Terror Time

Terror Time (Japanese: 鬼時間, Oni Jikan) is an event that occurs at random in the Yo-kai Watch series, where children who disobey orders given from their parents or misbehave will find themselves in a grey area chased by Oni and their followers.

Despite being trapped in Terror Time, they are able to escape if they don't get caught by the Oni or any of the minions.

Overview[]

It can occur at an unexpected time and only in outside areas in Springdale (with the exception of Excellent Tower in Yo-kai Watch 2 and Mount Wildwood), usually during late night when the player is supposed to be in bed, despite a copy of them being made or rarely during the daytime. The player can increase the chance of going into Terror Time by disobeying the traffic rules or by changing the system clock of the Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo Switch.^{[citation needed]} In Yo-kai Watch 2 and Yo-kai Watch 3, the player can get a Terror Time warning from the Weather app in the Yo-kai Pad.

When Terror Time is about to occur in the games, the player suddenly stops and the Yo-kai Watch Lens count from 3 before it forms into the symbol of a demonic monster (or an oni 鬼 symbol in the Japanese version). The surroundings turn monochromatic as the Oni awakens, sending his minions to hunt the human who has defied the rules.

The Oni who control Terror Time consist of Gargaros, Ogralus and Orcanos, whom have varying strength while having different elemental attributes as Boss Yo-kai. Others who patrol the area are either Leadoni^YW, Suspicioni^YW, or Patrolye^YW2^YW3^YWB. If they get caught by any of them, the player will have a chance to run to the golden shoji doors or if they fail, they will get waken up in bed as if it was a nightmare.

Though the basic goal of Terror Time is to escape from the golden shoji doors without getting caught by the Oni (or his minions), it varies greatly between video games and drastically differs in the anime and manga adaptations. In the video games, Terror Time is a separate area from the normal equivalent, being monochromatic, and not having any of the NPC's, Quests etc, with the exception of Baffle Boards.

In the games[]

Yo-kai Watch[]

In Yo-kai Watch, Terror Time is first introduced during Chapter 4, following the player's ability to go out at night with the help of Baku. It happens after the main character leaves their home, initially going to the hot springs at Blossom Heights to retrieve Mr. Goodsight's lucky underwear. When the player reaches Springdale Elementary School, Venoct shows up and creates a door, which is then used by the player to escape and get back to the real world. After this event, Terror Time has a random chance to occur at any time when the player is in any area of the overworld, with the exception of Mount Wildwood.

During the post-game, the Infinite Inferno features three scripted Terror Time sections: when the player reaches certain warp doors that are required to continue the exploration, they are warped to a Terror Time sequence instead. Escaping these sections allows the player to move on normally, while losing against the Oni causes the player to be warped back to the Infinite Inferno's entrance. These sections play as normal Terror Time instances.

Yo-kai Watch 2[]

In Yo-kai Watch 2, the character first encounters Terror Time when they have to get Mr. Goodsight's screwdriver from Whatta Find to upgrade their watch. Although the player says they are not supposed to go out at night, Baku tells they can trick the player's parents as pretending to be them. Once they got the screwdriver, the entrance they came from is blocked; upon going out from the other one, soon they have a bad feeling while Whisper tells "he" is coming. A cutscene plays where Gargaros appears and the player doesn't know what to do; Whisper tells them to just run until they ask where to go, then soon the door appears and Whisper tells to go there. Once they reach there, another cutscene plays of the group running to the door and barely making it out before Gargaros hits them with his spiked club.

After that, Terror Time happens randomly in Springdale, with the exception of Mount Wildwood and Excellent Tower, until Jibanyan gives the player the weather app, where sometimes a Terror Time advisory or warning will appear on the notices; advisory means it will happen later, while warning means it will happen at anytime. Gargaros dosen't travel during GUI's and teleporting to far-away areas can delay it.

Soon after the end of the chapter, Whisper gives the player Yo-kai Watch Blasters as an application for the player to simulate Terror Time, but unlike actual Terror Time, Yo-kai can join and fight bosses.

Yo-kai Watch Blasters[]

Some of the missions of Yo-kai Watch Blasters also take place during Terror Time.

