How to play Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn
Have you always wanted to play Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn but don’t have a couple hundred dollars lying around to shell out for overpriced second-hand copies on ebay? Then boy do I have good news for you!
Normally if a legitimate means for obtaining a game exists, I would suggest going for that first, but since Nintendo has made absolutely no effort whatsoever to make these games more accessible. Screw it. Emulate the damn game, it’s not like they’re making a cent out of second-hand copies being resold anyway. These games are too good to be left collecting dust behind a colossal paywall.
@shinyv and I have put together this guide on emulating PoR/RD, which covers two different methods, Dolphin Emulator and Wii Homebrew. The former allows you to play the games on your computer, while the latter lets you play it on your Wii just like the disk version.
Dolphin is by far the quickest and easiest way to emulate PoR and RD, and has some neat advantages over playing on console. Save states allow you to save anywhere, which can be a godsend if you’ve only played games with casual mode and are still getting the hang of keeping all your units alive. Some other features include taking high quality screenshots and the option to run games in HD, something even consoles can’t do.
One the downside you do need a fairly decent computer for games to run at an actually playable speed, and Dolphin has a reputation for being a bit crashy. Luckily we’ve prepared an alternative option in case it doesn’t work for you.
an iso file of the game you want to emulate
the latest version of Dolphin for your operating system. The newest versions of Dolphin don’t support 32 bit Windows, so if the this is the OS your system is running you’ll need to download an older version of the emulator here.
1. Obtain your iso file. I’m not going to tell you where or how. You didn’t hear anything about downloading the game from me.
2. Download the exe file for the right version of Dolphin for your operating system here and run it. Follow the instructions to install Dolphin on your computer.
3. Run Dolphin. Click “Open” and select the iso file. The game should run. It’s as simple as that!
Just configure your controls and the game is ready to play. If you find the game is laggy try following these configurations to speed things up. For optimal performance and fewer bugs, I’d advise using the recommended configurations for PoR. RD doesn’t need a specific setup, but it might be worthwhile reading up on potential bugs in case you run into them.
If you run into any other problems, check Dolphin’s FAQ page for potential fixes.
Dolphin is a very demanding program, and even with optimal configuration it may not work for everybody. For those people, the good news is there’s an alternative.
If Dolphin isn’t cutting it, or you just want to play the games on your tv + console the way they were ~*✧meant ✧ *~ to be played, then this option is for you.
The Homebrew channel is a channel you can install onto your Wii which allows you to run various apps, including ones which allow you to launch games from an SD card or flash drive.
Modding your Wii can seem daunting at first, but it’s relatively straightforward if you take it step-by-step, and the ModMii wizard we’ll be using streamlines the process and does most of the work for you!
shinyv has lovingly prepared a full guide on the process here, which covers everything you need from modding your wii to running the game.
We love these games and want everyone to experience them for themselves, so go! Explore the world of Tellius and see for yourself why these games ruined our lives.
titsay
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