Medarot Card Game
Medarot Card Game (メダロットカードゲーム, Medarotto kaado geemu) is a japanese collectable card game released by Tenky from 1998-1999. As it predates Medarot 2 and the anime, it contains only the 60 Medabots from the original Medarot Gameboy game. A Gameboy version of the card game was later made, called Medarot Cardrobottle.
Rules
The card game stays fairly true to the battle system of the video games. Each player has two Medabots which are kept seperate from the deck. Each Medabot consists of 5 cards: head, right arm, left arm, legs, and medal, arranged in a + pattern with the medal in the center. The deck mainly contains spare part cards which can be switched out during battle, energy cards, and Medafighter cards. Each part card has it's own HP, and the game ends when any one Medabot's head part is destroyed.
Parts
Head and arm parts are used for performing actions such as attacking, support, or healing, and have an energy cost. When a head or arm part's HP reaches 0, it can no longer be used. These parts also have an attribute written on them. If the attribute on the part matches the Medabot's medal, the player can use the Medal as one of the energy required by the part.
Leg parts work slightly differently. They have a number for "speed", which determines the turn order. Leg parts have effects on them that affect the whole Medabot, usually either increasing attack power by 1 or decreasing energy cost by 1. When a leg part's HP runs out, the Medabot's speed is set to 0, making it last in the turn order.
Players can restore HP by using parts with recover or revive actions. They can also switch parts out for ones in their hand, but they cannot be used until the next turn.
Energy Cards
There are four energy card types: shooting, grappling, defense, and support. Shooting and grappling energy is used for attacking the enemy, defense energy is used for using defense or recovery parts, and support is used for support parts or Medafighter cards.
At the beginning of each turn, both players can place one of each type of energy from their hand into their "energy stock", where it can be used. Energy used to perform actions is set aside, but placed back into the energy stock at the beginning of the next turn. The result of this is that the amount of usuable energy increases as the battle goes on, allowing both sides to use stronger, higher cost attacks. If a player doesn't have enough of the correct energy type to perform an action, they may use one of the other types to count as 1/2 energy.
Medafighters
Medafighter cards produce different effects, much like the trainer cards in Pokemon. For example, they can increase or reduce damage, energy cost, speed, or affect when parts can be used. Some Medafighter cards are attached to specific parts, and remain in play until the part is destroyed. Others are used just before taking damage. All Medafighter cards require support energy.
Game progression
Each turn is split into 6 phases.
- Draw phase
Both players draw cards from their deck until they have exactly 7 cards in their hand.
- Energy phase
Both players place energy cards from their hand into their energy stock. Only one of each type of energy can be moved each turn.
- Select phase
The turn order is decided based on the speed of the leg parts of all 4 Medabots. Higher numbers go first.
- Action phase
Medabots take turns performing actions in this phase. A Medabot can attack once, and support or heal once. This means that a Medabot with 3 attacking parts will only be able to use one each turn. Once a part has been used, the card is turned sideways to show that it cannot be used again. This is called "tapping" the card. Only untapped cards can be attacked, and cards that are attacked are tapped, so that they cannot be used or attacked again until the next turn. Medafighter cards can also be used during this phase. Once a Medabot has performed all of the actions it wants, the next Medabot in the turn order goes. This continues until all Medabots have had their turn.
- End phase
Both players discard cards from their hand into the discard pile. This is done so that they can draw more cards, as players can only have 7 cards in their hand.
- Reset phase
In this phase, all tapped cards are returned to their normal position, and used energy cards are placed back into the energy stock. After this, the next turn starts with the Draw phase.
Card Sets
There were two "Basic Kit" starter sets released, Kabuto and Kuwagata, based on the two starting medabots from the Gameboy game. Basic kits contained the game rules, as well as a 60-card deck, containing cards not found in booster packs that are required for playing the game. Because of this, every player requires a basic kit in order to play.
There were also 3 booster packs released, called just "Booster Pack", "Booster Pack Second", and "Booster Pack Third". Collectively, they contain all of the Medabots and characters from the original Medarot game and manga. Each booster pack contains 10 cards.
Medarot Cardrobottle
While it contains all of the cards found in the physical card game, the game also adds several characters and Medabots from Medarot 2. It was also split into a Kabuto and Kuwagata version, with each version starting with cards from its respective basic kit. Many regular cards are version exclusive, however.
See also
Links
Tenky's official Medarot Card Game website, last updated in 1999.
