The year is 1966. Godzilla is not only king of monsters, but the king of people’s imagination in Japan. At this point, we are already 6 movies deep into what would become the “longest continuously running movie franchise” (according to Guinness). Other film companies have got in on the giant monster craze as well. 1961 saw the release of British film Gorgo, and 1965 saw the debut of Gamera a heroic giant turtle with his own movie franchise. Toho also tried their hand at other non-Godzilla movies, but none of them hit those same highs as Godzilla. 1966 is significant because that’s when Eiji Tsubaraya, the special effects director at Toho behind the first 6 Godzilla movies has decided to leave the company and strike out on his own. Tsubaraya saw the potential for televised giant monsters, and thus, Ultraman was born. Ultraman is a superhero from outer space (Nebula M78, to be exact). While chasing an evil alien, he crash-landed on earth. Ultraman bonds with a human host, and together they can transform to a massive size and battle the evil alien kaiju that endanger Earth. Most Ultraman series follow this formula, but with a 58 year old franchise, there have been plenty of unique stories along the way.
If you haven’t been paying attention, the Ultraman franchise is quietly making its presence known in North America. It started with DVD/Bluray releases of many of the old series. Then the newer series got these home releases. Netflix got an animated series that lasted 3 seasons. And now, Ultraman Rising, a stand-alone movie released on Netflix as well, is getting critical acclaim. As of this writing, it is “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. Ultraman is appearing in video games, comic books, and merchandise has been found in stores such as Hot Topic and Target. We are in the middle of a full-blown invasion, and the next step is tabletop gaming. After playing the demo at Origins Game Fair 2024, here is everything we know about the upcoming Ultraman Card Game.
Mechanics
You want “nuts and bolts” details about gameplay? Here you go.
- Decks will be made of exactly 50 cards. No more, no less.
- Up to 4 copies of a card can be in a deck. This goes by identifying card number, not name. As there will be multiple cards and versions of the same character with the same name.
- There are 8 phases of a turn:
o Start phase
o Draw phase
o Lead player set scene card phase
o Set character card phase
o Level up phase
o Open phase
o Effect activation phase
o Judgment phase - During the ‘judgment phase’ if a player has won 3 (or more) battles in a single turn, they win the game.
- The game can also end if a player fails to play a character during the ‘set character card phase’. The pl as yet who did not play a character immediately loses.
Now, a little more detail. Remember, all of this is word of mouth instructions during the demo, with no written instructions in front of me. We are relying of the demo team AND my memory. Some of this may have been played incorrectly OR could change before the official launch of the game. With that disclaimer out of the way…
- Start phase – Nothing really happens here. This is just the signifier that a new turn is starting. Go.
- Draw phase – each player draws a card, except on the first turn of the game.
- Lead player set scene card – Ok, first, lead player is chosen at the start of the game by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Only the lead player can play a Scene Card to the center of the play area. This grants that player a special ability. When a new Scene Card is played, it replaces the existing one. So, players may be able to fight over who has the active Scene Card over the course of the game. Additionally, a Scene Card has levels in the lower left hand corner, from 0-6. A level 2 Scene Card can only be played on turn 2 or later. And a lower level Scene Card cannot replace a higher lever Scene Card. I didn’t see this interaction during my demo, but it was explained to me.
- Set character card phase – Both players choose a character card from their hand to play face down. Similar to scene cards, characters have levels. Character levels range from 1-6 (or maybe 5, more on that later). And just like Scene Cards, Character Cards must be played on a turn number equal to, or greater, than the card’s level. So, you cannot play a level 3 character on the first turn of the game. Only the characters that are played on the same turn will be locked in combat for the entire game. More on that in the judgment phase.
- Level up phase – You may place a higher level character card of the same character you have in play (even if it’s face down) on top of your character card in play. It is still face down at this point. This follows the same “turn number must be equal or greater than the card level” rule. Because of this, you will not (currently) be able to play a card during this phase on the first turn. If you play a level 1 character card, you cannot play a level 2 on top of it until the 2nd turn. You can play any number of character cards during this phase. It is important that the lead player plays their cards face down first, then the second player.
- Open phase – Cards that were played face down this turn are revealed. Again, this starts with the lead player, and they must reveal in order of oldest character in play to newest. This will become clearer as we go. So, if it the second turn of the game, and you played a new character and a card to level up your character from the first turn, you will reveal the first character’s level up card first, then the newly played character card. The lead player reveals all of their cards, then the second player.
- Effect activation phase – Some characters and scene cards have activated effects. This is when those occur. Again, first the lead player, then second player.
