Yo-kai Watch (video game)

Yo-Kai Watch is a role-playing game developed and published by Level-5 in Japan, and Nintendo worldwide. The first game in the Yo-kai Watch series, initially released in Japan on July 11, 2013. A remake for the Nintendo Switch was released on October 10, 2019 in Japan. Another remake for mobile devices was released on July 10, 2021.

Plot
In the city of Springdale, a kid (Nate Adams if the male protagonist is chosen or Katie Foster if the female protagonist is chosen) breaks free a Yōkai named Whisper. After his introduction, Whisper gives the protagonist a watch that allows them to see the Yōkai, so that they can befriend them and defeat the bigger and more evil Yōkai.

Why It Deserves A Yo-Kai Medal

 * 1) The concept of a kid that befriends Yōkai (japanese ghosts, demons and spirits) in a modern world is great and original.
 * 2) * Yo-kai like Jibanyan, Komasan, Tengu and the Onis are based on Japanese folklore.
 * 3) The story is simple to follow up and is not the main focus, principally because it wants to give you freedom to do stuff like side quests, collecting more Yo-kai and discovering secrets.
 * 4) Tons of likable characters:
 * 5) * Nathan/Katie is a kid with a heart of gold who wants to help Springdale and the Yo-kai.
 * 6) * Whisper is your Yo-kai assistant, helping the protagonist whenever they need him.
 * 7) ** His fourth wall breaks are hilarious.
 * 8) * Jibanyan is an impulsive cat Yo-kai who tries to beat trucks to avenge his death.
 * 9) * Komasan is an adorable little lion dog Yo-kai who is shy and curious.
 * 10) * The main antagonist, Chairman McKraken, is a corrupt politician Yo-kai Supremacist, that wants humans to be Yo-kai’s slaves. Even if that, he is a really memorable villain.
 * 11) Big part of the Yo-kai have fantastic character design, from cute ones (like Shmoopie and Noko) to epic (like Kyubi and Venoct)
 * 12) * There is more than 200 Yo-kai that you can get.
 * 13) If you get eight specific Yo-kai, you will get a legendary Yo-kai, which are stronger than normal rank S Yo-kai.
 * 14) * There are five of those legendary Yo-kai, and four of them are relatively easy to get, with the exception of Gilgaros (see BQ #2.1 to have more information)
 * 15) You can fuse different objects and Yo-kai to get new and more powerful defense objects, attack objects and Yo-kai.
 * 16) All the bosses in the main story have their own weak point, so you must be focused on battle.
 * 17) Nice graphics, art style and background design.
 * 18) The voice acting for the Yo-kai battles and the scenes is pretty good.
 * 19) Fantastic soundtrack that combines well with the game's atmosphere.
 * 20) Unique gameplay that hits different to the genre, where the Yo-kai are the ones who decide what they do in combat, while the player has to de-spirited them, choose the target, heal them and help them in their Soultimates.
 * 21) * The soultimates are amazing to look at.
 * 22) * In addition to that, giving food to an enemy Yo-kai will increase your chances of getting it, but it’s not a 100% probability of getting them. While this is refreshing from the genre, this can make the game more challenging.
 * 23) Tons of missions and side quests to complete. And when you finish them, you get a bonus scene, which is greatly animated.
 * 24) After you finish the main games, you have a side story that is great.
 * 25) * And you can defeat the other 2 optional bosses.
 * 26) The game has online battle, with their own ranking system.
 * 27) You can scan QR Codes into the game from Yo-kai Medals released by Hasbro (Bandai in Japan) to get items and Crank-a-Kai coins.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some Yo-kai are reskins of others, just with a different color palette, atribute and Soultimate. An example of this will be all bosses in Infinite Inferno, as they are just stronger versions of main story bosses with darker color palettes (with the exception that Tarantutor and Phase 1 McKraken don't have one, and Wobblewok being original).
 * 2) As mentioned in WIR#11.2, some Yo-kai are hard to find and befriend, specially ones with rank A or S.
 * 3) * Gilgaros is the hardest to get. Because he is a legendary Yo-kai, the only way to obtain him is to get 8 specific Yo-kai. While that doesn’t sounds difficult, the only way to get them all is to use Crank-a-Kai (meaning that getting him is pure luck and no skill whatsoever).
 * 4) As mentioned in WIR #7, because bosses have different weak points, that can be confusing, especially if it's your first playthrough, with the Oni bosses (Gargaros, Ogralus and Orcanos) as the hardest bosses in the entire game, to the point they can defeat level 99, Rank S Yo-kai in one hit and a high difficulty spike in comparison of the last bosses. Fortunately, they are not impossible and can be beaten.
 * 5) The English and Japanese QR Codes were region locked, preventing you from scanning Japanese medals in the game and vice versa. Because of this, various Yo-kai like the Gemnyans were unobtainable until 2016 when Hasbro distributed the QR Codes for them on the internet.
 * 6) * Due to the hardware limitations, the Switch port doesn't have the Yo-kai Cam mechanic.
 * 7) No online trades and just one mini game. Fortunately, the next games will add them.

Critical reception
Yo-kai Watch was positively reviewed by critics and gamers alike. On Metacritic, the game has a 76/100 by 69 critics, meaning "generally favorable reviews", while the users gave the game an 8.0/10.0 by 185 users, meaning "Generally favorable reviews". Nintendo Life gave a 7/10. . On OpenCritic, the game has a 76/100 based on 58 reviews

Commercial reception
The 3DS version of game sold over 2.78 million copies until September of 2020, becoming the 25 best selling game in the Nintendo 3DS.

During its first week, the Nintendo Switch remake sold more than 9,000 copies, making it the third game on the Japanese charts.

The IOS version was the first game on the Japanese charts the date it was realized.

Trivia

 * In Japan, the franchise is more popular than Pokémon.
 * Like other games, the game has a meme speedrun called "die to Snartle". The World record for the moment is 6:44.817, by mr. dew..
 * The English version of the game has an exclusive opening sung by Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, the creator of Phineas and Ferb.
 * Similar to other Pokémon-styled games, the game caused controversies from religious people and Pokémon fans.
 * The game has a Nintendo Switch remake, that upgrades the graphics, adds voice acting in normal dialogue, the game cinematic will run at 1080p and the game battle at 60 fps, changes the control set and quits mechanics like the Yo-kai Cam and the QR code reading. Due to the closure of Level-5 America, it is unknown if the remake will be exclusive for Japan or will be released worldwide.
 * The game even received a mobile remake which was initially met with negative reception from fans due to them believing that Level-5 is milking the first game, however, when the mobile version was released, reception was then positive.
 * The game’s prototype that was shown in 2011 can be considered lost media. And the trailer kinda different of the final product. Some of the most notorious differences are:
 * It was originally going to be a PS3 game with a third-person perspective, similar to Yo-kai Watch 4.
 * Various Yo-kai like Hungramps, Noko and Jibanyan had their design slightly different.
 * Whisper had a different voice actor.

Videos
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