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| engine =
| engine =
| platforms = [[Nintendo 3DS]]
| platforms = [[Nintendo 3DS]]
| released = {{Vgrelease new|JP|July 11, 2013|NA|November 6, 2015|AUS|December 5, 2015|EU|2016}}
| released = {{Vgrelease new|JP|July 11, 2013|NA|November 6, 2015|KOR|November 26, 2015|AUS|December 5, 2015|EU|2016}}
| genre = [[Role-playing video game|Role-playing]]
| genre = [[Role-playing video game|Role-playing]]
| modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]], [[multiplayer]]
| modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]], [[multiplayer]]

Revision as of 07:33, 16 October 2015

Yo-Kai Watch
North American and European packaging artwork
Developer(s)Level-5
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Producer(s)Akihiro Hino
Designer(s)Tatsuya Shinkai
Composer(s)Kenichiro Saigo
SeriesYo-Kai Watch
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS
Release
  • JP: July 11, 2013
  • NA: November 6, 2015
  • KOR: November 26, 2015
  • AU: December 5, 2015
  • EU: 2016
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Yo-Kai Watch (Japanese: 妖怪ウォッチ, Hepburn: Yōkai Wotchi) is a role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. Originally released in Japan on July 11, 2013, the game is based around the Yōkai of Japanese folklore, who are said to be ghosts and apparitions that cause mischief in daily life. In Yo-Kai Watch, player character Nathan "Nate" Adams is given the titular watch, which gives him the ability to see Yōkai, after stumbling across and befriending a butler Yōkai named Whisper. Players assume the role of Nate, as he travels around town searching for and befriending peaceful Yo-Kai, battling hostile Yo-Kai, and solving problems caused by mischievous Yo-Kai.

The game was initially released to a positive commercial and critical reception in Japan, and a steady rise in popularity spawned various media spin-offs, such as a toy line and an anime series, in addition to a sequel to the game, released the following year for the Nintendo 3DS. Despite the franchise's success in Japan, the game would not be released internationally until two years later, when Nintendo announced plans to localize the game in the west. After being showcased at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and the EB Games Expo, the game is set to be released in North America on November 6, 2015 and in Australia on December 5, 2015, with a release in Europe sometime in 2016. As of November 2014, the game has sold a total of 1.29 million units in Japan alone, making it one of the best selling games on the Nintendo 3DS.

Gameplay

The battle system in Yo-Kai Watch. The player uses a spin dial on the touchscreen to switch between Yo-Kai during battle.

In Yo-Kai Watch is a role-playing video game where the player searches around Sakura New Town for Yo-kai using the 3DS' touchscreen. Players befriend Yo-kai by giving them a food that they like before beginning battle, and after defeating the Yo-Kai it approaches the player character and gives them its Yo-kai Medal, allowing it to be summoned at will. Yo-kai can also be acquired through an in game Gasha Machine by collecting in-game coins or using Play Coins. Certain Yo-kai are necessary for completing the game's main quest, and special rare Yo-kai are acquired through various subquests. Yo-kai have the capability to evolve into more powerful versions of themselves if they reach a certain level, or they can evolve by combining with particular items or other Yo-kai. The Yo-kai are divided amongst eight different classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. There are also Legend Yo-kai that can only be obtained by collecting a particular set of Yo-kai listed in the Yo-kai Medallium, a compendium of the different Yo-kai the player has encountered or befriended, as well as Boss Yo-kai that cannot be befriended in the original game, but can become the player's friends in Ganso and Honke.

When the player encounters a Yo-kai, he enters into battle with it using six Yo-kai that the player has befriended previously. The touchscreen is used during battles to rotate amongst the player's Yo-kai in battle at will. It is also used either to clear up status effects on the player's Yo-kai or to charge up the Yo-kai's special abilities.

A common in-game event is "Oni Time" (Terror Time), where the player character enters a nightmare realm where he or she looks for treasure chests with special items in them all while trying to avoid being seen by other Yo-kai. If spotted, the player is chased by a powerful Oni Yo-Kai that can easily wipe out the player's party unless he or she can escape. It is possible to defeat the Oni, but only if the player's Yo-Kai are particularly powerful.[1] The player can also encounter similarly powerful Namahage Yo-kai if the player crosses the street on a red light, but the encounter may be beneficial if the player follows the rules.[2]

