Social Swamp's Social Thread 3 - And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain...

[Swamp Sensei]

Wedl! Throw a Charizard at Swamp!
He'll never see it coming!

Well I brought my Dinosaur.

WHO EATS CHARIZARDS!!!

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Mine eats Charizards too

 

[Burruni]

I see your varying mons and....

I raise you a dragon, a dinosaur, an insectoid kamen rider, and a robotic wolf fused into one being.

 

[Cutie Gwen]

Well I brought my Dinosaur.

WHO EATS CHARIZARDS!!!

"Wedl's Charizard used Focus Blast! It's super effective! Critical hit! Swamp's Tyranitar fainted"

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

"Wedl's Charizard used Focus Blast! It's super effective! Critical hit! Swamp's Tyranitar fainted"

I think you mean

"Focus Blast missed"

 

[Cutie Gwen]

I think you mean

"Focus Blast missed"

Nope, Wedl's Zard held an accuracy boosting item

 

[CrusherMania1592]

I think you mean

"Focus Blast missed"

FOCUS BLAST BLASTED A HOLE IN THE ARENA! THE FANS ARE GOING NUTS OVER A FOCUS BLAST!


Someone get the popcorn and make sure it's butter flavored. We got a good three episode match coming up!

 

[Ivander]

So, guys, what are your most wanted NX Virtual Console games? You can include 3DS and Wii U games, or any games that are on the current VC supported systems, including ones that are on the store, were on the Wii Shop but aren't on Wii U, or ones that were never on VC at all.

They have to do Gamecube games at some point. They've already pressed on to Wii games getting VC releases.

In other news, apparently the Fate series is getting a Musou-styled game for PS4 and PSVita. Now where's Fire Emblem Warriors?

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I just want to say, my irritation of focus blast is part of the reason why I love that Blastoise gets Aura sphere now

 

[Cutie Gwen]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

...I genuinely hope for Sony that they're joking...

 

[N3ON]

How did YW end up faring in the west anyway? I really haven't heard much from it since around launch.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

How did YW end up faring in the west anyway? I really haven't heard much from it since around launch.

North America: 0.12m 8.3%
+ Japan: 1.33m 90.7%
+ Rest of the World: 0.01m 1.0%

at VG charts

Edit: Keep in mind it's not out in Europe

 

[Swamp Sensei]

How did YW end up faring in the west anyway? I really haven't heard much from it since around launch.

Apparently pretty badly in NA.

 

[N3ON]

North America: 0.12m 8.3%
+ Japan: 1.33m 90.7%
+ Rest of the World: 0.01m 1.0%

at VG charts

Wow that's pretty bad. Especially since VGChartz usually inflates things as well.

Though I'm not that surprised. A Pokemon-like game finding worldwide success is much more the exception than the rule.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

I just read an article that Japan's interest in Yokai Watch may be fading for some interesting reasons

One of the most prominent toys for Yokai Watch is the watch itself.

However, a major problem with the toys, as well as the games is compatibility with older products

You stick medals in the yokai watch and it makes noises. However, older metals are ONLY usable in older watches

and newer medals are ONLY usable in newer watches. So when someone has tons of medals but none for their new watch, interest fades.

Level 5 really need to learn that part of Pokemon's success is capability, etc.



Edit: This is actually pretty scummy business now that I think about it. Forcing people to rebuy the same products over and over by making older models incompatible.

It makes sense new medals wouldn't work on old watches, but not that old medals wouldn't work on new watches

 

[Cutie Gwen]

The Japanese culture almost certainly was a factor too. One of the charms of Pokemon is how you can possibly recognize the puns in their names and design. With YW you need to learn about Japanese culture, something kids wouldn't know anything about

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

When you have THIS as one of your characters, it's going to be popular with a completely different demographic than pokemon

Edit: I can tell you right now, if Yokai Watch came out when I was 10 (The age I received Red/ Blue) and I saw THIS GUY I wouldn't have bothered with it at all

 

[Curious Villager]

Level-5's games ocassionally do better in Europe than America so Yokai Watch will probably do alright in Europe. Then again, series like Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven contained certain elements that Europeans generally tend to enjoy more and I'm not sure yet if Yokai Watch does the same.....

