Duel Masters: Battle Arena

Enjoy the thrilling duels with super flashy effects!

JP release: 18th December 2003
EU release: N/A
NA release: N/A
Developer: AI
Publisher: Takara
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: None

Dual Masters is a trading card game that shares similarities to Magic: The Gathering, and was even co-developed by Wizards of the Coast. It was originally planned to just be a rebrand of Magic, but was changed so that it could also have a manga alongside it. While there were a few failed attempts to bring Dual Masters to the west, it’s still a popular trading card game in Japan.

This is a digital version of that card game. I was able to figure out the basics over the course of a match. You start by choosing five cards to act as your shield (which get added to your hand when you lose them), and then take turns with the two stages of the game. First is placing new cards. You can either place them in a sort of “resource line” close to you or an “attack line”. The latter has a cost to it, so you spend cards in your resource line by rotating them. These are reset on the next turn, which means you can recruit more and more monsters per turn as the game progresses.

Monsters in the attack lane can be used to attack (although not on the turn they were first placed). You can attack other monsters or the opponent, which will deplete one of their shield cards (although they can use a monster to block you). A couple of monsters have a 3D version for a short animation, but most will just be energy moving from the card itself. Most attacks seem to wipe out each monster, and one of the monsters I had later on could attack twice.

The game outside of battle seems to be you taking part in tournaments and battles and buying more cards from the shop. There didn’t seem to be a story to go alongside it, but it’s probably what fans of the card game actually want.

Fine

I don’t think this game has any ending (I told you JP games are different) but rather just allows you to play tournaments over and over, collect duel points and improve your deck. The game does actually show you which tournaments you have completed.. but I’ve played too many games by now that the probability of this game having an ending is very low.
LongPlayArchive

Remake or remaster?

A translated re-release would be good for fans of the TGC

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Duel Masters: Battle Arena.