Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution (EN) Review

Hello everyone: after much speculation, I now present my full review of Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution! This all-CGI remake of the first Pokémon movie has been a long time coming, and now I finally get a chance to talk about it, so let’s open it up!

For the sake of argument, I will be focusing on the dubbed movie; but I will be addressing differences from the original movie when I see them. So, let’s get this started.

We open on Dr. Fuji (voice of Eddy Lee) during his expedition to find the DNA of Mew, and I must say; this etching of Mew in ancient times already is much fancier than the original movie.

"This will begin to make things right."

In the lab on New Island, Mewtwo awakens! On top of the lab trading the ‘90s retro future aesthetic for invoking the “Everything is an iPod in the future” motif with the holographic panels, it’s amazing how something as simple as the fluid Mewtwo’s tube was rendered. As you’ll see, the fluid dynamics of this movie are fantastic.

"Look how old you've become." "Something far worse has happened to you."

Mewtwo (voice of Dan Green, reprising his role) doesn’t take kindly to what Dr. Fuji has planned, and while there are some new scenes; the movie is fairly faithful to Takeshi Shudo’s original screenplay.

Mewtwo destroys the laboratory, which attracts the attention of Giovanni (voice of Ted Lewis); who is intrigued by Mewtwo’s power. He helps Mewtwo focus its power, and I must say I like the redesigned version of Mewtwo’s armor; definitely gives me an Iron Man vibe during the suit-up sequence.

"It's just a little difficult to understand with all the... apparatus."

Of course, they still don’t show more of Gary besides the back of his head; and I still like that joke the writers made about his agent making too many demands for him to be in there. So, not a stretch for him.

After Giovanni reveals his true feelings about Mewtwo, to say Mewtwo is less than pleased would be putting it mildly. Another change shows how on top of trying to restrain Mewtwo, Giovanni also actively tries to battle Mewtwo before his lair is destroyed!

Mewtwo flies from the wreckage, casting off its armor and declaring the intent to “strike back” and those who opposed Mewtwo! Though the dub script still has some artifacts from the first movie dub in 1999, this is actually more faithful to the original Japanese script.

We are then reintroduced to Ash (voice of Sarah Natochenny), Brock (voice of Bill Rogers) and Misty (voice of Michele Knotz), and this new scene of them running up the hill to their picnic spot actually makes more sense than it did in the original movie as to why Ash is tired and hungry.

As Brock prepares lunch, Ash is accosted by Raymond; who in this version is more clearly Jamaican and a potential future Team Aqua recruit in appearance.

"Han Solo, you're a dead man!"

The movie’s take on the opening battle between them is just fantastic: while I admit the visual style initially looked like a video game cutscene to me, with the characters reminding me of some of the action figures I used to have; the way they’ve done it is pretty neat. It’s kind of like something out of Super Smash Bros., and the human characters sort of remind me of the avatars in Ready Player One.

One difference from the original movie is that Raymond’s Golem has been swapped out with a Drowzee, correcting a type balance error in the original (as Golem is part ground-type, meaning it shouldn’t have been damaged by Ash’s Pikachu). I almost expected Raymond to attack first, so Ash doesn’t look like a psycho. The battle is also set to a new mix of the movie version of the “Pokémon Theme” that I’d very much like to see officially released on its own soon.

As Ash wins the battle with one big Thunderbolt from Pikachu, a Fearow watching overhead has recorded the whole thing; and it looks like Mewtwo has upgraded the monitors in his lair to some new HDR 4K setup. Dragonite is then dispatched to the scene, as Team Rocket watches from the hillside nearby. The gag about the skillet is also more logical than in the original movie, as Jessie just has it beside her rather than pulling it out of hammerspace.

"FN-2187: submit your blaster for inspection."

Dragonite descends upon our heroes, knocking over their picnic area in order to give them the invitation to New Island, and Brock is once again making an amorous face at a familiar young woman. I’m also glad that they’re able to put some modern flourishes on their classic outfits without making them look too different. Still think their Hoenn outfits look like they’d be more at home in Jet Grind Radio than Pokémon.

"This map isn't complete, it's just a piece of it."

The storm breaks out as Mewtwo sets the obstacles before the trainers invited to New Island; and I am very impressed with how real the ocean and rainstorm look at the wharf. Sometimes it’s something simple like our heroes’ outfits being damp that shows how far CGI has come in the last quarter of a century alone. Kind of like comparing Sid’s dog, Scud in the first Toy Story to the CGI cat in the most recent film. I also like how Ash takes Pikachu shaking himself dry like a dog in stride compared to the original movie.

On top of Officer Jenny and Miranda telling the ancient legend that ties into the movie, they report that Nurse Joy has gone missing and they’ve halted all the ferries due to the storm. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

"I assume you need something, desperately."

