Koei Tecmo has released a patch which removes visible ‘panty shots’ from their latest game, Fairy Tail, less than two days after it’s release.
Fairy Tale is an RPG adaptation of the manga series by Hiro Mashima, which was serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine from August 2, 2006, to July 26, 2017.
Released on July 30th, the Fairy Tail RPG was originally advertised and shipped with various instances throughout the game of incidental panty shots. This was seen primarily when characters would engage in combat; as you can observe below:
This small detail came as no surprise to fans of the Fairy Tail series; as the original manga featured an abundance of fan service. Much of it ranged from busty character designs to extended scenes taking place inside nude bathhouses.
However, on the same day as the game’s release, Koei Tecmo also dropped a ‘Day One’ patch which included significant changes for Fairy Tail’s visuals that removed much of the fan service.
Players discovered that the game’s panty shots had been completely censored after downloading and installing the update. Replacing them were black voids that covered upskirt-related imagery seen on the female characters.
It seemed the studio didn’t want to be forthright with the changes.
Koei Tecmo’s official patch notes do not explicitly state that these panty shots would be removed. The notes do reveal though, that “some characters models expressions were adjusted.”
- Minor script bugs fixed in the scenario.
- During certain scenes, some characters model expressions were adjusted.
- Weird camera angle during the awakening scene of Laxus was corrected.
- Various textures clipping fixed.
- Various text adjustments (misspelling, etc.).
- Some mistranslated parts corrected.
- Various display errors fixed in the French version.
- Staff roll edited.
These changes have been applied universally to all versions of Fairy Tail across all platforms and regions.
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Further adding to the confusion surrounding this change is the continued inclusion of alternate swimsuit costumes for the cast. Which, despite new censorship, one can see brief flashes of a character’s underwear.
Strangely, these far-more revealing outfits remain wholly untouched.
As of writing, Koei Tecmo has not publicly addressed or given reason for this sudden removal of the panty shots. What’s your take on this? Let us know!