Game giant Nintendo has announced that its hit RPG franchise "Yo-Kai Watch" will becoming to the U.S. later this year. In a post on its official website, the company has pegged Nov. 6 as the rollout date for the handheld title.
Commenting on why the title will finally land outside of Japan, and on the Nintendo 3DS no less, Scott Moffitt, vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America said, "The strength of the Yo-kai franchise demands strong partners. Our Nintendo 3DS system is the perfect platform to bring this fun, one-of-a-kind video game experience to life."
"Yo-Kai Watch," based on a franchise that is also available as an anime series, is a role-playing game. The main protagonist of the series is able to see and interact with Yo-kai – beings invisible to humans, and appear in the world as everyday object, both living things and inanimate objects.
Those who are not that familiar with the "Yo-Kai" series will immediately jump into comparison with the "Pokemon" franchise, another series with the same concept. However, Nintendo clarifies that a Yo-kai is different from a Pokemon entirely. While Pokemon are animal-like beings, Yo-kai are unique unto themselves.
In addition, the Yo-kai themselves are based on common, everyday issues that children face.
"When we first started exploring concepts for the YO-KAI WATCH universe, we immersed ourselves in learning about situations confronting kids in their everyday lives," said Akihiro Hino, president of LEVEL-5, the developer for the game. "This world – a child's complicated, scary, confusing, exciting and very funny world – is the foundation of our IP, and the Nintendo game really captures this essence, along with the colorful and often amusing Yo-kai behind it all!"
In the game, players can discover more than 200 Yo-Kai scattered throughout the town, and each one has its own skill set and strengths.
