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Youkai Watch [LEVEL5] is a 3DS game now!

Beth Cyra

Member
Oh I didn't know there was a psp game, it sold just above 43k that's not so terrible for a psp game compared to a big budget lavishly produced project like nino kuni that sold around 87k that came with high quality book with the game (imagine all the trees that went to waste).



Dragon quest 9 sold like 5million world wide and professor layton be staking more paper and getting more ladys then gundam.
As I said DQ is a bigger gaming franchise.

However that doesn't change that Gundam, Char and Amuro are unique and gigantic in a way that Dragon Quest doesn't come close to matching, and lol at Professor Layton even be mentioned in the same breath as Gundam.

The only Gundam Hino ever has a hope of passing is his own and that is literally because he created the single biggest failure the franchise has ever had.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
can't wait to see this game, I really like anime-style approach of L5 games. I hope it can be localized.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
There's a scan floating around. They changed the perspective compared to the trailer.
 

robotnik

Member
http://www.youkai-watch.jp/

30PqR.jpg


WY1B4.jpg


4Qb9D.jpg


hQvwN.jpg


Sl3ZH.jpg
 

Genre: Undecided

lol

Looks good though.

Main Character: Keeta
5th grader, 11.
Has lots of bad luck, but a positive personality.

Whisper (White ghost)
Appears from a Gatcha Ball.Will teach you about the Youkai world.

Keeta's classmates: Kuma, Kanchi, and Fumi (going left to right)

Occurs in Sakuranyu Town.

Cat Youkai is Jibanyan
Blue kappa is Nogappa
Snake is Tsuchinoko
Cone head is Himojii
Old woman is Bakurobaa
Ball is Katanorkouzo
Slime is Donyoriinu
Mosquitto is Negatibuun
Mouth dude is Kuiijii
Blue cat is Komasan
Demon is Michibiki
And bird is Yokodori.

You use the watch to 'watch' for youkai in certain locations. First an aura appears, the the youkai itself.
Once you find a youkai they will ask you to do a quest to help them. Once you clear the quest, they may become your friend.
You fight other youkai using your friend youkai. Sometimes, when defeated, the opponents will join you. Youkai each have their own individual features in battle.
 

Takao

Banned
youkai05.jpg

youkai07.jpg

youkai09.jpg


NOPE

I can't see this series catching on internationally. You have things like the Kappa, and Oni which may appeal to Japanese people but international audiences just gonna see some weird looking things.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
Looks like Inazuma Eleven and Carboard Senki

Sigh, L5 Ps2 RPGs used to look good.

I would agree, if Inazuma or Cardboard looked bad.
But I really like both of them :p

Waiting for LBX european cartoon hiring and videogame release, I'm doubtfull about Watch western hopes, after having looked at the heavily Japan-oriented monsters...
 

Pooya

Member
just watched the original trailer, that's like a different game xD lol L5. maybe they have other Yokai Watch game, this is not that trailer; when they said platform is undecided they really meant it....
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
just watched the original trailer, that's like a different game xD lol L5. maybe they have other Yokai Watch game, this is not that trailer; when they said platform is undecided they really meant it....

that was probably just a concept render PC based to show the game. consider that they would like to build a franchise, not only a videogame, on this license (with cartoon, merchandise, manga etc...)
I don't know which are the actual plans apart the 3DS game, but probably they used that demo to show the concept not only to videogame crowd, let's say
 

Alexios

Banned
It looks more or less the same to me (+ aliasing, maybe there are texture differences but they aren't visible as is), just with a different camera angle. It's not like trailers don't often use angles you don't get in gameplay. That camera didn't even show significantly more than this top down one. It would have also been more cumbersome to use had it remained like that. As for people saying it must have been on another platform or whatever, eh, have you seen their PSP promotional images? :p
 

Takao

Banned
that was probably just a concept render PC based to show the game. consider that they would like to build a franchise, not only a videogame, on this license (with cartoon, merchandise, manga etc...)
I don't know which are the actual plans apart the 3DS game, but probably they used that demo to show the concept not only to videogame crowd, let's say

Would anyone even buy merch based on this? The cat thing is okay I guess, but everything else looks so blah. I know I wouldn't want a pushie of that female Muk + Ditto hybrid up there.
 
It looks more or less the same to me (+ aliasing, maybe there are texture differences but they aren't visible as is), just with a different camera angle. It's not like trailers don't often use angles you don't get in gameplay. That camera didn't even show significantly more than this top down one. It would have also been more cumbersome to use had it remained like that.

What?

bZDU6.jpg


The angle isn't even a factor here. The games don't look even close to the same besides being based on the same general concept.
 

