For those who haven’t been following it, Yokai Watch is essentially a ghost-capturing version of Pokemon, developed by Level-5, and it has quickly taken Japan by storm.
While the original was a single game, its sequel, Yokai Watch 2, came with two versions, Ganso and Honke. This hasn’t really fallen under our radar that much lately, however an interesting tidbit from Level-5 boss Akihiro Hino came out of this week’s Famitsu magazine.
Hino said that the company is considering the western expansion of the series “in a big way,” although he didn’t really go into details. A translation for the interview from this week’s Famitsu came via Toshi Nakamura of Kotaku. Hino did, however, talk about the sequel:
“When planning the first Yokai Watch, I already thought to release the sequel as 2 different versions.” Hino explained. “Children like having things that other people don’t have, so from a marketing perspective, having 2 versions is a good idea. Also, a lot of people play Yokai Watch with their parents. Where people would have some hesitation about getting 2 copies of the same game, if you have different versions, it’s a lot easier for them to buy both.”
Hino went on to describe just why the series has been so fabulously popular in Japan, citing the fact that protagonist Keita isn’t a typical, do-good hero like in most video games. He has his own flaws, apparently:
“Keita isn’t a child who always does the right thing, but has his own flaws as well, like trying to watch naughty TV shows late at night or making fun of people,” Hino said. “Keita’s actions are depicting what is ‘normal’ for modern children. He’s not a good boy, but someone who says what he thinks. I believe that character setting made him very relatable to people.”
Yokai Watch has gotten very, very popular as we mentioned before, with the original selling over a million copies, and its sequel receiving over 814,000 pre-orders before its launch. Lastly, Yokai Watch 2 is on track to be the first million unit selling title of 2014.
Yokai Watch 2 is currently available for 3DS in Japan. We’ll keep you guys posted.
