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| Yo-kai Watch Blasters | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art forRed Cat Corps | |
| Developer | Level-5 |
| Publishers | |
| Director | Ken Motomura |
| Producer | Akihiro Hino |
| Programmers | Yuji Mori Tetsuo Mori |
| Artists | Takuzo Nagano Miho Tanaka Nobuyuki Yanai |
| Writers | Kohei Azuma Akihiro Hino Yoichi Kato |
| Composer | Kenichiro Saigo |
| Series | Yo-kai Watch |
| Platform | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release | |
| Genre | Action role-playing |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Yo-kai Watch Blasters[a] is arole-playing video game developed and published byLevel-5 for theNintendo 3DS.Blasters was originally released in two versions, namedRed Cat Corps[b] andWhite Dog Squad.[c] The game is a spin-off based on the Blasters mini-game in the main series gameYo-kai Watch 2, and was released in Japan in July 2015 and worldwide byNintendo in September 2018.[1] Human characters are noticeably absent from gameplay, and players controlYo-kai in abeat 'em up action style instead.
The story follows Jibanyan and his Blasters team in stopping Yo-kai shenanigans. Players tackle various missions and bosses and befriend new Yo-kai in the process. The game spoofs theGhostbusters franchise, and is named "Busters" in the Japanese and Korean releases.[2] However, due to copyright and licensing issues, the International releases were renamed, and most of the overt references toGhostbusters were removed (including notable spoofs of theEctomobile andStay Puft Marshmallow Man, among others).[citation needed]
InYo-kai Watch Blasters, the player plays as Yo-kai; there are only four medal slots inBlasters, in contrast to the six slots in the main series games. The game has four types of missions: Story, Patrol, Boss Rush (Big Boss in English versions), and True Challenge Missions. In all missions, players collect Oni Orbs, anin-game currency that has many uses, including leveling up Yo-kai, buying items, making and upgrading equipment, and using the Oni Crank-a-kai. The Crank-a-kai allows the player to spend coin items to have a chance at getting rare items and Yo-kai.
InStory Missions, the player progresses through the story to become the best Blaster possible. There are two types of Story Missions: Main Missions and Sub Missions. As the name suggests, Main Missions are essential to completing the story. Sub Missions are generally optional, though some are essential to progress in the main story.
InPatrol Missions, the player explores different towns of their choice to befriend Yo-kai and clear small missions called Mini Missions, which reward Oni Orbs.
InBig Boss Missions, the player can re-fight bosses previously defeated in Story Missions. Each Big Boss Mission has a selectable difficulty level: Normal, Super, and Ultra mode. Ultra Big Bosses require the use of an item called "Ultra Orb" specific to each boss to be challenged. The requirements to get Ultra Orbs vary between bosses. Additionally, eight bosses have an additional Challenge Mode, where the objective is to beat a set amount of them with increasing difficulty as fast as possible.
Each mission has a distinct set of objectives. These may include collecting items, battling Yo-kai, etc. If all Yo-kai faint, or the timer runs out, the mission is failed.
Each playable Yo-kai has one of four roles:Fighter,Tank,Healer, andRanger. Fighters specialize in dealing damage to foes to defeat them. Tanks protect the team with defensive techniques and support them using negativeInspirit effects. Healers' main purpose is to heal the team to help them stay alive. Rangers use different techniques to support allies bydebuffing foes and dealing damage.
Each Yo-kai has access to one normal attack and three to four Technique attacks. Some of these are restricted to certain roles or Yo-kai. Additionally, each Yo-kai has a special, powerful move called a Soultimate, which is only performable after the Soul Meter is charged by using attacks. Some Soultimate Moves take longer to charge than others for the same attack.
Similarly to mainline games, inYo-kai Watch Blasters each Yo-kai has 5 stats: HP, strength, spirit, defense and speed. HP determines how much damage a Yo-kai can take. Speed determines how fast the Yo-kai moves on the field: at a Fast, Normal or Slow speed. Strength affects how powerful a Yo-kai's physical attacks are, and Defense affects the amount of damage that a Yo-kai takes from attacks. The player can give equipment to Yo-kai to increase their stats.
Equipment sometimes has additional benefits, such as increasedcritical hit chance or resistance to elemental attacks. Players are able to create or strengthen equipment, which usually requires materials and Oni Orbs, and occasionally Yo-kai Souls. Players can also gain equipment by scanning specialQR codes, or as treasure drops after clearing a mission.
Players can perform Soulcery to turn Yo-kai into an equippable items called Souls that grant certain benefits. Souls can be leveled up by being fused with other Souls or turned into rare Soul Gems by fusing two specific Souls together.
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The spin-offs' commercial success in Japan led to a free expansion,Moon Rabbit Crew,[d] which released in Japan in December 2015 and worldwide in September 2018.[3]
In addition, a Japanese-exclusive arcade version,Iron Oni Army,[e] was released in December 2015.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 67/100 (both versions)[4][5] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 6/10 (Red Cat Corps)[6] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 3/5[8] |
| Nintendo Life | 8/10[2] |
| Nintendo World Report | 9/10[7] |
Both versions ofYo-kai Watch Blasters received mixed or average reviews, according to the review aggregatorMetacritic.[4][5]
A sequel,Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Secret of the Legendary Treasure Bambalaya,[f] was also released in two versions,Sword[g] andMagnum,[h] on December 16, 2017.[9] The sequel games are linkable with the Blasters games as well as the three versions ofYo-kai Watch 3 released in Japan.[10]
Busters 2 has not been localized into English due to the fact that in October 2020, Level 5's North American operations shutting down, and due to the fact that the production of the Nintendo 3DS family consoles ended in September 2020.
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