven got through the video. Edit: my favorite GBA map is probably Last Hope from Sacred Stones for a lot of the same reasons you listed on all the defense maps you listed.
Port of Badon is peak. Definitely the most memorable GBAFE map imo. The scenario is pretty funny and there were multiple ways of going about it. I also felt like it was a fun filler map to grind EXP for. Most other FE would just give you bandits and call it a day.
Pretty nice list , ive never thought about my favourite list tbh, but id say something like the kishuna maps probably as they are rather unique. I personally do not like the ghostship, however i do not dislike it for being hard, but rather for being cheap. Fog of war, tons of physical and magical flyers is rough, not too much, but rough.The amount of units on the middle ship is a lot too, but managable. But with the timelimit from La princess it becomes just stupid. If you are not using seth or duessel to carry you, it becomes actually hard to complete fast. Place units on chockepoints, if they oneround the enemies they will probably take too much damage during enemyphase and die, if they dont oneround you are likely to be too slow. All that while there are flying reinforcements. Idk to me it feels cheap and like you dont have alot of options to deal with everything. Great Video and the reason why the "Best GBA Maps" won is probably because fe-tubers like to talk about bad stuff more than good stuff so this has been a refresher.
I actually do like the map where kishuna nullifies magic despite being a mage fan that uses most early mages, because you still can run them and working around that zone is fun, the only problem is that defeating Kishuna is too RNG reliant
My top 5 per game is probably... FE6 * 1: Arcadia * 2: Hero of the Western Isles * 3: Neverending Dream * 4: Retaking the Capital * 5: Rebellion of Ostia FE7 * 1: Light (part 1) * 2: Port of Badon * 3: Dragon's Gate * 4: Battle Before Dawn * 5: Whereabouts Unknown FE8 * 1: Father and Son * 2: Two Faces of Evil * 3: Victims of War * 4: Ghost Ship * 5: Ruled by Madness Bonus round (ROMhacks) * The Last Promise: Chapter 26 (The Battle of Kin) for being an lite sized version of an FE4 map (including things like the tileset changing to represent time passing) * Crimson Arm: Chapter 19 (Unseen Danger) the BGM remix of "to the sorrowful battlefield" from Super Robot Wars 64 is good and I like the objective of chasing the boss before he escapes as well as the cutscene after where a minor party member gives a bit of details to the antagonist. * Dark Lord and the Maiden of Light: The Ahribaal route (20, 21 and 21x) and Chapter 23 (all three parts) give some good lore to the story concerning the dark mage cult, the manakete tribes/worshipers and the dark one himself. I'd say Chapter 21x and Chapter 23-2 are one of the most unique chapters in the game. * Shackled Power: 19x is a much needed breather chapter after the emotional storm that is Chapter 18 and 19, but for a real chapter example then Chapter 14. You deal with one of the antagonist's generals, you learn about a couple more bandit gang leaders and get introduced to the Sentry Force who are composed of countries the antagonist's husband captured. They don't like your country either, but they help you out since it starts their subplot of freeing themselves. Also you get to hear "TMNT Act 2 S3" which is one of the best songs in the game. * Souls of the Forest: Chapter 8 for its remix of "Chapel Hidden in the Smoke" from Castlevania Order of Ecclesia along with being an escape chapter (you also recruit Troy the meme brigand unit)
Great list. Kinship's bond is one of my favorites too. I want to give a personal shoutout to 6 chapters that likely make my top 10: Fe6 ch.7 The Rebellion of Ostia: a chapter where you can really feel the rebellion and its a very demanding chapter, but it has houses to visit and units to recruit. It's chaotic nature and challenge is something I can't get enough of. My Top 5 for sure. Fe6 ch.22 The never ending dream: A very climatic showdown between Zephiel and Roy. You know how rescue mission has two bridges but you usually just ball of death the bottom one? This map is a better execution of actually splitting your army to complete objectives. Fe6 ch.24 truth of legend: I just love playing this map. It's pretty easy, but it's a great victory lap as you crush the manaketes with the legendary weapons while slowly unlocking some lore as you step closer to victory. Fe7 ch.17/18 Pirate ship: another cool defense map that makes you push for a promotion item. Fe7 ch.19/20 Dragon's Gate: One of my personal favorites. You have to be quick for Legault, there is two paths you can move your units, and there are two bosses! This one really keeps you on your toes and its not bs like Battle Before Dawn on HHM. Fe8 ch.15 scorched sand: Favorite map in sacred stones. This map has a lot going on without being overwhelming and you get to fight Calleach and Valter in the same chapter? Yes please, their battle dialogue is amazing. Shoutout to anyone that actually read this. Thank you :)
Yessss hero of the Western Isles The first time I played it, i absolutely loved it, and I think it may be my favorite map in the entire series now, certainly my favorite Seize map at the minimum. (Having played 1/6/7/8/11/12/3H) I will however note that the map on the other side of the route split in the western isles is almost as good as Hero, and while you can only do one per playthrough, you'll always get a great map on either route.
Glad to see the "Echidna map". What an absolute banger of a map, and how challenging it really is to pursue every objective, and all of them being nice motivation to rush everywhere at the same time. PS. 7:47 I know when someone kissed their screen or something.
Nice list, actually really close to what I'd have for a GBA FE list, especially love what you said about "Light" and endgame chapters in general, i think the only missing map I'd for sure want in my top 10 is FE6 Chapter 7:Rebellion of Ostia, i love how this map forces you to engage quickly if you want to save the green units and the reinforcements flank from the south makes positioning really awkward for your weaker units and just makes this map kind of chaotic but in a really fun way, i also really like how it's the first time you fight Bern"s wyvern riders and they are incredibly powerful (especially on hard) which i think is thematically very cool!
I like most of the maps you picked. I'd have put Hero of the Western Isles at number one and I'd have put Distant Blade on there too somewhere. And since hard maps are fun, Rebellion at Ostia deserves a spot too.
I agree 100% that Light in FE7 is an amazing map. In an enemy phase heavy game this is a very player phase chapter where sword & bow users are actually great. The 1st time I played HHM and saw Uhai had 27 speed and couldn’t be doubled without a brave weapon, I was actually kind of intimidated. Also love how this chapter actually makes use of Lloyd & Linus’s A support. Personally I refuse to use Athos on this map. Not even for staffs.
11:20 I just played Sacred Stones for the first time a few months ago and Phantom Ship stood out as the only genuinely hard map to me. I was super ready to reset but somehow first tried it because Joshua dodged two 50s in a row :D
I think FE8 Last Hope is one of the best maps ever. The amount of enemies-and not just enemies but promoted units with really good weapons like brave weapons-they throw at you is crazy. It really feels like a full scale assault and you're trying your hardest to survive as wave after wave of enemy reinforcements just keep coming. You can easily hit the unit cap on that map.
17x is probably my favorite FE7 map, but i have to give a shoutout to chapter 20 which is probably the best designed map in that game and right up there as one of my favorites.
Can't agree with Kinship's Bond, mainly because in EHM the boss sits right down in the middle and makes it impossible to hold the natural choke point. Screw that noise. Love the shout-out to Occupation's Shadow! Two of my favorites that didn't make the list are FE7 27 Cog of Destiny and FE8 10B Turning Traitor. Cog is a great late-game chapter where you're faced with hordes of enemies and optional items objectives, but you can modulate their numbers and pathing by how choose to advance. Turning Traitor is somewhat straightforward but has a lot of side objectives and a tight turn limit if you want to recruit Cormag, grab the items, and still kill the boss.
