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3DS

Japan

Yōkai Watch

by Danny Bivens - July 13, 2013, 5:38 pm EDT
Total comments: 2

Level-5's latest RPG is more than just Pokémon with ghosts.

Yōkai Watch follows the story of a fifth grade boy named Keta. During his summer vacation, he comes across a strange capsule toy machine in a forest. Being a curious kid, he drops in a 100 yen coin, turns the crank on the machine, and then a dingy looking capsule comes out. Upon opening it, Keta is thrust into a completely different side of reality he didn’t know existed as he finds Whisper, a friendly ghost who introduces him to the Yōkai (ghost) Watch. The watch allows Keta to see mysterious ghosts that are wondering around our world. This leads to him meeting, finding, befriending and battling over 250 different ghosts. With the game releasing in Japan on July 11, a demo has been available to gamers in Japan since July 3 to give gamers a taste of what Level-5’s latest RPG has to offer. While looking at screenshots and videos might give you the impression that this is nothing more than a Pokémon clone with ghosts, the game offers so much more than that.

Controls in Yōkai Watch are simple and yet intuitive. Players control Keta with the circle pad and can search various specified areas by pressing the A button. Depending on the area, this can lead players to view the area in a first person perspective from which they can use a cursor to search for items with the circle pad or touch screen. For example, I came across a patch of grass that I was able to inspect more closely. From there, I could use the cursor to catch bugs by pressing the A button. The camera follows around Keta from an isometric view and gives players the option to turn the camera to the left and right incrementally by using the shoulder buttons. This doesn’t give complete control over the camera, but important landmarks, ghosts and people are never cut out from view.

One of the most important aspects of gameplay deals with the Yōkai Watch itself. If there are ghosts in the area, a meter on the watch lets players know when they are in the vicinity of one of these cute apparitions. After pressing the Y button, players can search the area for ghosts using the Yōkai Lens. This isn’t just limited to first person segments of the game, and there are instances when non-playable characters can be severely affected by a ghost in the area. After activating the Lens, players have to find the nearby ghost. While holding the Lens over the ghost, a meter begins to fill, and when it is full, you can engage the ghost in battle.

The battle system in the game is unique and engaging. Players have a “member circle”, which is made up of six ghosts on lower screen. Being the demo version, these ghosts are preselected, however, it’s likely that the final version of the game allows you to choose your members. All six of the members can be used in the battle, though not at the same time. The circle can rotate by pressing L or R (or using the touch screen). At any point in time during the battles, three of your six characters are actively battling. Normal attacks are handled automatically, with the AI also taking care of healing if necessary.

Even though basic attacks are handled automatically, there are still plenty of options for players during battles. Each ghost has a special technique that can be activated and used throughout engagements with enemies. After selecting the special technique tab on the touch screen and then the character you want to use, players have to perform an action on the touch screen. In the demo, this consisted of writing characters on the touch screen, spinning a disc (think Elite Beat Agents) and popping bubbles to build up the potency of the attack. Players can also choose a panel on the touch screen that tells the ghosts on their team to focus their attacks on. The other two panels, which outline the touch screen, are used for items and reviving downed comrades. If your three active ghosts are defeated in battle, you lose. Even though ghosts in the member circle may lose health throughout the battles, they are restored to full health before the next encounter.

The harmonization of the game’s anime cut-scenes and cel-shaded visual style come together perfectly to help give Yōkai Watch a consistent feel throughout the experience. After opening with a cutscene, the demo has players looking through a segment of the town as Keta and his new ghost friend, Whisper, as they search the town for three ghosts that are causing trouble. The main locations of the ghosts are labeled on the map on the touch screen and can be easily cleared in a short period of time. However, even in this limited demo, there are still quite a few nooks and crannies to explore, townsfolk to talk to, and other random ghosts to fight and try to befriend.

Players can complete the demo for Yōkai Watch in well under an hour, however, with the amount of ghosts scattered throughout the section of the city, there is definitely a lot more time that can be spent on this small taste of the game. The demo showcases a unique, enjoyable battle system, and the promise of more than 250 ghosts combined with the superb presentation made Yōkai Watch really stand out. Keep your fingers crossed for a release outside of Japan.

Talkback

KDR_11kJuly 14, 2013

Wait, Level 5, collecting ghosts, this isn't related to Ni No Kuni though, is it?

As far as I know, no, it's not related to Ni no Kuni.


Coincidently, I just bought the DS version of Ni no Kuni a few days ago, huge book and all!

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3DS

Game Profile

Yo-kai Watch Box Art

Genre RPG
Developer Level-5
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: Yo-kai Watch
Release Nov 06, 2015
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone 10+
jpn: Yōkai Watch
Release Jul 11, 2013
PublisherLevel-5
RatingAll Ages
eu: Yo-kai Watch
Release Apr 29, 2016
PublisherNintendo
Rating7+
aus: Yo-kai Watch
Release Dec 05, 2015
PublisherNintendo
RatingParental Guidance

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