Roy

"Roy" redirects here. For the Metal Gear series character, see Roy Campbell."

Roy (Japanese: ロイ, Roy) is the main playable hero in the sixth installment of the Fire Emblem series of tactical role-playing games. Roy was included in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a playable character for the purpose of "previewing" the sixth game, which was released in Japan after Melee, making him the only character thus far in the Smash series to be included for that purpose. His appearance in Melee along with another Fire Emblem series character, Marth, increased global interest in the general franchise, prompting the series to be released internationally from installment seven onwards.

See Roy (SSBM) for fighter info.

Character description

While HAL Laboratory obliged to include Marth as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee by popular Japanese demand, the sixth installment of Intelligent Systems' long-running Fire Emblem fantasy tactical-RPG series, Fuuin no Tsurugi' ("Sword of Seals"), was nearing the end of its development. Masahiro Sakurai decided to include that game's main character, Roy, as a playable character in addition to Marth to serve as a preview of the game for Japanese audiences, making Roy the only character in the Smash series to be featured for that purpose. It was a successful ploy to Japanese audiences for both Melee and Sword of Seals, but since this involved a game franchise never distributed outside of Japan beforehand, Nintendo was wary of keeping the unfamiliar fantasy swordsmen in Melee in its U.S. and European releases, but decided to keep them in based on the approval of western gamers. Roy and Marth, as new and original anime-inspired characters with rather effective fighting abilities, became popular enough in Melee that the Fire Emblem franchise gained international attention from the gaming community.

Intelligent Systems followed up with the franchise's seventh installment, subtitled Blazing Sword but whose U.S. version is simply titled "Fire Emblem", designed with the international scene in mind rather than Japanese exclusivity. To this end they made it a prequel to Sword of Seals, set in the same Fire Emblem dimension and chronology twenty years before Roy's quest and starring Roy's father Eliwood, whose somewhat older resemblance to Roy was meant to appeal to players of Melee. The game's story is laid out with ten introductory chapters starring one of Eliwood's allies Lyndis, meant to introduce players to the Fire Emblem style of tactical play, and the other 20+ chapters are the main game itself. Blazing Sword's story is also structured so that knowledge of Sword of Seals is not required, and if the sixth game were played after the seventh, it would feel like a direct continuation. The game's epilogue features an older Eliwood and Roy as a child, with a plot device inserted at the end to set up Roy's journey in the sixth game, but since the sixth game was never released internationally, players who do not use emulation do not know what will happen with Roy.

Roy, in the best tradition of Fire Emblem protagonists, is an upstanding and thoughtful 15-year-old young man in Sword of Seals with a natural proclivity to help and support others, and while he would prefer to avoid blood-shed, he maintains a strong resolve to see peace return to the continent of Elibe, the medieval high-fantasy setting of both games. Unlike most young protagonists, however, he is perceptive and cunning for his age, such as tricking a traitorous vassal in his group into exposing himself, and he often reacts calmly and tactically to disturbing news. Roy is also quite oblivious to the obvious feelings that some of the women in his army develop for him. Also steeped in series tradition is that his in-game unit is the only one belonging to the Lord character class, giving him initially shaky base stats but allowing him to become a high-performance unit by the game's end.

Roy is studying in the province of Ostia, away from his home province of Pherae, both of which are in the nation of Lycia, when the militant nation of Bern begins to conquer various other nations on the continent; while his father Eliwood turns ill, Roy is called in to lead Pherae's army alongside the other armies of the League of Lycia against Bern and its ruler, Zephiel, who displays a mysterious thirst for world domination. Zephiel's errant younger sister, princess Guinevere, escapes Bern and comes to Roy in defiance of her brother's motives, hoping to negotiating a treaty with Lycian nobility. Roy quickly agrees to her proposal to search for a peaceful means to end Bern’s aggression, and it is in part this encounter that will eventually lead him on a journey across Elibe to save the continent from what could end up being a war with powerful dragons from a different dimension. He is ultimately successful in his endeavors.

Roy has not appeared in any game or media since Sword of Seals and Blazing Sword, but he remains a contender in Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive play. It is interesting to note that since Fire Emblem games weren't released abroad when Melee was released, Roy and Marth were not given English voice samples, retaining their Japanese-language taunts and voices in English versions. Some mistakenly believe that Roy and Marth have a storyline connection because of their appearances together in Melee, but there is nothing to suggest that any of the continents depicted in the Fire Emblem games - FE 1 and 3's Akaneia, FE 2's Valencia, FE 4 and 5's Jugdral, FE 6 and 7's Elibe, FE 8's Magvel, and FE 9 and 10's Telluis - exist in the same world, or in the same dimension and chronology. Roy and Marth were a primary subject of the "tier wars" at GameFAQs that lasted between 2003 and 2004, determining which among these two very similar fighters were the better character, and in the end Marth won out over Roy. Roy, while still a good character according to the tier list, is nowadays considered an inferior clone of Marth, and it is not known how or if he will return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

As a playable character

Main article: Roy (SSBM)

File:Roy.jpg

Roy makes his Smash-series debut as an unlockable character in Melee. He can be battled to be unlocked one of two ways: beating either Classic or Adventure with Marth on any difficulty, or playing 900 Vs. mode matches; clearly the first method is incomparably easier than the second.