Fantastic list. Glad to see BBD and Hero of the Western Isles get their just do. I only really disagree with Phantom Ship, it’s awful. I’d probably replace it with HHM Cog of Destiny. Got softlocked as a kid because my units had zero resistance. Solid list though
Regarding the final map pick, Fargas is just such an absurd character, statistically. Iirc in Eliwood hard mode he has 85 hp putting him just in that “unknown” hp range. Actually trying to fight them initiates a game over obviously but it’s still a sight to behold a non final boss character with that flashing hp bar. Always wanted to recruit them into my army as a kid.
Not really my favorite but the memory stuck with me. Last Hope from FE8. I'm not a really good fire emblem player, so I kinda struggled on this one and I'm not sure if it was easy for others (also, I make a lot of niche decisions just because it's either cooler or because I've done the better promotions before) I lost over and over again on this dark castle. I felt genuinely overwhelmed and I didn't want to lose a single unit because I wanted to see everyone's endings at the time. Eventually, I hatched a plan. My best fighting pair was Joshua and Artur (A support) and I could just teleport them to the boss, Riev. Interceptions from a few enemies and a bit of panic made me misplace my units, and I was out of time to spend a turn on repositioning them. Moulder ended up placing Artur in the MIDDLE of many units and Joshua could not one-round Riev even with 1 crit, iirc. And my imagination kicks in, Ephraim at the entrance just shouts for everyone to blitzkrieg. The Renais siblings start off with clearing the entrance and the rest followed, creating a single-file line for Myrrh to swoop in and decimate one of the units trapping Artur. Artur deals enough damage to Riev for Joshua to end it with two hits, the final hit being a crit to add flare to the adrenaline I was feeling
14:10 I feel so called out. Oswin is one of my favorite units. He absolutely gets the Boots. Every. Time. I just love the General class, though, and he's the only one in the game. I'm even one of those crazy people who trains Amelia as a General in FE8 postgame. Wallace? Who's Wallace? I have no clue what you're talking about. Edit: Light in the #2 spot is fantastic. The Fangs returning and being even more terrifying is outstanding. They're the real sympathetic "villains" of FE7. Come, friends, this should not be. I'll usher you to your rest, then I have a monster to slay. I disagree on Nergal being so sympathetic though. The stuff he did after losing his memory was *monstrous*. It really solidifies one of my favorite parts of Elibe; the way dark magic works. Don't do it, don't use it. Bramimond is the /good/ outcome, and you're not Bramimond.
I love the OG black fang characters so much, they're the absolute best. I wanted to make a short prequel hack for the earlier days of the black fang but it would've been wayyyy too much work 😅
I’m surprised occupations shadow was on here. But now I’m struggling to even remember another Lyn campaign map. I do remember as a kid getting Florina and letting her get one shot lmao
Glad to see Battle Before Dawn made the list, it's probably my favorite GBA era map and chapter! I definitely think a lot of the flak it gets is deserved for sure, but overall I think it's still a really fun map to play and the elements that it does get right it does extremely well. That being said, I HATE the stupid fucking egg chapter in FE8, and I can't for the life of me fathom why it gets so much praise. Maybe it's just because it's so different, but I find a lot of it's design elements to be extremely at odds. The map feels like a damned if you do damned if you don't situation to me, and it's extremely annoying - The map wants to you blitz the eggs, but then makes it a PAIN IN THE FUCKING ASS to blitz the eggs by putting hazards and narrow chokepoints all over the map, so you'll likely not be using your movement as efficiently as possible to rush the eggs because you don't want your units to get hit by fire geysers, or they'll get stuck filing in a line through the choke points. Maps like these also favor fliers even MORE than they're already favored, which is pretty unnecessary. Then, when the eggs DO hatch, you get to deal with the fun mechanic of PETRIFY, which is basically just annoying fucking status staves with a different coat of paint, and I can't fucking stand status staves. It's cool that the eggs are worth good EXP and are at least properly incentivizing to the player, but ultimately it just becomes more annoying to me than fun. It becomes this game of trying to kill as many eggs as possible so I don't have to deal with the toxic design elements of petrify, but you can *never* actually make it to all the eggs in time to fully prevent dealing with it. I think I would like the chapter MORE if what hatched from the eggs wasn't a petrify spamming asshole, and instead was just a more typical threatening monster like the big lion monster boys, or promoted spiders or gargoyles with threatening weapons or stats. Basically, fuck petrify is what I'm trying to say.
Yeah i like battle before dawn, I only think its bad in an ironman scenario Haha I can tell you've got some pent up resentment for eggs there 😅 I think it's very creative so it gets props for that. I think the idea is you're incentivised to push forward but you get punished if you overextend? It's not a perfect chapter, I think it's just a bit unique. As a note, I think you can check inventory on the eggs before they hatch to prioritise the ones with stone and kill them early, and you can longbows and brave weapons to kill them without counter, so there's other workarounds besides relying on dodging or restore spamming
@@BadAtFireEmblem they definitely left me feeling some type of way lmfao, I can't even have breakfast anymore because it reminds me of eggs...🤣I also tend to swear like a sailor when I express myself about things I'm passionate about though, so my comment probably comes off a bit more harsh than I actually am towards the map, I've played through FE8 plenty of times and it's usually not THAT bad to get through for me. I didn't actually know that about the inventory thing, so that's a skill issue on my part 😂but you're out of your mind if you think I'm using a GBA archer LOL. Good video either way, mate. Happy to help boost the engagement with yap session ass comments lmao
Funnily enough I disagree with most picks but Port of Badon and Light are really good IMO. Some of the maps on the list are such a slog, like Rescue Mission or Carcino. Oh, and Battle Before Dawn got not one, not three, but two whoisthisgit's worst levels ever videos, I gotta say that's saying something. Then again, my favourite might be The Elder Revelation because I really like its setting, even if it's kinda sloggy. Traps and fog really make you feel like you shouldn't be there. It reminds me of Valorous Roland, another banger. Oh, and flying over the pond to take a shortcut is another dope feature of the map. I really enjoy its difficulty as well. JK Battle Preparations is the actual best map don't @ me
"Klein is pretty unique in FE6 for being a prepromoted unit with very high growth rates compared to the traditional low growth rates that prepromotes normally possess." Yes. He takes after his father, the prepromote so preposterously busted his endgame stats are comparable to his game's same-class Est.
Funny thing, its actually more punishing to recruit percival early in hm of fe6, as he only gets hard mode bonuses in chapter 15 I love to recruit him early anyways since reaching him is a fun challenge When it comes to my favorite chapters, fe6 chapter 7 is probably my favorite map in the series, but a more surprising pick i would choose for a favorite is arcadia. It gets a really bad rep from many fe community members, but i find that hardcore fe6 fans tend to like arcadia quite a bit and actually tend to hate chapter 21, myself included. The game gives you a lot of tools up to this point to give you various ways to approach and handle the chapter, there are plenty of optional objectives, and it provides a reasonable challenge without dealing with rng like green units you need to keep alive.
I won't lie, #10 on this list is one of my two least favorite maps in the franchise (alongside Conquest Chapter 17). Fog + Bolting is not a fun combination for me; fog in general is not a fun mechanic.
