Rumour Exputer claiming Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is getting a Switch remake launching this summer

[karmitt]

Please be real.

When the original released all I wanted was was Final Fantasy on Nintendo, and the card battle system was just friction to my enjoyment.

I’ve played so many fantastic turn-based RPGs since then, I would embrace a remake that makes the most of the card system.

 

[Barahir_MJH]

Honestly it's sad that Baten Kaitos Origins came out on the dead Gamecube just a few months before the Wii, because it's actually a very good game that improves on the first in many ways. But hardly anyone played it.

 

[Instro]

I find it hard to believe BK is getting a remake when xenosaga can't get an HD remaster due to market research, I'm willing to wager BK is far less popular/known.

Big difference is that the creator of BK(Honne) actually wants it to happen, and since the series is partially owned by Nintendo/Monolith, they would obviously be involved in financing.

Xenosaga would likely need to be fully Bamco produced, except potentially without any of the original creators around to oversee it. We know Harada wants Monolith involved to some degree, but it's not even clear that Takahashi, Soraya, etc, would even want to be involved even if offered. They have their own spiritual successor now, and by all accounts their experiences making the Xenosaga series were not particularly good. On top of that, a subsection of the fans were notably awful to them, particularly Soraya, so there may not be a lot of good will around the franchise.

 

[Aostia82]

You cant play with my feelings like that.

 

[Sadist]

Please be true.

I want to see people lose their mind over the plottwist lol

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Have to say I'm not loving the source's YouTube thumbnails

 

[BY2K]

Oh hey, the writer of the article is the same guy who says Microsoft is gonna show a Starfield trailer at the Super Bowl.

 

[SirToastaLot]

An interesting and intriguing rumour.

Ah, memories.
I haven't played BK:EWatLO since my last year of University. Didn't manage to finish it, but it was equal parts colourful and strange.
I also imported a copy of Origins from the States, but never got round to running it on my PAL GameCube, or via emulation on PC.

Didn't tri-Crescendo play a big part in co-developing both of the games? I wonder whether they could be involved with the alleged remaster.

 

[ngpdrew]

I feel like this is likely to happen at some point, right? A card-based RPG (with lovingly drawn backgrounds, I might add) is more at home now than it was back in the day.

They should probably redo the voice acting though...

 

[k samedi]

The graphics and battle system in Baten Kaitos were pretty rad. Never got to play the second entry.

 

[MP!]

"It’s yet to be declared whether the remake would be through-and-through full-scale similar to Demon’s Souls or a little held back on that front. The sources cannot confirm this detail at the present."
but they said they saw graphical evidence wouldn't that sort of explain if it is or isn't?
?

 

[Hailinel]

"It’s yet to be declared whether the remake would be through-and-through full-scale similar to Demon’s Souls or a little held back on that front. The sources cannot confirm this detail at the present."
but they said they saw graphical evidence wouldn't that sort of explain if it is or isn't?
?

I think, like many such rumors, it's not entirely clear if this is a full-scale ground-up remake, or a remaster of the existing GameCube title.

 

[MP!]

I think, like many such rumors, it's not entirely clear if this is a full-scale ground-up remake, or a remaster of the existing GameCube title.

yeah I'm saying they contradict themselves here by stating they've seen it then not being able to tell if its just a gamecube game in HD or complete overhaul or somewhere inbetween.
If you've seen it you'd be able to at least narrow it down.

example if you saw "graphical evidence" of The resident evil remakes you'd know right away what it is
Additionally if you saw skyward sword HD you'd know right away what it was.

 

[Renmazuo]

I wonder how much Honne had to insist for Nintendo to bankroll this lol

 

[9-Volt]

Should be on the next Direct if it's really launching this summer. Though Namco did show summer games at E3 Directs before, like Pac-man World of last year...

 

[Magic-Man]

Should be on the next Direct if it's really launching this summer. Though Namco did show summer games at E3 Directs before, like Pac-man World of last year...

Baten Kaitos would be a first party Nintendo title, so if it's real then it's 100% getting announced at the next Direct.

That being said, I doubt this is real.

 

[Hailinel]

Should be on the next Direct if it's really launching this summer. Though Namco did show summer games at E3 Directs before, like Pac-man World of last year...

If I understand the situation correctly, Monolith Soft/Nintendo have partial ownership of the IP and assuming this is real would have more say regarding promotion and release.

 

[MaitreWakou]

What will happen later this week?

Oops, I meant later this year, not week, sorry !