Alexios

Banned
Ok, also blob shadows instead of normal then. The rest looks similar enough. The foliage, wall textures, car models, etc. Again, maybe there are differences close up but with that small screen size they aren't visible for now to claim there's such a vast difference already. Like where he finds the cat, in those images the trees, walls, stuff, seem practically the same as in your screen.

Yes? What about that? Simple house models, uni-bushes without individual leaves, boxy brick wall without individual bricks, blurry minor foliage, simple textures everywhere, etc. Maybe the main character has more polys but again, it's not actually visible in these angles (different hairdo though), in close ups they could (but probably won't) switch to a higher quality model as well.

It doesn't look poly starved, barren or anything else like that Terry's Wonderland remake either.

Anyway, if the combat system is better than Ni No Kuni and the story not intrusive, I could be in.
 

Spiegel

Member
It looks more or less the same to me (+ aliasing, maybe there are texture differences but they aren't visible as is), just with a different camera angle. It's not like trailers don't often use angles you don't get in gameplay. That camera didn't even show significantly more than this top down one. It would have also been more cumbersome to use had it remained like that. As for people saying it must have been on another platform or whatever, eh, have you seen their PSP promotional images? :p

Eehh...

sKjTH.jpg
 

Takao

Banned
I agree with Alex. The game wasn't going to be played with a Silent Hill camera. Those angles were just for demo.
 
Meh, far weirder/grosser collect 'em up brands have been sold to American kids before.

win-pictures-garbage-pail-kids.jpg



Isn't really a tougher sell in the US than LBX or IE would be imo. Americans don't care for mecha, soccer or ghosts in general, it's more about the handling of the brand than the content itself.
 

Nekki

Member
The cat is a Nekomata if i'm not mistaken.

Meh, game looks not good. Seems to be a sort of Dragon Quest Monsters. Even the damage numbers are eerily similar.

Environments look okay, but those monster designs... ugh.
 
I'm not liking the monster designs at all. My ideal game of this style would copy the Nurarihyon artstyle.

When I first saw the title I got all excited thinking Ushiro was still a thing. Oh well
 

Takao

Banned
Meh, far weirder/grosser collect 'em up brands have been sold to American kids before.

win-pictures-garbage-pail-kids.jpg



Isn't really a tougher sell in the US than LBX or IE would be imo. Americans don't care for mecha, soccer or ghosts in general, it's more about the handling of the brand than the content itself.

I completely disagree. Inazuma Eleven is indeed dead because no network will pick up a soccer anime (even if it's shonen in disguise). LBX though? Yes. The issues will arise with how bat shit insane that show's story apparently is. Political assassinations? Check. Evil Americans? Check. Globe trotting 12 year olds? Check.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
Would anyone even buy merch based on this? The cat thing is okay I guess, but everything else looks so blah. I know I wouldn't want a pushie of that female Muk + Ditto hybrid up there.

Remember how big is the merchandising affair for...Hello Kitty.
Wordlwide.

:p

I completely disagree. Inazuma Eleven is indeed dead because no network will pick up a soccer anime (even if it's shonen in disguise). LBX though? Yes. The issues will arise with how bat shit insane that show's story apparently is. Political assassinations? Check. Evil Americans? Check. Globe trotting 12 year olds? Check.

I think it could have market in PAL territories if they'll be able to produce and hire the cartoon.
I mean:

Main Character: Keeta
5th grader, 11.
Has lots of bad luck, but a positive personality.

Whisper (White ghost)
Appears from a Gatcha Ball.Will teach you about the Youkai world.
Keeta's classmates: Kuma, Kanchi, and Fumi (going left to right)
Occurs in Sakuranyu Town.

Cat Youkai is Jibanyan
Blue kappa is Nogappa
Snake is Tsuchinoko
Cone head is Himojii
Old woman is Bakurobaa
Ball is Katanorkouzo
Slime is Donyoriinu
Mosquitto is Negatibuun
Mouth dude is Kuiijii
Blue cat is Komasan
Demon is Michibiki
And bird is Yokodori.

You use the watch to 'watch' for youkai in certain locations. First an aura appears, the the youkai itself.
Once you find a youkai they will ask you to do a quest to help them. Once you clear the quest, they may become your friend.
You fight other youkai using your friend youkai. Sometimes, when defeated, the opponents will join you. Youkai each have their own individual features in battle.




Doesn't sound so weird, if put into a TV Cartoon perpective.
 

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
I completely disagree. Inazuma Eleven is indeed dead because no network will pick up a soccer anime (even if it's shonen in disguise). LBX though? Yes. The issues will arise with how bat shit insane that show's story apparently is. Political assassinations? Check. Evil Americans? Check. Globe trotting 12 year olds? Check.