Yo-kai Watch 3[]

In Yo-kai Watch 3, Terror Time only occurs in Springdale. When the player is caught up in it, they're taken into it via a red and black portal with absorbs them in and they land in the dreamlike-environment.

Gameplay[]

Yo-kai Watch[]

Terror Time plays like a stealth game, where the player must evade the Oni and his minions while searching for the exit, which is marked on the map and takes the form of a sliding door. The longer the player takes, the more smaller Oni will spawn on the map and look for the player. Belaying these efforts are the red treasure chests which almost always contain hard-to-find items, such as rare evolution items, which are scattered throughout Terror Time, often in dead-ends which might be difficult to navigate into or out of without getting caught.

If a small Oni spots the player, it lets out a shrill roar which alerts its boss, causing all of the small Oni to disappear and the large Oni to charge at a dead sprint for the player's location. At this point, hiding is now deemed impossible and the Oni will always follow where the player is, and can even teleport to the player's spot (this is telegraphed by a shining icon appearing on the map). Using Staminum is advisable if the player is spotted, with the sole exception being if the door is nearby.

If caught, the player will be dragged into a battle with the Oni, which uses a relentless onslaught of powerful physical attacks (Gargaros and Orcanos specifically will do that for the vast majority of the battle) and the occasional Yo-kai technique (rarely used by Gargaros and Orcanos, mostly used by Ogralus). If the Oni defeats them, they wake up in bed as though they'd had a bad dream, but any items obtained from the red chests are lost. As a result, new/early game players are advised to simply search for the exit unless they land near a chest and Gargaros spawns far away from them. Terror Time chests, however, mostly contain some of the best items in the game, making for a fairly good high risk-high reward challenge.

An adequately powerful party (Level 70 is the minimum recommended) can defeat Gargaros, after which the player is free to gather any remaining Terror Time chests unimpeded. However, defeating Gargaros causes his brothers to randomly start appearing in Terror Time as well, and they are by far the strongest foes in the game, especially his brother Orcanos. Unfortunately, there is no way to control which Oni will spawn if the player wants to battle a specific one; since they require different strategies and approaches, if the player wants to battle one of them specifically it's recommended to set as the active team a proper team for that one and escaping if the desired Oni doesn't spawn, then try again when the next instance occurs.

Yo-kai Watch 2[]

In this game, Terror Time has been completely reworked. It still occurs randomly while exploring Springdale, but with several important changes from the first game. Specifically, a hidden timer determines when the next Terror Time will occur, giving the illusion of Gargaros travelling towards the player. The timer doesn't continue while indoors or in areas where Terror Time cannot happen. This means that the timer only continues in the following areas: Uptown Springdale, Breezy Hills, Blossom Heights, Shopper's Row, Downtown Springdale, or Old Springdale. (It doesn't occur in Sayawama, any Yo-kai infested areas, Indoor areas, back-alleys/sub areas, along with San Fantastico, Mt.Wildwood, Gera Gera Land, Excellent Tower and all other areas not mentioned in the list of valid areas.) It also cannot continue while you're interacting with objects or in any menu/UIs. Some more important things to note are: The timer runs at different speeds based on the time of day, running quickly at night, and slowly during the day. The length of time between Terror Times is random, ranging from as long as 2 hours to as short as 5 minutes. Teleporting using Mirapo can delay the timer, but using Miradox to time-travel delays it much longer. In theory, it's possible to perpetually (infinitely) delay Terror Time by constantly teleporting away. The conclusion of a match of Blasters, whether it be a success or a failure, will reset the timer. Also note that being in a minigame such as the Bicycle Race's, the eating minigames among others count also stop the timer from progressing.

The Yo-kai Pad's weather app can provide two types of warnings:

1. Advisory: The timer has less than 6 minutes left.
2. Warning: The timer has less than 3 minutes left.

Also, due to this timer mechanic, Terror Time CAN take place during the day, although this is rare, as it requires the timer to be long enough for it to happen. Also note that the player can shorten the timer by disobeying the traffic rules or by changing the system clock. Terror Time also cannot occur during Canine Time. When the player enters Terror Time they have a 1 second grace period, where they cannot be spotted by enemies. A commonly spread rumor is that the bicycle stops Terror Time, not only does it fail to stop the timer, the player can still trigger Terror Time on the bicycle. It works as usual but with the following changes: The player doesn't have the usual looking around animation, and when the cutscene is over the player will be in Terror Time without the bicycle as usual.

