Yo-kai Watch (video game)


 * This article is about the Yōkai Watch video game. There are also several other Yōkai Watch related articles with the same title, see Yōkai Watch (disambiguation).

is the first game of the Yo-Kai Watch series released for the Nintendo 3DS by Level-5.

The game was first announced in the Japanese magazine CoroCoro which Level-5 revealed the game was in development.

The game was released on July 11, 2013 in Japan, and on April 2015, Level-5 announced that Nintendo would handle the localization of the game in the west. At the E3 of 2015, Nintendo revealed that the game will release in North America on November 6th of 2015. The game will arrive in Australia and New Zealand on December 5, 2015 and the game will arrive in South Korea on November 26, 2015. An official release date is not known in Europe, only that it will be released somewhere in 2016.

The game has an official demo in the Nintendo eShop that can be downloaded as of October 22, 2015 in North America.

Development
On October 14, 2011, Level-5 announced a new game at their Level 5 Vision conference in Tokyo, and the title was revealed as Yo-Kai Watch. Level-5 didn't reveal on which platform the game shall be released, as they revealed that it would be a multimedia project same as other franchises developed by Level-5. They did released a trailer showing a character with the ability to see and interact with ghosts. He can also use his ghost to battle against other ghosts as well.

On October 14, 2011, screenshots of the game has been revealed as well the screenshots of the anime of the series. October 13, 2012, Level-5 revealed that the game would be released for the Nintendo 3DS in a issue of the Japanese magazine CoroCoro.

Level-5 revealed the character as an 11-year old boy named Nathan Adams, which is also the main character of the game. Whisper and Jibanyan join Nathan and his watch helps him to find Yo-Kai when he looks around town. It has revealed that some Yo-Kai's are friendly, while others are causing ruckus in town and it's up to Nathan to defeat them with a party of three Yo-Kai's. They then revealed that the game takes place in a regular town named Sakura New Town, and also revealed three other characters that are as well in the game. Katie, Eddie and Bear are all three Nathan's friends as well as his classmates.

They revealed that Whisper is a ghost-like Yo-Kai butler, Tattletell is mostly seen stuck on a human's face and Walkappa is a Yo-Kai that loves water.

Music
The Yo-Kai Watch Original Soundtrack was composed by and it includes four discs. The first disc contains 40 tracks in total, which the second disc contains 44 tracks in total, which the third disc contains 48 tracks in total and the fourth disc is a bonus which includes three songs from the animation series.

Pre-order & Bundles
GameStop will give away a free Jibanyan pin if players in America pre-ordering the game at the store which the pin work may vary. Nintendo of America revealed that there will be a Nintendo 2DS bundle containing the game with the cost of only $99,99. In Australia and New Zealand, the games will be bundled with the Nintendo 2DS on its release on December 5th with a cost of $169.95.

Events
Nintendo of America announced that there will be a release party on Saturday 7 November, 2015 at the Nintendo World Store at the Rockefeller Center from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. Peoples who are attending the event will meet Akihiro Hino the president of Level-5, as well getting an autograph from him. Hino will appears at the Nintendo World Store around between 1:00 and 2:00 pm.

Reception
Famitsu gave Yo-Kai Watch a score of 36 of 40. Japanese reviewer Reona Ebihara wrote "The game gradually expands its feature set as you go, opening up this very unique world that's easy to melt into." as well "The 3D visuals work great, serving especially well to put you right there as you're searching for spirits in the grass. The battles proceed automatically but let you change formations and offer support in realtime, keeping things both simple and deeply strategic." Japanese writer Urara Honma added "The game balances collection, battle, and monster-raising in a really expert manner." as well "The battles use the touchscreen deftly to boost their strategic aspects; it feels really great to control. 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."

Yo-Kai Watch sold a total of 1.33 million copies in Japan.

Trivia

 * It took two years for Level-5 to release the game in Japan, and two years after the Japanese release in North America and three years after the Japanese release in Europe.
 * The cover art of the game is different than that of it's western cover art, showing only Jibanyan on the cover with several Yo-Kai's on the background, which the Yo-Kai are not even coloured. In the western cover, it shows Nathan as well as several Yo-Kai's, while the background is the same as that of Japanese cover art.

Legacy
After the release of the game in Japan, Yo-Kai Watch became a massive success among children as well as among Japanese teenagers. The game sold around 1.33 million copies to date, as in total, the franchise sold over 5 million copies of the game series. The series also caused debates among Pokémon fans due to the similar gameplay between both series. A year later, the game received two sequels known as Yo-Kai Watch 2: Ganso and Honke, as well as several releases of side-games for mobile phones, or for the Nintendo 3DS.

A year after the release of Yo-Kai Watch 2: Ganso & Honke, Yo-Kai Watch 2: Shin'uchi was released in Japan. The franchise is also collaborating with different game companies, such as Koei and Ubisoft.

Level-5 announced the sequel to Yo-Kai Watch 2, Yo-Kai Watch 3 for the Nintendo 3DS. The game will be released sometime during the summer of 2016 in Japan.