- Judgment phase – On the bottom of you character card, there is a series of numbers. These are Battle Points (BP). If there is only a single card in your character’s stack, they have not been leveled up, you use the left-most BP value. If there are 2 cards, you move one space to the right and use the Level 2 BP. If there are 3 cards, you move ne more space to the right and use their Level 3 BP, there may be more BP levels as the game grows, but as of now, it appears there’s only 3. Compare your character’s BP to the BP of the character they played on the same turn. Whoever wins the combat of the current turn’s new characters becomes lead player for the next turn. So, on each turn each player will play new characters to be in combat with each other. By turn 3, you will have 3 sets of characters in combat. Turn 3 is the earliest that the game can be won. If a player wins all 3 combats, the game is over. But if the game does not end, all characters return to normal, and we return to the start phase. Characters are not “knocked out” or removed from combat if they lose. You simply rotate the character card during combat to show they are defeated. In the case of ties, both characters are defeated. At the end of judgment, if there is no winner, return the cards to their upright orientation, begin the next start phase.
Theme
How faithful does this game stick to the Ultraman theme? Again, keep in mind I saw a very limited number of cards in these demo decks. The only characters I saw were Ultraman Zero, Ultraman Tiga, and Ultraman Blazar. Characters have types. Most characters start out as the Basic type. However, Ultraman Tiga’s SkyType power was “Speed” type, and PowerType was “Power”. This is a nice touch. Some characters reacted to combat against these other types, giving a good sense of strength and weakness, adding a layer of strategy. There’s also an “Armed” type, showing a character has a weapon. And from a promo card released earlier this year, it would appear that Gomora, a famous Ultra Kaiju, has the “Hazard” type.
I’m curious how some of my favorite Ultras will handle this type of linear progression. For instance, I think it will be fairly straight forward with Ultraman Orb. He has his regular, plain original form, Level 1 Orb Origin. Then he has multiple transformations that are all on the same level: Spacium Zeperion, Burnmite, Hurricane Slash, and Thunder Breastar. These can have different types. Late in his series he obtained a massive sword, called the Orbcalibur. This could be his Level 3 card with the Armed type. But there are other Ultras who have more forms, more complicated forms, and no other forms at all. I’m just curious to see how these characters will fit in to the mechanics that have been shown off. Ultraman Cosmos comes to mind.
Now, it’s not all sunshine and roses. One thing I don’t like is that there is no rule of uniqueness among characters in play. I can field and entire team of Ultraman Tigas. It’s silly, but it’s one thing that just kind of breaks the immersion for me. Looking at the mechanics we have, and how a character must be played every turn, I get it. I understand it from a rules standpoint. I just wish there was a way around it.
And the last thing I will say about the theme. This game is going to have MANY more heroes than villains. That’s the nature of the Ultraman franchise. Because of that, I like that characters are not defeated or removed from play. The Ultra Heroes aren’t killing each other. It’s just a battle with winners and losers, and this whole thing is probably just a misunderstanding. But still, someone must win. It’s a way to have the fun sandbox battles, but not changing core character motives for the sake of a card game. It may seem little in the big picture, but I like it.
Future
What does the future of the game look like? Well, I have some unofficial announcements for you. Look for demos at major conventions this year. San Diego Comic Con, GenCon, Pax Unplugged, and possibly more. The team is looking to get the game in front of as many people as they can. And the more people who are excited about Ultraman, the better. If this game can rely on the strength of Ultraman’s cult-like fandom to support its early life, then it can grow and attract other gamers because of the mechanics and playerbase.
The game has already gone through some design changes, as evident by comparing the Gomora promo card sent out earlier this year, and the Gomora promo card as shown on the Ultraman Card Game website. Things are still evolving and changing. There might even be further design changes before the official release.
As far as official release goes… nothing is set in stone. There has been no announcement made. But internally, the demo team said that Q3 of this year is the current target for release. Again, this is word of mouth. Take it with a grain of salt.
To keep up with the latest updates, you can sign up over at www.ultraman-cardgame.com and follow the official Ultraman Card Game Facebook page. There is also a fan run Facebook group specifically for North American players. And lastly, be sure to follow us, Gaming With Sidekicks and get involved in our community group. As long as this the Ultraman Card Game is alive, I will be a part of this community and try to give people the information about events and upcoming releases. Our Gaming With Sidekicks team started out as a group playing a singular CCG (Dice Masters) and we evolved in to a broader tabletop gaming group as that game faded from the spotlight. Covering a CCG is not new to us, and I’m looking forward to following the Ultraman Card Game. Please reach out if you have any questions, comment below or replay to this article’s post on social media.
Be the first to comment