Yo-kai Watch games - My recommended playing order and a couple of other tips!

So you want to start playing the Yo-kai Watch games? That's awesome! But you're not sure where to start? That's not awesome! But luckily, I've thought over the topic of "If I were to advise someone on which Yo-kai Watch games to play, how would I go about it and what would I say?" a lot, and this is my answer! So without further ado, here is my personal outline for which Yo-kai Watch games you should start with and what order to play them all! (In order of release. You should play them in order of release.) All of the games released in English are on the 3DS!

Jump to: Yo-kai Watch 1 • Yo-kai Watch 2 • Yo-kai Watch Blasters • Yo-kai Watch 3 • The Japan-exclusives

Yo-kai Watch 1

Starting point A: Optional, but recommended
The game that started it all! In the way of gameplay, it's a lot barer than its direct sequels in terms of content, and Yo-kai Watch 2 adds a lot of quality of life improvements. In the way of story and impact on continuity, it's a bit shorter than its direct sequels and the events of this game have little bearing on the continuity and lore beyond the premise and some basics going forward. You might miss of references to the main antagonist, but other than that it's not much. I'd recommend it mostly based on how much you want to beat up a corrupt politician. Despite that, it's a fun romp I have a lot of attachment to! It's always given me a more cosy vibe than the rest of the games. With the series where it is now, it's most helpful in getting familiar with certain faces, human and Yo-kai alike.

If you're playing on an actual 3DS, there is one advantage to starting with this game (or at least owning it)! There are three Yo-kai you can only get in Yo-kai Watch 2 by having Yo-kai Cam pictures from the first game - Buchinyan, Komasan and Noko. If you want any of those three in YKW2, then having YKW1 is a must.

Yo-kai Watch 2: Bony Spirits/Fleshy Souls/Psychic Specters

Starting point B
If you don't start with Yo-kai Watch 1, then you absolutely have to start with Yo-kai Watch 2. This is where the series trend of having over-arching stories begins, and also it has Hovernyan. As mentioned earlier, it has a lot of quality of life improvements and more content over 1, but be warned that Terror Time is the least fun here. This is also where characterisations start to change thanks to the anime being so popular in Japan. Don't like a characterisation change? Blame the anime! It's most likely the anime's fault. The story in this one revolves around time travel, so that may be a turn-off for some people. It also features Hovernyan. (I like Hovernyan.)

As you may have noticed, this game has three different versions (and is the only numbered entry to have separate versions outside of Japan!). So which one do you play? If you're only able to get one, I'd recommend Psychic Specters, as it has more post-game content and some of the best sidequests in the series. However, if you can get multiple, starting with either Bony Spirits or Fleshy Souls isn't a bad move either. There are certain Yo-kai, including a befriendable form of a Boss Yo-kai, exclusive to each version that can't be obtained in Psychic Specters. Plus, you can transfer save data from Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls to Psychic Specters if you're playing digitally! (Which nowadays would either require you bought the game years ago or you're playing on custom firmware.) So really, any entry is fine!

There are some sidequests in YKW2 (two of which are exclusive to Psychic Specters) that I would highly recommend you play before moving onto the other games. These three are important for lore reasons, so make sure to play/watch them! They are:

To access the first one, you must first beat the sidequest "Ghost Club at School", which should unlock during the story and can be started in Breezy Hills. The second one can be started as soon as you enter post-game and go to sleep once. Disregard the recommended levels, there are no Yo-kai battles involved in any of them. The third one takes a LOT to get to (including playing through the Whistory Lessons), so if getting to it is too hard, then watching a walkthrough of it is fine.

Yo-kai Watch Blasters: Red Cat Corps/White Dog Squad

Part of continuity: At least start playing/watching it
Now why do I add "watching" it to the status of this game? Because physical copies are EXPENSIVE. I saw a copy of Red Cat Corps going for $350 NZD once. The main story isn't even that long.

