Yo-kai Watch

 3DS
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 210 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 158 out of 210
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 210
  3. Negative: 22 out of 210
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  1. gravitywolf
    Nov 22, 2015
    7
    Yokai Watch is the first installment in what is considered a huge success in the Japanese market. It's been a best seller every year since the first game came out on the 3DS in 2013. I was very curious to see what the fuss was about and was very happy when I heard Nintendo had plans to localize it for English audiences. I really wanted to love this game, but there a few things that justYokai Watch is the first installment in what is considered a huge success in the Japanese market. It's been a best seller every year since the first game came out on the 3DS in 2013. I was very curious to see what the fuss was about and was very happy when I heard Nintendo had plans to localize it for English audiences. I really wanted to love this game, but there a few things that just bog down the experience, making it just a decent game.

    Many people might look at this game and draw a lot of comparisons to pokemon, but Yokai Watch is a bit different. First, Yokai are based on Japanese folklore, as most of the monsters in this game have huge connections to Japanese mythology. You can tell when playing that a lot of things have been westernized for English speaking audiences, but there are plenty of things that make this game quite Japanese like rice ball items to when entering buildings you take off your shoes. I have no problem with these things, but I find it odd that all the main characters have been given Western names, yet everything surrounding this game is so very Japanese and culturally different. To me this is where the English version of the game misses out and I find most kids probably won't understand the significance of certain yokai versus somebody who grew up in Japan. Unlike pokemon, where a lot of the designs can work for plenty of different audiences worldwide, a lot of yokai are much stranger, but I feel most of the designs are cool enough and the English translations work well enough still.

    The main gist of the game is you're a young kid who befriends a rather perky ghost-like yokai named Whisper. Together with him and your yokai watch which helps you see the invisible yokai around you, you solve mysteries, usually by problem solving or fighting yokai that are causing mischief. For instance, in the beginning of the game you'll find your parents are fighting, and there is a yokai inspiriting them that makes them fight. You'll battle these yokai rpg style, as you can have 6 yokai in your party, with up to 3 fighting all at once, and being able to switch them out on the fly. The battle system is actually very fun, though you don't actively command your yokai, as they automatically attack. What you do have control of in battle is using items or activate a yokai's soultimate move, which triggers a short touchscreen game like spinning an orb, drawing some quick characters, or tapping flying discs that fly across the screen.

    Probably the biggest flaw in this game is trying to recruit yokai. In order to recruit yokai, you'll need to give yokai their favorite item, like meat, milk, candy, etc, then hope they want to join your party at the end of the battle. It sounds easy enough, but the frustration I've had in trying to get yokai to join me cannot be emphasized enough. You'll spend hours trying to get yokai to join you, giving them the best quality items that they love the most, even having yokai in your party that aid in recruitment, only for nothing to happen. Plenty of times I'll be in battle and give an item to a specific yokai, only to have a yokai I didn't give an item to want to join me instead. Trying to get yokai feels like you don't have much active input in whether or not they will join you, and it feels like it's entirely chance based. I am 40 hours into the game and I have almost half of the 235 or so yokai, and the ones that aren't given to me from the story were only obtained after many many encounters with the same yokai again and again, and it becomes very tedious and frustrating. This is something that shouldn't be as hard as it is, especially since you'll need a few of the yokai for certain missions. If you're coming into this thinking it'll be a fun pokemon-esque "catch em' all" game, you'll be quite frustrated in that regard.

    I still think Yokai watch has a good battle system, and I like some of the yokai designs. Even if the localization is not perfect, it is still quite good, and I think yokai are quite unique in the way each one of them affects the world around them. It's a decent game, but the recruitment mechanic can be quite frustrating and bogs the experience down.    … Expand
  2. SNESStarter
    Aug 23, 2016
    7
    Aside from the frustrating battle system, everything about this game is a lot of fun. The music is great, the environments are cute and the Yo-Kai have neat designs that I enjoy. There is also a difficulty to this game that was a breath of fresh air compared to similar games in the monster collecting genre. Within the first two hours I had died three times, which was a welcome change fromAside from the frustrating battle system, everything about this game is a lot of fun. The music is great, the environments are cute and the Yo-Kai have neat designs that I enjoy. There is also a difficulty to this game that was a breath of fresh air compared to similar games in the monster collecting genre. Within the first two hours I had died three times, which was a welcome change from not dying a single time in the last five years playing the competitors games!… Expand
  3. vahn
    Aug 8, 2016
    7
    A long time ago I played a pretty nice game called pokemon. It was original for its time and had plentiful of things to do: I easily spent all day playing it until I finished it. Then I couldn't care less about its sequels due to how identical they were, with barely any innovation except for graphics. And new pokemon but that's not enough.