I love Unfulfilled Heart from FE7. First Heaven Seal, finally getting our favorite green unit, Pent, as a playable character, and stores that sell C-rank weapons, which are especially useful in Hec-HEEEERE’S VAIDA!
@@BadAtFireEmblem damn, my bad, g. Radiant Dawn is easily the pinnacle of old school Fire Emblem for me, with some of the best map designs in the game thanks to the verticality they added (ledges go HARD) and a couple of other details, which Elincia's Gambit take whole advantage of. There's many opportunities for hit-and-tactics from fliers with canto, the possibility to slowly push forward in order to block specific choke points, and many items scattered to try and pick up with your units while trying to find an opening to beat the boss, with either your main force of fliers or the calvary reinforcements you get later in the map. I'd really recommend giving RD a try. It's not that hard to, ahem, *recreate* if you've got at least 8 of RAM in your PC, as it can be played using a GC controller or a keyboard mapped aa a GC controller
@@andreescalona8902 ah fair, sounds like a good map 😊 the GBA games unfortunately aren't the most creative (although some of the more "creative" gimmicks aren't exactly fun 😅)
My favorite is unironically Arcadia. Proceed to roast me as you will, but the only downside is Cecilia. It's only hard if you've never played an fe desert map or fe fog of war map
Okay, let's see, my favorite 10 maps in GBA games? Man, it's going to be tough since I haven't replayed 6 nearly as frequently as 7 and 8... 1. Cog of Destiny 2. The Neverending Dream 3. Victory Or Death 4. Light 5. The Berserker 6. Darkling Woods 7. Queen of White Dunes 8. Two Faces of Evil 9. The Value of Life 10. Ruled By Madness ...Yeah Binding Blade's high levels of bullshit and Sacred Stones' lack of epicness didn't serve either of them well.
Cabt wait to see Bow of winds feom fe6 on the top 10 worst kist whenever that comes! ...seriously who thought having the objective be rabdom and punishing you for guessing wrong was a good idea?
How dare you say that rath is pretty forgettable rath is my favourite unit because he can promote to nomad trooper which is my favourite class in the entire game 😐
Yeah but I won't do it for quite a while probably, so it was just seeing which one people wanted to see first. Maybe in a few months I'll do a follow up
Why not comment on my thoughts on the list? 10-Other than jaffar being fucking braindead and in jeopardy from turn 1, this map is actually brilliant, and i'd say is fantastically designed. Other than iron man players, i think most people just need to get gud 9-I usually dont enjoy defend maps, and i find this one to be particularly braindead on subsequent playthroughs, and you cant end it early by killing the boss which is annoying. i do find it to be an excellent introduction to defend maps, though. as for talons alight, it suffers the exact same issues, but i also just don't like the map design. actually i fucking hate this map it's not fun imo lol 8-unlike the other 2 early game defend maps, i actually also really like this one-i just find it to have far more interesting map design 7-this map is awesome not only because it's a rare good fe6 map design moment, but it's also just aesthetically awesome-it feels like you're actually fighting a war here 6-starting so close to the seize point is definitely a questionable design choice that always makes this map pretty quick for me, but i think it's interesting that you actually have to fight a battle on 2 fronts. for me, it's just decent, though. (on a side note i love Cecilia, but i absolutely get your point on first impressions) 5-I find this map easy because you get so much TORCH in fe8 that the fog of war is a non factor if you're putting effort into dealing with it. i don't fancy this map the most, but it's definitely one of the more interesting routs in fe8 4-i mean yeah literally who doesn't like this map 3- same as above-universally considered the best map in the gba games, featuring objectively fantastic design 2-this is just fe5's endgame but worse in every way, but since it's copying the best endgame in the series, it's also pretty good, naturally. tbh it isn't remotely challenging, but it provides a very satisfying end to the game, and allows everyone you deploy to shine, as well as an opportunity to use a truckload of OP fun weapons, and is just an overall great time. as fpr the story contentions, i really don't find the story of FE7 to be anything special, but this final chapter still manages to wrap everything up in a very satisfying way. the second part is pretty trash tho 1-it'd be unfair to critique your rational, but me personally i find this map forgettable lmao. most people just remember it as the CANAS map
Appreciate the in depth response It's a subjective topic so it's interesting to see people strong agree with some picks and strongly disagree with other lol I've never played fe5 so that makes me sad what you said haha, didn't know it was a copy 😅
@@BadAtFireEmblem it's not so much a copy of a map as it is the concept-both maps has a similar concept, but different execution and wildly different map design, so don't be sad about it. fe7's final map is still unique in its own way, it's just that it's clearly inspired by the final map of fe5. by the way, you should absolutely play fe5-even though it isn't exactly the most friendly to newer players, i think you like it since it has a lot of very unique and overpowered units, as well as some of the best map design in the series. you also said you like defend maps, right? this is the first FE with differing map objectives throughout the game, with defend maps also being introduced. the defend maps here are stellar, and i know that you would love them. i would play it blind if you enjoy the story in video games, as fe5 has a pretty good story. i would assume you haven't played fe4 yet either, but it really isn't at all necessary to play it before fe5 for story reasons (fe5 spoils some VERY minor things you won't even realise without knowledge of fe4's story), and i have the feeling you would NOT like the gameplay of FE4 lmao (it's only actually fun after the first playthrough anyways). i would go in completely blind, except for spoiler-free gaiden chapter unlocks (recruitment is mostly straight-forward). they are as follows: 2x-no villages are destroyed in chapter 2 4x-all green units escape 8x-capture the boss within 15 turns 12x-finish in under 20 turns 14x-visit 3 villages within the city 21x-i would have to spoil this map to tell you-just know if you unlock it, you'll know why 24x-a random one of the green units can open the door near the top of the map, and you need to get the chest behind this door. do NOT iron man it first playthrough, and make rotating saves. i would use the lil manster patch for the sake of your sanity. recruitment is far from straight forward, but all of the important characters are recruited by leif. oh yeah, and you can visit churches in this game uh, that's the end of my off-topic spiel. play fe5
Do you guys want to see more Top 10s on the channel?
Let me know
Now do the top 10 most hated!!
top 10 pictures of ur feet
do as many top 10s and you'd like, I'll watch all of them
I'd watch them if you enjoyed making them
top 10 feet pics
So it's awesome to both my wife and I that Port of Badon is your top pick. It's one of our favorite chapters, and just last night we both started a silly arena grind on this level. But yeah, the fight with the pirates is the best. I handled them last night by baiting them all to the bottom left, and killed them in the hallway between villages. It was excellent.
Highlight of the fight was when the black fang showed up on turn 2(? could be 3.) The paladin arrived on the map, made a big threat, ran at Lyn and explained calmly to her that she was going to die. She then dodged his attack and one shot him with a Mani Katti crit. The sheer disrespect was amazing.
That guy somehow always gets one rounded on my runs. He's such a pushover. sCrEaM iF yOu MuSt
Yo a married couple that both play FE? That's unheard of 🤣 awesome man
I gotta say, killing Gheb is a great reason to put Fort Rigwald so high up. In this one chapter alone, he probably has the most amount of war crimes committed (deploying a child soldier, outrage of dignity, 3 counts of chemical weapons, probably some other stuff) of any non-major boss.
fancy meting you here
"You're about to die. Scream if you must" is such a powerful line I can't believe they wasted it on exp fodder.
Truuuuuuue
23:00 THANK YOU. That mistranslation is the worst mistranslation of any line out of any video game. Out of all lines they had to mistranslate that one. I wonder is this made people not understand Nergal's intentions.
