Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (lost promotional DLC of Game Boy Advance tactical role-playing game; 2002)

Screenshot of the Graizel Execution Court map.

Status: Lost

Sometime during 2002, special cartridges of Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade that contained at least one of four new trial maps were given out on two promotional events to select winners. The first three were rewards for a Champion's Sword event hosted by Japanese manga magazine V-Jump, while the last one was part of a ranking tournament on the official website. These maps were "Graizel Execution Court", "V-Type Original Map", "J-Type Original Map", and "Defeat Bandits". The first map was based on a location exclusive to Champion's Sword. The second and third maps were shaped like the letters V and J respectively, hence their names. The last one, judging by its name, seems to involve defeating bandits. ^[1] The way the maps are obtained is completely different from other downloadable content in later Fire Emblem games, as well as the more obscure Archanea Saga, in that anyone who owns copies of The Binding Blade must send them in order to have the maps installed.^[2]

For the V-Jump event, 50 winners could get a cartridge containing "Graizel Execution Court", while 10 could get both the V-Type and J-Type maps. For the Ranking tournament, the highest-ranking winners could get the "Defeat Bandits" map. Due to the status of these maps, they are not present in the original game, and as mentioned above, were installed with the game's special cartridges instead.^[3] They are also absent from both the Wii U Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack ports. These maps seem to use the XMAP data, which is a system that adds an additional sixth trial map from save data.^[4]

Availability

So far, information regarding these trial maps, as well as both promotional events, are extremely scarce, and none of the cartridges containing them have been known to be dumped online or, at the very least, still exist in some capacity. The only proof of these maps' existence are a single screenshot of the first map and its set amount of Player and Enemy units, as well as a few magazine scans containing images of the first three maps. The last one has no surviving images left.

Recent Discoveries

A reconstruction of what "Defeat Bandits" would've looked like based on taketokinoko's claims.

On September 27th, 2022, a YouTuber under the name of ニコニコタロウ (taketokinoko) made a comment on Filbertian's video on the subject, and claimed that they were among those who partook in the ranking tournament hosted on the site, and still own a cartridge that contained "Defeat Bandits". However, they claimed that the cartridge containing it was unable to function, believing that its battery had broken down, with the other cartridges having suffered the same fate as it.

However, they provided information of what they remembered what the map was like; it was 20 feet tall and 24 feet wide, had large mountains that form a 16x14 diamond, and, at the center of the mountain, were three spaces of grass and a fortress. The player's units start on the left side of the mountains. The enemies on the map consisted of sages who wielded Bolting and Fortify, placed inside the diamond mountain, multiple berserkers and wyvern lords scattered across the map, and a variety of snipers, heroes, and sages are placed on the path. The enemy's castles was located to the right of the mountains, with other castles being control points. They have not provided other data regarding the map itself, such as the number of player and enemy units.

If what taketokinoko believed regarding the fate of the trial maps is of any indication, it is likely that almost all of the cartridges have died out, increasing the chances of these maps becoming permanently lost to time. However, despite an attempt to contact them, they have yet to respond.

On December 30th, 2023, it was discovered via FEUniverse user Flame that there was a Map Transfer Menu within the game's Link Arena mode. In order to access it, the player has to press Left, Left, Right, Right, L, L, and Start in this order. As its name states, the menu's only purpose is to download/transfer trial maps that have been installed into the save file. This menu was also used to install the promotional trial maps, if they are already present in their respective cartridges, thus making it the only surviving remnant of their existence within the game.^[5]

Screenshots of the Map Transfer Menu.
Screenshots of the downloading process.

Promotional Trial Maps

Title	Status
Graizel Execution Court	Lost
V-Type Original Map	Lost
J-Type Original Map	Lost
Defeat Bandits	Lost

Gallery

Videos

Filbertian's video on the subject.

Flame's video showcasing the Map Transfer Menu, used for downloading the lost trial maps.

Images

Magazine scan of the Graizel Execution Court map.
Sprite reconstruction of the Graizel Execution Court map found in the Serenes Forest website.
The Graizel Execution Court as it originally appeared in Champion's Sword.
Magazine scan containing images of the V-Type and J-Type trial maps.