In the mid to late 1990s, Nintendo Co Ltd’s Pokemon series was a multimedia powerhouse that took over handheld games, television cartoons, and even trading cards. Now it appears that Nintendo may be trying to recapture some of that magic by bringing Level-5’s powerhouse Yo-Kai Watch series to Western audiences.

Yo-Kai Watch follows a young boy who captures various types of creatures called Yo-kai, named after spirits from Japanese folklore, that he uses to battle against other Yo-kai. The franchise began with a 2013 game on the Nintendo 3DS and was later spun out into cartoons, a comic series, and a few sequels that introduced more creatures for the protagonist to fight and capture. Sound familiar?

The series has been incredibly successful in Japan and has earned over $1 billion in retail sales alone. Now, Nintendo has announced that it will be bringing the Yo-Kai Watch phenomenon to North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Nintendo will also be handling the publishing for the series in South Korea.

“With sales of more than 7 million units in Japan, YO-KAI WATCH is coming to the U.S., where a new audience will be able to experience this irresistible franchise for the first time,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a kid, parent, fan or fan-in-the-making: Everyone will be won over by this charming game.”

“Irresistible” is likely Nintendo’s euphemism for “incredibly addicting,” and there will be no shortage of merchandise or media for fans to buy.

While Nintendo will be bringing the game series to the West, it will also be coming in the form of toys thanks to a deal announced last month by toy manufacturing giant Hasbro Inc. San Francisco-based Viz Media will also be publishing the manga series, and news regarding and English dub of the anime series likely will not be too far behind.

Now the only thing left would be for Nintendo to release a line of Amiibo to truly capitalize on their crazed fandom.

Image credit: Nintendo (c)