Yokai Watch

First gameplay footage of 4

Just beat Kat Kraydel in Blasters. Good to see that she's still as spam-happy with her magic as ever.

Seriously though, that was a "won by the skin of our teeth" victory.

So Yo-Kai Watch 3 just had its localization announced. Also, today's the day the Moon Rabbit Crew update becomes available for Yo Kai Watch Blasters.

AWES-... Wait a second.

YW 3's third game is the best version. The original two don't have the Katie section in it. It sucks that they're not just skipping those two then.

Twitter announcement is here, by the way.

As happy as I am to get the game, what I'm dreading is trying to get Pandanoko and Starry Noko, since those two are Streetpass-only, and I don't get any Streetpasses from where I live anymore.

Someone posted on the Yo-kai Watch work page that the US release will be just one version with everything, rather than One Game for the Price of Two. What evidence is there for this? Did they just interpret it as such because only "Yo-kai Watch 3" was announced and not the version names?

I noticed Gamexplain hasn't made a video on the announcement. It seems like they obsess over every major game. I guess they don't care about the 3DS anymore.

Wishful thinking, it seems.

Edit: I think it's just speculation. I've seen fans discussing that they're probably only releasing one YW3 because they only announced one title. That makes sense since it's a 2019 release and the 3DS is all but dead. I bet they'll scrap Sushi and Tempura and just go with the third version. I have heard that Blasters included references to the games but that can quietly be ignored.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Sep 28th 2018 at 2:25:23 AM

The VIP section of Yo-Kai Watch Blasters is so nice. I especially like that you can fight both Red Paws and Swirlious Omai solo.

4 Debut trailer

And it's been pushed back to 2019.

I should have expected that. It's barely had any promotion outside of Corocoro telling us vague story details.

I looked up Yokai Watch 3 and... Europe got it in December?! Seriously, two months early? Apparently it's all the third games into one cartridge.

I guess they must really wanna move onto localizing 4.

My biggest hope is that the localized version of 3 will not require Streetpasses to get Pandanoko and Starrynoko...but that's probably not happening.

Just happy that I already have both of those Nokos in Blasters...

I feel the translators dug themselves into a hole by making YW 1 set in America instead of Japan. I don't really understand why they did that. That's so early 2000s, not mid-2010s. Translating the yokai is fine but the people's names could have stayed the same.

It's just really funny that Nate's family moves to BBQ. Not Canada, not even Texas, but BBQ.

New 4 Gameplay trailer

I'm still bitter over having to play as Nate, but I'll admit that Nate meeting his future daughter is certainly an interesting idea.

The bike is new, right?

They've shown Katie coming through the door instead of Nate before (you can see a snip of that scene at about 1:40 in the recent video above), so I imagine you can dictate which one of them gets the spotlight.

Or at least I hope that's the case. Those cutscenes wouldn't make sense otherwise.

They've only shown gameplay of Nate and 3 only features Nate, so I'm betting it's just Nate. It seems silly in the long-run since Natsume is both of their kids, so it shouldn't matter who you play as.

I saw a Yokai Wath Monopoly Jr board a few days ago. There certainly is a merchandise push for the series, but how well does it actually sell?

I remember hearing someone saying YW and YW 2 together haven't even sold 1mil outside of Japan. I don't know how accurate that is, but I wonder if rushing out translations of YW 4 can help. The Switch is hot and new while the 3DS isn't selling so well anymore.

Pretty sure 1 sold million outside Japan. Not as sure about 2, but I heard it did as well.

Apparently Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside is ending and they're reviving the original anime again. This makes me curious about what Yo-Kai Watch 5 will be like.

It's a shame. I thought the Spin-Offspring and Shadowside angles were really bringing something new to the series, but it seems short-lived.

I'm really, really liking Yo-Kai Watch 3. Love a lot of the new Yo-Kai, though I wish that some of the path-exclusive Yo-Kai weren't part of the "recruit only once" crowd, since I'd like to trade for the Yo-Kai I missed out on. Ah well, at least some of the exclusive S-rank Yo-Kai allow you to befriend more than one.

Also, the Forbidden Fruit is one of the best things introduced in this series. I really, really hope it'll be in future games (or at least have some sort of equivalent).

According to this Gematsu article, Yo-Kai Watch 4 will be released in Japan on June 6.

Sorry for the triple post, but a new video for Yo-Kai Watch 4 has been posted:

The video reveals some new Yo-Kai, and I'm particularly happy to see that the Gyuuki is going to be in it.

I found this article from a couple months ago, which sadly seems pretty accurate. Level-5 itself seems to be having issues, though right now Inazuma Eleven is the new cash cow. https://kotaku.com/pokemons-former-rival-yokai-watch-is-having-a-terrible-1832585148

Inazuma Eleven was their old cash cow. I remember having a ton of fanart, though it's never been that popular in America.

I've noticed Disney XD's anime block advertises the new Inazuma Eleven dub but not Yokai Watch. It makes me worried about the dub's future. We haven't even gotten movies past the first one.

Edit:

This video on the "downfall of Yokai Watch" has appeared in my recommendations, but I've avoided it as just another "Person who dislikes YW complains that it's not nearly as popular as it was 4 years ago". It's not a 100% accurate video (for example, less than 1 minute in and there's an error about a lack of card/mon anime - there are many, but they just stay in Japan - and it's incorrectly stated that there's only one YW manga) but it's not that negative. It's actually about the fall of the series internationally as well as in Japan.

...Was there even a rise? I've followed it since the first episode on XD and it always seemed niche, but then again I'm not in the target demographic.

I think the series has reached its Ruby & Sapphire-level decline. The fad died out and now you're just left with normal fans. I don't know if Level-5 has longevity in mind, though. They're broadening with spinoffs right now but they might just cancel the franchise once it isn't profitable enough.

Edited by Pichu-kun on May 8th 2019 at 3:33:13 AM