I still have yet to try out the demo though....

 

[Radical Bones]

Wow, I thought Yokai did better than that in America. They certainly marketed the crap out of it.

It's a solid game but it's not without its faults.

We'll see if it picks up steam with future releases.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

They sell toys at Walmart now.

Too bad it's none of the yokai I like and just the mascots

Why would I want a plushie of this

When I could have this

They also sell FNAF plushies at Walmart now

 

[CyberHyperPhoenix]

Saw these posted on SRK:

This guy's photoshop skills are on point

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Saw these posted on SRK:



This guy's photoshop skills are on point

Man I need Alex like yesterday.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Another thing about Yokai watch is that the sequel seems to be trying to make itself more foreign friendly by giving it an american flavor but from what I've seen of the Yokai it's really American ghost stories and oddities but just random things based on Japanese interpretations of America.

Not to say Japanese interpretations can't be liked in America (See Metal Wolf Chaos) but I'm not so sure.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Another thing about Yokai watch is that the sequel seems to be trying to make itself more foreign friendly by giving it an american flavor but from what I've seen of the Yokai it's really American ghost stories and oddities but just random things based on Japanese interpretations of America.

Not to say Japanese interpretations can't be liked in America (See Metal Wolf Chaos) but I'm not so sure.

That's the reason I dislike what I've seen of Yokai Watch 3

A burger Yokai, A cheerleader Yokai

If Yokai Watch 1 and 2 are based a lot on Japanese mythology, etc. Why not have American Yokai based on folklore and myths of American ancestors/ Native Americans/ American history?

Spoiler

 

[WeirdChillFever]

Not to mention the amount of European folklore potential.

KINDERLUMPER, I CHOOSE YOU!

 

[ChikoLad]

Some info on how My Nintendo works.

Also, Toadette is getting a Mario Maker costume and it's in her Treasure Tracker outfit, so that's neat.

 

[Burruni]

Please.
SMT alone has proven that there's a T-O-N that could be done with european mythology.
That's all I'm gonna say.

 

[BluePikmin11]

The sales for November and December according to the NPD was nearly 200,000 copies. And I think it has sold more in the previous 3 months.

It's not doing too bad. TBH

The marketing team is already expanding the franchise to many territories to get as many people as possible to get into YW.

In recent news, it's going to have a mobile game on the app store and the anime is coming to Netflix on April, at worst, I think YW will do decently well, contrast to the massive pessimism here.

 

[LIQUID12A]

Let's not forget.

The poor angered minority of fans and probably some other guy on the internet.

'cept it's now...1,145 fans of Yo-Kai Watch that Jimmy Whetzel angered.

You can't reasonably expect YKW to do well in anywhere but Japan when the entire world has been absorbed in Pokemon for 2 decades and has a natural bias against imitators. Oh, and anything that includes something like Mr. Buttface here:

Probably won't leave a good first impression.

Incidentally, speaking of Pokemon, they hit 200 million main series sales today according to a press release. Counting spinoffs, their total sales are 279 million units.

Amazing.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Cheeksqueek isn't the only Yo-kai being advertised for the franchise you know, you act as if he's the only character being advertised for YW.

There's other very appealing looking Yo-kai advertise that grab other people's attention.

 

[ChikoLad]

I don't know why anyone tries to weigh Yokai Watch up to Pokémon when it comes to sales.

Gameplay and overall concept? Sure, the similarities are obvious (but so are the differences).