 

[AoiHana]

Probably Fake

It’s still probably more likely than Kid Icarus: Uprising

 

[Ojoloco]

It’s still probably more likely than Kid Icarus: Uprising

I doub this

 

[EricTheGamerman]

F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime 1, and now Baten Kaitos. Is 2023 going to be the year of the GameCube on Switch after all this time lol.

Also the most Nintendo thing does sound like remastering some GameCube games and selling them at $60 a pop since they've run through most of the Wii U options for that.

 

[9-Volt]

Baten Kaitos would be a first party Nintendo title, so if it's real then it's 100% getting announced at the next Direct.

That being said, I doubt this is real.

Namco trademarked the names of the games, including the second one as "BK Origins", not Nintendo. These are definitely gonna be Namco published titles. They're just working with a Nintendo owned studio while doing this.

If I understand the situation correctly, Monolith Soft/Nintendo have partial ownership of the IP and assuming this is real would have more say regarding promotion and release.

The sole owner of the name seems to be just Namco. Nintendo would definitely be involved with this though I'm not sure to what extend.

 

[Ojoloco]

Namco trademarked the names of the games, including the second one as "BK Origins", not Nintendo. These are definitely gonna be Namco published titles. They're just working with a Nintendo owned studio while doing this.

The sole owner of the name seems to be just Namco. Nintendo would definitely be involved with this though I'm not sure to what extend.

nintendo can finance, develop and own a game whose trademark is not owned by nintendo. For example, Hamtaro games or Glory of Heracles.

In the same way that EA finances and develops star wars games that belong to it. Or any studio that makes games from an external license.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I wonder how much Honne had to insist for Nintendo to bankroll this lol

"look at how much we did for you for Zelda. you owe us!"

 

[Instro]

It’s still probably more likely than Kid Icarus: Uprising

Always thought it was odd that people were convinced KI:U was getting a remake/remaster, and were linking the Bamco job postings to it.

It wasn't particularly well regarded, commercially unsuccessful, the main creative force behind it is retired/semi-retired, and doesn't seem to be interested in trying. Even as recently as 2021 he shot it down pretty hard. Given that the dev team split up, I can't see anyone else at Nintendo being interested in remastering/remaking that particular game enough to push for it.

 

[Scrawnton]

yeah I'm saying they contradict themselves here by stating they've seen it then not being able to tell if its just a gamecube game in HD or complete overhaul or somewhere inbetween.
If you've seen it you'd be able to at least narrow it down.

example if you saw "graphical evidence" of The resident evil remakes you'd know right away what it is
Additionally if you saw skyward sword HD you'd know right away what it was.

Graphical evidence could literally just mean promo assets like a release poster, box art, and stuff like that, right?

 

[Coco]

Always thought it was odd that people were convinced KI:U was getting a remake/remaster, and were linking the Bamco job postings to it.

It wasn't particularly well regarded, commercially unsuccessful, the main creative force behind it is retired/semi-retired, and doesn't seem to be interested in trying. Even as recently as 2021 he shot it down pretty hard. Given that the dev team split up, I can't see anyone else at Nintendo being interested in remastering/remaking that particular game enough to push for it.

In what universe was KiU not well regarded?

 

[MondoMega]

It wasn't particularly well regarded

Critics seemed to like it well enough; and there is definitely a vocal group of fans in the Nintendo community who love it. This is the weirdest claim in the whole post so I need to dwell on it.

commercially unsuccessful

It pushed over a million units, and we've seen far worse performing games (Famicom Detective Club, Xenoblade) get remakes on Switch, so I don't think that in particular is a mark against it.

the main creative force behind it is retired/semi-retired, and doesn't seem to be interested in trying. Even as recently as 2021 he shot it down pretty hard.

Two years is a lot of time for things to change; and they clearly have seeing as he teased the prospects of a port on his YouTube channel a few months ago.

(The fact that he has been asked about it multiple times in the Switch gen, in 2018 before, and mentioned the number of fan requests for a remake or sequel in the 2021 comment should be proof enough that the game is well regarded, but I digress).

Sakurai isn't retired in that he will never work on a video game again; that isn't what he said at all. The speculation is pretty sound overall considering how remaster / remake heavy 2023-2024 seems to be based on rumors: Return to Dream Land in February, F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, maybe now Baten Kaitos and possibly others from less reliable sources. I think it fits right in with the GC and Wii remasters as a beloved game that won't be coming in emulated form anytime soon.