Terror Time Areas:[]

Terror Time still cannot take place in Mount Wildwood and in the Excellent Tower.
Patrolyes (a new Oni) replaces Leadonis and Suspicionis. Patrolyes have unique movement patterns and will actively pursue the player upon spotting them. They will also alert the nearest Oni, giving them the player's location, resulting in a change in the soundtrack and a chase sequence to occur. These sequences requires using Items or Hot-Spots to escape.

Oni Mechanics:[]

Patrolye Movement & Hiding:[]

Patrolye follows a unique, but set movement pattern and don't make random turns like other Oni. This is important as their movement patterns can be memorised.
Players can hide from Patrolyes behind any obstacles that stops you from moving, whether it's fences, rails, bushes, and flower beds. The object does not have to visually hide the player.
Blocking the path or using these obstacles will stop Patrolyes and Onis from spotting you.
Patrolyes are very fast, making it nearly impossible to outrun them without a Staminum. They cannot directly interact with the player, aside from chasing the player and alerting the nearest Oni.
Because of how many Patrolyes there are at any set time, and because of how weak they are, they do not drop anything.

New Mechanics:[]

Gargaros (the main boss) will chase the player faster the more times the player has been spotted. Instead of battling him directly, Gargaros will swat the player away, where they will be promptly be woken up from the nightmare, waking up from their bed or walking out of the Train Station if they were in Old Springdale, similar to Gates of Whimsy with the addition of random dialogue.
Over time, more Oni and Patrolyes will appear, including Ogralus and Orcanos, Gargaros’s brothers.
The longer Terror Time continues, the more Oni will appear, making it harder to escape.

Inventory Items:[]

In this game, the player cannot use any items from their inventory during Terror Time, including stamina boosts.
However, special items can be found scattered around the overworld during Terror Time. These include:
Staminum: Lasts for 30 seconds. Use it whenever you get the chance.
Dimmy Field: A purple wisp with a blue ring. Makes you invisible for 10 seconds and can stop an ongoing chase sequence. Best used as a last resort.
Signibble Trap: A yellow box that when used, leaves a shock trap, which can paralyse one Oni. It does not affect Patrolye's and requires 3 seconds of standing still to place, so be careful. When an Oni steps on it, it is shocked for about 7 seconds. If it doesn't shock an Oni after 10 seconds, it disappears. Usually worthless but it will save you at times, especially if there aren't any Hot Spots nearby.
Rocket Punch: A circular gray fist with a blue cone. Only usable when there is an enemy onscreen. This does 700 damage. If there are multiple enemies, press left or right on the D-pad to switch targets. Great for taking out Patrolyes.
Blaze Bomb: A triangular orange bomb. When used, leaves an explosive with an orange circle showing its blast radius. It takes one second to place and during this time the player is immobile. It goes off after 3 to 4 seconds and does 1500 damage to any enemy in the radius. This does not harm players.

Keep in mind that the player can only have one item at a time, attempting to grab more will result in the previous item being overridden (replaced) with the newer item. This can also happen on accident so carefully avoid unwanted items.

Yo-kai Hot Spot Support:[]

Yo-kai called to Hot Spots will help by placing paralyzing traps that trap Oni for around 7 seconds. This only occurs after 1-3 lines of monologue, which will continue to play even if the player is caught.
These traps only affect Oni, not Patrolyes, and can only be placed once per Hot Spot for every Terror Time attempt.
They last forever until used.

A list of the usable Hot-Spots and monologue can be found in the Baffle Boards page.

