One of our favourite moments from February’s Nintendo Direct was the announcement that Baten Kaitos and its prequel were being updated for Nintendo’s Switch. Despite receiving a fair amount of critical acclaim on release, both titles flew under the radar of many gamers and the second game, Baten Kaitos: Origins, didn’t even receive a European release, staying exclusive to Japan and the US.
“The character design, background music and other aspects of Baten Kaitos were developed by very talented creators [Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo], and the RPG series is highly acclaimed by customers as a masterpiece,” Koji Nakajima, who is producer on the remaster, proudly tells us. It makes sense then that Bandai Namco would want to give the series another release, particularly when you consider how big the Switch’s install base currently is.
If you’ve never played Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings And The Lost Ocean (to give it its full name) before then you’re in for a treat. It’s an entertaining RPG with a bunch of colourful characters, exotic locations and a distinctive battle system that utilises playing cards known as Magnus. “Each character has a deck of cards called Magnus and in battle, the player attacks or heals by selecting a Magnus drawn from the deck,” Nakajima explains. “There are also unique and strategic elements, such as the Ice Magnus that becomes Water over the course of multiple turns that can then heal characters.”
This story is from the Issue 247 edition of Retro Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 247 edition of Retro Gamer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
PLAYING CO-OP
This month's collector isn't going it alone
The 400 Mini
MORE FUN, LESS HASSLE?
THE MAKING OF BURNOUT 3 TAKEDOWN™
THIS IS THE REMARKABLE STORY OF HOW CRITERION'S DISASTROUS DEAL WITH EA TO REMAKE A CLASSIC SKATEBOARDING GAME SOMEHOW LED TO THE BRITISH STUDIO CREATING ONE OF THE BEST RACERS OF ALL TIME
PSP Go
While Sony was no stranger to tinkering with its hardware, the PSP got a lot of attention over the years – the PSP Go was the fourth major iteration of the hardware, and the most radical redesign.
THE IMPACT OF 3rd STRIKE STREET FIGHTEr III
THEY SAY THIRD TIME'S A CHARM, ALTHOUGH STREET FIGHTER III DIDN'T IGNITE FIGHTING GAMES IN THE SAME WAY AS ITS PREDECESSOR UNTIL 3RD STRIKE. MEMBERS OF THE FIGHTING GAME COMMUNITY TELL US HOW THIS COMEBACK CEMENTED ITS PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF 2D FIGHTERS
ARCADE WRATH OF THE MUTANTS
A NEW TURTLES BEAT-'EM-UP IS FINALLY HEADING HOME AFTER YEARS OF DELIGHTING ARCADE-GOERS WE TALK TO EUGENE JARVIS AND MARC-ANDRÉ JUTRAS TO LEARN HOW THIS THROWBACK BRAWLER CAME TO BE, AND HOW IT'S BEEN EXPANDED FOR CONSOLES
THE MAKING OF STAR TREK 25TH ANNIVERSARY
SPACE MAY BE THE FINAL FRONTIER BUT STAR TREK ADVENTURE GAMES WERE PRETTY MUCH THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY IN THE EARLY NINETIES. AT LEAST UNTIL STAR TREK: 25TH ANNIVERSARY CAME ALONG A GAME THAT DARED TO GO WHERE NO STAR TREK GAME HAD GONE BEFORE
Datasette
If you’re going to adopt a common storage method across a range of computers, it makes sense to make the hardware as widely compatible as possible – and that’s just what Commodore did with the Datasette, known by the model numbers 1530 and C2N.
THE MAKING OF CAPTAIN BLOOD
AS HE TRAVELS THE HYDRA GALAXY IN HIS SHIP THE ARK, CAPTAIN BLOOD MUST TRACK DOWN AND DISINTEGRATE HIS FIVE REMAINING CLONES. TO DO SO, HE’LL HAVE TO COMMUNICATE WITH SEVERAL ALIEN SPECIES USING THE UPCOM, A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE DEVICE. UNIVERSALITY IS THE KEY CONCEPT BEHIND THIS WIDELY ACCLAIMED FRENCH CLASSIC
SUPER METROID AN ENDURING LEGACY
AS NINTENDO'S SCI-FI CLASSIC TURNS 30 WE REVISIT THE PLANET ZEBES AND SPEAK TO DEVELOPERS OF BOTH METROIDVANIAS AND ACTUAL METROID GAMES TO LEARN WHAT MAKES SAMUS ARAN'S 2D ADVENTURE SO SPECIAL