Yokai Watch (sometimes written as Yo-kai) is a multimedia franchise created by game studio Level-5 set in an alternate version of our world where Yokai (creatures from Japanese folklore) exist and cause havoc in the lives of humans. These Yokai can be seen, befriended, and summoned with their Medals by said humans if one owns a Yokai Watch, a device that can be used to summon them that appears as a wrist or pocket watch. Since the first video game debuted in Japan in 2013, it has since spawned multiple sequels and spinoffs, plenty of collectible merchandise, and several anime and manga series. I've seen some of the anime and am vaguely interested in YW4, but in general I don't really keep up with the various reboots. As such, this shrine will mainly be focused on the original series. (or at least, what was actually localized...)

The main series YW games are monster-collecting RPGs, and the Busters (Blasters in the localized versions) series is more of a beat 'em up, with you playing as the Yokai themselves rather than as a human. Each game is incredibly charming in its own way and packed with things to do, and will keep you busy for a long time. In the main series, your Yokai friends fight on their own, and it's up to you to control things from the sidelines. This includes actions such as choosing who is in battle at any given time, purifying them when Inspirited (cursed), or healing them when their HP is low. You can also have them read books outside of battle to influence their behavior or increase the strength of their attacks.

The series begins with Yokai Watch on 3DS, (and now Nintendo Switch and mobile devices) the first piece of media released for the franchise. It is set in Japan, but the localizations will try their best to convince you otherwise for some reason. In that game, the protagonist, (Keita/Nate or Fumika/Katie, depend on what gender you choose) an 11-12 year old kid, is catching bugs with their friends while on summer vacation. Trying to find a rare bug, they enter a part of the forest they don't recognize and find a strange shrine that looks like a gacha machine. When inserting a coin, they end up freeing the Yokai Whisper, who gives them a Yokai Watch and declares that he will be their butler from now on as a reward for freeing him. The rest of the game mainly consists of you investigating various Yokai related events around town, before building to a climax in the end. It's not required to play this game if you want to get into the series as it's a bit rougher than the others and is basically retconned in YW2 anyway, but I'd recommend at least getting an idea of the plot if you do so. I had picked it up as a distraction for a plane ride in the summer of 2016 and found myself instantly enamored with it, eagerly awaiting the release of the sequel.

At the start of YW2, our protagonist is asleep at night when two strange Yokai appear over their home, and using their magic steal the Yokai Watch and erase the protagonist's memory of everything related to Yokai. Despite this, the player is drawn to a strange shop that wasn't in town the day before, and find their old Yokai Watch inside. Still not knowing what it is but compelled to buy it anyway, they recieve it and a coin to use on the machine in front of the store, which ends up to have been containing Whisper. The protagonist's memories are restored, but they are now without all the Yokai Medals they had collected during YW1. As the story progresses, they end up travelling back in time to 60 years ago, both to find out why their watch was taken, and to see the invention of the first human-made Yokai Watch. I won't spoil the story any more than that, as I found it to be quite enjoyable. There are three versions of YW2: the original 2 releases and an expanded third version. (Shinuchi/Psychic Specters) Any version will do fine, but I would recommend PS as it has more content than the other two. It's a bit hard to find, though, so if you want a physical copy you're better off sticking with one of the originals.

YW3 is my favorite game in the series, and was definitely worth the 3-year wait to be localized despite the localization itself being a bit rough. (Not that I blame the people who worked on it; there were only like, four of them) It's the first game where there are multiple player characters; on one side of the story you play as Keita, (seemingly confirming him as the canon protagonist) the other featuring the new character Inaho/Hailey Anne. On Keita's side of the story, his family moves from Japan to the United States (or the fictional country of BBQ, if you're playing the North American version. for some reason) and he investigates Yokai activity there while adjusting to the new setting. On Inaho's side of the story back in Japan, she recieves her own Yokai Watch, and together with her new Yokai friend Usapyon, she starts up a detective agency to help people and Yokai around town. Around halfway into the game, the two stories combine, and our protagonists, along with their new friend Mac/Buck, must prevent a certain group of Yokai from taking over the world. The game changes up the combat a bit from the other two in that you control your Yokai's movements on a grid rather than a wheel, but is still generally similar to the previous two. The Merican Yokai themselves are kind of hit or miss; there's so much you could pull from contemporary American folklore. Like Bigfoot, or Mothman. Instead we got. Baseball. Burger. Corn. (though I do love Pintocorn) Good luck finding this if you want a physical copy, since they only made like 10