It's so frustrating that the main villain has a dope backstory and character, but the storytelling of the game sucks ass so you never find out any of it 😅
something that makes the mistranslation interesting is that in japanese, he says ae...ir in a way that's phonetically ambiguous (between aenir and aegir) but graphically unambiguous (it is written in the way they write aenir). so it's exactly the type of thing that would fall through the cracks, but still an unfortunate mistake.
@@Mullkaw that's even more interesting
@@BadAtFireEmblem yeah there's a blog post about it called _FE7 Blazing Blade - Nergal’s Subtle Tragedy (and its translation error) [JPN vs ENG]_ that goes into excruciating detail.
The long and short of it is that Aenir is written as エイナール while Aegir (quintessence) is written as エーギル. The famous line has Nergal say ･･･エイ・・・・・・ル･･･？ which sounds exactly like how you would write ..Ae……r…? with the first consonant missing. The reason we know he was trying to say Aenir is because Aenir begins with エイ while Aegir begins with エー. The kicker is that エイ and エー both sound exactly the same!
@@Mullkaw that's super interesting, I love that!
Your voice is just so easy to listen to
gay
Vay
He reminds me so much of another youtuber i can't remember and it drives me crazy
@@James-lw9ih reminds me of NeverKnowsBest
I'll take the compliment, thanks 😅
Great video!
Off the top of my head, I really like Hamill Canyon from Sacred Stones for being an initially pretty tame defense/kill boss map but quickly escalates if you hold off to get Cormag and don't finish the map fast enough before Pablo shows up
Hamill Canyon was very close to making my list
Port of Badon is a solid choice. Damien was such a prick, it's pretty satisfying defeating him, especially considering it's totally optional
Battle Before Dawn is pretty terrible even in non-ironman runs, but that's coming from someone who absolutely hates resetting. I'd happily just continue without Jaffar and/or Nino, but the fact that you can GAME OVER at no fault of your own is just, the worst. The absolute pits. No bueno
It's a great map or an awful map dependant on how you like to play the game lol. If I get round to a top 10 worst maps it'll be on there too 🤣
I'd trade Kinship's Bond for Cog of Destiny. CoD was the first chapter that I've truly got the feeling that I was fighting a real war, with very big armies facing against each other. It's the same with Victory or Death, but CoD has a more charming side to it, as if memory serves, is the last chapter in which you face "real" enemies, instead of only Nergal morphs
I fully understand, but there is a bone in my body that personally hates Slog of destiny on HHM. So much magical units that doesn't feel like members as blackfang. Status staffs everywhere and the reinforcement zones are very punishing. Killed several ironman runs. Feels like I need to turtle this map for an hour. More like Kaga destiny because no fun.
@@lspuria8440Slog of Destiny haha. The horrors of that map. The days when emulation and fast forward/save states did not exist yet.
That map made me rage quit on my first playthrough. There's too many damn reinforcements, I did not train any healers except Priscilla and my mages are basically gone or basically any squishy units I got. The only ones who gave a decent fight were an EXP Sponge Marcus, Hawkeye, Karel and Hector.
I shit you not, I did not know how to recruit enemy units back in the day. The Augury is too vague for me. So goodbye Jaffar, Raven, Harken, Guy, etc.
Finished the game when I learned how to actually read the convos and train my units.
Cog of Destiny is divisive it seems 😅
@@BadAtFireEmblem their opinions only solidify mine, at least to me. It's a chapter that's supposed to feel like an actual war, not a clean sweep.
Although I agree that the choice of enemies on HHM is weird, but my opinion stands true for first playthroughs.
Ooooh and I remembered another map that I really loved: Day Breaks (Ch17) from PoR. Being split into 4 parts each with it's own objective, receiving your own reinforcements before each part, that map is a blast!
Valkyre of destiny in HHM is designed to beat Hector, you get all pumped up with his high def stats and high strength where all the pegasus knights get cut like a hot knife through butter and you get hit with purge+Bolting+Valkyrex2+Berserk... And if you aren't dead and the berserk staff user missed, then you are put down to sleep...
I'm doing an hector hard mode solo run, and the map is something more than a mild inconvenience 😅
Love these chapters for sure, but Rath is giving his big intro in Lyn Mode, that was enough for me to be ready to get my own Uhai unit. He's solid every time, especially promoted
You, sir, have nice tastes. Battle Before Dawn, Cog of Destiny, Light and Victory or Death strike me as the nice maps for Fe7/ Father and Son, River of Regrets and Last Hope are my picks for Fe8.
Also special mention to Renault, my favorite character of the entire franchise, whose entire existence seems dedicated to lore as he reveals much of the struggles of characters he has supports with, but also Nergal! The support between Isadora and Renault is truly amazing.
I've never actually looked at Renault's supports 🤔
I love Port of Badon too, it's at that sweet spot when your units are still pretty weak and untrained, so they're not powerhouses, but they're also already getting better and able to double enemies no problem. I love that Dart appears here, even if you recruit him later, as he's one of my favourite units, and overall it is really fun!
Good list but I cannot agree with the high praise for Hero of the Western Isles. I like that it has multiple objectives but you don't have a fair chance of completing them unless you've played the map before. On my blind ironman run, I tried to recruit Thea with Shanna, but that only turns her into a green unit so she suicide-charged into the boss. The soldiers that spawn with Klein are similarly disinclined to living so you really have no chance of saving them unless you know exactly when and where they are going to appear. I'm sure it's a good map on repeat playthroughs but I feel that a top 3 map should meet the criteria of being good both on first and repeat playthroughs.
The best map missing from this list is Last Hope, one of the most fun/challenging defense maps in the GBA trilogy.
That's fair
For me personally I feel like you only play a map for the first time once, but you can replay it unlimited times so that outweighs. But if you're into blind ironmans then that's a different kind of pain 🤣
Cog of Destiny in fe7 is my favorite gba map overall. Splitting up your team into 4 parts to do an all out assault with 3 while keeping a small team for the reinforcements that spawn at the starting point is a great way to keep you on your toes.
Good video, definitely some idiosyncratic choices (especially all the defense/fog maps).
Some of my personal picks from each game:
FE6: You mentioned both Rescue Mission and Hero of the Western Isles and I cannot disagree. Excellent choices. I think FE6 has the weakest maps of all the GBA games, I'm not a fan of either Ilia or Sacae.
FE7: Dragon's Gate is probably my favorite map in the GBA games. Genesis is a potentially odd inclusion but it's a great challenge imo. I also enjoy the war of attrition, deluge of black fang troops in Cog of Destiny.
FE8: Of all the GBA games I think FE8 has the best overall map design (it even has a good desert map). Father and Son is excellent and so is Hamill Canyon. Some of the Lagdou Ruins maps are also a lot of fun.
One thing to add about Light's dragon fight
It's both simple and complex at the same time
Let me explain
What I've done every time is have the lords and anyone else who can do damage fight it while Athos heals with Fortify.
However, even though I've trivialized it, it still gets my heart pumping (for reference, I've beaten the game four times, so it's not a new thing for me)
I've noticed that quite a bit of them are defense chapters, which makes sense, I love them very much.
My fav gba map is probably Genesis because I am a masochist
Hannako finally admits to being a masochist.
