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Profile
General: Card
Fighters Clash was one of the main reasons to own a Neo Geo Pocket
back in 1999, and nearly a decade later, the memorable and clever card
battling game finally makes a big comeback here in 2007. Most of us Americans
didn't get a chance to try out Card Fighters
Clash 2, as it was released only in Japan, so this is basically the
sequel for "those of us" in the states who've been waiting so long and
wondering if we'd ever get a sequel. And by "those of us," I mean
the "cool" people that still know other "cool" people with NeoGeo
Pockets, whom still play Card Fighters Clash because it's such a
great game... And ultimately we are probably the only people who bought
this game in the first place. 
Along with spoiled little kids with DS's that will be enticed by the badass
box art... Welcome to Capcom and SNK, kiddies.
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Cardfighters DS's is already awesome simply because of the amount of characters it portrays from so many different games (not only fighting games). CFDS hs the potential attract new fans to the SNK and Capcom universes of games. And at the same time, it gives us long time Capcom/SNK fans an amount of nostalgia that is rivaled only by playing those classic SNK and Capcom games (or perhaps coming to TFG... Heh! Hey, the character battle screen background even looks exactly like TFG's Characters section background! Freaky!) Simply put, this game is worth owning simply for the nostalgia and the sweet artwork!
So, how does Card Fighters fare on the bright and shiny Nintendo DS lite? Well, I couldn't imagine a better system suited for the game. The top screen displays most of the action, as well as card descriptions, while the bottom touch screen is perfect for sorting your deck and putting down your cards. Overall the system itself during gameplay works well, very well infact... but a few other elements of the game just aren't quite as I had hoped for, and I know I'm not the only one who expected a little more in certain areas.
Through
playing the Story Mode, you ascend up "Card Tower" ...OoOoooooOoooh
Caaaaard Tooooower... LMAO! 
Anywho, as the story goes, this big flash of light occurs and everyone
in the tower is "brainwashed" by this super computer thing called MAX.
This is where you, in your assumed heroic nature, have to play against
everyone in the card tower in a card battle to bring them back to normal.
Yeah, you've just about heard the entire story and premise of CFDS. *cough*
WEAK! *cough cough* The original Card Fighters Clash had a much
more laid back story, where you simply played against other characters
for fun, and to build up your deck... A much better suited theme and mood
for the type of game that it is. So yeah, the new story of CFDS sucks on
all levels, but more importantly is how much the gameplay has changed,
because that's what really matters.
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Just like in the original, you create an ever evolving deck of 50 cards, consisting of character cards, action cards, and counter cards. There are 400 different cards to use, collect, and trade with your friends wirelessly. The card battle system now uses a point system, where players must use different colored "orbs" (AKA Force Points) in order to place down cards. More powerful cards require more orbs (sometimes), and/or orbs of specific colors. Unlike in the original CF, your character card's HP is no longer the amount of damage you can do to your opponent. The character cards now have HP and BP, BP being the amount of damage that card gives out. So even if your card is down to 100 health, it can still deal out some big damage. And damage is a bigger factor in CFDS than in the original CFD, mainly because you could select to have your health go up to 4000 or 5000, but not in DS. You're stuck at 3000... Not saying I need that much health or anything, but, longer games = more fun.
Certain cards still have "triangle," "circle," and "square" abilities that CF veterans will remember from the first game. Triangle based cards have abilities that are used as soon as the card is placed down on the playing table. Circle based cards have a constant effect once placed down, and square based cards' abilities can be used the turn after the card was placed down, activated only by the player. All of these abilities also cost orbs, as a big part of the game is learning how to acquire these orbs during play, and balancing out how you use the orbs.
