Well, this has to be the weirdest thing I’ve heard about a popular Nintendo franchise since the last time I heard something weird about a Nintendo property. Remember how the most recent Pokémon games had that Pokémon-Amie feature where you could pet your Pokémon and feed them muffins so they’d love you? Imagine that, but with people. I can’t even wrap my head around it from a gameplay standpoint.

Here’s a video of the mini-game.

So you pet your favorite party member and it does what? Does it add +10 to an affection bar?  Or give them the “Uncomfortable Stare” buff that adds a 30% chance of an enemy sensing the awkward tension between the two of you and silently leaving? Either way I guess it doesn’t matter because Nintendo will be removing it for the Western release.

It was a curious feature back when it was first mentioned during Nintendo Direct when it announced the game. So the announcement isn’t that unexpected, especially on the heels of Nintendo’s last change to the game involving a scene where the protagonist “drugs” a character. Which is bad in and of itself but some have taken the scene as an attempted “gay conversion”.

Changes to the game aren’t exclusive to the stateside release of Fire Emblem: Fates. Polygon spoke to a Nintendo rep who said this,

You might have heard somewhat misinterpreted or exaggerated information about the Japanese original game, but even in the Japanese original version, we have not included any features which are considered inappropriate in Japan. Having said that, however, making changes are not unusual when we localize games, and we have indeed made changes in these games.

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Conquest will be available February 19th for the 3DS with the third expansion Revelations available later this year as DLC in the Nintendo eShop. Nintendo will also be offering special editions and an exclusive 3DS.