Mushiking: The King of Beetles | |
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Developer(s) | Sega |
Publisher(s) | Sega |
Distributor(s) | Sega |
Platform(s) | Arcade |
Release date(s) |
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Genre(s) | Hybrid collectible card and arcade video game |
Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
Cabinet | Large cabinet |
Arcade system | Sega Naomi |
Mushiking: The King of Beetles (甲虫王者ムシキング Kōchū Ōja Mushiking?, literally "Beetle Ruler Bug King") also called Mushiking: Battle of the Beetles, is a combination arcade game and collectible card game developed by Sega and released in Japan and other Asian countries such as the Philippines. The game involves battles between cards describing various beetle species. The cards can be scanned in by a Mushiking arcade machine, which will both carry out battles and dispense new cards.
As of 2008, more than 100,000 tournaments have been held, and 20 million cards have shipped. The game has made it into the Guinness Book of World records with the highest numbers of tournaments held for an arcade game. Mushiking has inspired several children's card games in arcades which up to 2015, count up to 50 games, released by Taito, Sega, Konami, Bandai Namco, Takara Tomy, Atlus and Square Enix.
A long time ago, there was a forest full of trees inhabited by insects and fairies. A fairy, named Popo, was a friend of the insects of the forest. He refers to the Japanese beetle as "Mushiking". One day, giant beetles from parts unknown arrived in the forest to wreak havoc, under the control of Adder, a wizard exiled from the forest who wishes to conquer it. Popo enlists the player's help to fight against Adder.
Mushiking is a rock-paper-scissors-style battle game that can be played by one player against CPU-controlled beetles, or with two or more players against each other in Tournament mode or Tag Battle mode. The game is played with cards representing beetles and skill cards related to three move types-- "Hitting", "Pinching" and "Throwing". Players scan their cards with the card scanner in the middle of the machine, and choose one of the three move types to execute within a given time limit. The first player whose beetle reaches 0 stamina points loses.