Over the course of video game history, many games have been abandoned before they could be played by the public. Often, these projects remain unseen and some are even cancelled prior to an official announcement. Rarely, a development team is given another opportunity to complete their work. This is becoming slightly more frequent in contemporary times. An instance of this is upcoming with a game initially designed for Game Boy Advance by the original Metal Slug developers.
2026, I’ll be diving into an exciting new adventure with “Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster” on my Nintendo Switch! This game was kept under wraps, probably due to some hiccups during development. Originally designed for the Game Boy Advance, it would have leveraged GPS tech, turning real-world travels into a Yo-Kai monster-hunting quest. Sounds familiar? Well, it could’ve been out 15 years before “Pokemon Go”. Artist Akio Oyabu pointed out the resemblance on Twitter, but he swiftly added that the game’s ‘creepier’ monsters might not have garnered the same popularity as Pokemon.
After discovering that the GPS feature was too challenging to implement successfully, the development team made a change in direction and concentrated on a more conventional RPG style with monster-catching features instead. The outcome of their hard work was a game called Navinosuke, but it never saw the light of day at the time. However, now, after many years have passed, things are changing for the better. You can find a trailer for the Nintendo Switch version of this long-awaited game below.
The independent studio Kohachi Studio is managing the launch of “Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster” for Nintendo Switch. Notably, several members of the original team are part of this project. Kohachi Studio has announced that this game will only be available on Nintendo Switch, although they’ve hinted at a possible PC release, potentially on Steam. For now, those who wish to play it can do so exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
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2025-06-12 19:09