Card Saga Wars



""War is near""

- Tagline of the MUGEN Guild thread

Card Sagas Wars is a PC game currently being developed by Arhuon and Orkimedes. The game utilizes the MUGEN engine, but unlike other MUGEN games all of the sprites are made entirely by scratch. This not only gives the game a uniform and "professional" artstyle, but it also allows for better control of balance.

Although the game is unfinished, many trailers and gameplay videos have been released. All of the info can be found here. The official website can be found here (it's entirely in Spanish, though), but is currently unable to receive updates.

The playable cast includes:

 * Cloud, Link, KOS-MOS, X, Soma Cruz, Crono, Master Chief, Samus Aran, Lenneth, Walküre, Etna, Ivy, Chun-Li, Leon Magnus, Reiji Arisu, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Chocobo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Nina, Yugo

On top of that, there are sixteen more characters yet to come.

This game provides examples of:

 * Assist Character: The Support Card System. By taking damage or blocking, the player can receive a random Support Card, which can be used to summon a character for an attack. Cards are ranked A-B-C, with Rank A cards being the most powerful but the hardest to get. This video shows how the system works.
 * Some characters have their own assists appear in their specials. Soma Cruz and Crono in particular take this Up to Eleven, with Soma using his Souls and Crono using his teammates.
 * Author Appeal: The likely reason for Ivy's current chest size; according to Ahruon, Orkimides insisted on choosing the biggest size available for her sprite revision. The end result, however, borders on Gag Boobs territory.
 * Boss Battle: Confirmed as present via the Mugen Guild thread. The only revealed boss so far is
 * Composite Character: Several members of the playable cast are this.
 * Samus is a notable example. She's wearing the Super Metroid/Metroid Prime era Varia Suit, and is equipped with her standard arsenal of weapons, including Power Bombs, Super Missiles, and the Ice Beam. However, she also brings along the Grapple Lasso, the Overblast technique, and even the Zero Laser.
 * Cool Versus Awesome: Any match is guaranteed to be this.
 * Desperation Attack/Limit Break: The Crisis Card Attacks. See "Difficult but Awesome" below.
 * Development Hell: Given that it's made by only two people who work on it in their free time and has been in development for four years, it'd be more surprising if it didn't fall in this.
 * Difficult but Awesome: The Crisis Card Attacks. Before you can even perform the attack, your health must be low enough to be flashing red and you must have both Alpha and Beta Meters filled. You then must successfully hit the opponent with a Chain Attack, which can be blocked and which will use up a Crisis Card no matter if it hits or misses. Keep in mind that you only get two cards per match, and they don't replenish. However, if you hit the Chain Attack you are treated to a 30-second cinematic of concentrated awesome as your character beats the living hell out of the opponent.
 * Demoted to Extra: Many characters (such as King Dedede) were initially considered for the roster before being made into Support Cards. The most notable example is Mai Shiranui, who actually had pictures and gameplay footage of her as a playable character before she was downgrade to Support Card status.
 * Doing It for The Art
 * Dueling Games: Not so much the case with Card Sagas Wars itself, but some of the gameplay trailers pair characters from what could be considered rival franchises.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: The total roster is slated to have 36 characters, which is surprisingly high even by professional standards. The total number of Support Cards is also said to be over 90.
 * Mega Crossover/Mascot Fighter: Being MUGEN-based, it's par for the course.
 * Scenery Porn: The stages, whether you're in the Sacred Forest Meadow, on the surface of Valhalla, crossing Zenan Bridge, or inside the Ceres Space Colony, there's so much to look at, you just might find yourself forgetting about the fight at hand.
 * Schedule Slip: The game has been in development for several years and most likely still has years to come. It doesn't help that the updates are very sporadic; Aruhon and Orkimedes take their time getting the next update ready, and they have a tendency to disappear between updates. It is Justified Trope, as two people are making this game by scratch.
 * Super Move Portrait Attack
 * Surprisingly Good English: If the trailers are anything to go by, Ivy and Samus are the only English-speaking playable characters from Japanese games. Everyone else, regardless of whether or not they had English voiceovers at one point or another, is speaking in Japanese or is a Heroic Mime of some sort.
 * Suddenly Voiced: Crono goes from being a Heroic Mime to fully voiced, despite his home game having no voice acting whatsoever.
 * Theres No Kill Like Overkill: The Crisis Card Attacks can come off as this.
 * Overly Long Fighting Animation: This too.
 * Token Minority: Though the combined cast covers an unbelievable amount of video gaming history, almost the entire known playable cast so far consists of characters from Japanese developers. The sole exception is Master Chief (A rare example where something American is the token). Whether or not this remains the case is yet to be seen.