This week I talk about good and bad pink boys, the music of Yo-kai Watch as well as turn-based multi-player RPGs.

Yo-kai Watch 4 – Gero Gero Po

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YomA3cQDHzM

The updated Gero Gero Po theme for Yokai Watch 4 has shown up in previous trailers, but I think this is the first clean cut we’ve gotten. 

I think every Pokemon-style game tries to create some sort of catchy music theme. Pokemon has plenty of classics between the Pokemon Rap and 4 Kids opening theme, but I can’t think of many other franchises that really hit the mark.

Yokai Watch in particular has had a great run of themes though. It’s up and down per game, but Exercise No.1 was the song that initially caught my eye. More recently, I’ve really enjoyed Bully’s Beat Camp.

The lyrics for these songs though… are not so great… or at least the English translation of them. I haven’t played one, but the series really pushes the idea of blaming the Yo-kai for your short comings. I wouldn’t say blaming others for your problems is a great message. 

But I also doubt they’re ruining a generation of children or something. I’ll just keep enjoying them.

Ninja Box – The Evil QTπ

I still don’t know a ton about Ninja Box beyond it just being a tower-defense game that visually kind of looks like off-brand Yo-kai Watch. But I have been keeping an eye on the game to see if anything about it catches my eye.

There’s nothing really this week that jumps out at me, but they did unveil their villain —  a woman who I think is named Shakunee. Honestly, I don’t have much to say about her. I just think she’s kind of cute. 

(Source: 4Gamer)

Magatsu-Wahrheit – I Just Like Frontier Gate

You can get general gist behind almost any mobile game just by taking a glance at it. I can’t tell you how many RPGs with a screen full of cool down timers I’ve seen.

Magatsu-Warheit isn’t particularly that different, but it does seem like it may be multi-player focused. The website seems to suggest you focus on building a single character, and trailer shows chat elements when there are multiple people on screen. 

While this game is not completely turn based, I always find multi-player with these kind of battle systems interesting. If there’s multiplayer in an RPG, it’s typically an action RPG.

It reminds me a lot of a game called Frontier Gate, which was a Tri-Ace RPG that felt like it was building itself around the Monster Hunter craze but with turn-based combat. 

So while I doubt I’ll ever play Magatsu-Warheit, it does remind me that I need to eventually buy a copy of Frontier Gate or its enhanced re-release.

I have a really old video about Frontier Gate demo that got semi-popular for some reason. 

Doing Pink Right

I was looking at two otome-lookin’ games this week: 10 Count and Hero’s Park. Recently I’ve kind of had an interest in pink-themed male characters. I’m not sure why, but I’ve built the desire for these men to be in my life. Both of these games feature a character that fits the bill, but they kind of ended up on two opposite sides of the spectrum for me. 

Kanade from Hero park is incredibly feminine. Admittedly, the super-hero aesthetic probably magnifies this. But even without the extravagant costume, he feels like a character where his femininity comes at the expensive of his masculinity. Almost like he’s working against, and not with, his own body type. 

A quick note: I’m assuming Kanade is a guy. They look and sound like it, but a machine translation describes them as “she.” I have no idea if this is accurate, so I’m just going to go with them being a dude. Everyone else in the game is.

Overall I think I prefer how Tadaomi is handled in 10 Count. At face value, he looks pretty straight forward. You’ll often see him presented in suits, which is standard for a male character. But in comparison to his partner, it becomes clear he definitely leans more on the feminine side.

They do a good job of combining the best of his masculinity with feminine aspects. Small touches like the beauty mark under his eye is a great way to do this at very little risk of pushing his design over the edge. And some outfits, like the one above, both come off as feminine and boy-ish. I think this is mainly due to the dress-like aspect of the outer wear, but the shorts and boots look of the inner wear.

It’s really just two ways to implement this type of character, but think Tadaomi is the more challenging and thoughtful way to do so.

In general I think lately I’ve been into male characters with more feminine aspects to them. Pink is an easy first step, but it definitely takes more than just that to craft something satisfying. I’m looking been looking forward to the next create-a-character game where I can try to make my own.