Defying the orders imposed, several trainers set off into the storm for New Island; including Corey, Neesha and Fergus; the last of whom is a bit more muscular than he was in the original movie. They also have their original VAs reprise their roles! Now, everyone else needs to find a way to the island!

"What about that ship?" "That one's garbage!"

Now, comes one of the more notable changes: rather than a Viking gondola, we have a Lapras pedal boat (which is real, by the way) and Team Rocket doing a song and dance while disguised as sailors. … Folks, I believe this franchise now has its own “Jedi Rocks” moment.

"The garbage will do."

Taking the “twerps” to New Island, even tapping the turbo boost on the boat; I am at least glad they gave them life vests in this version. They can’t let the ocean get them before they do, can they?

The boat dips underwater, and in this version, we actually see Jessie, James and Meowth get their disguises washed away; which makes more sense than how it happened in the original with the Viking outfits. The boat sinks, but everyone is able to make their way to New Island on the backs of their water Pokémon!

Presenting the invitation to the maiden, Ash, Brock and Misty head inside the castle; with Team Rocket once again popping up from the water on Weezing’s back!

I must say, though it took a bit to get used to the human designs (the “uncanny valley” effect basically went away after the first 15 minutes for me); this movie nailed the Pokémon designs. It’s not quite the hyper-realism of the Detective Pikachu movie; but it works in a different way. The flames on Charizard’s tail, the detailing on Squirtle’s shell; the textures of Pidgeot’s feathers and Pikachu’s fur: it’s the little touches like that I appreciate.

On that note, the way they reimagined Team Rocket infiltrating the castle has one subtle change that answers a question that’s been asked for years, if not decades: Jessie looks over her shoulder as if to hear Mew, which subtly canonizes the fate of her mother. That mission that she went missing, presumed dead on? It was about finding Mew.

One new scene at the dinner table is Brock hitting on Neesha! Not really the time, Brock: read the room! They also fixed the error about mislabeling Corey’s Pidgeot as a Pidgeotto. Even when I was a kid, I knew they done goofed.

Elsewhere, Team Rocket is trying to slip in through the lower levels of the castle, and I just love how this movie has subtly made Meowth more catlike in expressions as Mew watches closely behind.

Right on cue, Mewtwo descends on everyone in the dining hall; speaking telepathically through the maiden at his side! Mewtwo hurls Fergus into the fountain in a show of force after he objects to 

Mewtwo being the strongest trainer! Fergus sends Gyarados after Mewtwo, but Mewtwo reflects the Hyper Beam back at Gyarados!

Mewtwo then releases the maiden from his grasp, and her hat falls off to reveal it’s the missing Nurse Joy! When Mewtwo reveals the reason why he brought her here, Misty is livid, as is Ash.

Back with Team Rocket, they find the lab; and Jessie activates the cloning machine when she leans on one of the panels! As Dr. Fuji’s final video diary plays explaining the situation to Jessie and James, three strands of fur from Meowth’s tail are plucked, cloning Meowth in the process! One side note: I do like how Mew is just chilling above everyone, and that Mewtwo kept the holographic panels when rebuilding the lab on New Island.

"Perhaps Snoke should consider using a Clone army."

When Pikachu objects to Mewtwo’s plan, Mewtwo flings him backward into Ash’s arms! Though it’s not a total shot-for-shot remake as many were expecting, I am glad they kept this scene. Ash’s design really isn’t that different; it’s just his OG outfit with the bag and running shoes from his “I Choose You” design.

Ash is outraged, and Corey sends his Rhyhorn after Mewtwo; who hurls Rhyhorn back across the dinner table! Mewtwo proclaims to be the strongest Pokémon, and Ash challenges him to prove it!

Mewtwo summons the clones from the lab, and their emerging from the stasis pods looks great in CG. First is Blastoise!

"Did you say Rathtars?! Hey- you're not hauling Rathtars on this freigther, are you?" "I'm hauling Rathtars."

Next up is Venusaur, and I just love the way the giant flower on its back blooms as it emerges from stasis.

"Tasu Leech- good to see you."

Last, but not least is Charizard; and I just love how subtly each of its scales is rendered: not as realistic as the Detective Pikachu movie; but still impressive.

"That was a mistake!" "Huge!"

I also love the redesigned battle arena in this movie: the original was impressive, but the glow up to this new movie’s visuals is stunning.

Corey and Neesha fight alongside their Venusaur (named Brute Root) and Blastoise (Shellshocker), and Ash sends out his Charizard! He still tries to attack Mewtwo, who just casually blocks the flames with the water; and I really like the effect of the cinders and steam in this part.

"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?"

One by one, despite a valiant effort by the heroes; the clones win over their original counterparts! Even with my familiarity with the original movie, the way this battle has been reimagined is spectacular.

"I can fly anything."

