The Rise and Fall of Yo-kai Watch

Yo-kai Watch was a surprise hit in Japan in 2013. Initially, the game series developed by Level 5 failed to find much success on the Nintendo 3DS, but an intensive marketing campaign consisting of the Yokai Watch anime, advertising, merchandise and much more helped the series to catch on. Yokai Watch 2 subsequently became one of the best-selling games of all time in Japan, and the spin-offs Yokai Watch Busters and Yokai Watch Puni Puni also found great success. So Level 5 had managed to create the 'new Pokémon'. In the end, however, this success could not be sustained and Yokai Watch disappeared from the scene as quickly as it had arrived. With Yokai Watch 4 on the Nintendo Switch, the last game of the series is now already 4 years ago and a Yokai Watch 5 seems unlikely at the moment. In this video, I tell you the whole story of Yokai Watch, from the big hype in Japan to the fall of the game series.

#yokaiwatch
#saveyokaiwatch
#nintendoswitch

[justa-walrus]

One of my favorite gaming franchises. Really sad to see how fast the series went into obscurity. Some of the most charming and enjoyable games on the 3ds

[Chrono]

as a japanese guy who spent a majority of his childhood playing yokai watch with the homies (and then going to live in Australia just to realize that nobody played the game there), it's good to see that people haven't forgotten the existence of this franchise lmao

[ehmzed]

It's worth to note that Pokémon was very aggressive in responding to Yokai Watch's incredible success. Sun and Moon were very clearly made for a younger audience, both the anime and the game took inspiration from Yokai Watch to directly compete with it. From making the anime much more episodic and childish, to the game being easier and introducing the Rotomdex as the answer to Whisper the ghost. This shows how much Pokémon feared Yokai Watch's sudden astronomical succes in Japan. They didn't take it lightly and they took action to make sure to shut down any room for competition.

[Toastisverymuchgood]

These games had literally the best soundtracks in my opinion i’m sad we aren’t gonna get any more games this was my entire childhood

[cosmicXtropics]

In the US, when the first game came out, one of the most memorable gaming experiences happened for me. Leaving high school, public busses would pick up students in the front of the school and the bus I had to get on had a giant Yo Kai Watch advertising banner covering the entire thing. At that moment I was super excited to see anything Nintendo in public let alone a giant moving advertisement.

That bus holds a special place in my heart and I do give it credit for making me a YoKai fan, to this day. Even if the series is at a standstill it will never disappear from Nintendo/gaming history.

I so do miss the days of playing wibble wobble on my first smart phone and even seeing plushies of the YoKai in stores! Hopefully somehow in the future the franchise can be revived and players give it another chance!

[GymLeaderEd]

I think a lot of people forget that competing with pokemon isn't the benchmark for success. The franchise is still doing better than the smt franchise in Japan, and while not as popular at its peak, is still performing respectably well with yokai watch 4 selling almost 300k copies in Japan alone. They just need to market it better globally

[Nokoboi]

As someone who really loved this franchise, it just hurts me to hear this story. I belive i'm honestly one of the last people that own actual copies of the games.

[SerpentHashiraObanaiIguro]

To sum up this video, I think TV Tropes said it best:
"The Mon genre has historically had a lot of difficulty establishing itself in the west and is still often seen as kind of a niche genre, mainly for the same reason Magical Girl anime and Toku series are subjected to this trope; America was first exposed to it through one of its biggest success stories, _Pokémon, _ causing mainstream audiences to mistakenly presume that other Mon franchises imported later, like _Digimon, Medabots, or Yo-Kai Watch, _ were cheap knockoffs made to cash in on the craze, rather than merely different series in a thriving genre. Many Mon series have established cult followings in the USA, but none have managed to rival _Pokémon_ in terms of popularity and recognition, nor have they ever fully escaped its shadow."

[yamihatarou]

It sucks to hear that Yo-Kai did so poorly in the west because I was in love with the games as a kid. Still has one of the cooler battle systems of any game I’ve played. And the dialogue and characters were genuinely pretty entertaining. Watched the anime with my dad too.

[ATHBizarre]

I didn’t play the games, but I did watch the anime. Man, it brings nostalgia. I remember he saved his grandpa who made the first Yokai Watch 😭

[kanchomerocks]

It seems to me that Yokai watch met a similar fate as Digimon. It was super popular for a few years and then things went south. It's honestly quite sad, because both of those series deserve a lot of love, just as much as pokemon. I hope level 5 looks at Digimon and does what Bandai decided to do. Instead of completely killing the franchise, focus on the niche fanbase it has. That actually helped Digimon a lot in recent years, with cyber sleuth and Survive selling pretty decently for what they are, and from what I can tell, the v-pets are getting popular and profitable again.

[Swordy]

I bought Yo-Kai Watch 3 on launch. And the Gamestop employee told me that they only had 3 of them in stock. I didn’t think much of it, and proceeded to buy it. It was a great game, with lots to do. But, when I thought about it more, I got very curious and confused on why there were only 3 copies. Not a while later, Level-5 shut down, and the price for the game skyrocketed. I cried when I heard that they were shutting down, there was so much potential in the series.

[mohammedal-mustafamirghani]

0:30
Honestly when you think about it, Yo-Kai Watch and Doraemon have some quite similar elements, the main character(Nobita & Nate) is best friend with a cat(Doraemon & Jibanyan), has a big friend(Gian & Bear) and a rich friend(Suneo & Eddie) and in the future they get married to their crush(Shizuka & Katie).

[yeollierancher]

I remember being so sad when Yo-Kai Watch stopped airing on TV and the 3rd game was staying in Japan. Now I know why (‘: I loved this franchise so much, it’s so saddening to see it go like this.

[ehmzed]

I remember visiting Japan in the middle of its boom and I loved that there was a new competitor to Pokémon that felt just as wholesome and nice. It was truly everywhere at that time and everyone loved it.
It's such a shame that it didn't stay relevant for long. I hope Level 5 learns from its mistakes and tries to bring it back eventually. We've just seen recently that they're bringing back the Professor Layton franchise with a new game, and I was so happy to see that, and it shows that Level 5 is not dead. I think they can try again with Yokai Watch, the potential is too big to waste. Heck, why not take the chance now that the Pokémon anime is getting a new start with new characters that audiences won't be attached to? Seems like the perfect time to sneak in and do some competition.

[なんか妖怪]

I will post a memorable story video of Yokai Watch Busters on July 11, 2023. I would be happy if all of the overseas Yo-Kai Watch friends would see it!

[ColdCody]

I couldn’t tell you how much I love this series, something about the scenery and music, game play EVERYTHING I Love it and I’m so nostalgic of those days when the game was big

[Xenowolf]

This was one of my favorite series on the 3DS. It may be gone now, but we will never forget.

[Master_]

I never played any games of this franchise but I sure did watch the anime. If I remember correctly it was being aired on Cartoon Network in my country. I loved the anime, it really caught my attention back in the day.... then I don't remember what else. When I saw this video I asked "Wasn't it dead long ago?" then I immediately asked "Wait, how did it die exactly? It literally disappeared." I don't remember when I stopped watching the show and I never heard of it again until now. So I clicked on this video to satisfy my curiosity. Of course as I expected, the video is well documented. So thanks to you for researching, now I know what happened all these years.

[ZacGamer]

Ever since Yo Kai Watch 1 was released, I never stopped putting my 3ds down. All Yo-Kai Watch 3ds games are straight up 100/10. It’s one of my favourite franchises of all time. As a huge Yo Kai Watch fan, it hurts to hear this story, but even if Yo Kai Watch is dead. It isn’t to me, it will always live on as one of my favourite games to play. I will always love you Yo Kai Watch!