On February 22, 2007, Japanese Wii owners were finally able to get their hands on Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami, known among Western fans as the loosely translated Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn. The game is a direct sequel to the 2005 GameCube game, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Since its release in February, the game has received a quiet but positive reception. As we’ve gotten used to expecting, the game would take some time before Nintendo would get around to a Western release.

The problem is, we’re now just over four months after the Japanese release date without any signs of the game heading out of Japan. Fire Emblem fans on message boards everywhere are asking each other, “Are you tired of waiting for this game?” Is this normal? If this were any other game series, we probably wouldn’t be making such a big deal out of it. However, since Fire Emblem’s introduction to audiences outside of Japan, Nintendo has maintain a fairly consistent schedule of localizing the titles for North American release. With the number of first party titles we expect to see in North America this fall, it’s beginning to look like Fire Emblem: Akatsuki no Megami (Goddess of Dawn) may be pushed back to 2008 or worse.

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken saw its Japanese release on April 25, 2003 and its North American release as Fire Emblem on November 3, 2003. Just over a six-month wait. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones was released in Japan on October 7, 2004, followed by a N.A. release on May 23, 2005. The wait was a bit longer, at about seven-and-a-half months. Finally, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance saw just over a six-month wait from its Japanese launch on April 10, 2005 to October 17, 2005.

Even if we were to expect an eight-month wait on Goddess of Dawn, that would put the game’s launch into late October. It’s certainly a possibility. Still, we have to consider that with Battalion Wars expected to be the last first party Wii launch of the third quarter, Nintendo’s probably going to put either Super Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros. Brawl into October and the other in December, leave November open for a big Mario & Sonic at the Olympics promotion, despite SEGA’s publishing of the crossover in North America. Nintendo seems intent on keeping their promise to deliver the Big Three this year, but they generally avoid publishing multiple new games in the same month.

Of course, Fire Emblem isn’t exactly a high profile game to Nintendo of America. The series has lost a bit of its appeal in Japan and has yet to make a huge splash outside of its home country other than being a favorite among fans of the Game Boy Advance. It’s entirely feasible that they could release the game in the shadow of all the games coming out this fall, but only if Nintendo really doesn’t expect to see big sales from the game’s release. The release of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for the GameCube was overshadowed a week later by Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, which Nintendo promoted heavily. While the game could maintain its somewhat consistent localization schedule from previous games, it’s discouraging to think that it would be released up against other big Nintendo titles and doomed to lackluster sales once again. It’s like the feeling Battalion Wars fans got when BWii was announced to release against Halo 3 and its accompanying market blitz.

Another option would be to leave the game for a 2008 release. The game isn’t even listed for a 2007 release according to Nintendo of America’s press room, so a 2008 wouldn’t really be a shocker. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea – it gives the localization team a little more time with this supposed huge, 44-chapter game. This could be a good game to release during the drought that generally follows the holiday season. It’d be a decent tide over to games we’re hoping to see in ‘08, such as Animal Crossing and Mario Kart. In fact, if Ike or any other Path of Radiance characters are in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it could be a good way get gamers excited for Goddess of Dawn.

However, this is where we’re getting getting into dangerous waters. The game did receive a gold rating from Famitsu (33/40), but generally reviews have said it’s just more of the same from PoR. Not necessarily a bad thing, as PoR was a great game. It’s the fact that the game is evidently a GameCube project – with its lack of widescreen, poorly compressed FMVs, nearly identical battle animations, and lack of pointer functions – that suggest releasing a game like Goddess of Dawn so far into the Wii’s life isn’t something high on Nintendo’s priority list. A 2008 release would put it a year after the game’s near-launch release in Japan, when the game already looked dated.

Also take into consideration that Intelligent Systems is already brainstorming for the next Fire Emblem game. IS has mentioned an interest in including online components in the next installment for the series. If such a game were to hit Japan in late ‘08 or sometime in ‘09 with Goddess of the Dawn still not released in the Western markets, GoD’s chances of release would plummet even further.

Any way you look at it, the situation doesn’t look good for Fire Emblem fans that want to see the tenth entry into the series succeed in North America or, in the worst-case scenario, even release in North America. Should the game’s international release be shelved indefinitely, it wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo’s left Westerners with somewhat of a FE cliffhanger – we’re still clinging to hope that we’ll see Fire Emblem: FÅ«in no Tsurugi (which Fire Emblem on the GBA was a prequel to) in English one day. Our main concern at the moment, though: where is Goddess of Dawn?