Yish, that's a hot take 😅
You just gained a subscriber. I feel you on your thoughts about each and every map. I remember sucking at fire emblem as a kid, being so stubborn to restart even though my marcus had died so I was stuck with isadora, sain, oswin, pent, louise and my low level lords, even with those units I managed to complete battle before dawn with jaffar and nino recruited only to die repeatedly in cog of destiny and finally thinking that it was impossible. Those were better times 😢
My favorite chapters of my favorite FE are 17a through 20 of Thracia 776.
17a has a ton of stuff going on, Houses being threatened by bandits, two recruitable characters, Four different enemy armies and an event where all the enemies get mega buffed and the center turns into a defend map. Then there's ballistas defending the Boss.
18 has your army split with the right side gathering loot and the left side trying to do the craziest FE recruitment ever.
19 has half your army stranded and chased by really strong enemies with extra Mov, but you can Recruit half of the starting enemies and they turn green to cover your escape.
20 is a Huge defend map with your army split up, like individually split up around a castle as waves of enemies advance from the south.
Based picks. I don't think I would put Badon or the same defend maps on mine, but I do very much respect them.
Here's my quick list from just FE7-8 (I still haven't played past chapter 10-11 of FE6):
10: Battle Before Dawn
9: Talons Alight
8: Victims of War
7: Cog of Destiny
6: Phantom Ship
5: Sacred Stone (best BGM)
4: Turning Traitor
3: Distant Blade
2: Hamill Canyon
1: Light (realistically more like #5 but it's a megaman boss rush, what do you want from me)
(Honorable Mentions: Kinship's Bond, Revolt at Carcino, Pirate Ship, Two Faces of Evil, Genesis)
Cool list, thanks for sharing it 🙂
Hamill Canyon was very close to being in my top 10 tbh
Probably my favourite GBA FE map is Cog of Destiny. It is a long slog, but I love dividing my team up into different teams to handle the many forces, and they spawn when you pass major thresholds so you have to advance carefully. HHM does make it very annoying though thanks to the magic based enemies, but a map I really enjoyed.
FE 7 HHM Chapter 20 Dragons Gate is my favorite map. What's special about it is that every single tile of this map has its uses, including the four corners where enemy reinforcement or secret shop is placed. The more times I play it, the more I admire how insanely efficient the map design is. It's not as large as like FE6 heroine of western isles but it also requires players to rush so that they can recruit Legault and steal the members card in time. Admittedly, there seem to be multiple pathways to reach Legault on the map but I think only one is feasible and that requires your stronger units to cut a bloody path through hordes of enemy nomads and cavs in very narrow corridors.
HHM is infamous for swarming maps with a daunting number of enemies while allowing players to only dispatch a tiny squd. While some unsuccessful maps like Crazed Beast do seem very tedious to play with its underwhelming power level of the enemy hordes and repetitive never-ending reinforcements, Dragon's Gate is exactly the opposite.
There is really no time to linger, even one turn not efficiently played might get you punished and force you to choose between Legault and the member card. It is because the thief carrying the card gets ahead of Legault and could very easily block your way and you should not just clean him if you want the card. All in all, Dragon's Gate really gives players a surge of adrenalin when cutting down so many enemies on the way and a sense of satisfaction when finally being able to have your lords talk to Legault the Hurricane.
One of the best moments of early FE days was finding the Port of Badon mission without looking up spoilers to get to Gaiden chapters like I do from now on. For anyone that beat the game (I didn't) without knowing about this mission and getting it on our second run we get a dedicated dark magic user who has a really cool story and some awesome supports. But everything surrounding him is not the map itself. This map is probably the best one to replay specifically to get any player ready for the rest of the game. You can take it easy and then arena grind because you are scared to play the rest of the game or you can try to fight the rest of the pirates and learn how scary the rest of the game can be considering they have killer weapons.
It's so easy to remember many different runs of this map, including one of my first times taking out the rest of the pirates started with my Erk barely surviving the Killer Bow archer which reminded me that the only reason he survived was because I gave him the Angelic Robe from Lyn Mode in that run specifically.
Now I just need to beat FE6, considering the furthest I've ever gotten is the gaiden after the desert map which I just stalled out on and then changed my laptop and didn't send my save file to the next one.
Love the list, watching it I was thinking about light and port of badon the whole time as my favorites wondering if they were going to be on the list, I would probably put light #1 and port #2 personally but great vid
I really like Port of Badon as well. I love bringing some of my weaker units & challenging myself to get all that juicy experience from the high level enemies. They just had to give that archer a killer bow….
Port of Badon can unfortunately be cheesed, which does kinda put a damper on actually going against the tide of enemies in the center as you can bait them one at a time in between the red house and the Vendor shop.
My favorite GBA map from each game is probably like this:
FE6: Hero of the Western Isles or Ghost of Bern
FE7: Dragon's Gate, Four Fanged Offense (Linus), or Cog of Destiny (Eliwood Mode)
FE8: I don't remember the chapter name, but it was the one where you have to fight both Caellach and Valter on the same map outside Jehanna Castle.
You put Battle Before Dawn. I like you.
I'm really fond of this map in spite of Zephiel and Jaffar sometimes being idiots - it's dark, it's tense, there's awesome loot and you just have to keep the pressure on.
Naww, fanks.
Yeah it's a fun map, I'm a fan
Love the amount of screen time Raven got through the video.
Edit: my favorite GBA map is probably Last Hope from Sacred Stones for a lot of the same reasons you listed on all the defense maps you listed.
Raven was my boi when I was younger
Glad to see how your channel growing. Congrats on 2k on your way to 3k.
Thank you! 😊
Port of Badon is peak. Definitely the most memorable GBAFE map imo. The scenario is pretty funny and there were multiple ways of going about it. I also felt like it was a fun filler map to grind EXP for. Most other FE would just give you bandits and call it a day.
Couldn't agree more
Pretty nice list , ive never thought about my favourite list tbh, but id say something like the kishuna maps probably as they are rather unique.
I personally do not like the ghostship, however i do not dislike it for being hard, but rather for being cheap. Fog of war, tons of physical and magical flyers is rough, not too much, but rough.The amount of units on the middle ship is a lot too, but managable. But with the timelimit from La princess it becomes just stupid. If you are not using seth or duessel to carry you, it becomes actually hard to complete fast. Place units on chockepoints, if they oneround the enemies they will probably take too much damage during enemyphase and die, if they dont oneround you are likely to be too slow. All that while there are flying reinforcements. Idk to me it feels cheap and like you dont have alot of options to deal with everything.
Great Video and the reason why the "Best GBA Maps" won is probably because fe-tubers like to talk about bad stuff more than good stuff so this has been a refresher.
I actually do like the map where kishuna nullifies magic despite being a mage fan that uses most early mages, because you still can run them and working around that zone is fun, the only problem is that defeating Kishuna is too RNG reliant
My top 5 per game is probably...
FE6
* 1: Arcadia
* 2: Hero of the Western Isles
* 3: Neverending Dream
* 4: Retaking the Capital
* 5: Rebellion of Ostia
FE7
* 1: Light (part 1)
* 2: Port of Badon
* 3: Dragon's Gate
* 4: Battle Before Dawn
* 5: Whereabouts Unknown
FE8
* 1: Father and Son
* 2: Two Faces of Evil
* 3: Victims of War
* 4: Ghost Ship
* 5: Ruled by Madness
Bonus round (ROMhacks)
* The Last Promise: Chapter 26 (The Battle of Kin) for being an lite sized version of an FE4 map (including things like the tileset changing to represent time passing)
* Crimson Arm: Chapter 19 (Unseen Danger) the BGM remix of "to the sorrowful battlefield" from Super Robot Wars 64 is good and I like the objective of chasing the boss before he escapes as well as the cutscene after where a minor party member gives a bit of details to the antagonist.
