Ultra Deluxe 2D Arcade Mega Fighter, or UD2D for short, is our 2 Player dueling card game that we built from the ground up to feel like a classic arcade fighting game. Our goal was to create an immersive game that was true to that inspiration and would resonate with both fighting game and card game lovers. But, how do we take the fast paced, often chaotic arcade fighting game experience and condense it into board game form without losing both its charm and aesthetic? From the character roster, to stringing large Combo Attacks, to spending super meter for explosive abilities, we made sure that UD2D was dripping with that authentic feel that fighting game fans of any level would find endearing and enticing.

The process began with the roster. The main draw of any fighting game is a solid set of unique and memorable characters. When designing the fighters, we found ourselves cackling like idiots most of the time. Coming up with absurd character concepts like Pogorilla, Mecha Pope or Tyranosorcerer that have no place existing in a legitimate fighting game was truly a joy for us. We always love opportunities to let our goofy sense of humor take form in our designs, and we couldn’t be prouder of this game’s look and feel. Our vision could never have been realized without the help of our incredible artist, Vince Patrick, who consistently delivered on our concepts beautifully. Our hope is that players drawn to the gameplay will find endless amusement in our ridiculous roster of fighters, and those drawn to the fighters will in turn find a deep and satisfying experience that they will want to play over and over.

GAMEPLAY

The game is played in a series of alternating turns until one player has KO’d all three of their opponent’s fighters. Each turn consists of 3 actions. There are multiple potential actions to choose from, like swapping your fighters’ positions, attacking, drawing cards, or gaining super meter, and they can be performed multiple times, and in any order. The flexibility of your actions yields plenty of strategic and tactical moves, letting players try to rush down their opponent or setup for a devastating future turn.

The main mechanic and primary action of the game is, of course, using your Fighter’s unique set of attacks to inflict massive damage on your opponent’s fighters.

It took quite a few prototypes to finally nail down how we wanted the combat to function. We eventually landed on a card driven system that serves as both a thematic touch, and a continuously evolving efficiency puzzle. A player’s hand consists of multi-purpose cards that can be used as either button inputs or as blocks. On a player’s turn, they will play buttons from hand to perform corresponding attacks, and must carefully plan the order in which their attacks are played. Stringing together combo attacks between fighters allows players to spend fewer cards during their turns, keeping more in reserve for later. Each turn feels like an efficiency mini game that is incredibly satisfying, and only becomes more so after each repeat play.

Essentially, we wanted a system that allowed Players to strategically string together their fighter’s combos to yield big and exciting gaming moments. Players are constantly rewarded for finding clever ways to weave their fighters in and out of combat, using super meter abilities at opportune moments, and maximizing the efficiency of each card played in a combo.

WHY YOU SHOULD PLAY

As far as our target audience for the game, we worked hard to ensure that ‘pick up and play’ type players would be able to enjoy the game straight out of the box, and remain entirely accessible for a more casual crowd. But we also designed the game in a way that rewards repeat play and deep strategy. While the game is easy to learn and simple in its core mechanics, we have found that more strategic players come back to this game itching to try out different fighter combinations and test the limits of powerful synergies. Many games are decided by a single turn, with the winning player down to a single fighter hanging on by 1 or 2 health points. The fact that the game plays in roughly 20-30 minutes leaves players ready to jump right back into another round.

We love this game, and always love coming back to it to try out new fighter combinations and strategies. We’ve had such incredible feedback during its design process from so many different types of players, and the game has come such a long way because of it. We appreciate everyone who had a hand in making this game a success, and we are excited to see where players will take it. So, go ahead and PICK YOUR FIGHTERS!