Oni Orbs and the Oni Crank-a-kai:[]

Note that the Oni Crank-a-kai is also in Blasters. Collecting Oni Orbs during Terror Time powers up the Oni Crank-a-kai. These orbs come in different sizes:

1. Tiny: Frequent, worth 1 Oni Orb.

2. Medium: Very frequent, worth 2 Oni Orbs.

3. Large: Common, worth 3 Oni Orbs.

4. Massive: Dropped by Gargaros, 50 Oni Orbs.

5. Blue: It's blue, and is dropped by Ogralus, being worth 100 Oni Orbs.

6. Black: It's black, and is dropped by Orcanos, being worth 200 Oni Orbs.

Defeating Oni:[]

Patrolyes have a very low amount of HP, being defeated by any item, but they drop nothing.
Gargaros has 1000 HP and drops a Massive Oni Orb (50 orbs) when defeated.
Ogralus has 1500 HP and drops a Blue Oni Orb (100 orbs).
Orcanos has 2000 HP and drops a Black Oni Orb (200 orbs).
Gargaros will be defeated after two rocket punches or one blaze bomb. A reliable strategy is to lead him to a Hot Spots's shock trap and when he steps onto it, use the blaze bomb near him. If you defeat him enough times, his brother Ogralus may start to appear.
Ogralus has 1500 HP, so an extra rocket punch is needed to defeat him. He jumps more frequently, taking more unpredictable turns while also being faster at jumping and chasing. Defeat Ogralus enough times, their brother Orcanos may enter.
He has 2000 HP, so one blaze bomb won't take him down so easily. Master the use items and Hot Spots to take him down.
He jumps very often, and very quickly. He can catch up to you very quickly.

Oni Crank-a-kai:[]

When you escape from Terror Time, you’ll spin the Oni Crank-a-kai with the amount of Oni Orbs you’ve collected, giving you a chance at rare items or Yo-kai.
The more Oni Orbs you collect, the higher the chances are to get rare items.
You can save your game before spinning the Oni Crank-a-kai, then reload if you don’t like the rewards. You can range from getting a really good item with 5 Oni Orbs, to getting a terrible one with a hundred.
The more powered up the coin is with Oni Orbs, the higher the chance of a rare Yo-kai or item being dispensed from the machine. Getting reasonably good items often requires Oni Orbs in the hundreds. Any item can be obtained without Oni Orbs, but it's very rare, as the base chance is amplified by the amount of oni orbs obtained.

Escape and Exit Mechanism:[]

Exits: The exit to end Terror Time appears once the timer reaches one of the large red notches, and you’ll get a notification on-screen when it’s available. However, once the exit is available, another Oni will usually appear.
Players can choose whether to escape or continue collecting Oni Orbs. The more time passes, the more Oni and Patrolyes will appear, making it harder to escape.
Story Mode Exception: During the story, the exit will appear sooner, and a cutscene will play when you approach it, showing the player escaping rather than going through the exit normally. Also if the player is caught, instead of them waking up back at home, they will be sent back to the shop, with Terror Time ending. The player will be unable to progress through story mode until they beat Terror Time.
If caught by an Oni, instead of waking up at home, the player will wake up at the shop or the front of the train station (if in Old Springdale), similar to waking up from a bad dream, which the dialogue hints in them believing.

Terror Time Locations:[]

Uptown Springdale: The easiest location for Terror Time. There are three Hot Spots and plenty of space to run around. The enemy patrols’ sights do not cover all the paths, and there are shortcuts through gaps between houses. Using a Dimmy Field here is a good alternative to shock traps when facing enemies. The Oni Crank-a-kai's prize pools are different in Terror Time, Normal Blasters, and Psychic Blasters. But every time you try in any mode, the prize pools for all of them change.

Progression:[]

The more you beat the Oni's the more likely the tougher Oni's are to appear. This is extremely important, to get the Movie cutscenes. Also, each time the watch’s hand reaches a new notch/segment a new Oni will appear. Occasionally, Patrolyes will spawn. Therefore, the longer you stay in Terror Time, the more difficult it becomes to survive as more Oni and Patrolyes spawn.

Misc:[]

The prize pool changes every time you spin the Crank-a-Kai, and it may include various items like Staminums, Crank-a-Kai exclusives, or Mighty Medicine.
After escaping with at least 15 Oni Orbs, Whisper will comment:

“Well, we made it out of there in one piece… But… I feel like we could’ve made a little more of that opportunity. I’ve heard that you can get some terrific items with enough Oni Orbs. So next time… let’s give it everything we’ve got!”

