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Nintendo to Publish Level-5's Yo-kai Watch RPG in the West
posted on by Egan Loo
Nintendo announced on Tuesday that it will publish Level-5's Yo-kai Watch role-playing game on its Nintendo 3DS platform in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Korea. The game will debut in North America in 2016, and then roll out to other territories by the end of that year.
Nintendo describes the premise of the franchise:
Yo-kai Watch centers on a boy who gets a special watch that lets him befriend and help mischievous Yo-kai and later summon them to fight other Yo-kai. Players can overcome challenges and help various characters solve everyday problems with the help of Yo-kai friends. These eccentric Yo-kai resemble anything from inanimate objects to mythical creatures.
Nintendo also explain what Yo-kai are: "They are not ghosts, monsters or creatures. Yo-kai are, quite simply, Yo-kai. They cannot be seen by the human eye, but they are everywhere. Whether born from the soul of a deceased human, or an everyday object discovering its higher purpose, their personalities are distinctly humanlike."
Game developer Level-5 announced the Yo-kai Watch franchise in 2011 with a game, manga, and anime already planned. The franchise's first game for the Nintendo 3DS debuted in Japan in July 2013, and the anime premiered in January 2014. The latest game in the franchise, a third version of Yo-kai Watch 2, shipped in December. Bandai sells Yo-kai Watch toys and game tie-in medals in Japan.
Outside Japan, Hasbro is handling toy sales, and Viz Media is publishing the manga. Viz Media Europe also acquired the rights to the anime franchise. According to Viz, the protagonist Keita Amano will have the name Nathan Adams in English.
A second season of the television anime will premiere in July, and will star a new female protagonist named Inaho. She will also appear in the recently announced Yo-kai Watch 3 game for Nintendo 3DS.
[Via Siliconera (link 2)]
