In this week’s issue of Famitsu, Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami talked a little bit more about how the Genei Ibun Roku # FE (Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem) project came to be.
According to Yamagami, talks with Atlus began back in 2009. As he explained:
“Our initial contact with Atlus was back in 2009 when we developed the game Itsumo Purikura ☆ Kuradeko Puremium. Afterwards, Ando said ‘I want to make a game that mixes Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei,’ so I went to Atlus with the proposal.”
Atlus responded with a “Let us think about it”, which essentially meant no, but Nintendo was later told that “We’re too busy and can’t do it right now”.
Although Yamagami was disappointed that Atlus turned down his proposal, he did feel like a partnership could be made a reality one day.
“I was really bummed about it, but it wasn’t as though they had straight out said no, so I told Ando, ‘I’m sure we’ll cross paths with them again some time.’”
Yamagami received an email over a year later from Atlus’ Naoto Hiraoka, who asked if talks were still open. Soon after, Nintendo and Atlus started communication once again.
Atlus producer Shinjiro Takada told Famitsu that, during the original proposal, the team was busy with Devil Survivor 2. He always thought of Fire Emblem as a rival title that he looked at as a goal. Takada mentioned:
“That Nintendo wanted to collaborate with us with such a big title was a huge honor and I really wanted to do it.”