diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/arabic/prerelease_note-arabic-rtl-server-orange-20190911.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/arabic/prerelease_note-arabic-rtl-server-orange-20190911.json
deleted file mode 100644
index f74452dd..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/arabic/prerelease_note-arabic-rtl-server-orange-20190911.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "width": 136,
-      "ypos": 34,
-      "xpos": 86,
-      "height": 18,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "LANGUAGE-arabic",
-    "prerelease_note"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/arabic/prerelease_note-arabic-rtl-server-orange-20190911.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/arabic/prerelease_note-arabic-rtl-server-orange-20190911.png
deleted file mode 100644
index be38160c..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/arabic/prerelease_note-arabic-rtl-server-orange-20190911.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/french/prerelease_note-french-blue-20190911.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/french/prerelease_note-french-blue-20190911.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 5e6c2b70..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/french/prerelease_note-french-blue-20190911.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 764,
-      "type": "match",
-      "height": 25,
-      "ypos": 35,
-      "width": 138
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "LANGUAGE-french",
-    "prerelease_note"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/french/prerelease_note-french-blue-20190911.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/french/prerelease_note-french-blue-20190911.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 9971eb7a..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/french/prerelease_note-french-blue-20190911.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-generic-blue-20190828.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-generic-blue-20190828.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 753ca0f0..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-generic-blue-20190828.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "ypos": 37,
-      "width": 141,
-      "xpos": 791,
-      "height": 19,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "LANGUAGE-japanese",
-    "prerelease_note"
-  ]
-}
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-generic-blue-20190828.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-generic-blue-20190828.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 46ec1c94..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-generic-blue-20190828.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-server-blue-20190911.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-server-blue-20190911.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 130b6fd0..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-server-blue-20190911.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "ypos": 40,
-      "height": 27,
-      "type": "match",
-      "xpos": 791,
-      "width": 141
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "LANGUAGE-japanese",
-    "prerelease_note"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-server-blue-20190911.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-server-blue-20190911.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 0f6b1152..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/japanese/prerelease_note-japanese-server-blue-20190911.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_generic_blue.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_generic_blue.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 93d91d2b..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_generic_blue.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 780,
-      "ypos": 33,
-      "width": 159,
-      "height": 26,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "prerelease_note"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_generic_blue.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_generic_blue.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 70a85734..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_generic_blue.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_server_blue.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_server_blue.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 138dcf73..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_server_blue.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 738,
-      "ypos": 33,
-      "width": 159,
-      "height": 26,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "prerelease_note"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_server_blue.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_server_blue.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 8202bef1..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_server_blue.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_workstation_blue-20190829.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_workstation_blue-20190829.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ba231ec..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_workstation_blue-20190829.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "area": [
-        {
-            "height": 26,
-            "type": "match",
-            "width": 159,
-            "xpos": 781,
-            "ypos": 60
-        }
-    ],
-    "properties": [],
-    "tags": [
-        "prerelease_note"
-    ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_workstation_blue-20190829.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_workstation_blue-20190829.png
deleted file mode 100644
index e6814578..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/prerelease_note_workstation_blue-20190829.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_29_blue.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_29_blue.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 3ade592b..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_29_blue.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 797,
-      "ypos": 12,
-      "width": 93,
-      "height": 31,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "version_29_ident"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_29_blue.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_29_blue.png
deleted file mode 100644
index ce675e11..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_29_blue.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_30_blue.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_30_blue.json
deleted file mode 100644
index de6eeff2..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_30_blue.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 797,
-      "ypos": 39,
-      "width": 93,
-      "height": 32,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "version_30_ident"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_30_blue.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_30_blue.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 993f1ec3..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_30_blue.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31-rtl-orange.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31-rtl-orange.json
deleted file mode 100644
index cc325582..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31-rtl-orange.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "type": "match",
-      "width": 90,
-      "height": 20,
-      "xpos": 50,
-      "ypos": 12
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "version_31_ident"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31-rtl-orange.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31-rtl-orange.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d4e2440..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31-rtl-orange.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31_blue.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31_blue.json
deleted file mode 100644
index f688f1ef..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31_blue.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 783,
-      "ypos": 41,
-      "width": 90,
-      "height": 18,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "version_31_ident"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31_blue.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31_blue.png
deleted file mode 100644
index beeb3df4..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_31_blue.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_rawhide_blue.json b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_rawhide_blue.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 9c8e71de..00000000
--- a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_rawhide_blue.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "area": [
-    {
-      "xpos": 740,
-      "ypos": 12,
-      "width": 148,
-      "height": 19,
-      "type": "match"
-    }
-  ],
-  "properties": [],
-  "tags": [
-    "version_rawhide_ident"
-  ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_rawhide_blue.png b/needles/anaconda/identification/version_rawhide_blue.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 7e6cb64d..00000000
Binary files a/needles/anaconda/identification/version_rawhide_blue.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/tests/_do_install_and_reboot.pm b/tests/_do_install_and_reboot.pm
index 05bc193f..91e58843 100644
--- a/tests/_do_install_and_reboot.pm
+++ b/tests/_do_install_and_reboot.pm
@@ -44,7 +44,11 @@ sub _set_root_password {
         my $identification = get_var('IDENTIFICATION');
         if ($identification eq 'true') {
             check_top_bar();
-            check_prerelease();
+            # we don't check version or pre-release because here those
+            # texts appear on the banner which makes the needling
+            # complex and fragile (banner is different between variants,
+            # and has a gradient so for RTL languages the background color
+            # differs; pre-release text is also translated)
         }
         assert_and_click "anaconda_spoke_done";
     }
diff --git a/tests/disk_guided_empty.pm b/tests/disk_guided_empty.pm
index 5eb93b3d..96cc440c 100644
--- a/tests/disk_guided_empty.pm
+++ b/tests/disk_guided_empty.pm
@@ -21,16 +21,12 @@ sub run {
    # Here the self identification test code is placed.
    my $branched = get_var('VERSION');
    if ($identification eq 'true' or $branched ne "Rawhide") {
-       check_top_bar(); # See utils.pm
-       # disabled because we have issues with false needle matches
-       # on the pre-release note when it's dark red text on a dark
-       # blue background - os-autoinst greyscales images before
-       # comparing, and they wind up the same shade of grey, so we
-       # will get a 'match' for the pre-release needle even if the
-       # text is not there at all:
-       # https://progress.opensuse.org/issues/56822
-       # check_prerelease();
-       check_version();
+        check_top_bar(); # See utils.pm
+        # we don't check version or pre-release because here those
+        # texts appear on the banner which makes the needling
+        # complex and fragile (banner is different between variants,
+        # and has a gradient so for RTL languages the background color
+        # differs; pre-release text is also translated)
    }
 
     assert_and_click "anaconda_spoke_done";