Medarot Card Game

The Medarot Card Game (メダロットカードゲーム) is a Japanese collectible card game released by Tenky from 1998-1999. As it predates Medarot 2 and the Medarot anime, it contains only the 60 Medarots from the original Medarot Gameboy game.

The Medarot Card Game served as the basis for a Game Boy card battle RPG titled Medarot Cardrobottle, which was released in 2000 and featured updated cards and rules.

Overview

The card game stays fairly true to the battle system of the video games. Each player has two Medarots which are kept seperate from the deck. Each Medarot 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 Medarotter cards. Each part card has it's own HP, and the game ends when any one Medarot's head part is destroyed.

Card sets

Like many card games, the Medarot Card Game was released in the form of starter sets (called "Basic Kits" in this case) and booster packs.

Basic Kits

This is a Basic kit.

There were two "Basic Kit" starter sets released, Kabuto and Kuwagata, based on the two starting Medarots from the Gameboy game. Basic kits contained the game rules, a complete set of Metabee or Rokushou part cards as well as a 60-card deck containing energy, effect, and evasion cards which are required for playing the game. Because of this, every player requires a basic kit in order to play.

Booster packs

There were also 3 booster packs released, simply named "Booster Pack" (ブースターパック), "Booster Pack Second" (ブースターパック セカンド), and "Booster Pack Third" (ブースターパック サード). Collectively, they contain nearly all of the Medarots and characters from the original Medarot game and manga.

Each booster pack contains 10 cards: 1 rare card, 2 uncommon cards, 6 common cards, and 1 full Medarot collectible card.

Card types

There are 7 main types of cards:

Energy Cards

Energy cards are required to pay the "energy cost" on usable cards such as parts and Medarotter cards. There are four energy card types: Shooting (射撃), Melee (格闘), Defense (防御), and Support (応援). Shooting and Melee energy is used for attacking the enemy, Defense energy is used for defense or recovery parts, and Support is used for support parts or Medarotter cards.

At the beginning of each turn, both players can place one of each type of energy from their hand into their "Energy stock" (ストック), 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.

Part cards

Part cards are the main type of card used in the game. Head and arm parts are used for performing actions such as attacking, support, or healing, and have an associated 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 Medarot'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 Medarot, usually either increasing attack power or decreasing energy cost. When a leg part's HP runs out, the Medarot's speed becomes 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.

Medarotter cards

Medarotter cards are cards that can be used during the action phase to produce different effects, such as increasing or reducing damage, energy cost, speed, or affecting when parts can be used. Some Medarotter cards are equipped to specific parts when used, and remain in play until the part is destroyed. Others are used just before taking damage. All Medarotter 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. The energy phase is omitted if you're playing Medarot Cardrobottle. Instead, Energy Cards are drawn from the deck.

• Select phase

The turn order is decided based on the speed of the leg parts of all 4 Medarots. Higher numbers go first.

• Action phase

Medarots take turns performing actions in this phase. A Medarot can attack once, and support or heal once. This means that a Medarot with 3 attacking parts will only be able to use one each turn. Once a part has been used, the card is tapped (turned sideways) to show that it cannot be used again. Only untapped cards can be attacked, and cards that have been attacked are also tapped, so that they cannot be used or attacked again until the next turn. Medarotter cards can also be used during this phase. Once a Medarot has performed all of the actions it wants, the next Medarot in the turn order goes. This continues until all 4 Medarots 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.

Changes in Medarot Cardrobottle

While it contains all of the cards found in the physical card game, the game also adds several characters and Medarots 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 were also made version exclusive.

See also

• List of cards in the Medarot Card Game
• Medarot Cardrobottle - A Game Boy RPG based on the Medarot Card Game.
• Medarot Official Card Game (a.k.a. Medarot OCG) - A later card game featuring Medarots from Medarot 3, 4, 5, and Navi.

External links

• Tenky's official Medarot Card Game website, last updated in 1999. (No longer archived)
• A blog post from a Japanese fan explaining the card types and how the game is played.