Yo-kai Watch 4

Unreleased

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

Yo-kai Watch 4 will introduce a slew of new features and graphical improvements, including a third-person view with full-scale 3D graphics rather than the top-down view present in earlier entries and a completely different action RPG-based battle system.

It will be released on June 20, 2019 in Japan.

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

Gameplay
Main Article: Gameplay of Yo-kai Watch For the first time in the series, Yo-kai Watch 4 switches to a different 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.

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. The playable character is now able to level up as well as the Yo-kai.

This battle system is called Yo-ki, in which the human can fire different shots and assist in battle.

Development
Around the end of May 2017, series creator Akihiro Hino 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, which would win back older fans of the franchise.

Details on the fourth mainline game were finally revealed in April 2018, with it set to be released around Winter 2018 on the Nintendo Switch with a Winter 2018 release date. It will feature characters from Yo-kai Watch Shadowside and will feature 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 will feature 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 are set to 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.

Trivia

 * Yo-kai Watch 4 will be the very first mainline Yo-kai Watch game:
 * To be released on a console, rather than the pure handheld, the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid of both.
 * 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.
 * 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 be released in the Reiwa Period.
 * 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).
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 will be the second Yo-kai Watch game to be released on a console. The first Yo-kai Watch game to release on a console is Yo-kai Watch Dance: Just Dance Special Version.
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 will also be the first Yo-kai Watch game to be released on the Nintendo Switch.
 * A keychain of Yo-kai Watch 4 was given out at World Hobby Fair 2019. People thought it was the box art though this later proved to be untrue.
 * 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 that demo show artwork of all the different forms of Jibanyan's character, including Kuroi Jibanyan. It hasn't been revealed yet if the Kuroi Yo-kai will appear in the game.
 * Yo-kai Watch 4 contains the most playable human characters with a grand total of 6 playable human characters.