Card Fighters Clash Arcade: a Speculative Video Game Design Document
Alright guys, the point of this whole thing is that I think about games constantly and it would probably be productive to actually WRITE those ruminations down, rather than just think them.
Anyway, earlier this week I was having a think about SNK vs Capcom: Card Fighters Clash for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. There’s a definite sense that SNK positioned Card Fighters to be the Pokemon of the NGPC. Like that game, it focuses on 1v1 battles with collectible characters and has two versions, each of which has exclusive characters. Obviously it didn’t take off like Pokemon, but it was one of the more successful games on the system and easily the one I’ve put the most time into, probably around 100 hours over the two versions. Unlike other NGPC games from SNK, this one wasn’t based on an existing Neo Geo property, though it drew characters from both SNK and Capcom’s extensive backlog and so I started thinking about what an arcade version of this game might look like, which I think is an environment that lends itself to 1v1 games better than a portable system which requires two consoles, two games, and a link cable.
To begin with, there are, as I can see, three major problems with an arcade version of Card Fighters. The first is that the game requires some kind of asymmetry of information, in that each player should only be able to see their own cards. This could be solved traditionally with a dual-screen cabinet design, though I don’t think a card game is “flashy” enough to warrant a unique cabinet design and this wouldn’t work with a Neo Geo cabinet.
The second issue is that the player would have to have some mechanism to store their cards/decks/player stats. It’s worth noting that the Neo Geo actually had a proprietary memory card that allowed players to transfer data between cabinets and systems such as this are fairly common for modern Japanese arcade games.
The final issue is that the arcade isn’t exactly an environment conducive to deck-building. I think the best solution with a traditional cabinet, say a Neo Geo, would be to give each player 60 seconds or so between matches to modify their decks as well as allowing players to pay a quarter to have three to four minutes to build a deck. It’s not an ideal solution, but in the conventional arcade paradigm, I’m not sure there is another.
That said, technology has advanced since the Neo Geo was introduced in 1990, giving us the smartphone, which I see as a solution to all three problems. By pairing the game with a companion app, players would always have access to their decks, could build decks when away from the arcade and without monopolizing a cabinet, and would have a second screen to select which card to play. They could easily link to a cabinet through bluetooth.
Having a companion app brings in a whole host of new possibilities. Imagine having the ability to find new cards though geolocation services like Pokemon Go. Pokemon Go was a huge deal for about a month, so imagine how well that game could have done if it actually had a robust and compelling battle system. Of course, a huge part (arguably all) of the appeal of Pokemon Go was the pokemon themselves (which explains why only the original 150 were included, though the decision not to expand to later generations is baffling). I can’t say I think SNK or Capcom’s roster have anywhere near the appeal of Pokemon, but there is some recognition there.
Additionally, one of the more controversial elements of Pokemon is the selection of gym locations, which have swamped restaurants and businesses with players. Here however, the battling locations would all be arcades, movie theaters, malls, and actually fighting would be behind the paywall of the arcade cabinet.
Obviously, arcades are pretty much dead here, and like I said, Terry Bogard doesn’t have the same level of popularity as Pikachu. (Though what if it were SNK vs Capcom vs Sega? That could be rad.) Finally I think some significant changes would have to be made to the battle system to actually gain any purchase with players. I think Card Fighters Clash is a ton of fun, but it’s also hugely unbalanced. It would need some changed mechanics and an entirely new set of cards to even begin to compete with the likes of Hearthstone.
This is just a fun thought experiment, but damn if I don’t want Hearthstone x Pokemon Go with an SKN/Capcom/Sega theme.
