Summary: Fire Emblem Fates, known as Fire Emblem if (ファイアーエムブレム if, Faiā Emuburemu Ifu) in Japan, is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD, and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console on June 25, 2015, in Japan and 2016 in the West. It is the fifteenth installment in the Fire Emblem series, and the second to be developed for Nintendo 3DS after Fire Emblem Awakening. Fates was released in three versions, each following a different storyline around the same characters: Birthright (白夜王国, Byakuya Ōkoku, lit. "White Night Kingdom") and Conquest (暗夜王国, Anya Ōkoku, lit. "Dark Night Kingdom") as physical releases, and Invisible Kingdom (インビジブルキングダム, Inbijiburu Kingudamu) as downloadable content released on July 9, 2015. The overarching story follows the protagonist, a customizable Avatar created by the player, as they are drawn into a war between the Kingdoms of Hoshido (their birthplace) and Nohr (their adopted home), and must choose which side to support. In Invisible Kingdom, the Avatar rallies both sides against the true mastermind behind the war.After the critical and commercial success of Fire Emblem Awakening, development began on Fates, with the staff of Awakening returning to their previous roles. The team's main concern was adding new features and refinements to the original gameplay, and improving the story, which had come in for criticism from fans. To this end, manga and television writer Shin Kibayashi was brought in to create the story and plot, with additional work done by Yukinori Kitajima and the latter's writing company Synthese. To fully encompass all sides of the story and provide players with different Fire Emblem experiences, the game was split up into multiple versions. This was also done as releasing the whole game as one package would have meant increasing the game's price. Upon release, it met with critical and commercial success similar to that of Awakening.