Yo-Kai Watch is a massive hit in Japan. It’s the second coming of Pokemon and for almost three years has dominated Japanese markets that the movie beat out Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its first weekend (what?) and Nintendo of America has tried to capture that phenomenon stateside.
Although Yo-kai Watch released in November alongside the anime on Disney XD, it’s safe to say that it hasn’t dominated like it has in Japan.
That’s not to say the game was bad -- it’s actually very very good -- but the promised bulky toyline that was supposed to accompany the game and anime missed out on the holiday season and are just now getting to stores.
However, rather quietly, a Yo-Kai Watch mobile app appeared on the Apple Store and the Google Play Store back in December and just recently updated.
The app is called Yo-Kai Watch Land and gives players that Yo-kai Watch collecting feel that those who played the Nintendo 3DS game already know. But it also comes at the same time as the physical Yo-kai medals that fans can collect.
Here’s the launch trailer of Yo-Kai Watch Land.
Yo-Kai Watch Land gives fans a chance to collect Yo-Kai the same way that Japanese fans did. As Polygon points out, with North America’s arcade scene being almost non-existent the mobile app lets fans get the same joy of physically collecting medals that they have in Japan.
But instead of fans to go to an arcade and put in money to get random Yo-Kai medals to collect, here in the states you’ll have to purchase a blind pack of three Yo-Kai medals that you can then scan using the QR codes. This allows for Yo-Kai Watch Land users to collect and fill up their pokedex-like book of Yo-Kai and gain new powers to use in the plethora of games included.
As you can see from the above video, some of the games include a Subway Surfers-like game among others.
You can also take pictures using your Yo-Kai to create funny pictures.
And that’s Yo-Kai Watch Land, the mobile app that gives the joy of collecting anywhere you are. So what do you think, will you be downloading the app? Did you like the 3DS game? Sound off in the comments section below.