I agree with this. Soccer has appeal everywhere but the united states. We have anime series airing with mini 4wd, tops and wheels. Toy robots is no thing in comparison.
 
I do think the monster designs are a misstep. Yes, I can appreciate trying to step out of Pokemon's shadow with a title like this, but I really don't see these things appealing to kids in general, and absolutely certainly not in the West.
 
I completely disagree. Inazuma Eleven is indeed dead because no network will pick up a soccer anime (even if it's shonen in disguise). LBX though? Yes. The issues will arise with how bat shit insane that show's story apparently is. Political assassinations? Check. Evil Americans? Check. Globe trotting 12 year olds? Check.
Yeah, no. American kids just don't give a shit about chibi-mecha, LBX has niche appeal at best here. Robots have broken out before, but not really in a "collect 'em up" franchise and not "cute" ones either.

Ghosts are actually an easier sell, though Yokai Watch being so steeped in native folklore could be a negative. Or it could just be glossed over in localization.
 

Takao

Banned
Are you condemning LBX based on SD Gundam Force's performance or something? What "chibi" mecha shows were released in the US with a push behind them?
 

GhaleonQ

Member
I never thought I'd be disappointed that something's a role-playing game, but here we are.

The designs are really fantastic, though.
 
Are you condemning LBX based on SD Gundam Force's performance or something? What "chibi" mecha shows were released in the US with a push behind them?
I'm just saying Japanese mecha's never really broken through in the US in a "get 'em all" context (and really never has at all after the 1980s). Your question's a strawman, I mean which ghoul/ghost shows with a push behind them failed here?

None of Level-5's cross-media projects are homeruns in terms of content for American audiences. To be honest, I think both Layton and Ninokuni would be easier sells (purely on content) though neither's a really cross-media project so it's moot.
 

Mandoric

Banned
lol that's anime that's cheap pocket change to hino, sunrise is probably still star struck a wealthy man like hino came to visit there anime sweat shop, nino kuni is big hd ps3 rpg that came with a real book and was a collab with an outside entity studio Ghibli.

There have been interviews on how exactly Hino got involved; he was approached to make a Gundam game during the early LBX hype period, and as a Gundam fan parlayed negotiations into a chance to pitch his idea for a TV series. It sounded extremely good on paper, so it got made.

Oh I didn't know there was a psp game, it sold just above 43k that's not so terrible for a psp game compared to a big budget lavishly produced project like nino kuni that sold around 87k that came with high quality book with the game (imagine all the trees that went to waste).

Dragon quest 9 sold like 5million world wide and professor layton be staking more paper and getting more ladys then gundam.

Gundam games are an extremely small slice of the pie, kind of like how Star Wars doesn't set any records in the gaming department other than maybe "biggest MMO flop". As a franchise, it turns over about $500m a year, or about the equivalent of four Dragon Quest 9s a year.

Note that that's NOT including major portions of licenced merch due to Sotsu's share of the franchise.

I guess the best argument for its significance is that AGE's "disastrous" performance means it only produced a 15%-20% or so tick in year-on-year.
 

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
I'm just saying Japanese mecha's never really broken through in the US in a "get 'em all" context (and really never has at all after the 1980s). Your question's a strawman, I mean which ghoul/ghost shows with a push behind them failed here?

None of Level-5's cross-media projects are homeruns in terms of content for American audiences. To be honest, I think both Layton and Ninokuni would be easier sells (purely on content) though neither's a really cross-media project so it's moot.

there was no mass marketing behind it, but medabots was pretty well recieved on the animation front. if they were to have tried to sell other products behind it, im sure it could have caught on.
 
It looks good for a 3DS game, love the style.
It'll probably be something really easy aimed at kids without no real challenge for grown-up people (something that Pokémon has), as typical of Level-5, but still.
 

Takao

Banned
Are you sure? Maybe you've just been around Takao too long :p

Medabots was the top rated new show on Fox Kids in the US back when it premiered. Originally it was only planned for the show to come over, but due to its success the games, manga, and toys came a year later. The problem was that once that merch came the show got shafted to a deep cable-only channel that had no interest in seeing it succeed.
 

watershed

Banned
Looks like what I imagine a fully 3d pokemon game would look like. Love that it looks nothing like the original trailer, lol.
 
I remember hearing about this anime a while ago. I would love to see this game make its way over to the states. There are so many appealing aspects to this title that I dig, from the color pallete to the look of the characters and town. It is a shame that we don't have more games in the US with such vibrancy and charm.
 
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