20-Year-Old Unreleased Pixel Art RPG ‘Navinosuke: The Yo-kai Buster’ Launches

Happinet and developer Kohachi Studio have announced that pixel art RPG Navinosuke: The Yo-kai Buster will launch for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam in 2027. The game will support English, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

Development on this title originally began in secret during the early 2000s under Akio, a Kohachi Studio creator and veteran of Japan’s arcade game industry. However, it was never released, leaving the original project dormant for over 20 years.

Akio and the development team have since rebuilt the game for current platforms while retaining the original team’s concepts, pixel artwork, and gameplay direction. Development team members previously worked on Metal Slug.

The story takes place in a fictional version of ancient Japan inspired by Japanese folklore. Navinosuke is a karakuri Onmyoji apprentice created by the secretive Onmyo Bureau to confront an increasing Yo-kai threat. His story becomes connected to a modern-day human whose soul is transported over 1,000 years into the past.

Players will investigate supernatural incidents while encountering numerous Yo-kai throughout ancient Japan. More than 200 Yo-kai are featured, and many defeated creatures can be recruited as party members.

Combat uses a turn-based system centered on elemental affinities and Shikigami. Recruited Yo-kai can be combined into different parties, allowing players to adjust their team composition and tactics for individual encounters.

Thanks to Gematsu for sharing this news.