Sales-wise though? There is literally no point in comparing them, I don't think ANYBODY, even it's most ardent fans, even has a notion in their head that this series could ever compete with Pokémon. Pokémon is a legacy franchise that has itself set up in such a way that it's got this perfect formula - they basically just release the same overall thing with a new Pokémon line-up and world, and call it a day, when it comes to the main series. You see other additions here and there, but overall, Pokémon has hardly changed as a game since it's inception. It's easy for them to make since most of the time, they can re-use a lot of stuff.

On one hand, that has made the series stagnant to a lot of older people (myself included), but on the other hand, I don't think Pokémon is trying to hold onto older fans (though they will occasionally cater to older people who may have played Pokémon in their childhood, with spin-offs like Pokkén Tournament). Just as we call each new set of Pokémon games a "Generation", the literal master plan Pokémon has is to simply catch a new generation of PLAYERS with each Pokémon game Generation. That's why there is usually a 3 to 4 year gap between each new Pokémon Generation (not counting third versions, Black & White 2, remakes, and of course spin-offs). There's a lot of new 3-5 year old children brought into existence in that time, which is the youngest age group of Pokémon's main demographic. That's a lot of new people to introduce to the series, and that's why the series flourishes - it delivers the same formula to a new generation of players who can find it new and exciting. Sales don't completely stagnate even if older people start losing interest, as there is always a new generation to introduce Pokémon to.

Yokai Watch is a completely different scenario. To begin with, it's going onto the scene with a "competitor" (using that term very loosely, since it CAN'T compete with Pokémon) that has well solidified itself. Pokémon did not have this obstacle, it was the first game of it's kind (a game focused on catching, trading, and battling with creatures), at least on an international level. It also doesn't seem like it's aiming to catch a new generation of people with each installment, but rather, it's main goal seems to be building up a continuing fanbase of the same individuals. It seems to have more emphasis on story and characters than Pokémon does - the Yokai feel more like actual characters with a story to tell, as opposed to the vast majority of Pokémon which are just empty shells in terms of personality and character that you can pretend have a personality you made up for them (though the games will sometimes take certain Pokémon, and give an individual case of a Pokémon a particular personality - like the difference between the Pikachu that you are given in Pokémon Yellow, and a Pikachu you catch in the wild).

TL;DR Yokai-Watch isn't TRYING to compete with Pokémon, it just happens to use a baseline formula with some similarities to Pokémon. Saying it's trying to compete with Pokémon is like saying Shovel Knight is trying to compete with Mario. Yokai-Watch may have it's similarities to Pokémon, but as a franchise, it seems to have completely different goals in mind, and is trying to appeal to a constant audience that is built upon overtime with the series elaborating on itself, rather than just repeating more or less the exact same thing each iteration with small additions to show off new hardware features, like Pokémon does (due to the fact it isn't concerned with keeping a constant fanbase, but is more content with it's ever-changing fan base).

And if you want proof that Yokai-Watch isn't a Pokémon competitor, Nintendo publishes both in certain regions, and integrates both into it's overall brand marketing.

So I don't know why people are constantly acting as if Yokai-Watch is a Pokémon competitor when it quite clearly isn't. Yokai-Watch is it's own thing, it shouldn't be weighed against Pokémon and it shouldn't have any bearing in whatever arbitrary rules ye speculating dictators like to make up.

Oh, and anything that includes something like Mr. Buttface here:

....I don't get it, what's so wrong with it?

It's a cartoon butt that farts. We've got plenty of popular characters that are focused around showing their butt and farting.

Are Americans really just THAT prude that they can't handle cartoon butts and fart jokes in a child-oriented series now?

 

[JamesDNaux]

....I don't get it, what's so wrong with it?

It's a cartoon butt that farts. We've got plenty of popular characters that are focused around showing their butt and farting.

Are Americans really just THAT prude that they can't handle cartoon butts and fart jokes in a child-oriented series now?

Its face is an arse.

It's one thing to have fart jokes (which is still gross), but just imagine what's coming out of that thing's mouth other than gas.

 

[BluePikmin11]

By the way, I'm in the final chapter of Xenoblade Chronicles X, this is exciting.

