The 10 Most Forgotten Collectible Card Games
Posted at 5:09 AM Nov 13, 2008
By Kevin Guhl
Wizards of the Coast broke open a gold mine when it released Magic: The Gathering in 1993. The company’s genius idea was to put out a product that appealed not only to gamers, but to people who like to compulsively collect cards. It was the birth of the collectible (or customizable) card game, the CCG, and Magic has lasted to this day, intriguing people with its addictive gameplay and equally addictive collectability, fueled by the search for randomly-packed rare cards.
But any success story will have its imitators, and Magic had about a gazillion of them. Heck, a magazine called Inquest arose just to cover all of them. CCGs flooded the collectibles market in the '90s, many of them mediocre games that companies hoped to sell based on whatever license they had purchased. Pokémon and later Yu-Gi-Oh! were very successful, creating or perhaps due to kids’ fascination with little anime monsters duking it out. But the darkest corners of gamers’ closets are littered with the sad remnants of many CCGs that had limited success or barely even got out of the gate. In fact, many of these games are hard to come by at all these days, even on eBay. Here are 10 CCGs that you’ve most likely forgotten about:
10. Monster Rancher (Playmates Toys)
Pokémon itself spawned several imitators, and Monster Rancher was one of them. However, Monster Rancher had its own charm and some unique qualities. While the videos games in the franchise had the familiar premise of training cute little monstrosities to do battle, they included a cool feature where playing songs from certain CDs in your PlayStation would create special monsters. There was also a toyline that featured great PVC figures of the characters, with varying numbers of them to each package; it would entice collectors by including a blind-packed figure in each package that could be one of several rare monsters. These toys were how you obtained the Monster Rancher CCG, as several cards came in each package.
The cool part about this CCG was that it incorporated the toy monsters' asses into the game. You and your opponent lined up several of the critters, with a card face down behind each one. You then flipped the cards; if the toy monster matched the monster pictured on the card, they won and would collect points based on the symbols tattooed on their furry, plastic butts.
9. Fantasy Adventures (Mayfair Games)
Did Fantasy Adventures desperately want to be Magic: The Gathering? You could be forgiven for thinking that, since it was a fantasy-based card game with some breath-taking art. The game was apparently an expanded reissue of another card game called Encounters and featured monsters, heroes, spells, swords and all that good stuff, battling it out in a straightforward combat system. According to the scant information out there about this game, it was meant to be generic so that its cards could actually be usable with other CCGs. Trying to use them at a Magic tournament was a good—and perhaps only—way to get your ass kicked by CCG nerds.
8. Overpower (Fleer/Skybox)
This game allowed you to control four costumed heroes as they beat the bejeezus out of their opponents using powers based on energy, fighting, strength and intellect. It was your basic comic book knock-down drag-out. What’s cool is that although the game started with just Marvel characters, it later added DC to the mix for some awesome crossover action. Can Spider-man beat Batman in a fight? Here was your chance to find out, true believers! The concept of a fighting system with combat between characters from both major comic companies was revived in Upper Deck’s Vs. System.
7. Highlander (Thunder Castle Games)
The Highlander CCG was that it was basically a fun system for sword-fighting with cards. You played cards that represented different dueling moves and did damage to different areas of the body, complemented by special moves specific to the immortal you were portraying, which could be one of several characters from the movies or TV series. Want to see once and for all who would win between Connor MacLeod and Duncan MacLeod in a straight-up sword fight? Now you could! There were of course other cards that influenced your duel in various ways. It ended when one immortal’s head came away from his body, just like in the confusing muddle of Highlander movies and TV shows. You don’t have to wait for the announced remake of the first movie for a new version of a Highlander CCG to come out, though. The second edition of this long-dead (decapitated?) game was recently released, and can be found by going here: http://www.highlandertcg.com/
6. Doomtrooper (Target Games)
This game spun off from Target Games’ own tabletop role-playing game Mutant Chronicles; both feature fantasy elements set in a post-apocalyptic world. In Doomtrooper, each player’s warriors battle to obtain Promotion within the ranks or to obtain Destiny, the currency of the game. You know, it kind of sounds like any office setting.