Capturing them in Poké Balls of his own design, Mewtwo begins capturing the others in order to eliminate all non-clone life from the world! Insert Thanos comparison here.

The ensuing action scene expands on what the original movie did; and this time, the spiral staircase actually has stairs as Ash and Pikachu run up it! I especially like the fluid effects as Pikachu is captured and Ash dives into the pool after him! The way he retrieves his hat a la Indiana Jones is more subtle too.

"I need a weapon!" "YOU HAVE ONE!"

Swimming up from the pool, Ash slides down the chute; which is conveniently wide enough to fit a 10-year-old boy! What’s an ominous lair without a Super Happy Fun Slide?

"That BB unit, the First Order is looking for one just like it; and two fugitives."

They also fixed the gaffe about Team Rocket confusing Alakazam with Scyther. Even for a couple

Pokémon Tech washouts, that's a bigger stretch than Luffy playing Twister with Reed Richards.

They also fixed Meowth confusing Sandshrew and Sandslash! Though there are still some lines as artifacts from 1999, the script is much more faithful to the JP movie.

At the 1-hour mark; Ash dives into the cloning machine as Team Rocket looks on! I especially like the red lighting as he tries to wrest his friend from the machine’s claws! You don’t have to play that game tonight, make new quests for money, you don’t care if it’s wrong or If it’s right! Mewtwo, you don’t have to put on the red light! … Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

"The scavenger... resisted YOU?!"

After a minute of kicking and biting, Ash frees Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charizard, Squirtle and the other captives! He’s delighted to be reunited with his friends, and realizes that Mewtwo must be stopped!

Back above ground, Mewtwo offers the humans a chance to leave as his storm begins to take hold!

"Today is the end of the republic, the end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder!"

They all refuse, and an explosion occurs! The original Pokémon are freed, and Ash; having learned the sickening truth, decides to confront Mewtwo!

"Snoke is using you for your power, when he gets what he wants, he'll crush you. You know it's true."

Mewtwo flings Ash into the sky, but he’s caught by a bubble blown by Mew! His hat also falls off when Mew pops said bubble, and I like the way Mew plays with him as he gets it back on the platform beneath him. Mew is just as much like a mischievous kitten as ever, I love it.

Mew then starts bouncing on another bubble, before Mewtwo hurls a Shadow Ball at Mew! Not only is this now a canon move in the games, Mewtwo can indeed learn it! Mew and Mewtwo then battle above the stadium, and I really like how this movie has adapted this sequence. The lighting and camera angles really make great use of the medium, and it shows how far CGI has come in the past quarter of a century alone. 

Now, the movie has reached the finale: all the Pokémon and their clones fight to the end; face to face, eye to eye! This whole battle is done in one continuous shot, with the Pokémon and their attacks being used to hide cuts and transitions, lasting nearly three full minutes! No campy “Brother my Brother” song either!

Even with my familiarity with the original movie, as we pass the point of the original’s runtime; it still has a similar effect of putting a darker spin on the admittedly strange premise. Kind of like the 1986 Transformers movie or the first two 1990s TMNT movies.

The other Pokémon are almost out of strength, and Mew prepares for one final clash with Mewtwo! Ash runs into the blasts, turning him to stone, and lo; the children did weep.

The color of stone is even darker than in the original movie, and somehow; it’s even sadder when Pikachu tries to revive the lifeless body of his friend, to no avail.

Moved by Ash’s sacrifice, the Pokémon, led by Pikachu cry for their fallen hero; bringing an end to the storm! He’s back and in his prime, no less! … Dynamax energy, laddie.

Mewtwo has been convinced of the value of human life; taking the clones to a refuge away from New Island, returning everyone else home and wiping their memories of what happened! 

Nurse Joy is also found safe, and I must say that her design in this film has joined the list of my favorite versions of the character.

Ash, Brock, Misty and Pikachu then briefly reflect on their journey; and I forgot to mention this earlier, this movie actually makes clearer than the original that it takes place after the Kanto gym challenge chronologically. 

The storm clears, and we close on our heroes vowing to continue their journey. The credits sequence has some beautiful stills from both the animators and winners from an art contest! There’s even a brief stinger showing Mewtwo and the clones taking refuge in the setting of “Mewtwo Returns!” If they ever wanted to remake that film, I’m open to the idea.

Mewtwo will return in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

So, that’s “Pokémon Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution,” and yes: it is definitely a better “evolution” than Dragonball Evolution. As the first all-CGI movie in the franchise, it definitely cleared that hurdle much easier than other franchises have. As a re-imagining of the first movie, it’s a solid update to a film I already enjoy. It’s less of a shot for shot remake and more of something in the vein of “Star Wars: A New Hope” and “The Force Awakens,” where there’s a similar story structure and just enough to help the new movie stand on its own. In fact, if I was asked what I would want out of a full-CG version of the series, this is the closest to what I had in mind.