* Dark Lord and the Maiden of Light: The Ahribaal route (20, 21 and 21x) and Chapter 23 (all three parts) give some good lore to the story concerning the dark mage cult, the manakete tribes/worshipers and the dark one himself. I'd say Chapter 21x and Chapter 23-2 are one of the most unique chapters in the game.
* Shackled Power: 19x is a much needed breather chapter after the emotional storm that is Chapter 18 and 19, but for a real chapter example then Chapter 14. You deal with one of the antagonist's generals, you learn about a couple more bandit gang leaders and get introduced to the Sentry Force who are composed of countries the antagonist's husband captured. They don't like your country either, but they help you out since it starts their subplot of freeing themselves. Also you get to hear "TMNT Act 2 S3" which is one of the best songs in the game.
* Souls of the Forest: Chapter 8 for its remix of "Chapel Hidden in the Smoke" from Castlevania Order of Ecclesia along with being an escape chapter (you also recruit Troy the meme brigand unit)
Great list. Kinship's bond is one of my favorites too. I want to give a personal shoutout to 6 chapters that likely make my top 10:
Fe6 ch.7 The Rebellion of Ostia: a chapter where you can really feel the rebellion and its a very demanding chapter, but it has houses to visit and units to recruit. It's chaotic nature and challenge is something I can't get enough of. My Top 5 for sure.
Fe6 ch.22 The never ending dream: A very climatic showdown between Zephiel and Roy. You know how rescue mission has two bridges but you usually just ball of death the bottom one? This map is a better execution of actually splitting your army to complete objectives.
Fe6 ch.24 truth of legend: I just love playing this map. It's pretty easy, but it's a great victory lap as you crush the manaketes with the legendary weapons while slowly unlocking some lore as you step closer to victory.
Fe7 ch.17/18 Pirate ship: another cool defense map that makes you push for a promotion item.
Fe7 ch.19/20 Dragon's Gate: One of my personal favorites. You have to be quick for Legault, there is two paths you can move your units, and there are two bosses! This one really keeps you on your toes and its not bs like Battle Before Dawn on HHM.
Fe8 ch.15 scorched sand: Favorite map in sacred stones. This map has a lot going on without being overwhelming and you get to fight Calleach and Valter in the same chapter? Yes please, their battle dialogue is amazing.
Shoutout to anyone that actually read this. Thank you :)
Some cool picks there, thanks for sharing them ☺️
All solid maps man (apart from battle before dawn ironman runs XD)
Yeah it's not the best combo 😅
Yessss hero of the Western Isles
The first time I played it, i absolutely loved it, and I think it may be my favorite map in the entire series now, certainly my favorite Seize map at the minimum.
(Having played 1/6/7/8/11/12/3H)
I will however note that the map on the other side of the route split in the western isles is almost as good as Hero, and while you can only do one per playthrough, you'll always get a great map on either route.
Glad to see the "Echidna map". What an absolute banger of a map, and how challenging it really is to pursue every objective, and all of them being nice motivation to rush everywhere at the same time.
PS. 7:47 I know when someone kissed their screen or something.
Nice list, actually really close to what I'd have for a GBA FE list, especially love what you said about "Light" and endgame chapters in general, i think the only missing map I'd for sure want in my top 10 is FE6 Chapter 7:Rebellion of Ostia, i love how this map forces you to engage quickly if you want to save the green units and the reinforcements flank from the south makes positioning really awkward for your weaker units and just makes this map kind of chaotic but in a really fun way, i also really like how it's the first time you fight Bern"s wyvern riders and they are incredibly powerful (especially on hard) which i think is thematically very cool!
I like most of the maps you picked. I'd have put Hero of the Western Isles at number one and I'd have put Distant Blade on there too somewhere. And since hard maps are fun, Rebellion at Ostia deserves a spot too.
port of badon is a great pick, for me its my favorite map to run the mine glitch on
I agree 100% that Light in FE7 is an amazing map. In an enemy phase heavy game this is a very player phase chapter where sword & bow users are actually great. The 1st time I played HHM and saw Uhai had 27 speed and couldn’t be doubled without a brave weapon, I was actually kind of intimidated. Also love how this chapter actually makes use of Lloyd & Linus’s A support. Personally I refuse to use Athos on this map. Not even for staffs.
11:20 I just played Sacred Stones for the first time a few months ago and Phantom Ship stood out as the only genuinely hard map to me. I was super ready to reset but somehow first tried it because Joshua dodged two 50s in a row :D
I think FE8 Last Hope is one of the best maps ever. The amount of enemies-and not just enemies but promoted units with really good weapons like brave weapons-they throw at you is crazy. It really feels like a full scale assault and you're trying your hardest to survive as wave after wave of enemy reinforcements just keep coming. You can easily hit the unit cap on that map.
17x is probably my favorite FE7 map, but i have to give a shoutout to chapter 20 which is probably the best designed map in that game and right up there as one of my favorites.
Can't agree with Kinship's Bond, mainly because in EHM the boss sits right down in the middle and makes it impossible to hold the natural choke point. Screw that noise.
Love the shout-out to Occupation's Shadow! Two of my favorites that didn't make the list are FE7 27 Cog of Destiny and FE8 10B Turning Traitor. Cog is a great late-game chapter where you're faced with hordes of enemies and optional items objectives, but you can modulate their numbers and pathing by how choose to advance. Turning Traitor is somewhat straightforward but has a lot of side objectives and a tight turn limit if you want to recruit Cormag, grab the items, and still kill the boss.
Do your next 10 favorite maps now. Great vid.
Gotta say as a certified fe7 hater this was really interesting to see someone gush over all of the things that they DO like about the game
There's good and bad to everything right 🤷♂️
I do really like the different chapters for Lloyd & Linus, I only ever recruited Geitz this year finally 😅
Better late than never! ❤️
Fantastic list. Glad to see BBD and Hero of the Western Isles get their just do. I only really disagree with Phantom Ship, it’s awful. I’d probably replace it with HHM Cog of Destiny. Got softlocked as a kid because my units had zero resistance. Solid list though
Regarding the final map pick, Fargas is just such an absurd character, statistically. Iirc in Eliwood hard mode he has 85 hp putting him just in that “unknown” hp range. Actually trying to fight them initiates a game over obviously but it’s still a sight to behold a non final boss character with that flashing hp bar. Always wanted to recruit them into my army as a kid.
Not really my favorite but the memory stuck with me. Last Hope from FE8. I'm not a really good fire emblem player, so I kinda struggled on this one and I'm not sure if it was easy for others (also, I make a lot of niche decisions just because it's either cooler or because I've done the better promotions before)
I lost over and over again on this dark castle. I felt genuinely overwhelmed and I didn't want to lose a single unit because I wanted to see everyone's endings at the time. Eventually, I hatched a plan. My best fighting pair was Joshua and Artur (A support) and I could just teleport them to the boss, Riev. Interceptions from a few enemies and a bit of panic made me misplace my units, and I was out of time to spend a turn on repositioning them. Moulder ended up placing Artur in the MIDDLE of many units and Joshua could not one-round Riev even with 1 crit, iirc. And my imagination kicks in, Ephraim at the entrance just shouts for everyone to blitzkrieg. The Renais siblings start off with clearing the entrance and the rest followed, creating a single-file line for Myrrh to swoop in and decimate one of the units trapping Artur. Artur deals enough damage to Riev for Joshua to end it with two hits, the final hit being a crit to add flare to the adrenaline I was feeling
This video was a banger. I sure hoped port of badon was on here. The song slaps
Hope this channel grows
Thanks man 😊
"OH MY GOOOOD NERGAL MASTERED EDO TENSEI!!!!!"
