Yes, Tokyo Mirage Sessions Still Uses the Western Localization, and You Can Get a Refund if You're Feeling Aggrieved

Personally I just want to launch a Pegasus off Shibuya's 109 building.

News by Nadia Oxford, Staff Writer

18 October 2019

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a strange and underappreciated mash-up between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem, is coming to the Switch next year following a failed 2016 Wii U run. However, the sometimes-racy game is already embroiled in some controversy, and Nintendo is offering an apology and refunds to Japanese customers who pre-ordered it.

Atlus (possibly under orders from Nintendo) applied some changes to the localized version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. Characters are aged up, some skimpy costumes are changed entirely, and an entire storyline involving a former gravure (read: erotic) idol is considerably altered to make it less controversial. You can find a breakdown of what's changed over at Persona Central.

The version coming to Switch as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore will be distributed worldwide—including Japan. Since the Japanese website for #FE Encore initially used screenshots from the Wii U version of the game, some fans are crying foul about being "tricked" into believing Japan's receiving an unaltered version of #FE Encore. Earlier today, Nintendo of Japan offered an apology and says full refunds will be available to anyone who pre-ordered the game through the eShop or the My Nintendo Store.

In Japan, Nintendo issued an official apology. Twitter user BlackKite helped news site Japanese Nintendo translate the mea culpa:

So on 10 October 2019, we performed replacements of game screenshots in the home page. And on the 17th we posted that this title would be based on Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. But we acknowledge that we did not deliver enough information to our customers from the beginning.

Concerning this, for all customers who have purchased / pre-ordered Genei Ibun Roku #FE Encore through Nintendo eShop or My Nintendo Store, and want to request a cancellation caused by this matter, we will provide the procedures in this page at a later date.

The Western version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE scored very well with us when it first came to the Wii U. For most of us, the January 2020 launch of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore will be our first opportunity to go hands-on with this crossover—alterations or not.

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Nadia Oxford

Staff Writer

Nadia has been writing about games for so long, only the wind and the rain (or the digital facsimiles thereof) remember her true name. She's written for Nerve, About.com, Gamepro, IGN, 1UP, PlayStation Official Magazine, and other sites and magazines that sling words about video games. She co-hosts the Axe of the Blood God podcast, where she mostly screams about Dragon Quest.