Bandai Namco is on a roll of resurrecting dormant PlayStation IPs. At the March 2025 Nintendo Direct, they announced a remaster of Patapon 1 and 2, as a bundled collection as Patapon 1+2 Replay.
For the uninitiated, Patapon is a rhythm strategy action game where you lead the Patapons, the monochromatic creatures that look like they all have one big eye. And you do so by the use of four different drums rather than controlling the Patapons (that chant like schoolchildren) directly. Play a specific drum pattern to a rhythm to command the Patapons (divided into different units from a bearers to archers) to advance, attack, defend and do much more as you lead them towards Earthend.
The remaster includes features not available in the original release like difficulty settings, timing adjustments (that should help folks with no rhythm to still enjoy the game) and a constant command display.
Originally released in 2007 and 2008 for the PSP, both games were previously remastered for the PS4, released in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Though this is the first time the Patapon series will venture out of PlayStation.
The Patapon series had three entries, before going dormant. The original developers of the game are currently making a spiritual successor, Ratatan, which brings the Patapon-like gameplay but with a roguelite twist.
PlayStation still holds the rights to the Patapon IP. Wild to see an external publisher like Bandai Namco reviving these dormant classics and making it available on multiple platforms, but maybe it’s not that wild. Death Stranding, which PlayStation has the rights to the series, has been published outside of the platform via another third-party publisher. So it’s not entirely unprecedented.
In the same Nintendo Direct, Bandai Namco announced a new entry to Everybody’s Golf, another dormant PlayStation IP, for a multiplatform release.
Patapon 1+2 Replay releases on July 10 for the PS5 and Nintendo Switch. In Asia, the PC (Steam) release comes 1 day later on July 11.