 

[wrowa]

Namco trademarked the names of the games, including the second one as "BK Origins", not Nintendo. These are definitely gonna be Namco published titles. They're just working with a Nintendo owned studio while doing this.

The sole owner of the name seems to be just Namco. Nintendo would definitely be involved with this though I'm not sure to what extend.

Sega owns the Bayonetta trademark and yet Nintendo published Bayonetta 2 and 3. Namco owning the Baten Kaitos IP doesn't mean anything in regards to who would publish such a remaster. It could go both ways.

Graphical evidence could literally just mean promo assets like a release poster, box art, and stuff like that, right?

I think graphical means as little as that they had something to look at? It could be any kind of document, it wouldn't need to contain any artwork or screenshots.

 

[AoiHana]

Always thought it was odd that people were convinced KI:U was getting a remake/remaster, and were linking the Bamco job postings to it.

It wasn't particularly well regarded, commercially unsuccessful, the main creative force behind it is retired/semi-retired, and doesn't seem to be interested in trying. Even as recently as 2021 he shot it down pretty hard. Given that the dev team split up, I can't see anyone else at Nintendo being interested in remastering/remaking that particular game enough to push for it.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it wasn't particular well-regarded or commercially unsuccessful. As MondoMega said, 83 is a pretty solid Metascore, and a lot of people consider it one of the hidden gems of the 3DS. And it didn't do Pokémon or Mario or Zelda numbers, obviously, but over a million copies is still a pretty respectable number, especially for a relatively obscure IP. (Hell, I'm pretty sure it tied sales of Metroid Prime 3, for what that's worth.) I think Nintendo fans overrate how hard people are clamouring for it, but it's got more than its fair share of fans.

Two years is a lot of time for things to change; and they clearly have seeing as he teased the prospects of a port on his YouTube channel a few months ago.

(The fact that he has been asked about it multiple times in the Switch gen, in 2018 before, and mentioned the number of fan requests for a remake or sequel in the 2021 comment should be proof enough that the game is well regarded, but I digress).

Sakurai isn't retired in that he will never work on a video game again; that isn't what he said at all. The speculation is pretty sound overall considering how remaster / remake heavy 2023-2024 seems to be based on rumors: Return to Dream Land in February, F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, maybe now Baten Kaitos and possibly others from less reliable sources. I think it fits right in with the GC and Wii remasters as a beloved game that won't be coming in emulated form anytime soon.

That said... I doubt a KI:U remaster is happening, at least at the moment. Zippo "vouching" for it is already a massive strike against it being real IMO. IIRC Sakurai has said he's not a huge fan of returning to past projects on several occasions, plus he's busy at the moment with his YouTube channel, so at the very least I doubt he's involved. And it's not exactly an easy game to remaster, for obvious reasons. But who knows. I love Kid Icarus: Uprising to death, but I have my (probably irrational) misgivings about a remaster ruining how special the original felt, so that might be colouring my view of things. Personally, I think Baten Kaitos is more likely than an Uprising remaster, but I think both are less likely than F-Zero GX as far as "whatever the hell Bamco's working on" goes.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Sega owns the Bayonetta trademark and yet Nintendo published Bayonetta 2 and 3. Namco owning the Baten Kaitos IP doesn't mean anything in regards to who would publish such a remaster. It could go both ways.

Nintendo has partial ownership of BK Origins at least

 

[MP!]

Graphical evidence could literally just mean promo assets like a release poster, box art, and stuff like that, right?

I suppose so
Just saying they worded it weirdly

 

[Instro]

Critics seemed to like it well enough; and there is definitely a vocal group of fans in the Nintendo community who love it. This is the weirdest claim in the whole post so I need to dwell on it.

It pushed over a million units, and we've seen far worse performing games (Famicom Detective Club, Xenoblade) get remakes on Switch, so I don't think that in particular is a mark against it.



Two years is a lot of time for things to change; and they clearly have seeing as he teased the prospects of a port on his YouTube channel a few months ago.

(The fact that he has been asked about it multiple times in the Switch gen, in 2018 before, and mentioned the number of fan requests for a remake or sequel in the 2021 comment should be proof enough that the game is well regarded, but I digress).

Sakurai isn't retired in that he will never work on a video game again; that isn't what he said at all. The speculation is pretty sound overall considering how remaster / remake heavy 2023-2024 seems to be based on rumors: Return to Dream Land in February, F-Zero GX, Metroid Prime, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, maybe now Baten Kaitos and possibly others from less reliable sources. I think it fits right in with the GC and Wii remasters as a beloved game that won't be coming in emulated form anytime soon.

