The Aug. 4 Nintendo Direct focused on the upcoming tactical RPG Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, prompting a Polygon writer to reflect on Sega's own '90s tactical RPG series, Shining Force, as an underappreciated rival to Fire Emblem. Unlike early Fire Emblem entries, which were largely confined to Japan, Shining Force launched on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive across North America and Europe in the early 1990s, making it many Western players' introduction to the genre and one the author argues still holds up today.

Shining Force (1992) and Shining Force 2 (1993) share core mechanics with Fire Emblem, including grid-based tactical battles, class-based armies and character promotions, but stand out for their eccentric recruitable characters such as a werewolf, a robot and a phoenix, alongside inventive battle settings like a circus tent and a Nazca lines homage. Both games remain playable via the Sega Genesis library included with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, though later entries on Sega CD and Saturn are harder to access legitimately. Despite the resemblance, developer Hiroyuki Takahashi told GamesTM in 2010 that Shining Force was not inspired by Fire Emblem, which he felt had poor pacing.