tvtropes.org

Yo-kai Watch 4 - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Aug 23 2018

Yo-kai Watch 4 (Video Game)

Yo-kai Watch 4++

Yo-kai Watch 4: We're Looking Up at the Same Sky (or just Yo-kai Watch 4 for short) is the fourth title in the Yo-kai Watch franchise. It's the first mainline title released on a home console, the Nintendo Switch.

In the game you can play as Nate, Katie, Summer (Nate and Katie's daughter who earlier appeared in Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside) as well as her friends Cole & Bruno, and Jack (who appeared earlier in Yo-kai Watch: Forever Friends) in three different eras. There are also other characters that you can play as.

Yo-kai Watch 4 contains various differences from the previous games. It features an improved battle system where humans can fight alongside Yo-kai and several new Tribes, amongst other changes.

The game was released for Switch in Japan in June 2019. Later that year, an enhanced version, Yo-kai Watch 4++, was released on both Switch and PlayStation 4, which includes the Switch version's DLC.

Yo-kai Watch 4 provides examples of:

  • Accidental Time Travel: Upon being cornered by Shutendoji, our heroes escape through a World Door and end up in the 1950s, Shin's time.
  • Actionized Sequel: The gameplay has evolved into a much more action based RPG, akin to Yo-kai Watch Blasters, where even the human fighters can battle too.
  • Art Evolution: The game features less stylized, more realistically proportioned character designs for humans.
  • Bag of Spilling: As per tradition, Nate loses the Medallion once again and has to start over.
  • Bakeneko and Nekomata: A nekomata named Gusto is a Yo-kai from the 1950s. Jack befriends him and lets him in his home upon learning that the Yo-kai is scaring a child he sleeps on top of since he cannot see him.
  • Bookends: The final boss of the game takes place in the same place where the entire franchise began and where the first game’s final boss took place; the Great Sacred Tree in Mount Wildwood.
  • Bowdlerise: In China, Jinta/Jingeki is changed to a Humongous Mecha rather than an Eerie Anatomy Model, while Gutsy Bones is a Creepy Doll due to China's policies on depictions of anatomy models and skeletons.
  • The Bus Came Back: After demoted to non-playable in the third game, Katie returns as a fully playable character, albeit not as an alternative to Nate like in the first two games.
  • Canon Immigrant: Naturally, many of the future and past Yo-kai first debuted in Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside and its continuity.
  • Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of the game, Nate, Whisper and Jibanyan line up to the Crank-a-kai to get the new Yo-kai Watch (though they don't get it). Much later, Katie is guided by Naviwan to the Crank-a-kai, and receives the watch from it.
  • The Chosen Many: There is a prophecy that states that seven people with Yo-kai Watches will defeat Overseer. They are the six playable characters and Lord Enma.
  • Costume Evolution: Nate has switched out of his previous red jacket with an orange version of his original shirt underneath it. Now, he wears an open red shirt that has a white star on its sleeve, a blue undershirt, and brown sneakers.
  • Crossover: GeGeGe no Kitarō characters appear in the game.
  • Downloadable Content: A few examples in the Japanese version:
    • Downloading the game off the eShop, you will also get a code to unlock Damona.
    • Yo-kai Watch 1 for Nintendo Switch will unlock McKracken. This is the first time he has been befriendable.
    • A DLC Pack, Yo-kai Watch 4++, adds new areas and Yo-kai, plus a Blasters Mode. These are included by default in the PS4 version.
  • Improvement +: The game received a DLC that added a lot of new Yo-kai, areas, and even a new gamemode. Fittingly, it's called pura pura or plus plus.
  • Later-Installment Weirdness: Comes with being the first to be ported to the Switch. The maps are a lot smaller, with a lot of Springdale inaccessible.
  • Old Save Bonus: A code obtainable in the Japanese Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble unlocks Komashura in the game.
  • Ret-Canon: The game is a sequel to the anime film Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside - The Return of the Oni King. It's mentioned that Summer and her friends defeated the Oni King prior to the game.
  • Serial Escalation:
    • Yo-kai Watch 2 introduced time travel. This game expands it by allowing travel to three different eras (1950s, 2010s, and 2040s), plus the Yo-kai World of the past.
    • The first two games let you choose Nate or Katie, and Yo-kai Watch 3 had both Nate and Hailey as playable protagonistsnote . This one has both Nate and Katie, plus four other watchers as the main characters.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: The unnamed person who lied to Juno of Saros' intentions with the Sacred Weaponry. If not for their treachery, Saros would not have been executed and become Overseer and the events of the game would not happen.
  • Temporal Abortion: Overseer travels back in time to the 1950s to prevent the birth of Lord Enma by preventing Itsuki and Shien to fuse and reincarnate. He almost succeeded, if not for the fact that our heroes arrived to stop him.