Eiyuden Chronicle was surprisingly announced as a next-generation spiritual successor to the classic Suikoden JRPG franchise. Now that it's gone live on Kickstarter, the platforms have been detailed and they include a rather strange listing for "Nintendo's next-generation console."
Suikoden is a game franchise that is well-loved by JRPG fans, if only for the crazy mix of different gameplay elements it allows. Traditionally, a Suikoden game lets you collect 108 heroes — most of whom are playable — build and grow a base for your companions, and occasionally repel attacks against invading armies.
It's been quite a while since we've seen a proper game in the franchise. Now, it's original creators are bringing us Eiyuden Chronicle, a spiritual successor that aims to replicate that same great gameplay with some modern additions. Strangely, the Kickstarter campaign also happens to be targeting a console that doesn't even exist yet.
No, Eiyuden Chronicle Did Not Just Announce the Nintendo Switch 2
If you're thinking that this Kickstarter just stealth announced the Nintendo Switch 2, I'm going to have to disappoint you. Have a gander at what they say in the campaign:
For this campaign, the launch timing will most likely put us right in the middle of a console transition period, meaning that some people will own [next-gen] consoles, and some will not. This is less than ideal when trying to run a Kickstarter campaign that you want to cater to the maximum number of people. We need to determine a single quality baseline for the game.
Currently, we are offering [Eiyuden Chronicle] on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo's [next-generation] console.
The elephant in the room is that while nobody knows what Nintendo's plans are for when this game releases, in just about every major Japanese game crowdfunding campaign, when a [lower-spec] hardware has been listed on the campaign, it has invariably been too expensive, [oftentimes] requiring downgrading textures, massive amounts of code rewrites, effectively meaning building two games.
With a development period of 2–3 additional years, it is certainly possible that a Nintendo Switch 2 will come out. If it doesn't, the devs have two contingency plans in place. The first is that they'll eat the cost on making changes to get the game to run on the O.G. Switch. If that can't be done for some reason, they'll just refund backers who were hoping to get this game on a Nintendo console if there is "absolutely no solution" to this challenge.
Console versions are a stretch goal at the $1 million mark, but they're almost certainly coming since this campaign raised about $20,000 in the time I've written this article. The campaign is nearly at its goal barely an hour after its launch and there are still 31 days to go, so we're definitely going to see this game get made.
Whether it comes on the Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 or something else entirely, however, is a detail we probably won't know for certain for a year or two at least. In the meantime, you should consider pledging to the Eiyuden Chronicle Kickstarter and secure a copy of what is sure to be one of the greatest JRPG revivals in recent memory.
Do you think there will be a Nintendo Switch 2 in the next three years? What platform would be the best for playing this sort of game? Let us know in the comments below!
