Interest

Yōkai Watch Fans Flock to McDonalds For Special Happy Meal Arcade Cards

McDonald's Japan has been experiencing some long lines lately, and much of it is due to their latest Happy Meal toys selection—special arcade cards from the massively popular hit franchise Yōkai Watch, as well as Aikatsu!.

While Aikatsu! is popular in Japan as well, Japanese netizens seem to be in agreement that it's the Yōkai Watch toys that are likely causing the long lines. The franchise was first launched in 2011 by game publisher Level-5, complete with a game, manga, and anime, and has since amassed a huge fanbase of all ages. And although the TV commercial seems to feature boys clustered around the Yōkai Watch toys, there are legions of female fans as well—in addition to a Yōkai Watch shonen manga series, which runs in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic, there is also a Yōkai Watch shojo manga series, which is serialized in Shogakukan's Ciao.

The toys are not really toys, per se, but rather, collectible cards that are meant to be used in Yōkai Watch and Aikatsu! Data Cardass arcade games from Bandai. Fans can also go to any McDonalds equipped with WiFi with their DS and grab a special token meant to be used in the in-game Yōkai Watch gachapon game.

A quick search on Youtube reveals that plenty of fans have already completed the entire set—and yes, that includes boys, girls, and adults.

Here's a YouTube video of the cards in action in the arcade game:

The arcade game, Yōkai Watch: Tomodachi UkiUkipedia, allows the player to pit three of their Yokai against the enemy Yokai. Winners then receive a card that can be used for future play. There is an Aikatsu! Data Cardass game as well, which use the cards to help the idols nail their auditions.

As for the lines, here are some snapshots posted by Twitter users:

Yōkai Watch 2 was released in two versions on July 10 for the Nintendo 3DS. Previously, Nintendo released a limited edition Yōkai Watch 3DS XL.

[Via Hachima Kikou]