The Link Arena in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Link Arena is a multiplayer mode offered in Fire Emblem titles on the Game Boy Advance beginning with Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. In this mode, two teams of up to five units each compete against each other.
Overview[]
Using Game Boy Advance link cables to connect their handhelds, up to four players can enter the Link Arena. Players enter the arena with a team of up to five units from one of their chapter saves, but the activities in the Link Arena mode do not affect their gameplay progress in the chosen save file. Each battle is one player versus another, with the other players acting as spectators.
Players can create teams by heading to the game's save file, pick and arm their units accordingly. Link Arena also features a single-player Practice mode in which a player may face up to three computer-controlled opponents using teams made up of the player's own units.
Matches in the Link Arena can be set with one of two possible victory conditions: survival, or points. Under the Survival mode, the objective is to wipe out all of the opposing units; under the Points mode, the team with the most points wins.
At the end of each battle, players will get a varying amount of points depending on the unit's performance. If no damage was dealt (either as misses or the attack simply did no damage), 1 point is gained. If damage was dealt, the amount varies depending on how strong/weak the unit was against the opponent. When an enemy unit is killed, the player gets a varying amount of points based on their strength to the enemy's. Silencer is an unusual outlier as units killed by it will cause the user to always receive 90 points regardless of the unit's strength.
Gameplay Restrictions[]
There are certain limitations on which units players may bring into the Link Arena. First, selected units must be units capable of attacking. Units such as Clerics or Troubadours that only use staves are not allowed. Additionally, In The Sacred Stones, characters obtained from Creature Campaign cannot be selected for a team.
In combat, there are restrictions placed on the ability to attack from extra-long range. Longbows are treated as normal bows despite their standard range of 3, and long-range tomes such as Eclipse cannot be used at all. Additionally, all characters are immune to poison, and any unit hit by a poison weapon will immediately be cured of it at the end of the combat round. Consumable items such as Vulneraries also cannot be used.