Comments
My friends and I still play Illuminati, mostly if we get bored of Fluxx. Any game that will let you play as the Order of Cthulu is good enough for me.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 05:36:31 AMXXXenophile was the only game I ever bought a complete set for. I used an online site to buy the last handful of cards I needed for under 10$. The art was just as good as Magic but the sense of humor was what really made it great.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 06:03:59 AMYes! Illuminati! I need to get with my buddy and break that back out. Many long nights were spent playing that game.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 06:11:03 AMWell, I still have my whole set of the X-Files CCG, so there.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 06:45:17 AMGlad to see the Dr.Who CCG was remembered by someone other than myself.
Anyone else remember the IMAJICA CCG (based on the Clive Barker novel)?
Posted 11/13/2008 at 07:17:43 AMWhat? No "On The Edge" from Atlas Games? That was the only CCG I ever got deeply into. Based on the William S. Burroughs-esque "Over The Edge" RPG. Surrealist conspiracies in a battle for control.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 07:27:20 AMNo Decipher Star Wars game? Or is that still too popular?
Posted 11/13/2008 at 07:46:00 AMWasn't there a single wave of Overpower action figures? I seem to recall the first Scarlet Spider figure coming from this line ... and maybe an Adam Warlock.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 07:57:27 AMI had a friend who was convinced Hecatomb was going to be the new M:tG, and dropped a huge chunk of change on cards that nobody else ever bought. Anybody else even heard of the game? Six-sided clear plastic cards? I felt kind of bad.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 08:39:22 AMI had a ton of Doctor Who cards, and there was precisely one other kid at my high school with which to play the game.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 08:49:20 AMI loved the illuminati game, although that was more of a standard card game I thought. Did you have to collect those?
I also remember a pot themed card game like illuminati, fairly hillarious.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 08:50:39 AMI played the hell outta some Hecatomb. I even played in the tournaments WotC organized for the few months the game was out. My only problem w/ the game was that the 1st 15 packs I bought of the 2nd expansion (Alien Invasion or something)had the same 13 cards. As far as the INWO CCG, the best thing they did was release the "Black Box" which had 1 of every card from the initial release.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 09:10:21 AMHey Alder Knight, I rememeber Hecatomb. My friend worked in a toy store around the time it was released, and he told me no one ever bought a single pack of it there. This is kind of a shame, because it was quite an innovative game, and it had great artwork.
Personally, I mostly miss the various warhammer CCG's that were around a few years ago (Warcry, Horus Heresy).
Posted 11/13/2008 at 09:10:29 AM@justin: No, Illuminati came in boxed sets. My brother in law has so many that he's had to pare down the deck quite a bit, the deck was so huge it looked like we were playing some bizzaro version of Jenga. Also, it made the game impossible to play, the goal being to branch organizations off of your main faction, and do things like "destroy 3 Government factions and control 3 terrorist factions." My favorite part is the fact that you earn "Megabucks" each turn, and these can be used off your turn to fuck with other people's rolls.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 09:11:16 AMI loved Doomtroopers, I still have a bunch of them somewhere at my parents house.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 09:42:58 AMYou need to do an article about Clix next.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 09:51:46 AMthanks INH, it's been a while
Posted 11/13/2008 at 10:23:30 AMArcadia was a CCG spin-off of White-Wolf's Changeling: the Dreaming RPG. The Second least successful of the lines, so although it was innovative and probably deserved a better shot at the limelight its probably understandable.
I got hooked on White-Wolf's Rage CCG (version 1) just when it ceased production. So I was sad, and then I got to pick up whole boxes of starters or boosters for under $6!
I also remember the Imajica CCG, I had a double started deck thing. But I didn't have anyone to play it with and the characters right out of the decks weren't the greatest. Some guy who looked like a paperboy and a stoned graffiti artist. Not one woman-stealing fish, or genderbending wife-husband in the whole in the whole starter.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 11:54:29 AMAs one of the 2 card games I know about, I was disappointed that Spellfire didn't make the cut.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 01:44:31 PMI have fond memories of Overpower (which was the first CCG I ever played, pretty much endlessly in high school) and Sim City. To this day I consider Sim City a highly underrated card game. I think it they would have presented it as a standalone game instead of (insanely) trying to make it a CCG would have made a lot more sense. You only used one deck anyway.