Sorry should have been more specific. I'm not saying the game was bad or was a bomb, but from the perspective of what would get a game remastered/remade, in the absence of an internal team or producer wanting to make it happen, it doesn't exactly have the metrics or critical darling status to naturally make the business see the value. An ~80 average score and million units, is basically a solid exclusive that came and went.

Like Xenoblade was remade in large part because Monolith and Takahashi wanted to do it. Metroid Prime is apparently getting remade in large part because Tanabe and Sakamoto are around pushing for the series. Both also happen to be critical darlings of the GotY or GotG variety, and are/were active series.

Kid Icarus Uprising exists in a weird spot similar to F-Zero, except not quite as critically acclaimed. No existing producer or team who really cares about the franchise, and not much financially/critically to make the company care. Now F-Zero might finally get a remaster, or something with the franchise, but it took a long time to get to that point.

Hard to say where Sakurai falls in all of this. Unless you believe that comment in the video was a tease, which seems a little unlikely since it's a personal channel where is probably not at all approved to tease that. Comparatively his previous comments seem pretty strongly going in the opposite direction.

Point being, it hardly seems like a guaranteed thing to happen soon, or at all, whereas some people seem completely convinced that the Bamco game is KI:U without much reason.

 

[Leica]

No shot these are full remakes. Upscaled remasters with QoL improvements like most of these games is what I'd expect.

 

[mariodk18]

Sorry should have been more specific. I'm not saying the game was bad or was a bomb, but from the perspective of what would get a game remastered/remade, in the absence of an internal team or producer wanting to make it happen, it doesn't exactly have the metrics or critical darling status to naturally make the business see the value. An ~80 average score and million units, is basically a solid exclusive that came and went.

Like Xenoblade was remade in large part because Monolith and Takahashi wanted to do it. Metroid Prime is apparently getting remade in large part because Tanabe and Sakamoto are around pushing for the series. Both also happen to be critical darlings of the GotY or GotG variety, and are/were active series.

Kid Icarus Uprising exists in a weird spot similar to F-Zero, except not quite as critically acclaimed. No existing producer or team who really cares about the franchise, and not much financially/critically to make the company care. Now F-Zero might finally get a remaster, or something with the franchise, but it took a long time to get to that point.

Hard to say where Sakurai falls in all of this. Unless you believe that comment in the video was a tease, which seems a little unlikely since it's a personal channel where is probably not at all approved to tease that. Comparatively his previous comments seem pretty strongly going in the opposite direction.

Point being, it hardly seems like a guaranteed thing to happen soon, or at all, whereas some people seem completely convinced that the Bamco game is KI:U without much reason.

The biggest other reasons after Sakurai would be willing to "champion" Kid Icarus nor Sakurai's version of the series (Uprising). So a remake/remaster of Uprising is really the only future the series has. Yes it didn't do crazy sales, but like other dormant franchises (Famicom Detective Club), this is really the only way any of them will see a release in the near-mid future. Especially with Switch's userbase atm.

 

[EggmaniMN]

I do hope it's true but people need to not hold so tight to the word "remake" to mean some large scale production. They just use whatever word they want to mean whatever and people posting rumors do too.

That said, I certainly hope they've kept the higher quality renders of the backgrounds because I sure don't want a Final Fantasy 9 HD or Chrono Cross HD situation where the character models stand out against horribly low res bgs. I would also be very happy if they redid the voice acting but that's maybe too much to ask (it just wasn't very good). Dual audio would be enough.

 

[Dark Cloud]

Look at what Honne had said in 2018

It’s been 10 years since the release of Baten Kaitos 2 (Baten Kaitos Origins) and it’s pains me to continue getting requests for a sequel. Since enough time has gone by I think it’s okay to talk about it a bit. Right after the release of Baten Kaitos 2, I was working on a sequel at Namco (now Bandai Namco) and we were onto pre-productions, however before Baten Kaitos 3 could become a reality, talk between involved parties ended due to circumstances.



Had we released the game, it would’ve been something grand, and would take you to the bottom of the seas, the earth, and the sky. Bandai Namco still has a lot of my plan work that’s been sealed away. For those of you requesting a sequel, don’t just ask Monolith Soft and myself, but Bandai Namco as well.

