GDC 2016: Hands-on with Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble

I’ve spent countless hours playing the Yo-Kai Watch Nintendo 3DS game that just came out back in December and more recently started collecting the Yo-Kai Watch medals after getting watch accessory from Hasbro. While walking the GDC show floor, I came across something I didn’t expect to see there, a Yo-Kai Watch booth showcasing the upcoming mobile title ‘Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble’ which is set to release later this week for both iOS and Android devices.

Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble is a free-to-play puzzle game with RPG elements from Level-5 and developed by PlayArt. It plays similarly to Puzzle and Dragons, along with some fun elements of the Yo-Kai Watch 3DS game.

The main focus is the cute creatures known as Wib Wob, aka the heads of the different Yo-Kai characters. You need to match 3 or more similar Wib Wobs together to create a larger version of the Wib Wob. At this point you can do one of two things, press the Wib Wob to attack your opponent or make the Wib Wob even larger. All the pieces you use have to be near each other, practically touching each other to keep going, so it comes down to you on how big you want to make it, while paying attention to you enemy’s attacks.

The game lets you create your own team. You can get more characters by purchasing them using Y-money you earn in battles, or by using real world money to try the Crank-a-kai. While I enjoyed the battle system (it’s well designed and interactive), I spent most of my time making the biggest Wib Wob I could fit on the screen. It was fun to do, plus it would lead to some major damage. The game is really easy to pick up, but there is a level of challenge you need to master to defeat certain enemies, more noticeably the giant boss battles.

By the time you reach the first boss, you’ll need a strong understanding of the game’s different aspects. The boss, Slimamander, is a huge beast with three eyes that requires you to wait for him to open one of his eyeballs. You attack by tapping on it before switching to the next opening eye. (Attacking a shut eye will do zero damage.) It requires you to pay attention to both the top half of the screen while working on your field and stopping him from attacking by launching your attack.

Pay attention to your Fever Gauge. As you create and pop the Wib Wobs, the gauge fills up, and once it’s filled, you enter Fever Mode, where you will be invincible until the gauge runs out. You also have Soultimate moves which let your Yo-Kai unleash powerful attacks on your enemies. With these two skills, I was able to defeat Slimamander.

I didn’t put in as much time with the game as I would have liked, which is fine because playing five stages back to back was still pretty fun. As I mentioned, Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble is free-to-play game, and there will be limits to how much you can play. You can level up your characters, take on different missions, and challenges.

It’s also nice to know that Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble rewards fans who collect the Yo-Kai Watch medals from Hasbro. On the back of each medal is an AR code which can be scanned in the game to unlock in-game vanity items. It’s great to see the medals being used in different methods, and it will be interesting to see if it is also supported with future medals.

Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble launches March 24th for iOS and Android devices.