Great video man port of badon and the assassin with busted stats that spawn are great!!!
Cheers my dude 😊
14:10
I feel so called out. Oswin is one of my favorite units. He absolutely gets the Boots. Every. Time.
I just love the General class, though, and he's the only one in the game. I'm even one of those crazy people who trains Amelia as a General in FE8 postgame.
Wallace? Who's Wallace? I have no clue what you're talking about.
Edit: Light in the #2 spot is fantastic. The Fangs returning and being even more terrifying is outstanding. They're the real sympathetic "villains" of FE7. Come, friends, this should not be. I'll usher you to your rest, then I have a monster to slay.
I disagree on Nergal being so sympathetic though. The stuff he did after losing his memory was *monstrous*. It really solidifies one of my favorite parts of Elibe; the way dark magic works. Don't do it, don't use it. Bramimond is the /good/ outcome, and you're not Bramimond.
I love the OG black fang characters so much, they're the absolute best. I wanted to make a short prequel hack for the earlier days of the black fang but it would've been wayyyy too much work 😅
I LOVE port of badon
It really us the map i think of when i think of gba fire emblem
I've spent IRL days on the port of Badon... SOOO many arena resets...
I’m surprised occupations shadow was on here. But now I’m struggling to even remember another Lyn campaign map. I do remember as a kid getting Florina and letting her get one shot lmao
Glad to see Battle Before Dawn made the list, it's probably my favorite GBA era map and chapter! I definitely think a lot of the flak it gets is deserved for sure, but overall I think it's still a really fun map to play and the elements that it does get right it does extremely well.
That being said, I HATE the stupid fucking egg chapter in FE8, and I can't for the life of me fathom why it gets so much praise. Maybe it's just because it's so different, but I find a lot of it's design elements to be extremely at odds. The map feels like a damned if you do damned if you don't situation to me, and it's extremely annoying - The map wants to you blitz the eggs, but then makes it a PAIN IN THE FUCKING ASS to blitz the eggs by putting hazards and narrow chokepoints all over the map, so you'll likely not be using your movement as efficiently as possible to rush the eggs because you don't want your units to get hit by fire geysers, or they'll get stuck filing in a line through the choke points. Maps like these also favor fliers even MORE than they're already favored, which is pretty unnecessary. Then, when the eggs DO hatch, you get to deal with the fun mechanic of PETRIFY, which is basically just annoying fucking status staves with a different coat of paint, and I can't fucking stand status staves.
It's cool that the eggs are worth good EXP and are at least properly incentivizing to the player, but ultimately it just becomes more annoying to me than fun. It becomes this game of trying to kill as many eggs as possible so I don't have to deal with the toxic design elements of petrify, but you can *never* actually make it to all the eggs in time to fully prevent dealing with it. I think I would like the chapter MORE if what hatched from the eggs wasn't a petrify spamming asshole, and instead was just a more typical threatening monster like the big lion monster boys, or promoted spiders or gargoyles with threatening weapons or stats. Basically, fuck petrify is what I'm trying to say.
Yeah i like battle before dawn, I only think its bad in an ironman scenario
Haha I can tell you've got some pent up resentment for eggs there 😅 I think it's very creative so it gets props for that. I think the idea is you're incentivised to push forward but you get punished if you overextend? It's not a perfect chapter, I think it's just a bit unique. As a note, I think you can check inventory on the eggs before they hatch to prioritise the ones with stone and kill them early, and you can longbows and brave weapons to kill them without counter, so there's other workarounds besides relying on dodging or restore spamming
@@BadAtFireEmblem they definitely left me feeling some type of way lmfao, I can't even have breakfast anymore because it reminds me of eggs...🤣I also tend to swear like a sailor when I express myself about things I'm passionate about though, so my comment probably comes off a bit more harsh than I actually am towards the map, I've played through FE8 plenty of times and it's usually not THAT bad to get through for me.
I didn't actually know that about the inventory thing, so that's a skill issue on my part 😂but you're out of your mind if you think I'm using a GBA archer LOL. Good video either way, mate. Happy to help boost the engagement with yap session ass comments lmao
@@DarkAuraLord breakfast time ruined for ever
Hahaha GBA archers are indeed trash
Thanks man
i love "light" really fun map and much better than FE8 final map
Funnily enough I disagree with most picks but Port of Badon and Light are really good IMO. Some of the maps on the list are such a slog, like Rescue Mission or Carcino. Oh, and Battle Before Dawn got not one, not three, but two whoisthisgit's worst levels ever videos, I gotta say that's saying something. Then again, my favourite might be The Elder Revelation because I really like its setting, even if it's kinda sloggy. Traps and fog really make you feel like you shouldn't be there. It reminds me of Valorous Roland, another banger. Oh, and flying over the pond to take a shortcut is another dope feature of the map. I really enjoy its difficulty as well.
JK Battle Preparations is the actual best map don't @ me
Battle preparations definitely S tier map
"Klein is pretty unique in FE6 for being a prepromoted unit with very high growth rates compared to the traditional low growth rates that prepromotes normally possess."
Yes. He takes after his father, the prepromote so preposterously busted his endgame stats are comparable to his game's same-class Est.
That's a good point, like father like son
Funny thing, its actually more punishing to recruit percival early in hm of fe6, as he only gets hard mode bonuses in chapter 15
I love to recruit him early anyways since reaching him is a fun challenge
When it comes to my favorite chapters, fe6 chapter 7 is probably my favorite map in the series, but a more surprising pick i would choose for a favorite is arcadia. It gets a really bad rep from many fe community members, but i find that hardcore fe6 fans tend to like arcadia quite a bit and actually tend to hate chapter 21, myself included. The game gives you a lot of tools up to this point to give you various ways to approach and handle the chapter, there are plenty of optional objectives, and it provides a reasonable challenge without dealing with rng like green units you need to keep alive.
actually really good list
I won't lie, #10 on this list is one of my two least favorite maps in the franchise (alongside Conquest Chapter 17). Fog + Bolting is not a fun combination for me; fog in general is not a fun mechanic.
Gheb walked so Tellius!Oliver could run (they're both grimy but at least Gheb doesn't own slaves)
I love Unfulfilled Heart from FE7. First Heaven Seal, finally getting our favorite green unit, Pent, as a playable character, and stores that sell C-rank weapons, which are especially useful in Hec-HEEEERE’S VAIDA!