As for where I’d put it on my ranking of them all, I would put it on the same level as the original film in terms of quality. I consider it to be a good movie and one of the better video game adaptations in general, and I’m glad that between this, the Detective Pikachu movie and now the Sonic movie; things are starting to get better. Might not be on the same level as the last couple movies they did, but definitely worth watching.

I would have no objections to future content debuting on streaming in lieu of theaters or on TV, and I will most likely tell you what I think of this year’s movie after its inevitable English dub. Later.

#PokémonSwordShield at 16M Units Sold, Nintendo Switch at 52M Units Sold!

Hello everyone: I have been meaning to address this for some time in between working on other projects; and now I finally have a chance to do so. Last week, Nintendo published their earnings report for the last quarter of 2019; which reveals some notable updates for hardware and software sales. As of December 2019, the Nintendo Switch has sold 52 million units worldwide across all its hardware variants; with the console having recently surpassed the 49 million units the Super Nintendo sold during its lifecycle.

The report also reveals the sales of several of its software titles, which brings me to the main subject of this post: “Pokémon Sword and Shield” have sold 16 million copies since their launch on November 15, 2019; placing them in the same sales range of “Super Mario Odyssey” and “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” The top two sales slots are still “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” at 22.9 million copies and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” at 17.7 million copies.

Since the games have reached this figure in a fraction of the time it took “X and Y” and “Sun and Moon” to sell that many copies, this is a clear indicator of success; despite the concerns of the games’ detractors. To put this into perspective, these numbers include both standalone and bundled versions; and more than a quarter of the console’s install base to date bought the game. So, not only do I not think that the creators will stop making other games just because of the new ones (anymore than I see Coca-Cola or McDonald’s dropping their flaghship items just because they introduce new ones); I believe they did the right thing by not acknowledging the more hostile detractors or their competitors in any way. I mean, if they’re the biggest multimedia franchise ever; they don’t need to address the runner-ups.

I am about halfway done with drafting my look at “Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution,” and I hope to have it done and ready to post by the end of the month. That will be all for now. Later.

Yo-Kai Watch 3: One Year Later (Video Game Review/In-depth Analysis)

Hello everyone. First, let me state that I don’t consider this game or the other ones I’ve played in this series bad; even if I didn’t feel the same way as others did. Second, as we near five years since I first began addressing the series; I now admit that many of the things I said about the series in my earlier recaps (I formally retired in 2018 before I started doing periodical reviews in 2019 onward) were overly harsh in hindsight. Namely, I not only considered the TV series and the first two movies to be bad anime, but I went so far to suggest that the ones who thought it wasn’t bad (one of whom I am referring to as Murdoch) were “not entirely stable” in this area. However, despite this; the choices I make about anything I cover have always been my own; so I will make the final decision whether or not I want to watch or play something to write about. There are still things I dislike and I will not hold back in explaining why, nor will I bow to others’ demands. That is your one warning to click away before I continue.

So, allow me to say: “and now for something completely different.” I have briefly talked about some video games related to series I’ve recapped and reviewed in the past; but this is my first formal video game review as an experiment. With one year having passed since its US release, here is my review of “Yo-Kai Watch 3.”

And. Here. We. Go.

Please keep in mind that there will be spoilers if you’re interested in that, and this review is purely based on my experiences during my play through of the main quest. I will be focusing mainly on factors that are objective to explain my point of view in terms of gameplay, graphics and story. So, let’s get this going. First, I named the avatars that I would be playing with. The default name for the male one is Nate (Keita in Japan), but I named him Max as I did in previous games.

"My world is fire and blood. As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken. It was hard to know who was more crazy: me, or everyone else." 

Rather than Katie (Fumiko in Japan), we have a new female avatar called Hailey Anne Thomas (Inaho Misora in Japan). As for why I chose to name her Ripley? (sighs) Well, there is the way the game itself portrayed her, and we’ll get to that.

As for why I’m not addressing sound this time around: I mostly ended up playing with my 3DS on mute while listening to other music instead. I will state the opening theme is good, especially as it’s not more warmed-over Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (I do love his other stuff, for the record).

The story begins with agents Blunder and Folly on assignment, no doubt a take-off on Mulder and Scully from the hit show “The X-Files” (they were even called such in the JP game, but were changed to avoid legal issues with Fox; now a subsidiary of Buena Vista Entertainment).

"This is the worst assignment we've ever had." "Worse than that time we were attacked by the flesh-eating virus?" "No, this is much more irritating."

After that, there’s a dinner-themed minigame that kind of reminds me of what’s in the WarioWare games; as it did before.

