Fire Emblem: Fates to Have Same-Sex Relationships

It’s hard to believe (or remember at this point) but Nintendo's harmless pseudo-game Tomodachi Life was actually, at one point, a source of controversy among Nintendo’s fans. It was, in effect, a rather toothless game where you and your Miis just kind of meandered about doing random things, and you had only the barest control over anything that actually happened. Even now, I still don’t quite ‘get’ the game, but I do ‘get’ why it caused a controversy: for being a game where you could control your virtual avatar and interact with other people (the game made a big deal about how you could re-create celebrities of friends) it didn’t have any sort of same-sex option for players. A man and a woman could get wed easily enough, sure, but two men or two women? Nope, not from Nintendo—and while Nintendo promised it would do better, well… it’s Nintendo, can we take their word for anything?

Turns out: maybe we can.

There’s a new Fire Emblem game coming out in the near future, Fire Emblem: Fates. Fire Emblem, of course, is known for being both a tactical role-playing game, and a game where characters develop relationships and, sometimes, even wind up getting married and having kids.

Well, recently, Nintendo told Polygon the following:
 

“We can confirm that Fire Emblem Fates for Nintendo 3DS, which launches in Japan on June 25, 2015, and is coming to the U.S. and Europe in 2016, includes the possibility for a same-sex marriage to take place between the main character created by the gamer and another character in the game. We believe that our gameplay experiences should reflect the diversity of the communities in which we operate and, at the same time, we will always design the game specifications of each title by considering a variety of factors, such as the game’s scenario and the nature of the game play.”

So Nintendo is making good on its word! Sure, it’s not quite the same as being able to marry any character to any other character regardless of gender (which, while cool, would also be a little… strange) but having even one gay option is a gigantic step in the right direction! That is unarguably good news!

…and now the bad news.

A bit like Pokemon, there are going to be two versions of Fire Emblem released: the Conquest edition and the Birthright edition. And whereas with Pokemon each version of the game includes different, unique Pokemon… for Fire Emblem, each edition allows either one form of gay relationship or the other. Conquest will allow same-sex relationships with males, while Birthright will have female.

That said, there will be a “third” edition available for download at a later date that will “marry” the two versions, and will give both games the male and female lover option, but in the meantime, that’s what we got.

Now, I’m not one to withhold praise on a good thing just because it’s got the shell of a bad thing: Nintendo, famously conservative, doing something like this is a sign of progress without a doubt. Although… I mean… I just really like Fire Emblem so maybe I’m just biased.