    What I'm saying with this silly intro is that    A long time ago I played a pretty nice game called pokemon. It was original for its time and had plentiful of things to do: I easily spent all day playing it until I finished it. Then I couldn't care less about its sequels due to how identical they were, with barely any innovation except for graphics. And new pokemon but that's not enough.

    What I'm saying with this silly intro is that Pokemon never seemed to attempt at innovating its own core mechanics, while many others did but failed to achieve the same fame as pokemon. This is what happens when a famous brand is attached to a - in my opinion - mediocre game.

    Until I tried Yo-kai watch and while I wasn't really sure about it, the more I played the more I fell in love with it and screamed to myself "THIS, this is what I wanted all along: new gameplay, new mechanics, a story, ANYTHING that didn't look exactly like the first pokemon!". And I'll explain why.

    First and foremost, am I the only person in the entire world that doesn't see the similarities with pokemon, but with Shin Megami Tensei and Jade Cocoon 2? The interaction parts are similar to the Atlus game, except that it's much more simple and you can't actually talk, but only interact with food. I'll explain later about this but overall, the main difference with pokemon is that you ACTUALLY interact with them, as they don't repeat their own names like inbred retards. It's not incredibly vast but, I felt more attached to my yo-kais than my pokemons for sure.

    Secondly the combat allows you to use 6 Yo-kai at once in a circular pattern, meaning that you can only put the first 3 in battle while the other 3 will stay in the backline, which is a very similar system used in Jade Cocoon 2 (with 9 instead of 6). Not only that but this system is actually well used, as the enemies will constantly curse your yokais and this will force you to switch the formation; during the switch you must de-curse your yo-kais and doing so you obtain a lot of EXP. In addition to this you'll be able to perform special abilities, which are from healing to multi-target attacks. Each Yo-kai have their own and it's well varied!

    Another similarity with SMT is the merging: you can merge yo-kais with other yo-kais AND items to obtain new and stronger ones. Luckily enough it's very limited so you won't have to randomly try for new spirits: if you have the right yo-kai or item, you can merge it, or else you won't.

    The game also allows you a lot of freedom and has NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS WHATSOEVER. Yes, you can avoid all encounters at will, even in dungeons, as they appear in the screen anytime. This is SO much better in comparison to pokemon...but also a bit of a drawback, for a reason that I'll explain later. However the game is very open ended, despite limited at the start, and has a lot of sidequests, sideactivities (which are incredibly RNG, sadly) and an actual main story to follow that's...interesting but not nobel worthy. There are also "medals" to acquire but, unlike pokemon which are kind of a nuisance and are there because...uh...because it's poekmon, in Yo-kai watch they serve 2 purposes:

    1) The possibility to obtain stronger Yo-kais
    2) Allow passage through certain passages.

    Infact thanks to the watch, you can easily see what kind of Yo-kai is nearby you with a sort of radar that shows the weakest (E) to strongest (S) Yo-kai. You're free to avoid them whenever you want but eventually you'll have to upgrade your watch in order to move with the story.

    However there's one major issue that ruins the game: the Yo-kai capturing.

    Let me explain how it works: you see a Yo-kai nearby through the radar, you search around for it and you find it; after that you have to highlight it with your watch for a few seconds (by the way, why can't the 3DS just show **** on the touchscreen already? The DS did that!) and you get into the fight. You finish the fight...and pray to RNGesus that he/she joins you. More than likely they won't. Repeat the process.

    This....this is mind numbingly bad: RNG should be left for F2P games (or Final Fantasy games, as they seem to love it the most), not to a main mechanic of the entire game! You can use food to raise the chance to capture your Yo-kai but it's not even assured you'll get it! I spent hours trying to capture 1 Yo-kai and every Yo-kai but the one I wanted joined my team. Every. Single. Other. Yo-kai. And I still haven't got it until now.

    This is why this game gets 7: if the capturing system was more controlled I would've loved this game to no end, but the RNG factor ruins it and it's not really that fun either. The combat is quick sure but why couldn't we have some meter or something that shows that we're going to capture it at the end? It's just needlessly complicated (like some other company I know).

    Overall, the game is fantastic, a fresh take on the monster capture game. Give it a try, but don't go in thinking of pokemon: it's definitely not.    … Expand
  4. Kingpinn02
    Jul 25, 2016
    7
    SHORT VERSION: It has it's fun moments despite it's simplicity, but I wouldn't call it a "must play".

    I know the rating for "7" appears mixed, but I'm actually more positive about this game (I just don't feel it's good enough for an "8"). After playing LBX: Little Battlers eXperience, it left a bad impression on me with it's ridiculous story. This worried me since I had also got Yo-Kai    SHORT VERSION: It has it's fun moments despite it's simplicity, but I wouldn't call it a "must play".