Imagine having Kinship's Bond as your favourite FE defense map when Elincia's Gambit exists
Never played it mate 🙃
@@BadAtFireEmblem damn, my bad, g. Radiant Dawn is easily the pinnacle of old school Fire Emblem for me, with some of the best map designs in the game thanks to the verticality they added (ledges go HARD) and a couple of other details, which Elincia's Gambit take whole advantage of. There's many opportunities for hit-and-tactics from fliers with canto, the possibility to slowly push forward in order to block specific choke points, and many items scattered to try and pick up with your units while trying to find an opening to beat the boss, with either your main force of fliers or the calvary reinforcements you get later in the map. I'd really recommend giving RD a try. It's not that hard to, ahem, *recreate* if you've got at least 8 of RAM in your PC, as it can be played using a GC controller or a keyboard mapped aa a GC controller
@@andreescalona8902 ah fair, sounds like a good map 😊 the GBA games unfortunately aren't the most creative (although some of the more "creative" gimmicks aren't exactly fun 😅)
Fe6 chapter 7 , 10b , 11a, 12,13 , sacae chapter 17 , 21 and 22
For the 2 others nergal and limstella map
FE6 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FE7 >>>> FE8
My favorite is unironically Arcadia. Proceed to roast me as you will, but the only downside is Cecilia. It's only hard if you've never played an fe desert map or fe fog of war map
I like it too but I never go for the buried items. It's too much hassle and takes a while.
And fe6 chapter 21 is my favorit map in all fe
My favorite GBA FE map is FE6 Chapter 21
Battle before Dawn suuuucks. Reseting maps bc of bad rng isn't very fun or entertaining.
Good maps are ones you remember 20 years later, Battle Before Dawn just fits that bill regardless of any ups or downs.
@@chrish3327I remember the Mila Tree 10 years later and it still sucks
@@Lani_337 Ok, I'll give you that one.
Where's the Duessel map?
In the bin where it belongs?
Nah I'm joking, it's a pretty good map :)
0:53 "happy to restart"
Maybe 'happy' is exaggerating 😅
Okay, let's see, my favorite 10 maps in GBA games? Man, it's going to be tough since I haven't replayed 6 nearly as frequently as 7 and 8...
1. Cog of Destiny
2. The Neverending Dream
3. Victory Or Death
4. Light
5. The Berserker
6. Darkling Woods
7. Queen of White Dunes
8. Two Faces of Evil
9. The Value of Life
10. Ruled By Madness
...Yeah Binding Blade's high levels of bullshit and Sacred Stones' lack of epicness didn't serve either of them well.
The best map is 31x battle preparations, because money
I can't stand a lot of these maps. Fog of war can bite me.
I used to feel that way but with thief + torch it removes 90% of the bull shit so I don't mind it
Will's 3% crit on the 2nd map :)
11:00 gameplay from an upcoming video?
Nah it's just random footage lol
Fancy doing an Ironman sometime mate?
Maybe once I start streaming that might be something I do, but my to do list for yt is super long already lol
Cabt wait to see Bow of winds feom fe6 on the top 10 worst kist whenever that comes!
...seriously who thought having the objective be rabdom and punishing you for guessing wrong was a good idea?
COG OF DESTINY
I'm sorry I can't support this video when the creator willingly sacrifices my favorite FE7 unit Isadora
How dare you say that rath is pretty forgettable rath is my favourite unit because he can promote to nomad trooper which is my favourite class in the entire game 😐
Are you aware that every time a youtuber uploads a Top 10 Best, they'll be asked to follow up with the Top 10 Worst anyways?
Yeah but I won't do it for quite a while probably, so it was just seeing which one people wanted to see first. Maybe in a few months I'll do a follow up
Play Fire Emblem 5.
Hey I’m also bad at fire emblem 😂
Counter argument: Fort Rigwald is the WORST map becuase it has Gheb
Why not comment on my thoughts on the list?
10-Other than jaffar being fucking braindead and in jeopardy from turn 1, this map is actually brilliant, and i'd say is fantastically designed. Other than iron man players, i think most people just need to get gud
9-I usually dont enjoy defend maps, and i find this one to be particularly braindead on subsequent playthroughs, and you cant end it early by killing the boss which is annoying. i do find it to be an excellent introduction to defend maps, though. as for talons alight, it suffers the exact same issues, but i also just don't like the map design. actually i fucking hate this map it's not fun imo lol
8-unlike the other 2 early game defend maps, i actually also really like this one-i just find it to have far more interesting map design
7-this map is awesome not only because it's a rare good fe6 map design moment, but it's also just aesthetically awesome-it feels like you're actually fighting a war here
6-starting so close to the seize point is definitely a questionable design choice that always makes this map pretty quick for me, but i think it's interesting that you actually have to fight a battle on 2 fronts. for me, it's just decent, though. (on a side note i love Cecilia, but i absolutely get your point on first impressions)
5-I find this map easy because you get so much TORCH in fe8 that the fog of war is a non factor if you're putting effort into dealing with it. i don't fancy this map the most, but it's definitely one of the more interesting routs in fe8
4-i mean yeah literally who doesn't like this map
3- same as above-universally considered the best map in the gba games, featuring objectively fantastic design
2-this is just fe5's endgame but worse in every way, but since it's copying the best endgame in the series, it's also pretty good, naturally. tbh it isn't remotely challenging, but it provides a very satisfying end to the game, and allows everyone you deploy to shine, as well as an opportunity to use a truckload of OP fun weapons, and is just an overall great time. as fpr the story contentions, i really don't find the story of FE7 to be anything special, but this final chapter still manages to wrap everything up in a very satisfying way. the second part is pretty trash tho
1-it'd be unfair to critique your rational, but me personally i find this map forgettable lmao. most people just remember it as the CANAS map
Appreciate the in depth response
It's a subjective topic so it's interesting to see people strong agree with some picks and strongly disagree with other lol
I've never played fe5 so that makes me sad what you said haha, didn't know it was a copy 😅
@@BadAtFireEmblem it's not so much a copy of a map as it is the concept-both maps has a similar concept, but different execution and wildly different map design, so don't be sad about it. fe7's final map is still unique in its own way, it's just that it's clearly inspired by the final map of fe5. by the way, you should absolutely play fe5-even though it isn't exactly the most friendly to newer players, i think you like it since it has a lot of very unique and overpowered units, as well as some of the best map design in the series. you also said you like defend maps, right? this is the first FE with differing map objectives throughout the game, with defend maps also being introduced. the defend maps here are stellar, and i know that you would love them. i would play it blind if you enjoy the story in video games, as fe5 has a pretty good story. i would assume you haven't played fe4 yet either, but it really isn't at all necessary to play it before fe5 for story reasons (fe5 spoils some VERY minor things you won't even realise without knowledge of fe4's story), and i have the feeling you would NOT like the gameplay of FE4 lmao (it's only actually fun after the first playthrough anyways). i would go in completely blind, except for spoiler-free gaiden chapter unlocks (recruitment is mostly straight-forward). they are as follows:
2x-no villages are destroyed in chapter 2
4x-all green units escape
8x-capture the boss within 15 turns
12x-finish in under 20 turns
14x-visit 3 villages within the city
21x-i would have to spoil this map to tell you-just know if you unlock it, you'll know why
24x-a random one of the green units can open the door near the top of the map, and you need to get the chest behind this door.
do NOT iron man it first playthrough, and make rotating saves. i would use the lil manster patch for the sake of your sanity. recruitment is far from straight forward, but all of the important characters are recruited by leif. oh yeah, and you can visit churches in this game
uh, that's the end of my off-topic spiel. play fe5
Dilly-dally. Lol
Don't @ me 😅
Number #1 the worst of the list 😂 Where's "Sands of time" Chapter 29E?
THIS SUCKS (im joking, the best gba map is chapter 14 the onslaught)
THIS SUCKS
Someone paid attention to the intro 🤣
i wanna see the negative one now lmao