Development

Yo-Kai Watch was developed by Level-5, a Japanese video game developer based in Fukuoka, Japan. Before Yo-Kai Watch, Level-5 were best known for their Professor Layton series of puzzle adventure games for the Nintendo DS, one of the best selling game series on the platform, with 15 million units sold across six titles.[3][4] At a time where Level-5 were already successful with resonating with younger gamers with multiple IPs such as Inazuma Eleven and Ni no Kuni, many of the Level-5 staff expressed interest in creating, in Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino's words, the new Doraemon; a title that would "be loved by many people over a long period of time". The team agreed that such a title would be an open world role-playing game.[5]

We’ve created a lot of different IPs, and I figured it was about time that we made something like Doraemon, that could be loved by many people over a long period of time. That was the start of it. I researched what would give something appeal and longevity, and pondered what would be relatable to people and developed the open world RPG that children could play, Yo-Kai Watch. I think title’s popularity is the fruits of trial and error.

— Akihiro Hino, interview with Weekly Famitsu[5]

Marketing

Yo-Kai Watch was officially unveiled to the public by Level-5 at the 2011 Tokyo Game Show, where it was announced during the company's annual Level-5 Vision press conference.[6][7] It was planned from the start that Yo-Kai Watch would be a franchise that consisted of a manga and anime series.[7] A shōnen manga series by Noriyuki Konishi began serialization in CoroCoro Comic from December 15, 2012. This series has been licensed by Viz Media under its Perfect Square imprint. The series went on to earn awards for best Children's Manga at the 2014 Kodansha Manga Awards and at the 2015 Shogakukan Manga Awards.[8] Prior to the release of Yo-Kai Watch in Japan, a game demo was made available to download from the Nintendo eShop on July 3, 2013.[9]

An anime series based on the video game premiered on the TX Network, owned by TV Tokyo, on January 8, 2014, six months after the release of the game.[10] The series ran continuously on TV Tokyo for an initial run of 76 episodes from January 2014 through to July 2015. The series was renewed for a second season, starting July 2015, starring a new cast of characters as opposed to the original series.[11] As part of efforts to localize Yo-Kai Watch in western countries, the series was broadcast in the United States; dubbed in English and premiered on Disney XD on October 5, 2015, a month before the release of the game in North America.[12] The series will also be broadcast in Australia on GO! in 2016, after the release of the game.[13]

Reception

Critical reception

Japanese video game magazine Famitsu scored the game a 36 out of 40, with all of the four judges of the review giving the game 9 out of 10. Editor Reona Ebihara wrote that "the game gradually expands its feature set as you go, opening up this very unique world that's easy to melt into." He also commented positively of the game's use of the Nintendo 3DS' stereoscopic features and its "simple and deeply strategic" battle system. Fellow reviewer Urara Honma corroborated with Ebihara's remarks, stating that the battle system felt "really great to control". He further wrote, "You won't run into much frustration playing this game, and while it does feel like one big fetch quest at times, the charms of the story more than make up for that."[14]

Commercial performance

A chart depicting weekly sales of Yo-Kai Watch in Japan from July 2013 to December 2014. (Click to enlarge)

Yo-Kai Watch debuted with a strong opening week, selling over 53,000 units in it's first week of availability; the best selling handheld game in Japan and second-best selling game in Japan for that week, beaten only by Nintendo's 92,000 unit sales for Pikmin 3.[15] In a list published at the end of the year, Japanese video game magazine Famitsu named Yo-Kai Watch as the 23rd best selling game in Japan, with just over 280,000 units sold.[16] After the debut of the Yo-Kai Watch anime in January 2014, Level-5, a month later, reported that the sales numbers for the game had spiked to over 500,000 physical copies of the game sold alone, without including digital download sales.[17] The number was brought up to over 800,000, including digital sales, after sales tracker Media Create reported the game had sold as much by May 2015, though, Famitsu reported a more conservative estimate of 650,000 in the same time frame.[18] The month earlier, however, Level-5 reported that they had, in fact, shipped 1 million units,[19] with Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino stating, in an interview with Famitsu, that he believed that the game would reach the million sales mark soon.[18] By June, a month before the release of the game's sequel, Yo-Kai Watch 2, the game had crossed the million sales milestone, according to Media Create, after a steady increase of weekly sales since January 2014.[20] By November 2014, the game had sold a total of just under 1,294,000 units sold in Japan.[21]

