It's a great day for fans of the GameCube, because out of the polluted, barren earth, we have found a future in the sky once again: it's Baten Kaitos, baby! This Monolith Soft RPG and its prequel are emerging from the fog of 2003 for a much-deserved HD remaster, and it's coming this summer.
The remastered collection appears to have new and improved UI and main character graphics, a stabilized framerate, and new features including the ability to turn off encounters, auto battling, skipping cutscenes, and autosaving. Interestingly, the voiceover languages listed only seem to include Japanese for now - though the English voice acting of Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean was one of the main criticisms of it at the time.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean was first released in 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube as a collaboration between Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo, published by Bandai Namco predecessor Namco. It takes place in a world of sky islands hovering far above a polluted earth, where a group of nefarious actors are attempting to awaken an evil god and ignite an era of chaos. You play as the guardian spirit of a man named Kalas on a mission of revenge, joined by a young woman named Xelha with a much greater mission in mind. Its prequel, Origins, has similar but improved systems, and a whole new cast of characters exploring new and familiar locations from the first game on a quest of their own.
Baten Kaitos features a card battling and deck system, where cards can change depending on interactions with other cards, as well as other elements like playtime. When it first came out, we called it "one of the finer experiences on the GameCube", and we liked Baten Kaitos Origins a heck of a lot too. It's great news to see this incredible RPG franchise make a comeback all these years later.
For more from today's Nintendo Direct, check out our roundup of everything announced.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.