Then, we get the big catalyst of the game’s oft-delayed localization: the premise of the story. The plot revolves around your family moving when your father transfers to a new job. However, while in the original; this was simply moving from Japan to the United States, because the previous games were localized in Idaho, this was changed to the fictional country of “BBQ.” Might as well say they’re moving to Los Santos or Liberty City if that’s the way you’re going.

Even my avatar lampshades this, saying that’s “almost a whole other continent,” or a parallel universe; in my case. That’s one benefit Pokémon has had by setting their stories in worlds influenced by our own; but are clearly fantasy settings like the Mushroom Kindgom, Hyrule or Talon IV.

So, in short order; everyone hops on the plane to their new house in (sighs), BBQ; to the point where the loading screens even were altered to reflect the changes. I will get more into this later on; but at least, it fits what they’re going for.

"After five years on the east coast, it was time to go home."

It took me almost two pages of notes just to cover the first 15 minutes of play; and I will be including these screenshots I’ve taken. Aside from some cropping on a few of them, these are all from my newest 3DS and haven’t been modified in any other way.

After quite a few cutscenes (thankful for the skip button) and a brief bit about finding my mother’s glasses a la Velma Dinkley; we then get to the switching mechanic: back in Springdale, we are formally introduced to Hailey Anne, who I have named Ripley. Though the anime was subject to lots of mugging, not only did the dub thankfully tone her down; she’s more restrained in this game. Plus, this whole pop culture obsession is actually more relatable than the supposed main character of the male avatar. Her baby brother Joshua is another story.

"Did IQs drop sharply when I was away?"

Anyway, slipping into her yellow Converses, she heads to the entertainment mecca of “Sparkopolis,” a sort of pastiche of the real-life Akihabara district of Tokyo. I have more to say about this later, but for now; this first part of her story is similar to how it played out in the anime: she goes to look for a special collectible from “Sailor Cuties,” but the store doesn’t have it. Again, why I check stock online before I head out the door.

"Goodbye moonmen..."

She dejectedly tries to leave, but is instead beckoned into buying a “UFO-Kai Watch” that just happened to be at the store. Well, at least it’s not in comic sans this time.

In short order, she looks for the voices speaking to her; and sure enough, they find her in the form of Usapyon; who I named “Hicks” to keep up the parallels to the “Alien” series. Hailey Anne then comments that a yokai “should really look more imaginary and fantastical.” It’s like someone at Level-5 was reading my mind.

So, that’s going to be one big thing with the stories: while not as much finesse as in the “Ni No Kuni” games, this game will feature the parts of the world going back and forth in the first half or so unless the story has to be in one area to progress. I find it odd Whisper is describing BBQ as “rural:” based on this overhead shot of St. Peanutsburg and the previous games, it’s more like they crammed Yankee Stadium into a shot glass.

Hailey Anne also got the toy she wanted, and her reaction is the same as mine when I got my Legacy Megazord. Again, this will be part of my analysis; but despite the intent of the developers; what appealed to me probably weren’t the parts Hino intended.

We’re then given a choice of which story thread to follow next: Nate’s is “That Boy Buck,” but I decided to go with Hailey Anne’s first, “A Rocket Full of Hope.” After a certain point, I had to go back to Nate’s in order to progress further; but I decided to take this in stride while MST-ing the game as I went. 

Case in point: Nate comments on being able to wear shoes in the house while in “BBQ,” which means I can pull this Awkward Zombie comic gag out of mothballs.

On that note, this early mission revolving around a language barrier was indeed extensively rewritten for the English release; with the new neighbors now having thick accents rather than a different tongue. Even with what lies ahead, I personally would have just cut the mission entirely; but that’s just me.

For what it’s worth, the accents in St. Peanutsburg are so cartoonishly Southern that they all come off like the unholy spawn of Foghorn Leghorn and Yondu Udonta.

At one point during my exploration, I got buzzed by a truck that’s as big as Motormaster; and Jibanyan got clipped again.

There are also some missions involving getting pizza for a police officer; giving me another way to use this music.

I’m honestly not a fan of fetch quests no matter what game they show up in; though after three hours of meandering (no joke), I was able to go back to Hailey Anne’s story. Thankfully, the game and dub made her more tolerable; and that’s coming from someone who once said she made Tingle look like Rambo. By that same token, it’s ironic this fangirl and where she treads are more appealing to me than characters and a location that were intended to do just that.

So, after the first five hours of gameplay (pay attention to the time stamps I’m mentioning); I did finally get all the pieces I needed to complete the rocket. Though I cut off my look at how the anime handled things, now; we get to launch the rocket.

This reignites the doctor’s dream; and it’s better than how the anime handled things in execution. The next chapter keeps up the weirdness, and even though the design isn’t the best; the actual gameplay is thankfully the most polished of the three main games (I count all the versions of the second as one, I don’t have any plans to play the “Blasters” spinoffs at all).