Roy fights with his sword, the Sword of Seals, and his B-moves all involve the sword's fiery powers. His B-move, the Flare Blade, is a chargeable sword strike like Marth's Shield Breaker, but it can be charged for up to five full seconds, after which it will unleash an explosive attack so powerful that many opponents would be instantly KO'ed, and Roy receives some damage as a side effect. His Smash B, the Double-Edge Dance (DED), is a series of up to four sword slashes determined by the number of times B is pressed and which direction the control stick is pressed during each swipe, like Marth's Dancing Blade. Roy's Up & B, Blazer, is a slower, more damaging, fire-based version of Marth's Dolphin Slash, and his down-B, Counter, operates like Marth's Counter, but better; the retaliatory sword swipe's power and knockback is based on those of the opponent's attack, multiplied by 1.5, making it very quick at KO'ing a character like Ganondorf using his Warlock Punch.

Roy is a clone of Marth in that they feature pretty much the same movement and attack style, but their specifications are different. Roy seems at first to be a slower and stronger version of Marth, but he is actually almost the opposite; he has a fast dash, a fast and long dash dance, and a fast fall that gives speed to his short hop aerials almost as well as Marth, and his DED is very useful in battle, but his moves actually do rather low damage, and it is hard to land his primary killing move, his forward smash. It was determined professionally that Marth can KO better with his swordplay, which has a sweet spot on the tip of the sword, while Roy's sweet spot is more in the middle. Roy's forward Smash and chargeable B are decent at edge-guarding, and Roy has a great grab range like Marth and has a potentially effective move in his Counter, but it is his lack of a projectile, short recovery, and easiness to be juggled and comboed, added with his low general damage, that ultimately make Marth the better fighter. Roy is mainly popular to use in the single-player modes of Melee.

In Single-player

Roy does not appear specifically in the game's single-player Adventure mode. He is only featured in two of the Event Matches:

• Event 46: Fire Emblem Pride: Your character battles and must defeat a team of Marth and Roy in an untimed match in the Hyrule Temple stage, with all three characters receiving 3 stock.
• Event 49: All-Star Match 5: Roy is the fifth of six opponents you must fight in this series of staged battles. Your character battles him on the Hyrule: Temple stage, and your character has 2 stock while Roy has 1. With a timer of four minutes, you must defeat him and the other five characters one-by-one with the overall time and life you have: Dr. Mario, Falco, Pichu, and Young Link beforehand, and Ganondorf afterwards.

Trophies

Roy, like all other playable characters, features in his three personal trophies:

• Roy: This is one of Roy's main game trophies, which is acquired when you beat the Classic mode with Roy in any difficulty. Description: "The son of the lord of Pharae [sic] Principality, Roy was studying in Ostia when the Kingdom of Bern invaded League of Lycia. His father fell ill at this time, so Roy assumed lordship of Pharae's armies. After his fateful meeting with the Princess Guinevere, his destiny became inextricably linked with the fate of the entire continent." (Fire Emblem, Japan Only)

• Roy (Smash Red): This is one of Roy's main game trophies, which is acquired when you beat the Adventure mode with Roy in any difficulty. Description: "While Roy's moves are well balanced, he's a little on the slow side, and doesn't excel at midair combat. His blade, the Sword of Seals, gives him excellent reach, and makes his Double-Edge Dance slightly different than Marth's Dancing Blade. When it's fully charged, Roy's destructive Flare Blade delivers an instant KO." (B: Flare Blade, Smash B: Double-Edge Dance)

• Roy (Smash Blue): This is one of Roy's main game trophies, which is acquired when you beat the All-Star mode with Roy in any difficulty. Description: "Roy's blade is different than Marth's; he does the most damage hitting with the center of his sword. So, a fearless advance into the arms of his foe is Roy's best bet. Blazer is a bit slower than Marth's Dolphin Slash, but it's still a mighty attack that sets anyone it strikes aflame. Roy's attack after using Counter differs slightly from Marth's." (Up & B: Blazer, Down & B: Counter)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Currently, it is unknown whether Roy will make a return appearance in the upcoming sequel.