There are now 8 card slots instead of the classic 3 slots, which allow for some crazy possibilities. The kinds of hands you can get are just plain ridiculous; you can practically kill your opponent in one turn if you get the right cards (and have the right ones in your deck). I wouldn't say the game is broken, but it's definitely very open ended. There are many other differences in gameplay which allow for tons of new strategies to learn and work into your playing style. These changes take some getting used to, especially for fans of the original CF, and I'm sure most old-schoolers won't mind the changes and will be willing to learn the new system, because it's pretty fun! However, there are some other "differences" about the gameplay "experience" that might make some of us old-schoolers feeling like the game doesn't quite have the heart of the original... *raises hand*
The original Card Fighters gave your character the ability to "walk around" to different locations , each based on a creative Capcom or SNK landmark, such as Capcom World, NeoGeo Land, Lost World, or even the Haunted Mansion from Resident Evil. These areas were colorful and lively, free to explore, where you could talk to people, pretend to play arcade games (lol), flirt with girls at the cafe, and check out the shops. All the areas even had catchy theme songs!!! The music in CFDS is actually pretty good during battle, but unfortunately, the environments in CFDS are quite the opposite. The different floors of "Card Tower" offer very little and variety, and are so bland & barren that I think I can actually hear crickets chirping (besides the Vegas Floor with the cute playboy bunny chicks). But geez, it's like SNK *cough* The new SNK team *cough* was lacking inspiration!
In Card Fighters DS, you can't actually control your character. Instead, moving from place to place is actually more like moving from person to person, and that's about all you can do. "Moving" is actually done by touching the bottom screen in certain areas where another card battler or shop clerk is "standing," which is just about all anyone ever does... They pretty much just stand around, like robots... swaying and/or dancing nervously... waiting to be challenged by... You. And where are they "supposedly" playing cards anyway? On the floor? There aren't any effing chairs in these rooms? Am I in the twilight zone?!?!?
Long story short, the RPG/exploring element of the original Card Fighters is nearly missing all together, which makes for a much less immersive environment. The card battlers you face within the game come in a wide variety of anime style guys and gals, who don't look bad at first glance; But once you face your 4th or 5th "palette" swap of the exact same character, you'll surely grow bored of them... And may feel as if your intelligence is being insulting by the game, because these "clones" are actually claiming to be different people. Sheesh, and I thought 2D fighting games overdid palette swaps... *sigh* Just who do they think they're fooling? The "cardfighter" character design in this game is quite below average... which leads me to the main character.
Unfortunately, with a capital f*cking "U" ... YOU are a spunky, odd, brown haired kid (with 1 half yellow strand), who's overly whiney, childish, dorky, everything a main character shouldn't be. This happy go lucky chibi kid tricks you into naming him after you, and you'll be stuck with him for the rest of the game within the story mode. Thankfully his goofy face is never seen in the 2P mode. Anyhow, this loser goes around with a large array of overly exaggerated anime-style mannerisms (many of which should only be used by girl anime characters) and boasts some of the WORST in-game dialogue you'll ever hear... None of which worthy of even repeating for laughs, because they're not even funny, which leads me to the next subject... Translation.
The translation in CFDS is pretty Bad... Yes, that is a capital effing "B." Whether it's mis-spelled words, phrases that don't make sense, effed up character stories & card descriptions... it's just bad. As you may know, most of the cards you use in Card Fighters has a special ability. When you check out the cards stats, it tells you everything you need to know about the card in text, but some of the descriptions won't do any justice, and you'll just have to use the card in battle and discover for yourself exactly what it does. Infact, a few descriptions are even plain WRONG! ...Lies I tell you! This one action card claims to take off 500 damage from all characters but only takes off 100. While this was a laughable and lovable trait in the first Card Fighters Clash, bad translation and all, a 2007 game for the Nintendo DS should NOT have these types of errors... And speaking of errors...
The first shipments of the US version of Card Fighters Clash DS have a glitch. Once you reach floor 9, there's this character "Jon" awaiting your challenge, whom if you talk to him twice, your game will FREEZE. This glitch hinders the ability to go through the card tower the "second time," which is the only way to truly beat the game, and figuratively collect all the cards in the game. Thankfully the glitch won't erase your data or anything, and there are actually "two" ways to deal with the glitch. One, SNK promised to replace any copies with the glitch with a new fixed version, which requires you mailing in your cartridge to them. Or, possibly the better route, you can simply get Pro Action Replay for Nintendo DS, which includes a "cheat" that will give you 69 copies of EVERY card in the game. Yes, it's definitely cheating, and takes the fun out of collecting all the cards in the game, but at least you can play the game with your friends the way it was meant to be played; being able to use ALL of the cards, and you won't have to wait for SNK to send you a fixed copy just so you can start your game over. The story mode isn't all that great anyway, and you can actually beat it just fine the first time through, so I'd highly recommend geting Action Replay... Problem solved.
~Here's what SNK has to say about the glitch found in the US version of Card Fighters Clash DS...