 

[Samus95]

Rember that Namco created a European trademark for Origins 2 years ago

I bet on on remasters similar to Klonoa but with more money trow at it

 

[MondoMega]

The rumor is logically sound at least; in that Monolith likely have another project in production already. The number of staff credited on Xenoblade 3 leaves plenty unaccounted for; plus Koh Kojima isn't involved with Xenoblade 3’s story DLC (he stuck around for Torna), and Yasuyuki Honne isn’t credited on Xenoblade 3 at all, two major figures for Baten Kaitos.

It does make you think though; if this rumor and the F-Zero one are true, what did that investor know… Maybe Wario Land, Card Hero, The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls and Chosoju Mecha MG will show up in the rumor mill soon

 

[Bonejack]

... Please be true. ;_;

 

[Rainbow]

Would fit with my suggestion, that the last phase of Switch's support cycle will heavily rely on remasters/ remakes. With what i would be totally fine.

Give me Baten- Kaitos, Metroid Prime, F- Zero, Kid Icarus, Golden Sun, TTYD, and the Fire- Emblem Radiant games.

In this way, Nintendo can save ressources for Switch 2 projects, release lesser known game to a new audience and feed the 120+ million base of it's successfull console. Win/ win.

 

[Samus95]

The thing for me that I wonder Baten Kaitos is probably not the Namco HD remake that was reported, i mean it was described an action game

And Baten Kaitos is turn based card game(and tecnically not a remake if it included Origins)

 

[Yamanoi]

Would fit with my suggestion, that the last phase of Switch's support cycle will heavily rely on remasters/ remakes. With what i would be totally fine.

Give me Baten- Kaitos, Metroid Prime, F- Zero, Kid Icarus, Golden Sun, TTYD, and the Fire- Emblem Radiant games.

In this way, Nintendo can save ressources for Switch 2 projects, release lesser known game to a new audience and feed the 120+ million base of it's successfull console. Win/ win.

Interesting speculation, but I don't think Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, and TTYD are lesser known like Golden Sun, F-Zero, and Metroid Prime (2D metroid is more popular IMO!).

 

[Samus95]

The thing about Prime HD is that it should be probably not counted with teh Gamecube remasters, because it seems it exist as graphical remake that the other GC game will probably not get

 

[Samus95]

Something to keep an eye on, I guess, given the source is pretty definitive about it being this year. I'd love to see both games get remade/remastered because we never got Origins in Europe. Timeline in the article is a little odd - suggests an E3 reveal for a summer release, but that'd be cutting it close? Unless it's a relatively minimal job.

2023 really heavily rumoured to be the Year of the Coober, huh.

It would mimic the annuncments of Klonoa and Pac Man World Repac all close to release

 

[AngryNopon]

Hopefully the battle system of the first game will get some kind of update, because the combat in Origin is better in pretty much every way.

I also hope they won't have the audacity to fuck with the pre-rendered backgrounds.


I'm also a bit salty that Xenosaga isn't the series that gets to be rereleased but it's fine, i embrace the salt

 

[Bonejack]

Also if this ends up true, they have to do a Origins remake too.

If you're already jamming to BK 1's Chaotic Dance wait until you listen to Origin's Chaotic Dance.

 

[Vantell]

yeah I'm saying they contradict themselves here by stating they've seen it then not being able to tell if its just a gamecube game in HD or complete overhaul or somewhere inbetween.
If you've seen it you'd be able to at least narrow it down.

example if you saw "graphical evidence" of The resident evil remakes you'd know right away what it is
Additionally if you saw skyward sword HD you'd know right away what it was.

It depends what is shown. You can be shown artwork, alpha builds, beta builds, a simple titlescreen e.g.
That they know about the targeted release date doesn't mean they saw a final product. Their source could have gotten information that is from a much earlier build. Or perhaps they saw HD character models that are like Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition and didn't see anything else. That is the part of speculation

 

[Samus95]

Even in the cas it's just a remastered, they HAVE to redo the Eng voices

 

[MondoMega]

Interesting speculation, but I don't think Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, and TTYD are lesser known like Golden Sun, F-Zero, and Metroid Prime (2D metroid is more popular IMO!).

Metroid Prime was the best selling Metroid game for almost 20 years until Dread (if we’re comparing GameCube games, sold more copies on TTYD too; and of course more than Uprising and every Fire Emblem before Fates). Still the most critically acclaimed title of the series too.

I love F-Zero, but it and especially Golden Sun are not on the same level as Metroid Prime.