    I know the rating for "7" appears mixed, but I'm actually more positive about this game (I just don't feel it's good enough for an "8"). After playing LBX: Little Battlers eXperience, it left a bad impression on me with it's ridiculous story. This worried me since I had also got Yo-Kai Watch, made by the same developer Level-5. I heard about it's popularity in Japan and comparisons to Pokemon, so it had made me curious on whether I'd like it or not.

    GAME-PLAY: Battles feel simple yet fun with this sort-of roulette wheel that allows you to decide which three Yo-Kai will help out in a battle. They all fight by themselves, but you'll have to make sure their health doesn't get low and when will be the right time to perform a Soultimate Attack which can deal a lot of damage to enemies. Boss fights can be really fun and even strategic at times since you have to target certain parts of them for the Yo-Kai to hit.

    The process of befriending Yo-Kai can feel really tedious most of the time. Since there's no "Yo-Kai Balls", they only befriend you by chance after every battle. You can increase your chances by giving them food, but it doesn't work most of the time.

    STORY: Unlike LBX, which tried to hard to be a complex plot only turning itself in to something ridiculous, Yo-kai has a simpler story. For most of the beginning and middle, it doesn't involve trying to save the world or anything like that, It's just you helping friends with problems and befriending more Yo-Kai. At times, it felt pretty similar in tone to Kiki's Delivery Service since it's just you completing everyday tasks (albeit, with strange methods).

    That being said, the characters can also feel pretty bland and forgettable since you really only help each one out with one task and never have to interact with them again. Because of this, some Yo-kai start off interesting but are never developed. Jibanyan used to be a kitten owned by a girl named Amy, but this subplot is never explored. Kyubi is made out like a jerk but he ends up having no relevance besides helping you in the end because he feels like it.

    FINAL THOUGHTS: To my comfort, Yo-Kai Watch ended up being a better game then LBX. It was simple, and it didn't try to be anything more then that. However, this also backfired at certain story moments that made it feel generic. I don't regret playing it, but would I have gotten something else? Eh... most likely. Would I get any of the other installments should they ever get localized? Nah, the first one is enough for me.

    If you're a Pokemon fan, you might like it, but you're honestly better off getting Super Mystery Dungeon and waiting for Sun & Moon. Anyone over the age of 12 might just end up finding it to simple to hold their attention    … Expand
  5. Maxed_Out
    Apr 24, 2016
    7
    i think its a ok game because it has a really innovative and cool battle system and involves many 3ds features which is nice too but the cheesy humour and the alright graphics will only apeal to peoples below the age of 13
  6. IxSaru
    Feb 7, 2016
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I began to play this game very excited , and to some extent I liked , but after that only take me discomfort, why ?, because in this game there are just lucky and specific procedures .
    The game seems very cool, beautuful city, side quest, a cotidian life, but has a little things that I don’t like.
    If you want a YoKai, look for it , over and over time, if you're very lucky after a few hours you will have , or get one of the 3 YoKais that make can make friends with easier YoKais , or give them the food they like, which is no way to know unless you a guide on the side , but wait, this is not a guarantee that you get it easily , there Yokai Throw in appearing very very very rarely ....
    (SPOILER ALERT)
    But that's just the beginning , the story is easily ended in a few hours , and has no wonder, including , the final would rate it as mediocre, to give you an idea , the story is: Meet YoKais , Boss, helps a friend , it is repeated multiple times , Surprise the YoKais will attack the world (it’s the last chapter in the game), defeat a boss, defeat 3 mini bosses, defeat boss again, YoKais leave the World, End, YoKais return to World(Has no mayor explain)….
    (END OF SPOILERS)

    (The game has more than 100 missions fill the void of history, that is good…)

    Besides , you cannot beat the game with YoKais you want, you have to have a Healer and Support , especially in the post game .
    If you want objects to get rare YoKais , you should get bugs and fish , but you need the rare versions for these , which also appear rarely (Special Rare fish / bug ) , and they ask more than one, I was two hours trying to get just one, and I could not get outside in fishing and catching bugs is also influenced by luck.

    If you want special meal , you are limited to a few units per day , and if you want YoKais rare , you should try to get them into the YoKai vending machine, only limit you 3 per day and is not influenced by luck, marrow, YoKais you'll get are predetermined.

    Post game has no further exploration , rather than go to the last area in the game (which you should not know how to unlock) and go old areas that previously had bloqued parts, also has more than twice bosses the main story , which are more difficult , but if you have no very good team (which is very difficult ) , you have nothing to do against them , note that in this last area get very little experience , making the transition between the end of history and the postgame be more difficult ( include passing the 100 missions you get in history before arriving here ) . If you want to level up fast is best to use a trick with the calendar (never use it or will use), which I do not like at all ...

