Here's how Nintendo changed 'petting' in Fire Emblem Fates

Nintendo confirmed that Western Fire Emblem Fates players won't be able to pet or rub their teammates' faces, but that doesn't mean the feature is gone altogether. We delved into the localized version of the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game to see what Nintendo replaced petting (also known as "skinship") with. Check out the footage from our recent livestream above to see our discovery in action.

To elaborate: In both versions of Fire Emblem Fates, players have the option to visit their team members in their personal private quarters.

Upon entering, the protagonist chooses which person he or she would like to spend more time with, which then invites them to join you.

This launches into a cutscene which, in the Japanese edition of the latest Fire Emblem games, involved interacting with the chosen teammate, touching their face by using the touchscreen. The upcoming American release does this a bit differently.

Nintendo via Polygon

The animations involved in that interaction are left intact, but the actual tactile portion has been eliminated, just as Nintendo previously announced.

What does remain, however, are the status bonuses accrued by getting intimate with a party member. Just as in the Japanese version, the player's relationship with their teammate improves after the truncated scene.

Nintendo referred to its decision to remove the petting minigame itself as a not "unusual" change for the localization.

"Even in the Japanese original version, we have not included any features which are considered inappropriate in Japan," a representative for Nintendo told us.

"Having said that, however, making changes are not unusual when we localize games, and we have indeed made changes in these games."

The state of the petting minigame in the Western Fire Emblem Fates is one such change; the removal of a scene that referenced drugging a character is another difference from the original version.

Fire Emblem Fates launches on Feb. 19 in two versions: Birthright and Conquest. A Special Edition set houses both storylines — and a third, Revelation, which will also come as downloadable content — on one cartridge.