As we roll over to chapter 3, this next section now involves side missions of doing detective work. Though Usapyon suggests a portmanteau of his name and the female avatar, I instead picked another reference: the “Spirits ‘N Such” Agency from “Mob Psycho 100.” These parts are actually not that bad, and I honestly think the game should have focused more on stuff like this. There’s more variety than simply “fetch item X, befriend monster Y;” and it reminds me of how delightfully weird many of the classic Lucasarts/Double Fine PC adventure games were.

That said, (sighs); I am really not a fan of how they redesigned the Gargaros missions. Now, they happen at pure random rather than how the first two games did it. Somehow, playing the Metal Gear games for the first time in years was easier than dealing with that lummox. It took six hours, and it was the first example of this game’s spikes in difficulty. I am fine with a reasonable challenge, a game that gets progressively tougher as you go or even what some refer to as “Nintendo Hard” (one of my main counterarguments to the “just for kids” claim some try to invoke). It’s doing something like this that irritates me. To put this in perspective, it’s like if you had to fight Ghetsis right after you got your first badge or the final boss in Ni No Kuni right after you got to Ding-Dong Dell.

Still, with persistence, I did get past the impasse; only having to go back to Nate’s missions around the 8-hour mark of play. The next stretch of story missions are in a junkyard, with some sidequests of getting food for Tomnyan.

At the 10-hour mark or so, I made it to the junkyard; only running into a character I was hoping to avoid after a half-hour of grinding out XP. His name is Buck Hazeltine, by the way; and I have more to say about him later. For now, I prefer Buck the treasure hunter from Sinnoh.  I bypassed a lot of the cutscenes, and thankfully; the game doesn’t penalize the player for doing events out of order. I’ve played enough “Metroidvanias” in my life to do that without any trouble. The scrapyard itself is at least decent; though I don’t remember operating any cranes at Nate’s age. I was more of a Tekken/House of the Dead guy in those days; and I still am.

Anyway, the boss of this stage is Junkernaut; and while it looks like it escaped from the live-action Transformers films; the fight ends up being much easier than I expected. So, this chapter closes out without too much trouble. The next chapter, however; is another story. For once, I agree with Whisper.

Right on cue, Buck appears before the player; causing Nate to ask how he knew where he lived. Forget that: how did he even get in the house? This unfortunately starts a long running gag of the character interjecting himself into the story regardless of whether or not he’d fit. At least Roman gave you a phone call before he asked if you wanted to go bowling or play darts.

After that; we go to city hall; with Whisper remarking that “you’d think he [Buck] wouldn’t ditch us.” Honestly, I’m this close to ditching him.

We then bump into Miss Stickler, related to Mr. Stickler from the previous games. Very odd, but she’s actually not coming off as annoying as Buck; to be honest.

He then compares yokai with aliens, and has a “UFO Stone.” Hopefully Thanos doesn’t find out about that. After some side missions, though my enjoyment has been dampened by Buck; the gameplay is at least the most polished of the main trilogy. Whisper then remarks the setting has a “rustic old-fashioned charm to it.” Eh, I prefer Onett personally.

At the 12-hour mark, I’m roped into more shenanigans with Buck; including going shopping for “thangs.” Well, that just makes me want to play more of the Octo Expansion in Splatoon 2.

So, we go to the grocery store; which has the cart move forward by pressing up on the directional controls. Oy, I thought we left controls like this behind in the ‘90s. Hardest thing to do for me always was making the cart go straight. I wonder if this counts as revealing my pop culture age. It gets harder when it’s full of groceries. Suffice to say, I didn’t like dealing with borderline Resident Evil tank controls. This was worse than dealing with Mamoswine in X and Y (always used Fly to bypass that section after that).

There’s also side missions known as “Zombie Night,” which are honestly much less fun than they sound because of sluggish melee combat controls and uneven collision detection. I only did what I needed to progress in the story; and as of this writing, I have yet to pick them up again.

This also ties into another mission involving a “Zombie Supermarket.” I find the disbelief at shopping zombies odd. Clearly, the people in this game have never seen Dawn of the Dead (both the 1978 and 2004 versions). The cart controls are still tricky, especially when you have to elude the sentries: you have to tap the button just at the right time for the ramp jump or it won’t work. For some people, there’s a bit of trial and error; and we’ll come back to that later.

Back in Sparkopolis, another mystery is at hand; and Hailey Anne remarks that she sees “why we were asked to investigate,” or maybe wondering what’s in the water. I still think the game should have been about her, especially given what lies ahead.

Seriously: even with the drudgery of BBQ, the Sparkopolis sections were my main motivator to keep playing. This kind of trippy misadventure is the kind of absurdity that always makes me curious enough to follow the white rabbit. In the course of this mystery, I ate a farcical omelet while dressed as a maid running along with neon Champies. THIS is what the game should have focused on. Ironic that the BBQ missions were intended to be more appealing to me, yet the Sparkopolis missions are ones I find more fun to play.

