As has been the case with many well-received titles from other consoles and past generations, Ni No Kuni is coming to the Nintendo Switch with a remastered version of Wrath of the White Witch.
For over 6 years, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch languished as a PlayStation exclusive from the PS3 era. Released in Japan in 2011 and everywhere else in 2013, Wrath of the White Which would eventually become one of the most popular (and profitable) JRPGs ever to release on the Sony platform.
And now, finally, the game is getting a wider release. It’s also getting a graphical overhaul to take advantage of the many visual enhancements that have come about over the past 6 years.
In case you’re new to the Ni No Kuni franchise, Wrath of the White Witch is actually the third Ni No Kuni title and is, in fact, a remade and enhanced version of the original Ni No Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn which released on the Nintendo DS in 2010.
If you find this confusing, don’t worry, as you don’t need to have played any of the other games in the series to understand what’s going on.
The important feature for Wrath of the White Witch was that it was made in collaboration with legendary Japanese animator Studio Ghibli (which you might remember from such classic films as Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke). Ghibli provided the character designs and did the cutscene animations, while developer Level 5 made the actual game bits.
Wrath of the White Witch is a pretty typical JRPG that plays out exactly like a Studio Ghibli movie. The player character is a boy named Oliver trying to save his mother by traveling to a parallel universe filled with magic. Along the way, he’ll meet a bunch of colorful characters and somehow wind up saving the world.
Thus, after years, Wrath of the White Witch is getting remastered and released on PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
The enhancements are strictly graphical. The Nintendo Switch version will operate at 720p and 30 fps, while the PS4 and PC versions get 1080p graphics and a frame rate of 60 fps. Everything else--the world, the mechanics, and the audio presentation--remain exactly the same as the PS3 version.
This isn't necessarily negative, as Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch’s art style makes it look amazing at almost any fidelity, but being able to play it on the Switch wherever you want is a very nice perk.
The remastered Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch releases September 20th.