Wild Card (video game)

Premise and gameplay

Wild Card is a single-player role-playing game where everything—characters, locations, and items—appears as cards and static images. The game’s world is built on stories and belief. It begins with a narrator who is recording the oral traditions of their ancestors, which are in danger of being lost. One of these tales describes a mysterious bright light flying across the sky toward the edge of the world. The narrator decides to retell this story, guiding the narrative based on how the people might have acted. From there, the player takes control, steering the story by choosing from up to one hundred scenario cards, which allows for non-linear progression.

At the start, a series of questions determines the player’s starting character from nine possible options. The other eight characters appear later in the campaign and can join the party. Scenarios fall into three categories: finding a destination, fighting an enemy, or discovering an item or person. Progress depends entirely on the types of cards the player has equipped. For example, swim cards let the party cross water, while other cards can make travel easier or harder. There is no overworld map or traditional dungeons. Instead, the player selects cards to choose their route through a scenario, sometimes facing obstacles that require a skill card to overcome, or entering battles.

Combat is turn-based. The player’s party can have up to five members, each of whom can be ordered to attack or to take enemy hits. The system revolves around using cards that outmatch an enemy’s attack or defense values. A battle ends when one side is defeated. The goal is to reduce enemy health to zero using standard attacks, skills, and magic. Cards are limited in number and can only be regained after completing the current scenario. Players increase their card capacity by finishing scenarios and using Card Get point rewards to buy new cards. The game ends if all party members are knocked out during battle.

Development

In 1999, Square struck a deal with Bandai to create games for the WonderSwan handheld. Leading the project on Wild Card was Akitoshi Kawazu, the mind behind the SaGa series. His team had moved to WonderSwan work that same year after a planned Final Fantasy title tied to PlayOnline was scrapped. Kawazu said he handled most of the game's development except for programming and art, serving as its designer. Kazuhisa Murakami handled programming, while Shinji Hashimoto and Hiroshi Yamaji acted as co-producers. Staff member Kyoji Koizumi stated the development cycle lasted about a year. Akihiko Yoshida produced the cover and main artwork, while a large group handled in-game graphics, including Nobuyuki Ikeda, Kiyofumi Kato, Tonny Waiman Koo, and Toshiaki Matsumoto. The music came from Kenji Ito, the composer for the SaGa series, and this was one of his final projects at Square before he went freelance. Wild Card launched on March 29, 2001, and worked only on the WonderSwan Color. It was Square's first original game for that console. Two guidebooks accompanied the release, one from DigiCube and another from Shueisha. Because the WonderSwan never left Japan, Wild Card was never translated for other markets. Kawazu later brought back some of the game's mechanics and visual style in the PlayStation 2 title Unlimited Saga, released in 2002.

Reception

Wild Card sold over 25,500 copies in 2001, placing it among the year's top three hundred best-selling games, while Square's fiscal report recorded 40,000 units sold. Previewing the game for The Gaming Intelligence Agency, Clifford Chao drew favorable comparisons to 1992's Arcana, highlighting its unusual card-based presentation and art style. Famitsu awarded it 23 out of 40 points, with critics noting its unique style but finding its mechanics and progression hard to adapt to versus other contemporary titles. Retro Gamer praised the experimental gameplay and Yoshida's artwork.