{"id":48956,"date":"2025-06-12T14:15:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T05:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48956"},"modified":"2025-06-12T16:29:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T07:29:21","slug":"metal-slugs-dev-team-made-a-gps-based-game-15-years-before-pokemon-go-but-never-got-to-release-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/metal-slugs-dev-team-made-a-gps-based-game-15-years-before-pokemon-go-but-never-got-to-release-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Metal Slug\u2019s dev team made a GPS-based game 15 years before Pok\u00e9mon Go, but never got to release it\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kohachi Studio, an indie game studio formed by members of Nazca&#8217;s Metal Slug team, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KOHACHI_yurie\/status\/1932965791831662655\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> <strong>Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster <\/strong>(working title)<strong>, <\/strong>a<strong> <\/strong>2D action RPG scheduled to launch in 2026 on Nintendo Switch. This game isn\u2019t new though \u2013 it&#8217;s a project the Metal Slug team completed a whopping 20 years ago, but never got to release to the world, until now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"[JP\/EN] Navinosuke -The Yo-kai Buster- | Teaser Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GrNB5Ycy64w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster originated as an ambitious project for the&nbsp;Game Boy Advance. It was designed to run using a GPS unit that could connect to the console, which essentially makes it a very \u201cahead-of-its-time&#8221; geolocation-based RPG. With a&nbsp;Japanese-style fantasy setting, Navinosuke was about travelling across the country and encountering various types of yokai (spirits).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, before the game could be completed, the GPS unit idea suddenly got scrapped, which left the development team without their core gameplay mechanic. They were ultimately able to rework Navinosuke so that it could be played without relying on GPS, but due to undisclosed circumstances, the game ended up being shelved without ever releasing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1072\" height=\"713\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1072px) 100vw, 1072px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-001.jpg\" alt=\"Navinosuke gameplay\" class=\"wp-image-48960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-001.jpg 1072w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-001-380x253.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-001-768x511.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Metal Slug artist Akio, who worked on the game design, scenario and artwork for Navinosuke, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/akio_1963\/status\/1932965081652080670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comments on X,<\/a> \u201cIf development had continued as originally envisioned, we could have made a game that turned walking into gameplay 15 years before Pok\u00e9mon GO. Of course, I\u2019m not saying our creepy yokai could compare to Pok\u00e9mon&#8217;s beloved characters and level of influence.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Akio, Yokai Buster: Navinosuke turned out to be the very last game made by the Metal Slug team, and with its quirky fantasy setting, it\u2019s very different from the rest of their portfolio &#8211; which is why it was a bit heartbreaking to end on such a note, he explains. It seems like it\u2019s a miracle we ever got to find out about this game at all, as Kohachi Studio\u2019s representative <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RyoSK1942\/status\/1932377522668445968\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shinano Ishiguro says<\/a> he\u2019d been trying to resolve the issues around it for years, talking to everyone he knows in the industry and almost giving up on several occasions along the way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1060\" height=\"714\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1060px) 100vw, 1060px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-002.jpg\" alt=\"Navinosuke gameplay\" class=\"wp-image-48961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-002.jpg 1060w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-002-380x256.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250611-4895-002-768x517.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kohachistudio.com\/yokai\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new official website<\/a> details the gameplay, characters and numerous yokai (over 150 types) you can befriend, battle, and seal away in the role of apprentice exorcist Navinosuke. The upcoming Nintendo Switch release is planned for early 2026, with support for Japanese and English confirmed for now.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former Metal Slug dev team, now active as Kohachi Studio, will finally release Yo-Kai Buster: Navinosuke, a lost project from 20 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Metal Slug\u2019s dev team made a GPS-based game 15 years before Pok\u00e9mon Go, but never got to release it\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The former Metal Slug dev team, now active as Kohachi Studio, will finally release Yo-Kai Buster: Navinosuke, a lost project from 20 years ago.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/metal-slugs-dev-team-made-a-gps-based-game-15-years-before-pokemon-go-but-never-got-to-release-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metal Slug\u2019s dev team made a GPS-based game 15 years before Pok\u00e9mon Go, but never got to release it\u00a0 - 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48956"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48984,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48956\/revisions\/48984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}