Bandai Namco comments on lack of English voice acting for Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster are bringing back the original GameCube RPGs with numerous updates, but there’s one key omission as they won’t come with English voice acting. Both titles did have a dub originally, but it won’t be included for the new Switch release.

Producer Koji Nakajima explained the decision in a recent interview with Nintendo Everything. He mentioned how during development, the team “tried to make adjustments on some of the expressions to match the current era”. This would have ultimately caused “discrepancies”.

Nakajima’s full words:

“In developing the remastered version, we tried to make adjustments on some of the expressions to match the current era. That’s why we made the difficult decision not to use English VOs for this remastered version, due to the discrepancies that will happen.”

When it comes to the first Baten Kaitos, the English dub wasn’t exactly well-received. Still, having the option – especially for the second entry in which things were ironed out – wouldn’t have been a bad thing. Some fans have speculated that rights issues may have prevented the inclusion of English voice acting in Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster, but it seems that wasn’t a problem.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster launches for Switch on September 14, 2023.