Yo-kai Watch 4

, or simply titled is a  for the Nintendo Switch and is the fourth mainline game in the Yo-kai Watch franchise.

It was released on June 20, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch in Japan and will come out for the PlayStation 4. A western localisation was confirmed to be in the works at the Level-5 panel at Anime Expo 2019.

Yo-kai Watch 4 introduces a slew of new features and graphical improvements, including a third-person view with drastically-improved graphics rather than the top-down view present in earlier entries, and a completely different action RPG-based battle system.

Blurb
"A grand journey that goes beyond the time and space of the world in which Natsume, Nate, and Shin live in".

Plot
In the Yo-kai World, Soranaki is destroying the world while Enma and Nurarihyon both fight their way to stop it. When Soranaki says that everything is under his control, and that their attacks are useless against him, Enma powers up into his awoken form and attempts to finish him off. Soranaki eventually manages to freeze time before Enma could use his Soultimate, turning him into stone, leaving Nurarihyon behind, who goes to find help.

Gameplay
For the first time in the series, Yo-kai Watch 4 switches to a new third-person perspective rather than a top-down view allowing for more detail to be presented in the characters and the world, taking advantage of the Nintendo Switch's hardware.

While players still search for Yo-kai in some place, they can now jump to reach high areas, and run with unlimited stamina outside of battles.

Battle System
Yo-kai Watch 4 introduces a completely new battle system, which functions in a similar manner to the Big Bosses in Yo-kai Watch Blasters. While Yo-kai can still be leveled regularly, the playable character is now able to level up, allowing for more power to be used in the watch.

The player can now fight the opponents Which can have different effects depending on the character. This battle system is called Yo-ki, in which the human can fire different shots and assist in battle.

The befriending mechanic has also been drastically overhauled; the player now must use the watch to extract the souls of Yo-kai in a specific order which can depend on the targeted Yo-kai based on the Rank and Tribe.

Development
Around the end of May 2017, series creator Akihiro Hino said that he "wanted to refresh the series" due to the decline in sales of Yo-kai Watch 3, compared to Yo-kai Watch 2. He also stated that a "new flow" would begin with Yo-kai Watch Shadowside: The Return of the Oni King, and hopes it would bring back old fans of the franchise.

Details on the fourth mainline game were finally revealed in April 2018, with the release set for Winter 2018 on the Nintendo Switch. It was also revealed that characters from Yo-kai Watch Shadowside would appear, and said that there would be "an upgrade" that will surprise the players.

More details on the game were also revealed in the monthly CoroCoro magazines that revealed 11 new Yo-kai Tribes for Yo-kai Watch 4. The new tribes are listed as Goriki, Onnen, Mononoke, Tsukumono, Uwanosora, Omamori, Mikakunin, Oni, Izana, Mikado, and Shinma.

The first teaser for the game was released on June 23, 2018. It also revealed that the game features a young Nate in his Yo-kai Watch 3 outfit, along with Whisper, and Jibanyan in their original designs. The teaser also featured new characters Shin Shimomachi, and Nekomata, who appear in the fifth movie Yo-kai Watch: Forever Friends. They all are shown to enter the setting of the game through certain doors opened by Natsume.

Delays
On October 10, 2018, Level-5 had announced that Yo-kai Watch 4 was to be delayed into Spring 2019 with no slated release date. No official reasons had been given for the delay. Through a CoroCoro scan of the March 2019 issue and later a trailer, it was revealed to be releasing in Japan on June 6th. A second delay was announced in May 2019, pushing the release date to June 20th.

Reception
Yo-kai Watch 4 sold a total of 150,721 copies within the first week, making a big decrease from the previous entries in the franchise. Despite that, it still managed to peak at number 1 in the Nintendo Switch games chart for one week before being overtaken by Super Mario Maker 2.

Famitsu gave the game a 37 out of 40.