    Notably, the game claims more than 200 YoKais , but more than a third of them are the same in another color, you just change the name and attacks, but the same design, if we see more specific cases we have jibanyan , which has 2 fusions, legendary form, fusion with Komasan , 2 robot forms and other 5 shiny forms....

    Conclude by saying it is a good game, but it has many things that are irritating if these details have been better, it would be an almost perfect game.

    Lucky Watch…    … Expand
  7. Vadebo
    Jan 11, 2020
    6
    This game, which belongs to the catch 'em all type, is the perfect way to reinvent pokemon. I liked the battle system based on the double screen, and the variety of the types and classes of the spirits. If you like pokemon and digimon games, I'm sure you will enjoy this game.
  8. Janek1907
    Aug 22, 2020
    7
    I really have enjoyed this game and I do like it. Of course I heard first, that this is just a Pokemon copy, but you have to play not even an hour, and you will realise that it just is not. The battle system is completely different and the way to get new Yo-Kai too. The story of the game really could be better, and an online mode for battles or Yo-Kai trades would make the game a bitI really have enjoyed this game and I do like it. Of course I heard first, that this is just a Pokemon copy, but you have to play not even an hour, and you will realise that it just is not. The battle system is completely different and the way to get new Yo-Kai too. The story of the game really could be better, and an online mode for battles or Yo-Kai trades would make the game a bit longer, because after you beat the final boss you do not have much to do anymore. Another reason why I gave this game a 7 and not an 8 for example, is the factor, that the game is just to easy to beat. I really never have been challenged, not even in boss battles, which can be a bit annoying when you beat the game with absolutely no trouble, but the positive things are the mostly good designs of the Yo-Kai, the world and the soundtrack is fantastic… Expand
  9. 0xFFFE
    May 30, 2020
    6
    Yokai Watch is a game I feel extremely conflicted about. On one hand the character designs, music, and world the game puts you in are superb and make the opening hours of the game a blast. Later on however, the game started to form cracks in it's design. My biggest complaint is that the Yokai don't really feel like my friends as the game says they are. Past the halfway mark in the gameYokai Watch is a game I feel extremely conflicted about. On one hand the character designs, music, and world the game puts you in are superb and make the opening hours of the game a blast. Later on however, the game started to form cracks in it's design. My biggest complaint is that the Yokai don't really feel like my friends as the game says they are. Past the halfway mark in the game the rate at which you can befriend decreases to an unreasonable amount, this is coupled with the fact that you basically get one chance to obtain a yokai before you half to find them again. For rarer, stronger yokai this becomes intolerable and I ended up depending never really switching up my party.

    That said the world in the game is one of the few in all games, let alone on the 3DS that feels like a place that really exists and is presented beautifully. The music fits the game perfectly and breathes life into the rest of the game. Characters are enjoyable and accompany you throughout the game leading to the plot being entertaining.

    These pros outweigh the cons in some ways but that doesn't eliminate them. For one the battle system while engaging and fun is very fast and you don't really have any control over what you yokai do besides switching them out and using their special moves. Quests give you a vague objective which leads to time spent wondering around and interacting with everything at your disposal. There is a massive difficulty spike at the end that made me simply give up on beating the game after a pretty short play though considering the genre of 15 or so hours.

    Yokai watch is best compared to what it is based of, summer break. For the first while it's fun and liberating and for the last half it can feel as though it has given all it can offer.    … Expand
  10. AlexMakesToast
    Nov 23, 2022
    6
    Yo-kai watch = 6/10
    ............................................................
  11. LillaQwilfish
    Feb 13, 2023
    7
    I lost the cartridge on my sofa and never found it again. I never got past McKraken's first phase because of that. Befriending yokai is also really hard, and grinding is extremely boring. 7/10, this game really needed some of the changes ykw2 brought, like seeing a yokai's favourite food or special coins.

Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best 3DS Game of 2015
7
#7 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2015
2
#2 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 69 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 46 out of 69
  2. Mixed: 23 out of 69
  3. Negative: 0 out of 69
  1. Telegraph
    Jul 25, 2016
    60
    It is still zippy and enjoyable enough -with touchscreen mini-games for purifying and Soultimates- but strikes an awkward middle-ground where combat isn’t involved enough for more experienced players, but is chaotic enough with its machinations to befuddle newcomers.
    Read full review
  2. Games Master UK
    Jul 5, 2016
    80
    An expertly paced and enjoyable Pokemon-like RPG, tailored beautifully for younger audiences. [June 2016, p.68]
  3. Edge Magazine
    Jul 5, 2016
    60
    Thanks to a thoughtful, witty localisation, Yo-Kai Watch proves to be a kids' game that's capable of winning over adult players, too. [July 2016, p.123]
See all critic reviews »