Of the recent Switch Online games we’ve been graced with receiving, I was probably the most excited about the Trading Card Game. You see, I like Pokemon, and I like trading card games, but I have no idea how the curre🦋nt system works. It feels like my two options are high-stakes tournaments against children or simply owning cards in order to say I’d technically be rich if these printed cardboard rectangles had any intrinsic value.
But with the Pokemon Trading Card Game, I can avoid the worst part about playing games with other people: the other people! Compared to mainline Pokemon games, it might not be incredibly deep, but I don't really care. I’ve already paid for this game on the actual Game Boy and played it to death. I don’t need to maximize my spending dollar for the experience. I want to walk 𓄧up to a video game stranger and battle them with cards.
If you think trading card games are full of psychopaths who will yell at you if you use a card that you didn’t kno🍬w was banned in Europe, you’re right! It’s fun to do a card draft and get scolded by a man who smells as bitter as he feels. I’m not saying everyone who pl🌌ays TCGs is like this. Clearly, I play TCGs and one of the few good qualities about me is I smell alright. But it’s also why I enjoy games like or prefer to play online; I don’t have to get yelled at. Part of my base requirement for fun is nobody being mean to me.
So if you’re like me - and, if you are, God help you - you’re probably pretty excited to have one of the greatest TCGs of all time r🌃eturn in a classic game requiring no other peopleဣ. But it’s not the only ‘90s handheld collectible card game on the Switch. There’s another game featuring classic video game characters on trading cards and it ******* rocks.
This game is . You know all those SNK vs. Capcom fighting games from the late ‘90s? Well, that mashup also included a trading card game for the Neo Geo Pocket. You already get the concept: there are Capcom and SNK cards with Capcom and SNK characters on them. While the game is over twenty years old, video game publishers don’t really like creating new franchises, so most of the characters feel fresh. Are you really going to be upset a𒅌t a Jill Valentine card?
The gameplay itself is simpler than Pokemon, which is actually kind of nice. You’re basically creating three rows of characters and throwing them against the other characters. There are specia🐲l abilities, team-ups, and other things that can affect play, but it’s mostly just the character with the most power wins and any overflow hits the player’s HP. Reduce the player’s HP to zero and you win. Again, not the most thorough game in the world, but it also makes picking up on the rules in Card Fighters Clash pretty easy. I’m seriously trying to tell you this is a good game.
Yes, I know this was a Neo Geo Pocket game. And I know that I’m on an eternal quest to get people to g꧋ive a shit about the long-dead portable. But if you like the Pokemon Trading Card Game on Game Boy, this shit is right up your alley. In fact, Card Fighters Clash basically just copies the style of the Game Boy game. It’s an RPG-lite where you walk up to people, talk to them, play a card game against them, and get new cards wh𓄧en you win. There’s even an equivalent to the gyms in Pokemon with themed locations lik🤪e a mansion.
Is that NPC a referenc🌌e to original Resident Evil director Shinji🌸 Mikami? Maybe Sure seems like it! Little references to SNK and Capcom are sprinkled throughout, as you might expect. Imagine if did a Smash Bros. trading card game and you’d almost be there. Also, typing that sentence made me realize how deeply desperately I want a Smash Bros. trading card game.
Look, I can’t make you buy SNK vs. Ca𒐪pcom that’s available for Steam and on Switch either alone or as part of a collection. I can’t force you to look it up and realize it’s a good value because you can either play the cart or the SNK cart that were originally sold separately. And I can’t take your hand and click ‘buy’ on the button. But for the love of God, treat yourself for once. If you like Marvel Snap or Magic or Pokemon, play Card Fighters Clash.
I can’t do this alone anymore. I need more𝄹 people in this Neo Geo Pocket cult. I can’t keep begging. My family is dying.