Regular Edition
The physical edition of Yo-kai Watch 4 comes with a special Daichiki Yo-kai Ark of Jibanyan, Lightside Jibanyan and Nekomata, which allows it to be redeemed for a Five-Star coin and a select handful of items. If the game is downloaded digitally from the eShop, the player will be given a Damona as a gift.

Pre-order Editions
One of three cards containing a code to unlock an exclusive item can be obtained, by pre-ordering from a specific retailer.
 * The Red Cat Crimson Sword (Item Card A) can be unlocked by pre-ordering from Amazon Japan. Additionally, A clear file design of Whisper can also be bought.
 * The White Dog White Silver Sword (Item Card B) can be unlocked by pre-ordering from 7-11, Lawson or the Level-5 Online Store.
 * The Moon Rabbit Golden Gun (Item Card C) can be obtained by pre-ordering from other game retailers.

Updates
Before the game's release, Akihiro Hino said that there will be a total of 810 Yo-kai, distributed through both free and paid updates. The website further updated this, with them coming monthly which add new Yo-kai to the game.

August Update
There was a free update 9th August, which added a new location called Yoriku Kokigan which became available after finishing the main storyline, with Boss Yo-kai Raidenryu. The update also included over 18 returning and new befriendable Yo-kai.

Future Updates
It is confirmed that there will be paid updates that include online multiplayer and a world based on the setting of M06.

Trivia

 * Yo-kai Watch 4 is the very first mainline Yo-kai Watch game:
 * to be released on a console, rather than a pure handheld; the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid of both.
 * to have upcoming updates that need to be paid for, unlike previous games where updates were always free.
 * to have a lower amount of Yo-kai than the first game in the series on the base version (only 110+), but will eventually surpass the amount found in Yo-kai Watch 3 (698+) with around 810 Yo-kai promised in total, all added through updates.
 * to be played in a third-person view, much like what was shown in the 2011 trailer for Yo-kai Watch.
 * to have the ability for the player to "jump" in the air to reach high places.
 * to not feature the stamina bar in the overworld, meaning the player can sprint indefinitely while running or riding their bike.
 * However, the stamina bar is now present during battles.
 * to switch between more than two protagonists.
 * to have a battling mechanic similar to Yo-kai Watch Blasters and Yo-kai Watch Busters 2.
 * to allow the actions of the humans to be of use in battle.
 * to feature a 24-hour in-game clock. Though, previous games technically had that feature, it didn't show the time displayed.
 * to be set in the winter season, taking place in Shin's world.
 * to include a redesigned logo that was different from the one seen in pre-release material.
 * to allow the player to change the nicknames of both human and Yo-kai characters whenever they want, without the help of Wazzat.
 * to be released in the Reiwa Period.
 * to introduce the use of Yo-kai Arks, Youseiken and Genjuu Discs.
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 is also the third game in a while since Yo-kai Watch and Yo-kai Sangokushi that isn't split into two versions (excluding the North American/European version of Yo-kai Watch 3, which of course is a definitive version).
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 is the second Yo-kai Watch game to be released on a console, with the first being Yo-kai Watch Dance: Just Dance Special Version.
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 is also the first Yo-kai Watch game to be released on the Nintendo Switch.
 * A keychain of an alternate Yo-kai Watch 4 boxart was given out at the World Hobby Fair Spring 2019. It was originally presumed to be the boxart, but it was confirmed to be untrue later on.
 * Katie Forester appears in the demo during a rare cutscene, but it was unknown at the time if she would be playable, until new info on the official website listed her as one of the 6 playable Watchers.
 * Additionally, a splash screen at the beginning and end of the Tokyo Game Show 2018 gameplay demo showed artwork of all the different forms of Jibanyan, including Kuroi Jibanyan. It's unknown if Kuroi Jibanyan will ever make an appearance in the game, as he is the only form to not appear at launch.
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 contains the most playable human characters, with a grand total of 6 playable human characters.
 * This will be the very first Yo-kai Watch game to be released on a non-Nintendo console, alongside the Nintendo Switch.
 * Initially, the first game was meant to release on PlayStation 3, but was never conceived, and was instead made for the Nintendo 3DS.