"If you like Magic: The Gathering and/or Street Fighter..."

In sum: picture the original CFC combining with Richard Garfield.
Cardfighter Clash DS is their offspring.

Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Replay: x/10

I own both original CvS Cardfighter Clash titles for Neo Geo Pocket. I've also played through the Cardfighter Clash import sequel. I am a fan of both Street Fighter and Magic: the Gathering. While the original versions of CFC felt like playing the Pokemon card game, the DS CFC feels more like playing Magic: the Gathering.

Instead of deploying fighters straight to the ring; you must 'cast' them by paying a force-cost (comparable to MTG's casting cost). Force-cost is satisfied by spending 'force points' (comparable to MTG's mana symbols and mana pool). Fighter cards can generate force points by 'tapping' to add points (like basic lands or Llanowar Elves) or by discarding them for instant force (like Dark Ritual or Elvish Spirit Guide).

To accompany action cards are also reaction cards; taken from the NGP sequel (which compare to MTG's instant spells). The number of raw abilities have multiplied 10x, and backing-up now applies to all fighters of the same color/type.

Instead of winning cards at the end of battles; you instead earn gold that you spend at a store. There's plenty of competition within the cardfighters building. The AI also seems more intelligent compared to the NGP; however the AI still tends to defend a Union-Attack even when a better choice would be to block a non Union-Attack in some cases (was exploitable in NGP version).

My complaints are few and trivial. I dislike seeing the same protagonist in 1player mode when you can change your player's image in VS mode. Some names resemble Yugi oh a little too obviously. Same with the Yugi oh based plot and character traits; however I didn't buy this game for it's storyline. I also miss being able to travel the world (as in the original NGP version where you actually flew around Osaka and Las Vegas). The NGP sequel also involved travel and exploration. That aspect was removed for the 'hierarchical business' building set.

The touch-screen is perfect for this game; the only better way to play would be to have the cards in hand. But until SNK/Playmore or CAPCOM releases the physical CFC/CCG (omg-- I wish) the DS version fulfills the gap between digital card gaming and physical card gaming. All in all, I give this a worthy 8/10. I love Street Fighter, and I love Magic: the Gathering. If you ever tried making Magic cards out of Street Fighter characters, or you ever tried to make a Cardfighters deck based on one of your MTG decks; then get this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/07/08

Game Release: SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS (US, 04/24/07)