Fire Emblem Fates has series' biggest stateside debut ever

Fire Emblem Fates had the biggest U.S. launch in the series' history, Nintendo announced in a press release. Over its three-day launch window this past weekend, the game — which hit retail in two versions, Birthright and Conquest — sold a combined total of more than 300,000 copies, the company said.

That's more than five times the number of units moved by the Nintendo 3DS games' predecessor, Fire Emblem Awakening, during its first three days on sale. Awakening sold more than 180,000 copies during its first month on sale, Nintendo said in 2013.

Nintendo also said, without revealing specific sales numbers, that buyers picked the more beginner-friendly Birthright over the more challenging Conquest.

For those still unable to decide where to start with Fire Emblem Fates — which we highly recommend you check out in our review — consult our helpful guide, which goes into Birthright and Conquest's key differences.

Players who have already pledged allegiance to a side can look forward to new content for the games going forward. Its first round of free downloadable content is now available, and Nintendo will release further maps for Fates on a weekly basis. A full-sized third path of Fates, Revelation, will also go on sale March 10.