Baten Kaitos I & II Remaster Release Date Set

The previously announced Baten Kaitos Remaster duology has been given a release date in a new trailer. The reveal, which was posted to the official BANDAI NAMCO social media channels earlier today, gives a general overview of the story as well as some new features to modernise the gameplay. Most importantly, however, was that the game will be releasing worldwide on September 15th 2023.

The remaster, which is coming exclusively to the Switch, covers the first two games in the Baten Kaitos series- which has a following but definitely falls under the radar of bigger JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Despite the relatively niche fanbase, Bandai Namco have still placed a lot of care into bringing these games into the modern era. Of course, there’s the updated graphics- which take a leaf from modern ports like Final Fantasy VIII, which upgrade the look of models while retaining the classic PS1 artstyle. However, aprat from this, there are some more gameplay-centric changes.

The two most notable of these shown off in the trailer are the ability to speed up combat up to 300% and a ‘no-encounters’ option, which is a blessing for those newer to JRPGs looking to dive in. Bandai Namco also promised ‘several system settings’ that will support progression to make the experience of playing these classics as simple and smooth as possible. With all of these improvements, along with the accessibility of the Switch system, these remasters are shaping up to be the best ways to play the classic PS1 RPGs.

Whether you’re a long-time fan or a complete newcomer to the series, you can jump into the Baten Kaitos universe when the remaster duology launches on the Switch eShop and physical retailers on September 15th. If you only have a passing interest, though, you may want to gold off on buying the physical edition, which is going for a rather high £49.99- especially for a remaster.