If you get caught (with < 15) Oni Orbs, Nate & Whisper will comment:

(Nate): Hm? I'm...home? Did I fall asleep? (Whisper): It seems that way. Let's get going!

Notches:[]

(Placeholder DO NOT REMOVE)

The watch during terror time not only has the [oni in centre], but also contains red notches aside from the normal grey notches, the red notches are linked to key events such as Oni spawns, here is a list of them:

1st notch: Exit spawns, 2nd oni spawns

...

Oni Crank-a-kai Exclusives:[]

Gleam is nearly obtained entirely from the Oni Crank-a-kai.
Bruff is nearly obtained entirely from the Oni Crank-a-kai.
Bananose can only be obtained via the Oni Crank-a-kai, aside from the past Crank-a-kai with a Light Blue Coin.
Statiking is nearly obtained entirely from the Oni Crank-a-kai, ignoring the Infinite Tunnel and one other way.
Swelterrier is nearly obtained entirely from the Oni Crank-a-kai, ignoring the Infinite Tunnel and one other way.
The Snowstorm Cloak can only be obtained from the Oni Crank-a-kai.
The Shard of Evil can only be obtained from the Oni Crank-a-kai, which is needed for the only way to get Beezelbold.
Ageless Powder can only be obtained from the Oni Crank-a-kai.
The Sublime Whetstone can only be obtained from the Oni Crank-a-kai.

Terror Time in Yo-kai Watch 2 is tougher, more tedious and complex than in the first game. With the addition of Patrolye enemies, new items, and more, players must carefully plan their actions to survive and collect as many Oni Orbs as possible. The system of rewards tied to the Oni Crank-a-kai adds even more depth, offering players valuable Yo-kai and items for their efforts.

You can contribute to this by: Can Terror Time occur within Ninja_Forest? Add proof that Terror Time cannot occur in San Fantastico. Add links to all the key words.

Yo-kai Watch 3[]

Terror Time returns once more in Yo-kai Watch 3, with Hailey Anne Thomas and Usapyon now being the subjects to its first occurrence in Springdale. Terror Time only occurs in Springdale and can be triggered with either Hailey or Nathan.

Terror Time's gameplay has been altered once again in Yo-kai Watch 3 and is now a cross between the original Yo-kai Watch and Yo-kai Watch 2's Terror Times. Overall, Terror Time has been simplified in this title.

The escape door now spawns on the overworld immediately, rather than having to wait a certain amount of time for it to appear. However, the door is now locked and requires a key to unlock it in order to escape, which spawns somewhere in the overworld under heavy Oni patrol.

The patrolling Patrolye now follow specific patrol routes and their field of vision is now clearly shown on their map icons, making sneaking by easier to plan out and the risk of being cornered by wandering Patrolye significantly lower. A new mechanic was also introduced in the form of a 'Stealth Zone', a small circular area which appears on the overworld if the player is spotted. Entering the zone immediately halts any pursuing Oni, who return to their designated patrol routes.

Unlike Yo-kai Watch 2, collecting large amounts of Oni Orbs is no longer the primary focus in reaping the rewards from the Oni Crank-a-kai. A set number of 10 Oni Orbs are now the only collectible objects on the overworld; similar to the set number of Oni Chests in the original Yo-kai Watch. Every time the player escapes Terror Time, the Oni Crank-a-kai initially starts with only 3rd place prizes, with the amount of Oni Orbs the player has collected adding more to the prize pool. At least 8 Oni Orbs are needed for a single 1st prize to appear after filling out the 2nd place prizes.

All overworld items have also been removed, meaning all forms of combating and evading the patrolling Oni in previous titles are now gone. New types of Patrolye also appear, including a blue Patrolye with the ability to see incredibly far away, a red Patrolye that is alerted by the player sprinting nearby, and a white Patrolye with a rainbow glow which does not show up on the minimap, similar to Necrodimmy. Additionally, instead of the key spawning in the overworld, it may spawn within the possession of a giant Oni which the player will need to retrieve stealthily when their backs are turned or otherwise suffer their wrath.

