In Level-5 Abby’s latest press release, the company committed to bringing many of their popular franchises to the west.

These franchises include Yo-Kai Watch, Snack World, and Layton’s Mystery Journey. Video games, toys, and animation will be released for these franchises in the west “soon” in the near future at an unspecified time frame, so we could probably expect to see Yo-Kai Watch 3 for Nintendo 3DS, as well as Snack World and Layton’s Mystery Journey for Nintendo Switch in the near future.

Also previously confirmed was Inazuma Eleven Ares’ launch window.

LEVEL-5, a leading multimedia entertainment company, is celebrating an important anniversary in 2018. For the past two decades, LEVEL-5. has created, produced and distributed highly engaging content for children, adults and game/anime fans worldwide. The company’s mission has been to bring its universally themed popular game and animation content from Japan to fans globally, across all platforms and all devices.

“For the past 20 years, LEVEL-5 has provided a strong commitment to maintaining its position on the content frontier where the newest technologies and great entertainment intersect,” said Yukari Hayakawa, LEVEL-5 abby Chief Operation Officer. “We continue to have an overwhelming positive response when we release new opportunities as the market in North America is hungry for video games and anime as new forms of entertainment for the broader masses.”

The company’s tentpole franchises are available (or soon to be available) via multiple touch points, from animation to toys to games, include:

• YO-KAI WATCH™ is the mega-hit animated comedy and Nintendo 3DS video game series created in 2013, which continues to be a successful staple of LEVEL-5’s cross-media franchises. With the use of his Yo-kai Watch, Nate Adams, an average boy, meets an assortment of mischievous Yo-kai who he discovers are invisible to humans and seem to be the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems. Blazion is a hot-blooded Yo-kai that fills folks with fiery enthusiasm, Cheeksqueak is responsible for uncontrollable farting in front of public, and Fidgephant makes anyone need to urgently use the bathroom, just to name a few. The series debuted in 2015 in North America, with new episodes airing on DisneyXD and Netflix for the past two seasons. The Yo-Kai Watch videogames have been published by Nintendo.
• SNACK WORLD™ is LEVEL-5’s latest delicacy from Japan. The top 10 TV Tokyo animated series wrapped Season 1 and now is ready for export. SNACK WORLD is a nutty place where mythology, fairy tales, and technology are fusion fare! When an evil mogul wrongs the young hero Chup, the boy and his bite-sized crew embark on an epic adventure of serving just deserts to the giant jerk. The smash hit SNACK WORLD video game debuted on Nintendo 3DS platform in 2017 and on Nintendo Switch in spring 2018. The companion consumer products line won Best Japanese Licensed Character (New Face) at the Licensing Japan Character and Brand Licensing Trade Show in April 2018. The tasty franchise continues to dominate at Japanese retail and indicates similar success abroad.
• LAYTON’S MYSTERY JOURNEY™ is the latest in the beloved Professor Layton catalog. The LAYTON SERIES™ debuted in 2007 with the release of Professor Layton and the Curious Village on the Nintendo DS platform, and built a phenomenon that continues to delight puzzle and adventure fans from around the world, selling over 17 million games to date. The Layton series of titles are comical, puzzle-laden adventure stories focusing on solving intricate mysteries. This evolution of the Layton series follows Katrielle Layton, daughter of the famous (and missing) Professor as she solves smaller mysteries in London, all woven into an intriguing overall grand conundrum. The strength of the franchise coupled with the globally successful launch of the new game series created the perfect formula to develop a new animated series built around its legacy, which debuted in Japan on Fuji TV in April 2018.