Anyway both great games. I never played either Illuminati or Xxxenophile, but I always wanted to check out both.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 02:09:20 PMI wanted to include the Star Wars and Star Trek games on this list (especially the Classic Trek game) but they were just a little too well known. Star Trek: TNG CCG was probably one of the best of all time, I feel, because it really felt like you were commanding a crew and going on missions.
I hate to say, some of the games you're disappointed didn't make the cut I'VE never heard of. ;-)
Posted 11/13/2008 at 04:10:41 PMWhile I did have a suitcase full of M:tG cards (4th edition through Mercadian Masques), I also have some games that were total flops.
Posted 11/13/2008 at 04:22:23 PMI have the complete set of XXXenophile (some autographed), and I also have Monty Python and the Holy Grail CCG, Wyvern and Groo, the Game (card game, not sure if CCG).
Chaosium put out a Cthulhu based card game that as I understand it almopst ruined them.
I only have one of the cards. It says "Children have Nightmares" and has a bad kid drawing of Cthulhu.... AWESOME!
Posted 11/13/2008 at 07:39:05 PMChaosium put out a Cthulhu based card game that as I understand it almost ruined them.
I only have one of the cards. It says "Children have Nightmares" and has a bad kid drawing of Cthulhu.... AWESOME!
Posted 11/13/2008 at 07:39:18 PMAw, I used to love Monster Rancher...
Posted 11/13/2008 at 09:20:57 PMI'm actually looking to sell off a rather large lot of Arcadia if anyone is interested.
Posted 11/14/2008 at 12:08:52 AMWhat about Mechwarrior? Does no one else remember that CCG? A brief glimmer of FASA making an entrance with an amazing game. Sadly it only lasted a few months.
Posted 11/14/2008 at 12:14:05 AMTWO new Doctor Who CCGs? What are they?
Posted 11/14/2008 at 04:07:31 AMDoctor Who: Battles In Time
There's also a Top Trumps edition of Doctor Who, which is more like a glorified version of War.
These are both based on the new series.
Posted 11/14/2008 at 04:25:35 AMHeh. I had a lot of fun with the Highlander and INWO CCGs. Still do, once in a while.
But if you want some CCG's that are best forgotten, allow me to give you a few titles.
Ultimate Combat (a martial arts CCG)
Wyvern (Dragon hunters fighting...what else? Dragons)
Star of the Guardians (space CCG)
And my all time favorite for worst CCG EVAR: Towers in Time (brought to us by the same folks who brought us the Highlander CCG)
Posted 11/14/2008 at 04:54:52 AMI love Arcadia! I love this game... I started playing a few months ago "Arcadia: The king ironheart´s madness", and I´m enchanted.
Posted 11/17/2008 at 01:58:22 AMI change repeated cards of this expansion too, I want it all! If someone is interested, my mail: ushiku_draven@hotmail.com
"The cool part about this CCG was that it incorporated the toy monsters' asses into the game."
whoah, monster ranchers sounds pretty raunchy.
Posted 11/17/2008 at 08:22:33 PMWizards of the Coast have produced quite a few bad things recently. There was Hecatomb which should have shot off. But didn't. Then the next year we had Dreamblade. Knew they didn't have their hearts in it when it came with a paper playmat. Then there was transformers and g i joe. All that have been left behind.
Posted 11/18/2008 at 11:49:33 AMI was bummed that when we finally did get a Transformers CCG (which I had dreamed about for years), it was based on the live-action film and not the G! characters and designs. It was cool that you punched the characters out from the cards to build them, and they could be both in robot and vehicle mode. I think a G1 expansion was announced but I never saw it actually arrive.
Posted 11/19/2008 at 05:06:50 AMRe: Doctor Who CCGs
The unauthorized alternative: www.siskoid.com/WhoCCG
-Horn-tootin' Siskoid
Posted 11/19/2008 at 01:33:04 PMCan anyone help me on a full list of the XXXenophile CCG??? Or is there anyone selling his xxxenophile???
Posted 12/07/2008 at 07:33:36 AM