Fire Emblem Fates: Nintendo cuts controversial gay conversion and drugging sub-plot from western release

Nintendo of America has confirmed that the Western release of Fire Emblem Fates on 3DS will not include a controversial sub-plot that sees a bisexual character drugged into thinking men are women and women are men.

Back in July players of the Japanese release of the game reported the controversial plot thread, which caused much debate in the gaming community. Confirmation of the changes being made to the localised version was sent to Nintendo World Report.

In the Japanese version of the game, a female character called Soleil is attracted to women, but this causes a problem. She says: "My weakness is, cute girls... Around the type that I like, I end up fainting if I even get near them. It's not very impressive." She also worries that this will prevent her from becoming a "strong and cool woman".

Fainting around other anyone you find attractive is definitely a problem, but how it is remedied is where the story takes a turn. The male protagonist (should you choose to play as a man) spikes Soleil's drink with a "magic powder" off screen, should the pair's relationship be made strong enough through player conversations. He does this without her knowledge, using the powder so that she sees men and women and women as men.

Having being drugged like this she grows attracted to and eventually proposes to the male protagonist, stating that she grew attracted to the female version of him she saw while under the powder's influence.

The story has clear connotations of gay conversion therapy, a method of so-called therapy many real-world religious groups offer to gay people, not to mention drugging people. Nintendo did not specify how the scenes would be changed in the Western version.

Fire Emblem Fates will be released in North America on 19 February and in Europe sometime after in 2016.

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