This game may be a spin-off, but it's very much part of the canon continuity. It's an expansion on the gameplay of the Blasters side-mode in YKW2, but if you weren't very good at that side-mode, don't worry! You get AI partners to assist you in this game. If it still isn't your cup of tea even after playing a bit of it, then you can move onto Yo-kai Watch 3 without finishing it. You only really need to get the gist of what the Blasters are about.

As for which version you should get should you get it digitally through one method or another or are stupid rich, my personal judgement method is how much you want to befriend Whisper. Yes, he's befriendable in YKW3 as well, but you can do it sooner in Blasters. If you want him on your team, then you want White Dog Squad.

Yo-kai Watch 3

Part of continuity. Physical copies of this one are stupid expensive too.
This one's got so much going on, but most notably there's a new grid-based battle system that makes boss battles way more fun in my opinion and two protagonists with exclusive sidequests. This two protagonists thing makes the first five chapters very slow, since they have separate Chapters 1-5 and you have to play through them in tandem. They don't meet up until Chapter 6, and even then you can only progress the story playing as one or the other. You also can't play as Katie through the main story. (Though a certain sidequest reveals there is a universe where she got the Yo-kai Watch instead of Nate and finishing it unlocks the ability to go there whenever. It's not really the same, but...) Despite this, though, I found the new characters in this one to be a lot of fun! The story is all sorts of wild: it's like Level-5 threw various kinds of pasta at a wall and seeing what stuck in the most hilarious way possible.

There's also Blasters T mode, which has the expanded Blasters gameplay from Red Cat Corps/White Dog Squad combined Mystery Dungeon's, well, dungeons. (No, this isn't ENTIRELY a Pokemon comparison! There's also Chocobo Mystery Dungeon!) There's a hell of a lot of content in this side-mode, and there's certain Yo-kai you can only befriend either in the mode itself or by clearing its main campaign. If you want to play it, I'd recommend doing the sidequest that unlocks this side-mode as soon as possible: it should be available right outside Nate's house after upgrading his Yo-kai Watch to Rank D during Chapter 3! Playing it periodically throughout the story will also help lessen the amount of time you'll spend playing through the main campaign. I personally had a team for Blasters T separate from my main team once I entered post-game; it's a good way to use auto-befriended Yo-kai without disrupting the balance of your main team!

(Terror Time gets another change in mechanics, but at least you're not required to wait around for a few minutes before the exit appears again.)

The Japan-exclusives

I'll keep this one short, since it's harder to get a hold of the 3DS Japan-exclusives (if your 3DS isn't homebrewed, that is). That, and I've only played a lot of one of them.

Yo-kai Sangokushi (3DS): It's a turn-based strategy game, and it doesn't have too much bearing on the series continuity, so I'd only really recommend this one if you've played other turn-based strategy games and/or you know Japanese. Due to Usapyon's appearance here as well, it'd probably be best to play this one after Blasters or YKW3. Heck, playing it during YKW3 would be viable too.

Yo-kai Watch Busters 2 (3DS): (Busters is the Japanese name for Blasters, btw) I haven't actually played this one, but apparently it's really buggy and not many people like it as a result. The main antagonists are furries, though, so maybe that'll sway you. Probably play this one after Yo-kai Watch 3.
There's an English translation being worked on which you can find here! I'm not associated with anyone working on it, I just wanted to share the project in case it helps someone. (Don't look at the comments on the thread.)

Yo-kai Watch 4 (Switch & PS4): The gameplay is pretty accessible for such a text-heavy game! The objective arrow is replaced with a cute dog. Story-wise, however, you're either going to want to watch a let's play that translates the dialogue so you have an idea of what's going on or watch the Shadowside anime AND Forever Friends. As the title implies, play this one after Yo-kai Watch 3. I don't know if Busters 2 is referenced at all, but you should be able to play this without playing that.

Yo-kai Academy Y: Wai-Wai Gakuen Seikatsu/Y School Heroes: Bustlin' School Life (Switch and PS4): I haven't played this one either, but that's because I don't have any interest in this section of the Yo-kai Watch continuity. Apparently it's got a social life balancing aspect to it, though...? Probably wouldn't recommend this one if you don't know Japanese because of that. Probably play this one after YKW4.