"After a careful analysis by the game's programmers and after reviewing the reported bug encountered when meeting John on level 9 we, SNKP USA, have decided that the best action is to offer a replacement cartridge. We will order new repaired DS cartridges from Nintendo that will take approximately six weeks to receive. As soon as we receive the replacement cartridges we will give instructions as to where to mail your DS cartridge to receive a replacement. We apologize for this programming error and will correct it as soon as possible. Please do not return your game to the store of purchase. We will do an exchange program as soon as the new game paks arrive from Nintendo. Please continue to visit our website for updated information. We will update this announcement as soon as we are able to plan a date for the exchange to begin."
~Ben Herman - President of SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION
Thanks SNK. I still love you.....More complaints? The card designs in CFDS just aren't quite as clever as in the original CF. Many Action card and Counter card themes are a bit silly or simply put, "strange," and some action cards even have the exact same ability!!! There are a lot of characters and cards in the game, but quite a few "classic" characters from the Capcom and SNK worlds are simply left out... I mean... where's Genjuro? How could they forget Genjuro?!?!? How about more Rival Schools characters? There aren't any signs of Power Stone characters, Viewtiful Joe, Godhand, Okami even?!? This only pisses me off because "certain" popular characters not only have their own character card, but are also seen in 1 or even "2" other action cards as well! Overall, they really could have been a bit more creative and balanced out the cards a bit better using different designs.
Well, it seems
like all I've done so far is complain about this game... So is it really
that bad Mr. Yagami? No, it's not. But as I've repeated over and over again,
Card Fighters Clash IS one of my all time favorite games. And to see so
much go wrong with the series... really hurts. Deep down man, Deep down.
But that doesn't mean I won't play the game, because the actual card game,
deep down, is deep, and fun. Yeah, it's still pretty damn fun... and still
addictive.
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So there's a bright side? There is... The graphics are indeed bright, sharp, and colorful. The cards look awesome, and the unique hit effects are satisfying (goes towards that "ouch" factor). The gameplay screen is a bit crammed, since there are now 8 slots to put your cards. With the stylist, you can manually slide your cards from your hand to the game playing table. Since the cards are soooooo tiny, it's sometimes difficult to grab the card you're aiming for, and also can be a pain to put action cards into the "slim" play area. C'mon guys, couldn't you have squeezed out a few more pixels for the (important) play area? Once again, the battle music is catchy, and you'll be stuck with that one song in 2 player mode, so that's a GOOD thing.
Simply put, SCREW the story... The two player mode is what Card Fighters DS is all about. You can at least pick a character "icon" for yourself this time, although your choices are quite limited. You can of course still name your deck, and save a few for using at any time. The 2 player game runs very smooth, with nearly no loading times... The only time you have to wait is during your opponent's turn, which is now more entertaining because you can read card descriptions and character stories while you wait (and also laugh at all the errors). Each card has a small back-story of the character featured on the card, something the original CF was lacking... This is definitely a cool new feature, and something to read if your opponent takes forever to complete his/her turn.
Manufacturer: SNK
Playmore
Platforms: Nintendo
DS
Release: 2006 (Japan),
April 26th, 2007 (USA)
Characters: N /
A
Related Games:
Card Fighters Clash, Card
Fighters Clash 2
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Closing Comment: The 1 player experience (Story Mode) in this game is a bit goofy and bland, but there are a few enjoyable moments here and there. In any case, the story is not what made the original Card Fighters Clash "great," (although it helped). The 2 player battles are the reason to own this game, and just seem to get better and better each time you play... Find some friends with this game, learn some strategies, and you'll definitely get a lot of enjoyment out of CFDS. Being a fighting game / Capcom / SNK buff definitely adds to the enjoyment factor as well.
Overlooking the silly story; the messed up card descriptions, errors and bad dialogue; the fact that they forgot to put Genjuro in the game (Not even on an action card? Why SNK?!?); and the careless glitch in the US version (probably a US bug tester not doing his job); CFDS still a fun game that can't be missed, offering countless hours of gameplay with a friend whom also knows what he/she is doing. Newbs? You'll be surprised at how quickly you may become addicted to it, or you'll just hate it because it's not your style of game... But like I said, it's worth owning for nostalgia alone. If you somehow think you're too cool to play a cartoony collect'em all style card game, which is probably even aimed towards a younger crowd, you should really open up you mind and give this game a shot. ~F.Yagami, Webmaster of TFG
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