We have some intriguing news about Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster.
The Australian Classification board has given a new rating of PG for its themes, violence, and language. What’s especially interesting is that this rating is for PC.
The Baten Kaitos games originally released as Gamecube exclusives in the 2000s. Both were developed by Monolith Soft and tri-crescendo, two very eclectic Japanese game developers who specialized in RPGs and turn based games. Monolith Soft would be acquired by Nintendo shortly after the release of the second game.
tri-crescendo, on the other hand, remained independent, but their specialty made them a popular studio for Nintendo to work with. Among their more recent games with Nintendo are Mario Sports Superstars, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Super Smash Bros for Wii U and Super Smash Bros for 3DS.
Of course, Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster released on the Nintendo Switch earlier this month, on September 14, 2023. But, it’s worth remembering that these games were published by Namco, and are not actually first party games. So there was no licensing impediment from publishing them outside Nintendo platforms. But it still begs the question, why would these ports happen?
Years ago, Baten Kaitos received scathing reviews from Western game press, which we won’t name or link to but you can seek out if you would like. 20 years later, however, Namco has seen fit to revive it at a time when card based video games are popular and have considerable fanbases, and not a misunderstood niche.
Slay The Spire in particular broke the mold for expectations on what card based video games can be. To do so, it also had to change a few of the conventions of the genre, but studio Mega Crit did so thoughtfully, making the genre’s more rewarding aspects to shine through. Forcing you to play only three cards per game made Slay the Spire the forerunner of what Marvel Snap is today.
It stands to reason that Namco would want to test the waters if Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster could find an audience on PC. I would take it one step further and say that Namco should look into bringing this remaster to mobile as well. But, Namco will have to make quite a few changes to these games to fit their new platforms, in particular with their control schemes. Assuming they put in the hard work to support touch controls, and/or mouse and keyboard, the potential these games have with new, more appreciative audiences, is huge.
