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 by Graphic Research 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, predating even the anime.
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 first game predates the anime series' release by a year, the character designs are instead based on the manga.
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!: Mezase! Battle Card Advance.
Titles[]
- Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card (2001; WonderSwan Color)
- Kessenju!: Ganbatte! Battle Card 2 (2002; WonderSwan Color)
Kessenju: Battle Card/Portable Deck series[]
The Kessenju: Battle Card series (known as Kessenju!: Mezase! Battle Card until 2005) is a series of digital collectible card games developed by Graphic Research, and later, Ganbarion, 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, Mezase! Battle Card ended up superceding it and would become its own separate series.
Much like its predecessor, the Ganbatte! Battle Card series, the Battle Card 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 Battle Card series, only 1st Expand, 2nd Expand and Battle Card DS were released overseas, under the title Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Portable Deck. 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 were yet to be released in the North American CCG. In the case, of Portable Deck DS, any and all traces of the Kessenju REVOLUTION branding were also removed from the game.
Titles[]
- Kessenju!: Mezase! Battle Card Advance (2002; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Mezase! Battle Card Advance: 1st Expand / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Portable Deck (2003; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju!: Mezase! Battle Card Advance: 2nd Expand / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Portable Deck 2 (2004; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju! REVOLUTION: Battle Card Advance: 3rd Expand (2005; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju! REVOLUTION: Battle Card DS / Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Portable Deck DS (2006; Game Boy Advance)
- Kessenju! REVOLUTION: Battle Card DS 1st Expand (2007; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju! VICTORY: Battle Card DS 2nd Expand (2008; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju VICTORY: Battle Card DS 3rd Expand (2009; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju VICTORY: Battle Card DS 4th Expand (2010; Nintendo DS)
- Kessenju CLASH × BRAVE: Battle Card 3D (2014; Nintendo 3DS)
Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Duels of Destiny[]
Kessenju!: Ultimate Battle Beasts: Duels of Destiny, known in Japan as Kessenju!: Shin Battle Card GC: Tatakae! Ketto Retsuden!, is a digital collectible card game developed by Ganbarion and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released in 2003 in Japan, and in 2004 overseas, for Nintendo Gamecube as an exclusive title. It is the first and 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 Sento 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 Duel Points (DP) to buy more booster packs to strengthen their deck. After a while, the player gets to enter the Great Duelist Tournament, where fierce competition awaits them.
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 portable systems at the time, such as a 3D playing field, cinematic battles between monsters and voice acting from the anime's voice cast.
Outside of the main campaign, the game also includes other game modes, such as a Free Battle Mode, a Versus Mode which supports 2-player duels, as well as card trading across memory cards. The game also supports Game Boy Advance link connectivity via link cable, allowing players to transfer their cards and decks from the Portable Deck games into Duels of Destiny, and vice versa.
Kessenju: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen series[]
The Kessenju: Saikyo Duelist no Chousen series is a series of digital collectible card games developed by Artdink and published by ACS. It is based on the Kessenju franchise. Released for PlayStation Portable as an exclusive title.
Unlike most of the other games based on Kessenju (besides the later Battle Card titles for the Nintendo DS and 3DS), the Saikyo Duelist no Chousen series is largely based on the sequel series, Kessenju! REVOLUTION. Later games in the series would also be based on its successor, Kessenju VICTORY, which premiered around the same time in 2008.
The game is 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 battles and 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 3 years, as well as the first one to be released exclusively for mobile.
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, ACES and MAX-UP!!, in order to earn Duel Points (DP) and Duel Gems, as well as an online multiplayer mode where players can face off against other players in real time.
The game includes "gacha" elements in form of booster packs, which are bought using either in-game currency (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 its 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 March 17, 2025, ACS has announced that there are currently no plans for an official English release.