Hour 14 also involves some rhythm minigames, meaning I couldn’t play them in mute. They kind of reminded me of some of the Hatsune Miku games if you’ve played them at all. Not exactly Guitar Hero or Rock Band; but it’s all right. Also, the theater I did this in was called “NOH.” OK, you guys walked into this one.

The next boss is called “Hoaxy-Coaxy,” and he welcomes us to his “Daydream Domain” as he emerges from one of the big monitors in the city. Call me when your nightmare gets here, especially if it's like the TVs in Persona 4.

He’s not the toughest boss I’ve ever fought, but still another case of recurring difficulty spikes I’ve dealt with. Sometimes they’re easy, other times they’re as tough as bosses in “Castlevania III.”

Bottom line: I beat the boss on the second try; and with the detective office open for the next chapter, I think Hailey Anne sums up my overall feeling about this game so far.

Back in BBQ, my journey leads me to… the Velvet Room from Twin Peaks. OK, I get this reference; but who in the target audience would? This leads to another minigame, known as “Blasters T.” This is the most polished version of the game I’ve played, since I don’t plan on playing the standalone spinoffs and the sequels aren’t being localized in favor of the fourth game (more on that later).

Elsewhere, I encountered Slackerjack as a boss I fought in the Springdale Mall Aquarium; and this location will come up again later. For now, it took me at least two hours of grinding XP before I could survive against this boss. It was almost as tough as my time playing Ninja Gaiden (both original and reboot games).

Again, it’s a decent game; but these difficulty spikes are absurd. It’s like if you had to fight Lusamine after your first Island Trial or the White Witch after you just met Drippy.

Then, one mystery at the mall involves getting parts to build a mecha model. On paper, this isn’t too bad; as I was able to get the first two parts relatively quickly. Unfortunately, the third took me; and no, I’m not making this up: TWELVE HOURS of grinding in the mall after hours until I encountered the third yokai I needed for the part; and that included me just saying “screw it,” committing seppuku by Gargaros and befriending the beast I needed on the second try. Trust me, that’s the cliff notes of that stretch of gameplay and I’m sparing you the worst of it. 

To put that into perspective, I was able to get seven of the eight gym badges of Galar in that same time frame; and it took way less time for me to beat the story mode of Super Mario Maker 2 as well as catch Eternatus. Thankfully, I was able to finally move past that impasse after that.

Then, I note with some joy, you get to build the mecha. Form feet and legs! Form arms and body! Now form the head!

Though the client saw through the facade, this segues into the next chapter; which involves alternating between searching for crop circles in BBQ; and what I found to be more interesting, searching for giant monsters at the Excellent Tower. Sure enough, in the latter case, they found me.

Now, it’s time for the next boss battle, “Blazikong T VS Yo-Kaiju!” We’ve got a model, now let’s make it 1:1 scale! “To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own.”


It took about four tries of trial and error to take the monster down, with it playing like one of those old FMV games on Sega CD. I haven’t played LBX and don’t plan to, but I’m once again glad it’s over.

One thing I forgot to mention was the antagonist “Mr. X,” who just happened to share a design and name with a character in Resident Evil 2; whose remake was a major competitor to this game in sales. Insert “who wore it better” joke here.

There’s also some recurring missions to upgrade your watch with Mark Orcaberg; who isn’t as awkward as he is in the anime, but still at least as awkward as the real mogul in those hearings.

One of those missions involves doing quality control, which kind of reminds me of the arcade classic “Tapper,” only with watches instead of drink mugs.

At least I cleared this part quicker than before, 40 minutes is much better to clear an objective than 12 hours. Still, Buck in this game comes off to me like the beta version of Oliver from Ni No Kuni. Try as I might, I could never really get into him the way others did; and knowning what lies ahead, you’ll all know why. Dancing like a deer doesn’t really do it for me the way a consistently-written character does.

At 66 hours in, the next mission leads to a mansion mystery just short of a hippie van and a great dane. All faults aside, if it were more like this; I honestly wouldn’t mind. Kind of reminds me of the classic “Maniac Mansion.” There were a lot of challenges and backtracking; but after another two hours and brief consultation of GameFAQs; I cleared this section.

Hour 68 brings me to the wild west-themed Pecan Port, I’m not questioning anything; but I am going to play this music.

The Dukesville missions are actually decent, to be honest; even if they do sometimes have me pining for subdued charm of Frontierland.


Yet, there’s more family drama; this time involving Unbearaboy? What is this, “Keeping up with the Hazeltines?” This leads to yet another fight with Mr. X; and though I will have more to say about the mechanics in my final thoughts, the control is decent for the most part. Now, let’s clean up these streets.


