The fates have spoken!
Nintendo has confirmed in a statement to Polygon that same-sex marriage is an option available to players in the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates for 3DS:
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.
Hurray for diversity and options! Oddly, the option of who you can marry is split between the three different versions of the game.
To keep things simple I’ve made this handy list:
- Gay Edition = Conquest Edition – Players encounter a male character they can marry as either gender.
- Lesbian Edition = Birthright Edition – Players encounter a female character they can marry as either gender.
- Bisexual Edition = Downloadable Third Story Edition – Players can encounter and marry either of the characters from the Birthright and Conquest editions.
Nintendo previously took heat over not including the option for same-sex marriage in Tomodachi Life and for fixing a glitch that allowed it to occur. “Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life,” Nintendo stated at the time, but now it seems like it has changed its tune:
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. In the end of course, the game should be fun to play. We feel that Fire Emblem Fates is indeed enjoyable to play and we hope fans like the game.
I’ve never really gotten into the Fire Emblem series, but this move could very well make me just so I can finally have that loving lesbian marriage I’ve always wanted. Fire Emblem Fates released in Japan on June 25, 2015 and hits North America and Europe in 2016.
