Hello again. First off, happy day of the dead to you all. Second; I am almost done cropping the screencaps for my intended Halloween Digimon recap; which you should see out soon.
In the meantime; it seems Yo-Kai Watch is officially launching in the US on 3DS this Friday. While Level-5 does have an uphill battle on their hands from being not only a niche developer in the US compared to their status in Japan as well as launching against the titan that is Call of Duty: Black Ops III, now the time has come to see how the franchise will truly do against the franchise that it's being hyped as a successor towards.
While news of a new mainline Pokémon game has been conspicuous by its absence; Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is making an attempt to crossover with the broader audience of those games. While the "roguelike" subgenre of RPGs has traditionally been a hard sell in the US; the Mystery Dungeon series has been one of the more successful Pokémon spinoffs, selling a healthy amount of units despite being polarizing among critics and fans. I have only played Red Rescue Team on Game Boy Advance to date; and I'm willing to give the side series another chance after all this time. I may even look at one of the anime adaptations in the near future. Couple that with Pokkén Tournament being granted a US release on Wii U; the highly-anticipated cell phone game Pokémon Go; and the forthcoming 20th anniversary in 2016, speculation of what's next is high to say the least (further fueled by the XY and Z anime, now in progress).
All of this begs the question: Will Yo-Kai Watch be able to live up to the hype? I may not have been swayed by the demo; but I might consider buying the game at a reduced price at a later date. While many fans enthusiasm is admirable; even they are wondering if the game will sell as many units as it has in Japan. There has been a slight bump in Disney XD's ratings on the anime since the Fidgephant episode aired; but even that capped out at a paltry 193,000 viewers, less than half of the network's current staples such as Gravity Falls; Star Wars Rebels, and Wander Over Yonder. Unfortunately, the dubbing practices enacted seem to deliberately go against ones that have been in place for years; to the point where the dub writers seem proud of their poor writing and lip-syncing. Critics and fans, to say the least; do not share their sentiments (even my associate Kohdok; in a video on the matter, lamented the dub's poor quality to the point of saying it may even be WORSE than 4Kids' policies).
It's also worth noting that Hasbro has pushed the launch of the toys to spring 2016; seemingly realizing that launching a new toyline on New Year's Day is a bad idea. So, depending on how the game does; I mean what I said. I will not do any further Yo-Kai Watch recaps until after the game or toys officially launch; so I can see how they do compared to the anime. Will it be the next Pokémon everyone has hailed it as, or will it join the ranks of many Japan-only hits that failed to click with Western audiences? I have already stated my preference of Ni No Kuni from the same developer; and Inazuma Eleven was largely ignored in all forms here.
The time is at hand to see what happens. After that; the series' prospects are in the hands of a much higher authority than mine. Bang.
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