Thanks to a lot of grinding I did before, I was able to beat Mr. X again without much trouble; and even though it’s hard to tell; I think Unbearaboy kicked him in the groin. I guess that’s in-character; and it’s the first thing that made me laugh in this playthrough.

It also turns out that Mr. X was just a pawn, and the “Ghoulfather” was the real culprit. So, basically, a couple of guys that were up to no good started making trouble in the neighborhood. Now, Chapter 9 takes us to “New Yokai City.” Wonder why that wasn’t the main setting, but things might be getting interesting again.

I was also able to partner with yokai that were in the second game as antagonists, which came in handy for this final stretch of the story. There’s more grinding to be had; but since I mainly chose to skip the sidequests in favor of progressing it like a regular RPG, that did fortify my team with enough XP and my avatars with enough cash to prep for the remaining boss fights. Fighting these “ghoulies” felt like somewhere in between a really milquetoast Yakuza spinoff and some of those beat-em-ups I used to play when I was younger.

I also have to gather more allies to fight the boss; I mentioned before that I’m not a fan of the “key quest” mechanic, I much prefer when that stuff is worked into the story rather than a literal roadblock to progressing further. One of them is Oridjinn, who looks kind of like Dr. Manhattan, minus the blue “Johnson” because E10+.

There’s also a miniboss called “Rongo Swirli,” who looks and sounds like someone from an “electro-swing” band. Well, it is the new 20s, so here you go.

I was able to beat him without much trouble; which segues into the tenth and final main chapter. I take Hailey Anne to meet back up with Doctor Hughley from earlier in the game, and with his help; I’m able to shoot a rocket into the villain’s lair, breaking its shield so the tower can be stormed. To borrow a line from Crow T. Robot: “So, basically the hero is THIS guy, I think it’s time we face that fact.”

Yes folks, much like the Aztec in Puma Man, Hailey Anne is the real hero of the story; despite the best efforts of Nate and Buck. We all board the elevator, which is a roulette of challenges before we can unlock the boss floor penthouse. “Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?”

OK, I admit I get some of these floors referencing events like the Chicago Fire and all these crazy theories about the moon landing; but I really don’t know if anyone in the target audience will. That aside, I am able to get through the five key floors and the other bonus ones ahead of one last encounter with Mr. X. He was initially a pain, but as the game progressed and I got more powerful partners; I was able to blow past him with breaking a sweat. Though my yokai still move on autopilot; the 3X3 “Tactics Board” is a big improvement over the wheel from the first two. The “Yokai Blaster” is also a helpful weapon; though I don’t think its design will be making the list of my favorite video game weapons anytime soon. Seriously: I’ve seen more realistic-looking Nerf guns and Super Soakers than this. I guess I’m just way too used to how the Splatoon games blend stylized weapons and raw power, but I digress.

Now, after 78 hours of absurdity, the final battle against the Ghoulfather is here. After a handful of jokes about Crystal Skull and Batman and Robin; I beat him! It was OK: the first game was the only one I never beat the main story on.

The ending is as follows, and to be honest; it’s not what I was worried about, though it’s still kind of got the issues the last games had on the whole. 

"He's old enough to know he's adopted."

Whisper even remarks it’s a case of deja vu. Definitely a glitch in the Matrix. (Note: I never encountered any of the bugs that some players did, guess they might have been patched out by the time I started playing.)

Long story short, we’re headed back to Springdale and the player family’s old job on account of “communication issues.” In other words, the whole main plot of the game is a “shaggy dog story.”

As the credits roll, Buck was apparently rich the whole time. At this point, I’m just glad it’s over with and I can go play something else a while. With just over 79 hours logged, the main story is cleared as Orcaberg is announcing something else. 

"...Our project was a divisive flop with audiences."

I may not be terribly interested in the postgame, and while it may not have been Generation VII; I give this game a 3.5/5. Still, it’s at least admirable the game that was intended to appeal to the US got released at all!

(Game only sold 4,000 units at best amid competition from Kingdom Hearts III and RE2 remake)

Mr. Plinkett: Oh...

Though “Yo-Kai Watch 4” has been submitted to the ESRB for rating, I do not know how the game will fare; nor potentially releasing the movies key to the plot of said game. I will consider doing something else if there’s official release dates confirmed; but so far, Finnish retail listings aren’t enough for me to go on, nor is a bunch of hearsay and conjecture enough to get me to stop writing. This also applies to the oft-delayed launch of “The Snack World,” which will not be localizing the “jara” toys and has yet to announce where the TV series will debut despite the English dub being production. I will probably have reached a decision on what to do next on March 26, whatever it might be. Finally, here is my response to those invoking the tired and ineffective “don’t like, don’t watch” argument.

See you, space cowboy.