Fire Emblem Echoes devs on the remake's inception, other considered names, why new characters were added

The following comes from a Dengeki Nintendo interview with producer Hitoshi Yamagami, director Kenta Nakanishi, director Toshiyuki Kusakihara and producer Masahiro Higuchi.

Q: Please tell us the story of how this project came to be from the start.

Yamagami: After the completion of Fire Emblem: Fates (from now on, just Fates)’s development, I started thinking of a game for the Nintendo Switch. However, it was still too early to begin development of titles for that system. While thinking of what to do, several people from Intelligent Systems approached me saying: “There are many things we could not do in Fates [that we wish we could have]. We wish to implement them in a remake for Gaiden.” Gaiden had not been featured much up until now, and I figured if we got started on development at that time, we would be able to release the game before the new Nintendo Switch would come out. So, we began development.

Q: To be more specific, around when are we talking?

Higuchi: This is back in 2015.

Yamagami: Back then, we thought: “Okay, let’s do this in a year and release it September 2016.”

Higuchi: But there was no way I could meet that deadline while ensuring ultimate player satisfaction. (Laughs awkwardly).

Q: What were some of the other names you had in mind?

Nakanishi: Well we wanted something that keeps the feeling of a “remake.” So one idea was attaching “Re:” to the title. It was pretty popular with the development team, but the foreign branches suggested “再度(saido)*” instead, and so it was out of the final short list.

TN: Lit: “Once again/2nd time”

Higuchi: There was also an idea to simply use a capitalized “G” (for Gaiden) as the title and leave it at that, but that idea didn’t get very far.

Q: Speaking of new characters, please tell us what the idea behind adding the new character Faye into the story as one of your initial allies.

Kusakihara: Well, the main reason is simply that Alm’s army was all men otherwise. I also wanted to add some uncertainty to otherwise predictable elements. In this case, she is a loving childhood friend with Alm, even though Alm himself shares his special (and mutual) connection to Celica. We want players to enjoy learning more about what kind of girl she is.

Nakanishi: She’s also there to give players who have already played Gaiden something new to look forward to.