Grandia HD Collection arrives on Nintendo Switch next week

Japanese RPGs Grandia and Grandia 2 will soon be available on Nintendo Switch. Publisher GungHo announced in a press release that the polished-up Grandia HD Collection will arrive on Nintendo Switch August 16, with the PC remaster coming at a later date.

For the uninitiated, Grandia originally released in Japan on Sega Saturn in 1997, and in North America on the PlayStation in 1999. Grandia spawned a sequel that released in both Japan and North America in 2000, originally only available on Sega Dreamcast. Later ports of both games exist in various forms, but this is the first official HD remaster, making now a perfect time for Switch owners to introduce themselves to these classic Japanese RPG adventures.

The Grandia HD Collection includes HD remasters of both Grandia and Grandia II. UI, sprites, texture art, and cinematics have been visually enhanced, and both Japanese and English audio are supported. The Switch will be the first platform to add Grandia HD Collection to its library, followed by the PC at an unknown date. 

According to GungHo director of game publishing Takeshi Minagawa, the collection won't be releasing on PS4 due to the complexities of porting the games over to a 4k-enabled console. We can assume then that the Xbox One is being ruled out for similar reasons.

The PC version, which has yet to receive an official release date, will include widescreen support and customizable resolutions, along with Steam cards and Achievements. Again, these features are exclusive to the PC remaster.

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