Despite its notable comparisons and competition with Pokemon, the conception of Youkai Watch actually takes inspiration from Doraemon, and Akihiro Hino, the CEO of Level 5, thoroughly researched it to understand how to make a franchise last long-term. Initially, Hino and Level 5 wanted to make a Doraemon game but regardless, they wanted to make something that would keep interest in the long run. The game would then debut in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS, and would be an instant success to the point that it became a multi-media franchise.

Midway into the 2010’s, Youkai Watch was all the rage in Japan to the point that it was bigger than Pokemon! Thanks to an anime, manga, toys, and even an exercise song, it was almost at every corner you would turn throughout the Land of the Rising Sun. While Pokemon’s domestic influences were subliminal, the use of youkai, or supernatural beings, was very direct with its cultural inspirations and its domestic audiences could identify with the material. Plus, its aggressive marketing campaign in appealing to its target audience certainly helped.

The first step in its unfortunate fall Youkai Watch involved a fiasco with its toys. Due to technical difficulties with how some toys weren’t compatible with some medals and that its second line was for a new line of medals that weren’t compatible with the first line, it created some frustration with parents. Plus, the franchise faced an over-saturation with its merchandising to the point that supply was exceeding demand despite initial shortages to the point that they instantly ended up in the bargain bin.

As its domestic audience was getting older, the marketing team thought it would be a good idea of keeping in tune with that respective audience as opposed to children. For example, they attempted to make a movie by making it more mature and horror oriented, and it wasn’t well-received. In other instances, they released mobile games which would appeal to older gamers, but they didn’t garner the success they expected. Then with the release of Pokemon Go, Pokemon just took back its number one spot not just in Japan, but in a world wide scale and with a vengeance.

One particular factor that didn’t help Youkai Watch as a whole is that it didn’t get the same international popularity that Pokemon always had. Its first game would get an international release towards the end of 2015, but its success never measured up to Pokemon’s. While Pokemon is obviously Japanese, it’s easier to localize due to how the environments and characters are flexibly designed to suit just about any audience. With Youkai Watch, it’s obviously more Japanese in nature and those qualities only appeal to a cult audience. With the release and tremendous success of Pokemon Go shortly after, Youkai Watch was in no position to gain that popularity outside of Japan.