It probably surprises no one, however, the North American and European release of Koei Tecmo’s Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water on Wii U has received a bit of censorship.

The game launched in Japan on September 27th of last year, and it had lots of extra costumes that you could unlock for the girls in-game. Some of these costumes involved bikinis, lingerie, and more. You can see an example of the bikini costumes above.

While the North American release has most definitely seen these costumes removed, it remains unclear if the European release has truly seen them removed as reviews from European outlets are saying both versions of the story. To quote the Nintendo World Report:

“Those who are familiar with the Japanese versions of this series will also know that unlockable costumes usually include bikinis for the main female cast. I’m sad to say that, just like in the English release of Fatal Frame 2 on Wii, the bikini content is also removed from this game. This censorship seems silly for a game rated as Mature 17+ by the ESRB, but it certainly doesn’t detract from the overall experience of the game, and there’s plenty of other post-game bonus content to discover.”

It’s worth mentioning that Koei Tecmo has previously gone on the record to say they wanted to design costumes that looked sexy when wet – hence the return of unlockable bikini and lingerie costumes.

What do you guys think? Is it incredibly dumb to remove and or censor material in a mature-rated game, which is intended for adults in the first place?