There weren't that many missions left to raise the affinity of some members now, so I decided to tackle the chapter now.

 

[LIQUID12A]

Appeal is highly subjective. Some people like arse-face Yokai, and I'm okay with that. I don't like it, and yet when NoA advertised the hell out of YKW(down to that goddamn airplane joke), arse-face was there a lot of the time.

If you want to go by that, then Discount Leomon, Jibaynan clone #375(this thing has more clones than Smash has FE characters), god forsaken Mosquito and Discount Shellder aren't very appealing.

 

[Deleted member]

Waiting for Nintendo Select edition of Mario 3D World getting released in Europe like

 

[ChikoLad]

Its face is an arse.

It's one thing to have fart jokes (which is still gross), but just imagine what's coming out of that thing's mouth other than gas.

I mean it's one thing if the series literally has him **** out of his mouth(?), but the fandom/non-fandom "just imagining" isn't a good reason to be grossed out by it entirely.

That's like me saying "Piranha Plants should be removed from Mario because they encourage perverted vore and tentacle fetishes" (they bite/swallow people and give a creepy smile when they do so and have tentacles in a lot of games, usually the giant ones).

I mean yeah, the fandom/non-fandom often uses Piranha Plants for vore fetishes (quite frequently), which is something I despise, since perverted and sexual vore is my biggest repulsion, but I don't go hating Piranha Plants in-game and asking they be removed just because a minority of people use them for creepy and disgusting fetish art. When I'm actually playing Mario, I'm able to take them for what they are, simple enemies that are meant to be a little threatening, but overall innocent in intention (in terms of what the creators meant to portray).

Cheeksqueak should be treated the same.

 

[Curious Villager]

As far as Nintendo, Level-5 and Gamefreak are concerned, Pokemon and Yokai Watch are doing their own thing so the two series don't even bother to "compete" with each other, their perfectly fine with coexisting with each other and as sonicbrawler182 said, both have completely different goals in mind and aim for different audiences.

It's more or less just the fans who treat Yokai Watch like its Pokemon's Sonic the Hedgehog (or Crash Bandicoot) when its more like their Rayman. If that analogy works....

 

[Guybrush20X6]

That's the reason I dislike what I've seen of Yokai Watch 3

A burger Yokai, A cheerleader Yokai

If Yokai Watch 1 and 2 are based a lot on Japanese mythology, etc. Why not have American Yokai based on folklore and myths of American ancestors/ Native Americans/ American history?

Spoiler

Even the reletivley modern folklore of folk legends is ripe for inspiration. Bigfoot, Jersey Devil, Fur Bearing Trout, Jackalope and New York sewer Aligators. (I think I see one but it looks more Austrailian to me) Hell expand to Mexico and there's Chupacabra. There's even Superheroes that deubuted around Superman's time that have since fallen into the public domain if you wanna get more recent.

 

[ChikoLad]

As far as Nintendo, Level-5 and Gamefreak are concerned, Pokemon and Yokai Watch are doing their own thing so the two series don't even bother to "compete" with each other, their perfectly fine with coexisting with each other and as sonicbrawler182 said, both have completely different goals in mind and aim for different audiences.

It's more or less just the fans who treat Yokai Watch like its Pokemon's Sonic the Hedgehog (or Crash Bandicoot) when its more like their Rayman. If that analogy works....

Actually, it would be more correct to say Yokai-Watch is to Pokémon, what Sonic now is to Mario. Except not quite on that level yet, since we haven't seen an outright Pokémon/Yokai-Watch crossover yet.

 

[Curious Villager]

Actually, it would be more correct to say Yokai-Watch is to Pokémon, what Sonic now is to Mario. Except not quite on that level yet, since we haven't seen an outright Pokémon/Yokai-Watch crossover yet.

Yeah I was thinking about the old Sonic the Hedgehog from the earlier Sega days. I suppose current Sonic may work better as Level-5, Nintendo and Gamefreak seem to be all in friendly terms with each other.