Like in the original Yo-kai Watch, being caught by Gargaros, Ogralus, or Orcanos results in a battle against the extremely powerful Oni, which are easier than they were in the first game. Losing the battle results in the player waking up at home, like in previous titles. The Oni will also have new attacks, some of which came from Yo-kai Watch Blasters.

Yo-kai[]

Gargaros
Ogralus
Orcanos
Leadoni (unfightable; first game only)
Suspicioni (unfightable; first game only)
Patrolye (unfightable in main story of YW2 & YW3 only)

Terror Time Chests[]

A variety of highly desirable items can be found within the Red Chests in Terror Time within the original game. The chests are marked on the map, as well as the hunting Oni, when the map is zoomed in all the way. No matter how many times players enter Terror Time, the chest placement is static.

Contents of the chest include:

Rare Books
Dancing Stars
Bronze, Silver, and Gold Dolls
Random Equipment (Charm, Badge, Ring and Band)
Fusion items

Glacial Clip (Evolves Frostina into Blizzaria) * Shard of Evil (Evolves Timidevil into Beelzebold) * Snowstorm Cloak (Evolves Pupsicle into Chilhuahua) * Dragon Orb (Evolves Draggie into Dragon Lord) * Ageless Powder (Evolves Grumples into Everfore) * General's Soul (Evolves Beetler into Beetall) * Unbeatable Soul (Evolves Rhinoggin into Rhinormous) * Tattered Gauntlet (A component of the Venoct Gauntlets)

Mighty Medicine
VoltXtreme
Holy Exporb

These Chests were fazed out within the sequel games into the Oni Crank-a-kai and Oni Orb mechanics.

In the anime[]

Nate has been trapped within Terror Time three times in the anime's run, with the first two times for leaving the house after his mother forbade him from doing so and the third to celebrate setsubun with Tomnyan.

The first time, Nate barely escaped from Gargaros after the Oni flattened Whisper and Jibanyan.

The second time, despite remembering the first time and being warned it would happen again, Nate goes out anyway. Nate was stopped by Sgt. Burly and told to confront the Oni to grow as a person, giving him advice on the strategy needed to take him down, though in the style of a group formed in a MMORPG. However, the deliberation takes so long that Gargaros gets agitated and leaves.

The third time, it was on setsubun and to punish Tomnyan for eating the soybeans rather than throwing them.

Trivia[]

In the first Yo-kai Watch game, the player is not expected to defeat Gargaros during the first Terror Time visit, since the Oni has a far higher level than what the player's team should have at that point of the game: however, the boss is theoretically still defeatable if the player levels up their team enough with the Yo-kai Cam exploit. As such, if the player doesn't go for the exit, fights Gargaros instead and actually wins, the game has no scripted event for this scenario, and will still require the player to exit via the intended route, loading the normal escape sequence where Venoct saves them. Due to the lack of a dialogue acknowledging the Oni's defeat (which is, however, present if Gargaros is defeated in any subsequent Terror Time visit), this results in the paradoxical situation where the game acts as the battle never happened in the first place and the player character talks as Gargaros is still chasing after them, which does not happen since it has been defeated and it thus despawned. This can't occur in Yo-kai Watch 2, as getting caught by the Oni does no longer trigger a battle, but just causes the event to end.

In Yo-kai Watch 3, if the player fights Gargaros and wins, there is no special dialogue, aside from the usual dialogue from Usapyon about how you can grab as many Oni Orbs as you want. The dialogue does seem less strange than in the original Yo-kai Watch game, as the game doesn't specifically mention that Gargaros is still chasing the player. (Video of this can be seen here)
There's a chance that the Oni can get stuck in random locations, usually corners, while chasing after the player.
The game's internally refer to this phenomenon as "Ogre Time", this was most likely a result of it being done before the final translation.

In other languages[]

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	鬼時間 Oni Jikan
Spanish	Pesadilla súbita	Sudden nightmare
French	Terr'Heure	A pun on the words "Terreur" (terror in french) and "Heure" (hour in french)
Italian	Terrore Onirico	Literally "dream-like terror", might be a pun on "Oni"
German	Schreckenszeit
Dutch	Terreurtijd
Korean	호러시간 Holeosigan
Russian	Время Кошмаров Vremya Koshmarov	Time of Nightmares