First of all, thanks to Happinet for the invitation, allowing us to play the demo version of "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" at "Tokyo Game Show 2026".
"Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" is a 2D pixel-art RPG developed by KOHACHI STUDIO and published by Happinet. The story takes place in a fictionalized ancient Japan, where players lead a mechanical puppet onmyoji on an adventure across Japan to resolve yokai disturbances along the way.
KOHACHI STUDIO is a game studio founded in 2021, and "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" is among their first batch of works, relatively unknown. However, looking at the studio member list, you'll discover many renowned veteran game producers from the arcade era. These producers were deeply involved in the development of classic arcade games like "R-TYPE," "Undercover Cops," and "Metal Slug." Their stylistic influence is clearly evident in "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke"—if you observe the buses appearing in the game PV, it's not hard to see shadows of "Metal Slug."
Besides the studio background, what everyone talks about regarding this work is the development story spanning 20 years behind it.
The original "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" was actually a project conceived over 20 years ago for the GBA platform. At that time, a studio within SNK completed the worldview, story, art, and gameplay settings for this work. They even boldly proposed using GPS systems to allow players to catch different yokai across Japan, an idea that couldn't be realized due to technological limitations at the time. It wasn't until over a decade later, when smartphone GPS technology matured, that this concept truly became reality.
The initial version of "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" was once developed to an End Game state, but due to internal company reasons, it was never officially released. It wasn't until over 20 years later, when KOHACHI STUDIO acquired the rights, that the game could be redeveloped—which is why this game feels extremely retro; it was originally a concept born 20 years ago.
So, how does this concept from 20 years ago feel when experienced today?
To be honest, it's slightly rudimentary.
The game's pixel art is highly stylized—strange, exaggerated, and not high-resolution, yet rich in detail, much like the "Metal Slug" of old. The veteran developers still deliver a flavorful retro aesthetic in this work, but the visuals, tailored to the GBA display style, appear lacking in resolution even on the Switch. Twenty years have passed, and pixel art has seen huge developments. Not to mention the HD-2D monsters produced by Square Enix, even within indie games, there are numerous displays of exaggeratedly detailed pixel aesthetics. KOHACHI STUDIO's adherence to the original visual style puts this work's visual experience in a subjective realm.
This isn't necessarily a drawback; it's actually one of the characteristics of contemporary indie games—the creator's expression is placed in a higher position, and players accustomed to indie games have largely learned to "adapt" to such stubborn pursuits by developers.
But compared to the visuals, perhaps the depth of the battle system will have a greater impact on the gaming experience.
The battle system of "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" is structurally similar to turn-based RPGs represented by the "Pokémon" series. Players can seal various yokai on the map, form teams with them, and choose one to deploy at the start of battle. Each yokai has its own attributes and skills unlocked through growth. Attacking enemies with attribute advantages yields better results.
The difference is that in this game, besides choosing deployed yokai, you can also select several yokai for support. During battle, players can use support yokai skills at the end of their turn to gain extra attacks or auxiliary abilities. Notably, using these support skills also provides additional recovery effects for the deployed yokai, allowing players to restore either HP or MP, ensuring sustainability through support skills.
It's predictable that editing the support system will be the most strategic part of this game's combat gameplay. It connects multiple battle-related systems—attribute counters, damage output, buffs/debuffs, and sustainability. The choice of support skills and their timing during battle will significantly impact the outcome.
However, judging from the demo version's performance, this work shows a tendency towards "lightweight combat," meaning the depth and fun of this system might not be fully showcased.
Purely from a structural perspective, this type of combat gameplay is simply a clash between enemies and players. Most of the fun comes from out-of-battle progression and a sufficiently complex numerical system. Taking the "Pokémon" series as an example, skill power, accuracy rates, field conditions, as well as the Pokémon's own stats, nature, species, attributes, and held items all affect battle outcomes. The reason the "Pokémon" series somewhat represents the ultimate form of this combat gameplay lies in its complex battle system that fully integrates numbers and mechanics. Players must rely on extensive learning and experience accumulation to truly master it.
Scaling down a few levels from the "Pokémon" tier determines the complexity and depth of the battle system. In this regard, "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" seems to inherit the "arcade" lineage of its creators' past works—intuitive, easy to pick up and play, without requiring overly complex thinking. The yokai stats are simple, involving few data mechanics, the progression system appears to be just single-level leveling, there are only five attributes, and the skill design is quite straightforward and rough.
If the development team doesn't innovate more with the skill pool of those two hundred yokai and their numerical design, the turn-based combat might end up being a mechanic that looks complex but can actually be beaten through simple experience accumulation and brute force.
Compared to combat, this work seems to focus more on storytelling, role-playing, and world experience. Although I only played for twenty minutes, the absurd, pretentious, period-drama-style road trip flavor was already overflowing.
The seriousness brought by the savior storyline dissipates completely after the initial plot, knocked away by a bus that inexplicably travels back in time. The so-called "yokai disturbances" encountered by players along the way feel more like individual "sitcom scenarios" connected by the road.
Just like the first event I experienced in the game, it was a "beauty pageant" set in ancient Japan, featuring contestants ranging from old men and beauties to yokai and idols. The entire city's streets were cheering for a certain "idol" contestant; ask any passerby for directions, and they'll point you toward this stage.
And when you arrive at the scene, watch the entire competition process, and think the story is heading towards the standard ending of "the dragon kidnaps the princess"—
The "princess" charges up a "Kamehameha" on the spot, knocks the "dragon" to the ground, and loudly calls out for you to "come on."
"Yokai Buster: Nabisuke" is exactly such a game. Its foundation is filled with a reckless sense of humor: on one side of this world are towns styled after ancient Japan, while on the other are buses crossing the city and phone booths scattered across the streets. You can see onmyoji and samurai on the streets, as well as bespectacled men making phone calls.
When preparing for a long journey, the transportation tool provided by the developers for the protagonist is a taxi; when encountering yokai in the wild, the best immediate solution... is for Nabisuke to pull out a machine gun.
What kind of onmyoji is this?
When I responded to the "princess's" call in the castle, preparing for a fierce battle with the "dragon," only to see the battle scene transform into a tokusatsu film set, with the "dragon" poking its head out from among buildings, and me, as the protagonist, being completely blocked by structures due to my small stature, forced to mark my position with a "Here" label above, I realized—
From the very beginning, the development team had no intention of seriously telling you a hero's adventure story, nor did they intend for you to think this was a serious game, let alone encourage you to delve deeply into any of its systems. Onmyoji, yokai, ancient Japan, buses, beauty pageants... all of these elements serve only to collectively shape a fun-filled "whirlwind tour."
This is what I consider the most unique and worthwhile aspect of experiencing "Yokai Buster: Nabisuke."
After initially learning about the development background of this work, I once wanted to compare it with "Goodboy Galaxy" from a few years ago. Their stories form a kind of contrast in a way. The former is a GBA project lost for 20 years reborn today, while the latter involves modern developers traveling back in time to create content for a defunct gaming platform—"Goodboy Galaxy" launched on the GBA, being one of the few new cartridges released for the system in over a decade.
But after finishing the demo, I felt that the story elements provided by these external factors were almost irrelevant to this work.
The boldness and fun displayed by this work itself wouldn't fade due to changing times. Regardless of which generation it launches in, the traits it currently shows make it a work worth anticipating.