Apparently looking to corner the market on monster collecting games that sell like chocolate-covered crack in Japan.
Nintendo is bringing Level 5's massively popular ghost-chasing series to North America, Europe and Australia as "Yo-Kai Watch".
Level 5 announced the deal at their annual Level-5 Vision conference in Japan, along with deals for Hasbro to handle distribution of the toys associated with the series. The toys will begin releasing in the fall, but there is no timeframe for a release of the games as of yet.
Among the other Yo-Kai related announcements at Level-5 Vision:
- Youkai Watch Busters was announced for a summer release in Japan, a side story of Youkai Watch 2 that will release in two versions
- Youkai Watch 3 will release this December in Japan, and will be set in the United States with American-themed Youkai and environments
- Koei Tecmo will be developing a crossover with Youkai Watch called Youkai Sengokushi. The game will be a turn-based strategy game in the vein of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, similar to 2012's Pokemon Conquest.
One other 3DS announcement was made at the conference, as Level 5's next crossover franchise The Snack World will have a 3DS release. The "Hyper Casual Fantasy" game centers around the use of NFC-enabled keychains to introduce weapons and equipment into the world. The game was demoed at the Vision conference on a New 3DS. A trailer for Snack World can be seen below:
