Yo-kai Watch - Is It Good for Learning Japanese? - Game Gengo Review

Find out if Yokai Watch is the game for YOU to help you enjoy learning Japanese and immerse in Japanese media!

Become a supporter through the Game Gengo Website or Patreon and join the official Game Gengo Discord and connect with the community and practice your Japanese.
The Game Gengo Discord is a place where you can geek out, make friends, learn Japanese, ask questions and get help any time of the day, share video ideas and help influence the channel you enjoy.

►Affiliate Link Game List

►Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:36 - First Impression
02:09 - Pros/Cons
11:18 - Challenges
13:23 - Fun with Language
16:38 - Language Analysis
22:25 - Summary
26:08 - How to Buy
27:21 - Outro

A huge thanks to all Patreon Supporters:
◆ Executive Producers ◆
Scissors!61!
JAY
Elro
Vroomfondel
The Pum
Nick T
Yust
Silent Grig
Some Guy
Jacob Foster
Stian
Madwraith
Van Weapon
TeaDrinker3000
ShinRyu
Ross
Courtenay S.
Gregory S. Kimmel
Christian B.
Arzaquel A.
That Other
Michael Lawson
Zachary Daniel
Judas Jefferson
Kai
BOB DAO
Blues
祐悟「Yugo」
Gomumi
Ernestas C.
Zatoichi 67
Violet Sky
Mayme
Blake F.
Gold Crusader
Santiago V.M.
Kruk
Todd Hanson

◆ Elite Members ◆
Jason Dahl, Blake Henderson, Erik Campuzano, T00thr0t, Paul, FoodSam, Mathew Chan, Azraiths Sherkhan, Raúl Negrón, Todd Hanson, Eric Blomquist, Eik Reiprich, Zach Kaczynski, Alpino Gi, ComradeKomrade, Crimson_Obscura, Shawn McGuire, Gregory S. Kimmel, Teorem Phoenix , TheC0der, ToKini Andy, Whit, Kenzie R., Giuseppe Clemente, Sandra Süsser, Paul S., Kyuu, PallyBay, Dave G., Robin Wyn, Bex, Meny-chan, Stynpine, IsekaiEmochan, CivicSico, Michelle Doty, Caleb Nicholson, Gomumi, Sean T, Midnanight, Khalum, Penri, Yookimbo, Monique A., Ivy K. Elliot, Tyler R., Haru G., Mathias L., Jables, BigJuicy

#yokaiwatch #learnjapanese #日本語

[GameGengo]

What other games do you guys think are great for learning Japanese with?

[matoikazamaki]

Man, this video is INCREDIBLE, it's exactly what I need to know if I should start a game or not, it's thorough, well explained, well argumented.

[robingordon]

I actually just bought Yo-kai watch 4 while in japan. Finding it super useful, I'm around JLPT4 level and perfect for it. One thing that i'm finding that is essential in games which sometimes isn't touched upon is the ability to save whenever you want. As it an be taxing playing games in Japanese. I played around 25 hours of Final fantasy 7 and it was fun but tough, sometimes i'd be playing for over and hour and half before I found a save point and my mind was mush afterwards, haaa. So agree Yo-kai watch is great and lets you play at your own pace.

[Ciaran]

Took your recommendation and really enjoying playing this. Great to not be doing only exercises and study. I haven't finished Genki 1 yet but know enough to separate out parts of the sentences. This means I spend at least 75% of my play time searching the dictionary but every day I do feel a tiny improvement.

[Ciaran]

Great video, makes me think it's time I stop only studying and start playing something.

When searching for info I was having trouble with results until I realised it's "Yo-kai" Watch

[GameGengo]

Whoa! Apparently you can actually buy Yokai Watch 1 from the Google Play store which means you can play on mobile!! :O

[guibezerra]

Thank you! This is one the games I was really looking forward to see in the channel.

[popstarkirby]

Nice to know one of my favorite games is useful for learning Japanese. 😊

[Gabus]

After watching this video I actually managed to find a used japanese copy (3ds) in my country for super cheap, so I went and bought it! I love Pokemon but never tried Yokai Watch so I'm excited to try it!

[dominikudesu]

So crazy you made a video like this! I've been using Yokai Watch as a pretty regular game in my studies. I'm not a very high level at all and I would say out of any of the games I play, this game has a good balance of reading and listening. Then when I get tired I can kind of take a "break" and just play the game not focusing on the japanese so much. I read the manga as well and I was going to make a video similar to this just about the manga. Out of all the manga I have read so far I believe it is one of the best mangas to learn from as well.

[JavanniAlwaysRightFoundation]

I’ve been literally been playing this games since the OG 3DS one. And I believe it would be a great tool to learn Japanese, but it’s gonna get really advanced post-game if that’s something players are interested in, especially YW2 shinuchi and YW3 Sukiyaki

[GuillermoDelTotoro]

10:15 "acktually" a wisp, or will-o--the-wisp is a type of ghost, usually depicted like this yokai. a floating ghost orb

I often find myself in the situation that furigana are like a cheat. My eyes instantly look at the furigana without even giving the reading of the Kanji by myself a try. I would love games to have the option to turn firigana off and on on the fly.

[piashatiel]

Just got Yo-Kai Watch to learn Japanese with and was pleased to see that I'm at a point in my learning at which I can understand the game relatively well. Sure, I still need to look up quite a few words, but I'm happy that I can use it mainly as a way to get a better feel for the grammar, as I don't have to concentrate as much on the vocab :D

Really enjoyable game to learn Japanese with as well, I'm looking forward to continue playing.

I'm curious to see how well I'll do with other games after this. ^^

I'd be curious to see some games that got voice acting and logs like AI: The Somnium Files in terms of how much the language is used as well as more games with a similar level to Yo-Kai Watch when it comes to the words used. Really like the breakdown you do there, that's very helpful to gauge the game in terms of how well one would be able to understand it ^^

[countD]

I picked up a copy of Yokai Watch 4, and several other games, while I was vacationing in Japan back in May....I really hope I can visit again sooner rather than later

[derekstacey]

I bought a dozen or so games in japanese to learn with along side my text books and this is the first one ive been able to actually play. The book series im doing is really slow so i spend a lot of time looking stuff up on yokai but i feel my knowledge level just sky rocketing

[ProfKisuto]

It's finally happened! A Yokai-Watch video!!! XD

[richardsonrichly]

6:00 is that the bug wich makes those notorious sounds you hear?
In like countryside settings and such?

[Kanji]

Yes! More of this! This game isn’t easily accessible for many out of Japan. Would be a very good game for the channel to nail ❤️

[littlered]

Thank you so much for this channel. I have been having a hard time because I'm not following a normal route to learn Japanese so I didn't learn words in frequency order. I've independently tried a few games and so far, only one has worked out, so I've been looking for another. I skipped this, because it seemed like a bad idea to play a game I haven't payed in English. However, by *watching you play* I realised I could read almost every sentence you showed! So I should not have skipped this one. I'm going to try it this week! Hopefully it is a good step up between the games I've been playing, so some of the more difficult games (Persona 😩) will be easier.