No Nintendo series gets as many changes when it comes to the states as Fire Emblem does. While many Nintendo-created games stay essentially the same from region to region save for the expected cultural tweaks, Fire Emblem is constantly hampered by significant censorship when it makes its way over here. Thankfully, it's not done in a way that completely changes the product, unlike what 4kids TV did to the Yu-Gi-Oh! series.
Most of the changes are towards either mini games or superficial things like adding more clothing to a character. In a few cases, dialogue is changed to such a degree that it completely changes the essence of the original quote.
10 Path Of Radiance Was Made Easier For American Audiences
Path of Radiance was the first Fire Emblem released outside of Japan on home consoles and the first to introduce 3D graphics to the series. It's a true trailblazer, and also one that saw major changes when it came to the states.
Nothing was taken out, unlike future games, but the difficulty was tweaked immensely. The maniac mode from the Japanese version was changed to an easy difficulty for Americans, easing them into a series that most were playing for the first time.
9 Roughly 5% Of Radiant Dawn's Story Was Cut
On the surface, cutting 5% of a game's story seems like an odd decision, especially with how lengthy Fire Emblem games tend to be. In this case, however, it's more due to the unusual way the Japanese developers formatted things.
In Japan, the hard and maniac modes offered a longer script, going more in-depth with the lore and leaving those who played on normal out of luck. In America, they stuck with the script from the normal setting and ported it across the difficulties, so there was no option to see the extra content that Japanese gamers saw in their harder difficulty settings.
8 Petting Was Removed From Fire Emblem Fates
The removal of petting in Fire Emblem Fates was an issue with some fans of the series when it was released in America. Given how against censorship most are, it's not surprising. Nor is it surprising that Nintendo took the mini-game out, though.
Sex is still a fairly taboo subject in the states compared to Japan, for better or worse. It's hard to argue against the fact that leaving a mini-game where you could suggestively talk to and touch certain characters would have been poorly received by some and set up the potential for a negative backlash against a game that already only had a somewhat niche audience to begin with.
7 The Infamous Gay Conversion Scene Was Removed From Fire Emblem Fates
No matter the thoughts someone has on censorship, the removal of this scene was smart, and it frankly never should have made it into the Japanese version of the game.
For those that don't know, the scene in question had Soleil admit that she struggled to talk to women, which led the protagonist to spike her drink with a magic powder that let her see men like women and vice versa. Soleil, an openly gay character, then falls in love with the male protagonist. While it would've been fine to have Soleil discover that her sexuality was more fluid than she previously thought by falling for a man, the fact that it was done so through trickery and what basically amounted to conversion magic gives the whole thing a bad angle.
6 The Hot Springs Were Overhauled In Fire Emblem Fates
Unlike the petting mini-game, the American version of the game didn't outright remove the hot springs from the game, but rather changed certain aspects of it.
Nintendo of America removed certain swimwear from the game that showed off too much skin and made the camera stationary rather than allowing the player to move it around. None of the changes were that big a deal in the grand scheme of things and didn't detract anything of significance from the game or its story.
5 Echoes Has Promotional Items In It That Can Only Be Gained In Japan
Normally, it's American companies that are taking advantage of promotional events. Such as what Call of Duty and Halo have done with both Mountain Dew and Doritos among other brands.
In this case, it was actually the convenience store chain 7-Eleven in Japan that offered eight different items for Echoes, including the Seven Sword and Eleven Shield. None of the items are available in America, even though there are plenty of 7-Eleven stores in the US, making the decision to not repeat the promotion in the region a strange one.
4 Tharja's Appearance In Awakening's Summer Scramble DLC Is Changed
A lot of the Summer Scramble DLC for Awakenings was changed, especially when it came between the American and European releases of the game.
America didn't censor things as much as expected, outside of adding a towel to one of Tharja's portraits so her rear was obscured from view, which ironically almost made the portrait seem even more suggestive as it implied that she had nothing on behind the towel at all when in fact she was wearing bikini bottoms. Oddly, Nowi referring to Tharja's "boingy" body parts was left intact.
3 Three Houses Tones Down An Exchange Between Sylvain & Mercedes
The core of Sylvain's character is intact in the American version, changing little about how he feels towards women, particularly those of a noble upbringing. It makes him an interesting character who had plenty of interesting dialogue with the female members of the game.
One such moment was with Mercedes when she calls him out on his hate towards women, saying it was stemmed from fear. Unfortunately, that line of dialogue was significantly toned down in the American version.
2 Cornelia's Final Words Are Changed In A Way That Makes Her Oblivious To Being Used
The final words that Cornelia has in Fire Emblem: Three Houses aren't wildly different from the original Japanese version, but have a very different subtext to them.
In the Japanese version, she realizes that she's been used and respects the fact that she was manipulated in such a way. It's a good come-to-terms moment for the character and lets players delve a little deeper into their psyche. The American version, meanwhile, keeps her under the impression that everything is going to plan and that her faction will still win.
1 The Poster Graphics For The Crossover Game Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE Differs Greatly
Rather than simply translate the text, as is to be expected, Nintendo America went all out and made different posters in some cases. The most egregious example is shown above.
On the left is the Japanese version and on the right is the international one. While one could argue that it's just an effort to cover up the characters more— even though they are simply wearing fairly standard bathing suits in the original— the main gripe is they made the clothing change but then didn't even bother to translate the text on the cover of the poster anyway.