Critical Hit (Fire Emblem)

About

Fire Emblem Critical Hits are special animations in the Fire Emblem series that are used in the games' combat cutscenes. In-game, they are often used in conjunction with major story beats in the games' script, and are usually a tide-turning effect that often leads to a given unit's death. The mechanic was also popular enough to be a Final Smash for several Fire Emblem Characters in the Smash Bros Series as well. The sheer flashiness – and sometimes unexpected chance of occurence – are a significant part of the Fire Emblem series, leading to popular video, gif and general gaming content in the Fire Emblem Community.

Origin

In reference to the Fire Emblem series specifically, a "Critical Hit" is a special type of attack capable of doing three times the amount of damage it would ordinarily do^[1]. The odds of it happening are dependent on several characteristics, such as the unit's SKILL stat. As early as the first Fire Emblem game in 1990, "Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light"^[2] featured the critical hit mechanic, using unique animations and SFX to signify its occurence.

in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd titles, "Critical Hit" animations were only reserved for their respective Main Characters, Marth and Alm ^[3]. For instance, the Lord-class – Marth – will demonstrate both forms of attack (Shown Left) in comparison to the non-Lord – Navarre – (Shown Right) in the original Shadow Dragon for Famicom.

While all games would have a unique sound effect, Critical Hits would not have unique animations for all classes until the 4th installment: "Genealogy of the Holy War",^[3] as featured in the video below.

Western audiences would officially see their first critical hit animation in the 7th installment – Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (or simply Fire Emblem for Western Audiences) – released in November 3, 2003^[4]. This can be seen as early as the very first playable chapter. Within the story's mandatory tutorial for 1st-timers, Lyn (in critical condition) will be scripted to dodge an attack from "Batta the Beast", retaliate with a normal attack, and finally follow-up with the game's first Critical Hit.

Online Presence

On Youtube

The earliest-known video displaying a Fire Emblem hit can be found on Youtube by user Seraph. In it, Eliwood displays his promoted form's Critical with a legendary weapon. The video was uploaded publicly on June 27th, 2006; and has over 40K views.

Compilations of critical hit animations can easily be found on Youtube. They are commonly compiled in the GBA era of games, and most average over 80k views. In particular, a video by Rolanmen1, titled: “All GBA Fire Emblem Critical Animations in 4K 60 FPS” (Shown right) has over 450K views and 10K likes as of its release in Dec 23, 2018. Other games in the franchise have received compilations as well, most notably in Fire Emblem: Awakening. The compilation video by justonegamr, called: “Fire Emblem Awakening – All Allies Critical/Skill Activation Quotes” (Shown left) has gained over 680K views and 7.7K likes as of Sep 1, 2013.

(W.I.P.)

In early days, the Fire Emblem fandom on Youtube used a Critical Hit as a spectacle. An example of this can be found in Exemplar Kyle’s video: “Fire Emblem 7: “Hector WTFPWNS Nergal” shows off Hector’s Critical Hit to defeat the semi-final boss of the game. The video received over 124K views as of Sep 30, 2008.

More recently, Critical Hits are often used as a punchline to the player’s expense. A video by Sable, called: “Jagen discovers a new critical hit animation – Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon” (Shown Left) shows off a unique and otherwise-unseen critical animation by the prologue-only Soldier Class. Another example is by Youtuber Pavise called: “eminem dies to a 1% crit”(Shown Right). In it, the user shows gameplay of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, commentated by sentence-mixed audio clips of the Rapper “Eminem” as he rage-quits to an unlucky character loss. The video received 51K views and 4.1K likes as of Mar 21,2022

In Super Smash Brothers

The First instance of the Critical Hit in the Super Smash Bros. series can be found in “Super Smash Brothers Brawl”, the franchise's third entry. It was first given to Marth in Brawl, and later extended further to Lucina and Roy in subsequent Smash Brothers Games.^[8] The earliest-known video showing off Marth's final smash was uploaded to Youtube on January 31st, 2008; and received over 49K views.

Noteworthy Characters

Several characters in the Fire Emblem franchise are noteworthy for their critical hits. It can be for their quotes, animations, or something otherwise humorous or entertaining in the gameplay.

(W.I.P.)

Brigand “RAAAA”

In the GBA era of Fire Emblem, the generic Brigand class – while incredibly rare – can demonstrate its own Critical Hit. While not much flair is added to the animation, the Brigand will raise his arms up and scream “RAAAA!!!” in a fit of rage to signal a critical. The Scream is a humorous and popular audio clip among the fanbase, with some describing it as “Autistic Screeching”.

Critger

“Critger” is the fan-made name given to the Character “Rutger,” who is available in the early-game of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Rutger (and other playable Swordmasters in Binding Blade, by extension) were known for absurdly high Crit rates they were capable of achieving in-game. The image below shows a near-50% chance of hitting the target with a critical chance, and succeeding.

Critical rates could potentially rise so high – in fact – that the percentage chance was capable of exceeding 100%, which should theoretically be impossible in such a context. Because of this, Rutger became a meme in the Fire Emblem community, thus giving him the nickname: “Critger”.^[5]

HectorCopter

In Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, One of the three main characters – named Hector – has a particularly entertaining critical hit animation. Upon promotion, and through acquiring the legendary weapon “Armads”, Hector’s crit animation will spin his giant axe above him like a helicopter rotor, before launching himself into the air and landing upon his opponent with an axe to the face.

The HectorCopter animation would later get referenced again in Fire Emblem: Heroes, as shown below:

Hector, being referred to as a “Death-Copter” can be found on Gamefaqs as early as 5/28/2009, when user Jaran83 made a post on a Fire Emblem Forum post about Fire Emblem needing more Helicopters^[6]. The name “HectorCopter” can be found as far back as October 8, 2014 on SerenesForums, by user Flamy on a topic about unfortunate ladies-men^[7]. and several unique gifs and videos would be made by fans for their appreciation of the awe-inspiring (if slightly absurd) animation loop.

(W.I.P.)

“Pick a God and Pray!”

The phrase “Pick a God and Pray” is a line uttered by Frederick, the early pre-promoted “Great Knight” unit found in the franchise's 13th game; Fire Emblem Awakening. This quote will occasionally be said by him to signify that a Critical Hit will occur for his attack. Fans of the game often agree that it is the “rawest line of the game”, often making title names for youtube videos and forum threads on reddit^[9][10].

(W.I.P.)

Spread

(W.I.P.)

Search Interest

External References

(W.I.P. still researching)
(If you have any information regarding later games like Fire Emblem Fates and beyond, Please contact me for editorship)