Sequels

A sequel to Yo-Kai Watch was released in July 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS in two versions: Yo-Kai Watch 2: Ganso (妖怪ウォッチ2 元祖, Yōkai Wotchi 2 Ganso) and Yo-Kai Watch 2: Honke (妖怪ウォッチ2 本家, Yōkai Wotchi 2 Honke). Borrowing near-identical gameplay elements from the original Yo-Kai Watch, the games featured a brand new setting, additional game modes and a broadly expanded roster of Yo-Kai. The games were released to positive critical reception, and an overwhelmingly successful commercial performance boosted by the popularity of the anime and the preceding game. Both versions of the game accumulated pre-order sales of over 800,000,[22] with the games selling over 1.28 million units in their first week of sale.[23] The games would go on to become the best selling games in Japan for 2014, selling over 3 million copies by December and outperforming Nintendo's Pokémon franchise with Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise, with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.[24][25] The games join Yo-Kai Watch as two of the best selling games on the Nintendo 3DS. A third version of the game, Yo-Kai Watch 2: Shin'uchi (妖怪ウォッチ2 真打, Yōkai Wotchi 2 Shin'uchi), was released in December 2014, adding enhancements to the original Ganso and Honke versions of the game. In addition, a second sequel, Yo-Kai Watch 3, is also planned, slated for a 2016 release in Japan.[26]

References

  1. ^ "Can't Sleep Onis Will Chase You In Level-5's Youkai Watch". Siliconera. June 9, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  2. ^ "Level 5's Next Major RPG Has A Number Of Areas To Explore". Siliconera. July 11, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  3. ^ Ponce, Tony (August 28, 2013). "Layton series has sold over 15 million units". Destructoid. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  4. ^ Fahmy, Albaraa (August 27, 2013). "Level-5 reveals sales figures for 'Ni No Kuni', 'Professor Layton', 'Guild'". Digital Spy. Hearst Corporation. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Nakamura, Toshi (July 10, 2014). "How Yokai Watch Was Engineered To Be A Massive Hit". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  6. ^ Romano, Sal (October 15, 2011). "Level-5 Vision 2011 trailers". Gematsu. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Level5 Vision Recap". Level-5. October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  8. ^ "Viz Media Adds Yo-kai Watch Manga to Perfect Square Imprint". Anime News Network. April 6, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  9. ^ Romano, Sal (July 1, 2013). "Yokai Watch demo hits Japan on Wednesday". Gematsu. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  10. ^ "Yōkai Watch TV Anime to Premiere in January". Anime News Network. November 16, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  11. ^ "Yo-Kai Watch Anime's 2nd Season Previewed in Video". Anime News Network. April 7, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  12. ^ "Japan's Record-Breaking New Anime Franchise YO-KAI WATCH™ Premieres Tonight On Disney XD @ 5 ET/PT; Product Sneak Peak Today!" (Press release). Santa Monica, California: CNNMoney. PR Newswire. October 5, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  13. ^ "Yo-Kai Watch to Launch in Australia and New Zealand". Nintendo Australia. Nintendo Co., Ltd. October 5, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Gifford, Kevin (July 3, 2013). "Japan Review Check: Yokai Watch, New Super Luigi U". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  15. ^ Handrahan, Matthew (July 18, 2015). "Pikmin 3 boosts Wii U sales in Japan". Gamesindustry.biz. Eurogamer / Gamer Network. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  16. ^ Brian (January 29, 2014). "Famitsu: Top 100 Best-Selling Games of 2013". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  17. ^ Carter, Chris (February 19, 2014). "Level-5 reports Yo-Kai Watch has sold over 500,000". Destructoid. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  18. ^ a b Sato (May 5, 2014). "Even Level-5′s President Was Surprised About Yo-kai Watch's Booming Popularity". Siliconera. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  19. ^ "Nintendo 3DS™ Game Yo-Kai Watch Ships Over 1 Million Units". Level-5. April 22, 2014. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  20. ^ Romano, Sal (June 4, 2014). "Media Create Sales: 5/26/14 – 6/1/14". Gematsu. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  21. ^ Romano, Sal (November 12, 2014). "Media Create Sales: 11/3/14 – 11/9/14". Gematsu. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  22. ^ Romano, Sal (July 12, 2014). "Yokai Watch 2 had 814,000 pre-orders in Japan". Gematsu. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  23. ^ MacGregor, Kyle (July 15, 2014). "Yo-Kai Watch 2 sells 1.28 million in just four days". Destructoid. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  24. ^ Ashcraft, Brain (January 15, 2015). "Pokémon Wasn't The Biggest Seller in Japan Last Year". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  25. ^ Duwell, Ron (July 9, 2015). "Japan's 1,000 best selling video games in 2014 – Yokai Watch is super effective against Pokémon". Techno Buffalo. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  26. ^ Good, Owen S. (April 8, 2015). "Yo-Kai Watch's next sequel is set in the United States". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
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