most of my free time over the last week has been spent playing castlevania dominus collection, which bundles for modern consoles the three metroidvania games konami released on the nintendo ds from 2005 to 2008. it’s wonderful, of course, but in playing dawn of sorrow, portrait of ruin, and order of ecclesia back to back to back, i came to a shocking realization: the lattermost puts boxers on the damn werewolves.

werewolves have been a staple castlevania enemy stretching all the way back to 1987’s castlevania ii: simon’s quest, but it wasn’t until a lycanthrope appeared as an early-game boss in 1993’s castlevania: rondo of blood that the series paid homage the beast’s folkloric roots as a transformed human being. upon defeating the werewolf boss, the player is given a brief glimpse of the man it used to be before his naked form collapses and disappears.

several subsequent castlevania games would use similar werewolf sprites and death animations for both bosses and a normal mobs, including 1997’s castlevania: symphony of the night and the trio of handheld adventures featured in the castlevania dominus collection. i’ve always appreciated how castlevania goes out of its way to add this kind of flair to enemy encounters and can’t help but pay close attention to the spritework while playing these classic games, especially when it comes to the werewolves.

so imagine my surprise when this greeted me after defeating one of these terrifying creatures in castlevania: order of ecclesia:

boxers! it’s not like the graphics were all that, uh, graphic to begin with, but apparently konami saw fit to conceal the un-werewolfed man’s crotch with underwear rather than, i don’t know, risking some kid picking up a nintendo ds and seeing what amounts to ken doll levels of nudity.

and this isn’t the first time castlevania devs helped hide the werewolf’s shame. when remaking and re-releasing castlevania: rondo of blood for playstation portable (known as the dracula x chronicles) and the wii virtual console respectively, konami added briefs where nakedness was implied prior.

this is when a lot of weirdos would probably complain about censorship or whatever, but like most things i write, i only wanted to share this because i thought it was funny.

imagine working as an artist at konami, being handed the werewolf’s sprite sheet, and realizing your entire professional life for the next week or so (i don’t know how long this stuff takes, please don’t crucify me if i’m way off) was adding underwear to its naked body. that rules. that’s a cool job and i appreciate everyone who does it.

okay i don’t know how to end this so bye love you 💋