Yo-kai Watch (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Opening up on the protagonist meeting their friends, the story follows either a young boy or girl adventuring and exploring their town of Springdale. Early on, while exploring a nearby forest, they come across a long-since abandoned capsule machine. The machine prompts them to feed it a coin, and they do so, unwittingly releasing their first Yo-kai, Whisper.

Whisper is the main character's guide to the world of Yo-kai Watch, and he follows them throughout the game, offering helpful advice about the mechanics and his fellow Yo-kai. He's also a major source of the game's comedy, which is utterly charming and reminiscent of other popular kid-friendly JRPGs. The narrative doesn't really move at an exact cadence, so the story can be progressed through at a very free pace. While there are constant objectives to complete, they're never so pressing that there isn't time to go scout out a nearby cave to find more Yo-kai.

Unsurprisingly, a large focus is placed on befriending the more than two-hundred Yo-kai found throughout Springdale and the surrounding area. It's a bit less straightforward than, say, catching Pokémon in that series of games, but it's pretty simple in its own right. Almost all Yo-kai fought have a small chance to ask to join the team after being defeated in battle, and feeding them their favourite food can greatly expedite this process. Other Yo-kai can be recruited through the aforementioned capsule machine, through story-based events, evolution, and even by fusing with other Yo-kai or items.

Befriending the Yo-kai is one of the biggest excitements while playing, and searching out and finding them is surprisingly addictive. They're hidden throughout the entire world, but thanks to the Yo-kai Watch accessory, they can be spotted through its lens. Using the touch screen and stylus, the watch's reticule can be trained on Yo-kai scattered around town, who usually end up fighting right at first, but can also give out quests to complete, offering items or a chance to add them to Yo-kai Compendium. Since each one has their own personality, finding the ones that match a particular style is really a ton of fun.

With such a huge selection to choose from, there's a massive amount of variety in team creation. The Yo-kai Watch itself holds up to six creatures at a time, and linking Yo-kai that belong to the same tribe gives a little boost to their stats in battle. Each tribe has its own specialties, so while having six of the same type might seem like the best solution, crafting a team that can respond to any situation might take a bit more finesse. Still, creating a team that perfectly mixes balance and personal appeal makes for a great since of achievement when it's finally pulled off.

Battles themselves don't have a whole lot of complexity, and it is one of the few times the pacing struggles. For the most part, battles just consist of the Yo-kai fighting automatically against the enemies on screen. While there are powerful ultimate moves unique to each Yo-kai that do require player interaction, they're pretty easy to input and don't add a whole lot to battles. While there are a few other ways to interact with battles, they don't always feel as rewarding as they maybe could.

Combat does, however, really shine when facing off against the larger Yo-kai bosses fought throughout the story. The bosses take quite a bit more strategy to pull off—not so much that they become impossible, but enough that a little bit more thought needs to be put into targeting specific weak points, or balancing different types of Yo-kai being used. The puzzle aspect these bosses provide adds a lot of complexity to the combat system, and this complexity is the one thing that Yo-kai Watch definitely could have used a little more of.