Code Age Brawls
A mobile RPG set in the Code Age universe.
Code Age Brawls is a 2005 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for mobile phones. It is part of the Code Age media franchise and follows the character Lost L as they resist an apocalypse caused by an artificial world's control system. The game features turn-based battles where players absorb the abilities of defeated opponents, and prominently includes a player-versus-player multiplayer function.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Square Enix
- Producer
- Yusuke Naora; Takanori Kimura
- Director
- Toru Osanai
- Programmer
- Yasunobu Ito
- Artist
- Toshiyuki Itahana
- Writer
- Miwa Shoda
- Composer
- Kumi Tanioka
- Released
- December 19, 2005 (JP)
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
In Code Age Brawls, players take on the role of Lost L and explore environments built from 2D pre-rendered art, with combat shifting to 3D arenas. Fights are turn-based and split into five rounds. To act, players pick from colored badges that work like rock-paper-scissors, each having strengths and weaknesses against others. Badge power ranks from highest to lowest: yellow, red, blue, purple, and gray. A player can skip a turn to keep badges for later, and damage is dealt when a badge matches or beats the opponent's badge level, based on the level difference. Winning a battle unlocks the opponent's form and abilities, which act as a character class with themed gear; this form changes depending on the lead's gender and also affects how badges are used. The original game offers single-player matches against computer opponents and multiplayer battles by networking with nearby phones. There is also a Battle Arena where players fight AI-controlled teams of three, which later gained player-versus-player support in April 2006. Players can turn their real-world location into a base and team up with others there to attack other bases.
Synopsis
The setting is a hollow world, like a Dyson sphere, with a Central Code at its core. Every ten thousand years, the Code triggers a global reset called the Reborn, wiping out civilization. To survive, the current society builds arks around the Code. The plan backfires: the Code destroys the arks and creates the Otellos, a species that turns most survivors into mindless Coded. A few become powerful Warheads. The survivors break into factions, some fighting, others hiding underground. The story follows Lost L, a survivor turned into an incomplete Warhead. Because his body is degrading, he must steal the bodies of other Warheads by defeating them in battle. He teams up with a vigilante group opposing the hostile Afternova faction, uncovering the past and the Ark project. In the final chapter, Lost L meets Commanders Gene and Meme to confront Afternova’s leader and R, an Archive character with a condition like his own.
Development
The Code Age world was first imagined by Yusuke Naora in 2002, before Square and Enix merged the following year. This setting was part of Square Enix's broader "polymorphic content" strategy, which also included the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and the World of Mana, though Naora's idea came before that policy. A team called Warhead handled production. Naora co-produced the project with Takanori Kimura, Toru Osanai directed, Toshiyuki Itahana designed the characters, and Kumi Tanioka composed the music. Miwa Shoda, known for her work on SaGa Frontier and Legend of Mana, wrote the story. The plot included cameos from characters in Commanders and Archive, linking the three games. For gameplay, the developers aimed to build on the Materia System from Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, which allowed players to communicate and trade Materia. Unlike that game's one-way communication, Brawls introduced two-way matchmaking for battles. The environments used 3D character models on 2D pre-rendered backgrounds, similar to Final Fantasy VII and VIII, because full 3D would have overtaxed phone hardware. 3D graphics were only used during fights, and manga-style cutscenes were chosen to suit mobile devices.
Release
Square Enix filed the trademark for Code Age Brawls in September 2004, part of a larger set of Code Age trademarks. The game was unveiled at a Square Enix press conference just before E3 2005, with a target release that same year. It also appeared at the Tokyo Game Show in August 2005. A free trial beta ran from November 10 to November 30. The full game launched on December 15 for NTT DoCoMo mobile devices and required a monthly subscription to play. To promote it, Square Enix held a lottery for a themed cushion and a mobile cleaner. Players of the related game Commanders could enter a code to unlock a rare battle card early. The first chapter arrived on December 15, 2005, followed by four more on January 24, March 14, May 14, and July 3, 2006. These updates added a new character class, community website improvements, a battle arena, and support for NTT DoCoMo’s i-area service to help players find matches. A North American release was reportedly planned for 2006, but Brawls and the other Code Age titles never left Japan. The game shut down on September 30, 2006.
More in Square Enix Games of the 2000s
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