Same-Sex Marriage Possible in Nintendo 3DS ‘Fire Emblem’ Game
It’s a win for Nintendo and the LGBT community as Nintendo announced this week its new Fire Emblem: Fates game will allow same-sex relationships and marriage in-game. Nintendo just released Fire Emblem: Fates in Japan, Thursday, and it came with an even better news—characters in the game will be able to marry a person of the same gender, Japan Times reported.
The prior Fire Emblem game by Nintendo, Fire Emblem: Awakening, was not one of the most popular titles of Nintendo, but in terms of depth and storyline, it saw some acclaim. Marriage and relationships are a huge part of the previous Fire Emblem game and it’s good news for the LGBT community that the game is finally able to incorporate gender diversity.
The move for Nintendo to allow same-sex marriage in Fire Emblem: Fates may be, as Nintendo claims it to be, an effort to include a wider part of the gamer community, since marriage and relationships immensely influence the Fire Emblem gameplay.
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.”
However, a lot of people are seeing this as a defense play by Nintendo, which was previously met with fire for another Nintendo exclusive, Tomodachi Life, for not allowing same-sex relationships. Nintendo has been very apologetic for how Tomodachi Life went, saying that they never meant to “make any form of social commentary” by not allowing same-sex relationships.
We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.”
Ergo, Fire Emblem: Fates.
Fire Emblem: Fates will be released in two versions, a habit Nintendo developed with its Pokemon games. Nintendo will release versions Conquest and Birthright for Fire Emblem: Fates and each version will be gender specific. Nintendo Insider explains this means that Conquests features a specific male NPC that a male main character may marry after they bond in battle and Birthright will include a female NPC that could marry the player’s female main character as the story progresses.
However, gamers are hopeful that both gay and lesbian relationships will be available in both versions of Fire Emblem: Fates in the future, since Nintendo has intended downloadable content for both Conquest and Birthright.
Fire Emblem: Fates will be released for Nintendo 3DS in the US sometime next year but no final release date has yet been set by Nintendo.
[Image courtesy of Nintendo]
