It wasn’t long after Corpse Party Tetralogy Pack launched in Japan on August 7 that publisher XSEED Games announced the compilation would be heading to the West too. However, after a three-month wait and an unexpected complication, the Western release of Corpse Party Tetralogy Pack’s Switch version has been officially cancelled.
According to XSEED Games’ official statement, the reason for the cancellation is that several games in the compilation “did not comply with current platform guidelines.” Since Corpse Party (2021) and Corpse Party: Blood Drive are already on the US Nintendo Store, it’s likely that the contents of Corpse Party: Book of Shadows and/or Corpse Party: Sweet Sachiko’s Hysteric Birthday Bash (the two remaining games included in Corpse Party Tetralogy Pack) were the cause of the complications and subsequent cancellation.
Corpse Party’s subject matter doesn’t make it easy to peddle on the Nintendo Switch. The original game focuses on a group of high school students who are transported to the dark and haunted Heavenly Host Elementary School after performing a friendship charm ritual. Trapped in a school filled with murderous spirits, the friends must face the school’s horrors, as well as each other. The franchise explores heavy topics like depression and suicide, which might turn off Nintendo’s target family-friendly audience.
The physical Switch release of Corpse Party Tetralogy pack and the planned digital releases of Corpse Party: Book of Shadows and Corpse Party: Sweet Sachiko’s Hysteric Birthday Bash on the US Nintendo Store have been cancelled. If you really want to play all four games on the Switch, you can set up an account on the Japan Nintendo Store and buy the games there (apparently, Nintendo is less strict when it comes to its Japan online store). It seems that Corpse Party Tetralogy Pack’s Japan physical release also features English language options, so imported copies should work just fine.
Looking forward, XSEED Games says it’s committed to working with MAGES (the publisher of Corpse Party’s Japan releases) to bring Corpse Party II: Darkness Distortion to the West. Here’s to hoping they find a way to release the compilation in the West without having to compromise on the original games’ content.
