Over the years, ACS has published several games based around the Kessenju franchise, most of which come in the form of digitized conversions of the card game featuring characters and concepts from the various Kessenju manga and anime series.
Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card series[]
The Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card series is a series of digital collectible card games developed and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released for the Bandai WonderSwan Color as an exclusive title. The first game in the series, Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card, released in 2001, was the first Kessenju video game to be released.
The Ganbatte! Battle Card series translates the gameplay of the Kessenju card game into a more interactive environment. Players duel against various characters within the Kessenju universe, each with their own decks, in order to win cards to expand the player's own deck.
As the WonderSwan Color itself never received an overseas release, none of the Ganbatte! Battle Card games have been released outside Japan. In 2002, an enhanced port of Ganbatte! Battle Card 2 was released for the Game Boy Advance under the name Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card Advance: Portable Deck.
Titles[]
- Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card (2001; WonderSwan Color)
- Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card 2 (2002; WonderSwan Color)
Kessenju: Portable Deck/Dueling Decks series[]
The Kessenju: Portable Deck series is a series of digital collectible card games developed and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released for Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. Originally a Game Boy Advance port of the WonderSwan title Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card 2, Portable Deck ended up superceding Ganbatte! Battle Card and became its own separate series later on.
Much like its predecessor, the Ganbatte! Battle Card series, the Portable Deck series translates the gameplay of the Kessenju card game into a more interactive environment. Players duel against the characters of Kessenju, each with their own decks, in order to win booster packs to expand their decks and get more powerful cards. Players can also duel against or trade cards with each other via link cable (in the GBA titles) or Nintendo WFC (in the DS titles).
Out of all the games in the Portable Deck series, only 1st Expand, 2nd Expand, 3rd Expand and DS were released overseas, under the title Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Dueling Decks. These versions of the game include various changes from their Japanese counterparts, such as renaming the characters into their localized names from the English dub of the anime series, as well as omitting cards that weren't released in the North American TCG. In the case, of Dueling Decks DS, any and all traces of the Kessenju REVOLUTION branding were also removed from the game.
Titles[]
- Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card Advance: Portable Deck (2002; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Portable Deck: 1st Expand / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Dueling Decks (2003; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Portable Deck: 2nd Expand / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Dueling Decks 2 (2004; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Portable Deck: 3rd Expand / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Dueling Decks 3 (2005; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Portable Deck DS / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Dueling Decks DS (2006; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Portable Deck DS 1st Expand (2007; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju!: Portable Deck DS 2nd Expand (2008; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju: Portable Deck DS 3rd Expand (2009; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju: Portable Deck DS 4th Expand (2010; Nintendo DS)
Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Duels of Destiny[]
Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Duels of Destiny, known in Japan as Kessenju! GC: Shin Battle Card: Moero! Ketto Retsuden!, is a digital collectible card game developed and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released in 2003 in Japan, and in 2004 in the USA and Europe, for Nintendo Gamecube as an exclusive title. It is the first and, so far, the only Kessenju game to be released exclusively for a home console.
The game's main mode is Destiny Mode, which features an alternate retelling of the Great Duelist Tournament arc, which spans most of the anime's first season, with the players taking the role of a friend of Sendo Tenryu, who joins his group as they enter the Great Duelist Tournament. Players choose between a male or female avatar, and battle against other duelists, earning DP (Duel Points) to buy more booster packs to strengthen their deck.
Dialogue in the game is presented in a visual novel style, with the player making choices every now and then. As the game is released for a console, it was able to include features that weren't possible in the portable games at the time, such as a fully 3D playing field, cinematic battles between the monsters and voice acting from the anime's voice cast.
The game includes 2-player duels, as well as card trading using memory cards. The game also supports Game Boy Advance link connectivity, which allows players to transfer their cards from the Portable Deck/Dueling Decks games into Duels of Destiny.
Kessenju: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen series[]
The Kessenju: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen series is a series of digital collectible card games developed and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released for PlayStation Portable as an exclusive title.
Unlike the other games based on Kessenju (besides the later Portable Deck DS titles), the Saikyo Duelist no Chousen series is based on two of the franchise's sequel series, Kessenju! REVOLUTION and Kessenju VICTORY.
The game is, at its core, a spiritual successor to Duels of Destiny, and borrows most of its gameplay elements, including its focus on story, the visual novel-style dialogue, the 3D playing field, cinematic monster battles and full voice acting. The games also feature multiplayer duels and card trading via Ad-Hoc.
So far, none of the Saikyo Duelist no Chousen games have been released outside Japan.
Titles[]
- Kessenju! REVOLUTION: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen (2006; Playstation Portable)
- Kessenju! REVOLUTION: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen 2 (2007; Playstation Portable)
- Kessenju VICTORY: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen 3 (2008; Playstation Portable)
- Kessenju VICTORY: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen 4 (2009; Playstation Portable)
Kessenju SPIRITS[]
Kessenju SPIRITS is a digital collectible card game developed by Cygames and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released in 2017 for iOS and Android. It is the first Kessenju video game to be released after nearly 7 years, as well as the first one to be released exclusively for a mobile platform.
The game features a campaign mode, where players can duel against characters from the Kessenju franchise, including the original Kessenju series and its various sequel series: REVOLUTION, VICTORY, BRAVE, CLASH, DD and ACES, in order to earn Duel Points and Duel Gems, as well as a multiplayer mode where players can face off against other players.
The game includes "gacha" elements in form of booster packs bought using either in-game currency (the aforementioned Duel Points and Duel Gems), or with real-world money, which contains ten random cards per pack. The booster packs in the game are all based on actual expansion sets in the Kessenju OCG. Because of the games' multiplayer and gacha elements, the game can only be played online.
As of this writing, Kessenju SPIRITS is only available in the Japanese App Store and Play Store. As of October 14, 2022, ACS has announced that there are currently no plans for an official English release of the game.