I’m very excited to bring you the first installment of one of the newest features of my blog: Retro Raist! In case you are new to my blog (Hi! Welcome, thank you for visiting), or have missed my Back……from the grave……. post let me explain to you what Retro Raist will be about. In this feature I will be covering something from either the 80’s or 90’s. It can be a movie, a game, anime, manga, a tv show…..in short pretty much everything as long as it was made in either of those eras. Simple huh? To kick things off I’m going to be showcasing a collectable card game that will be a treat for classic anime fans: Ani-Mayhem. I will talk a little bit about the history of the game and how it’s played. But you will be even more happy to know that one lucky follower will actually be able to win a sealed starter deck along with two sealed boosters of this out of print game. You think I’m joking? Nope to celebrate the start of hopefully many more Retro Raist posts, I’m going to hold a small competition. But, more on that later this week. For now, it’s time to talk about Ani-Mayhem!
History
In 1993 a new type of game was released: the collectable card game. I think a lot of people might have heard of Magic the Gathering. In that game you play with your own personalised deck of cards against other players who have their own decks. It was (and still is) an amazing game, though eventually I had to stop playing it because of the Mr. Suitcase phenomenon. That means it became more a game of who has the most money to spend on buying new cards (whole suitcases of them in fact) and that kind of took the fun out of it for me. Magic was a huge succes though, and because of it’s succes competitors took it upon themselves to release their own collectable card games. It almost became a kind of arms race back in those days, with a huge amount of games coming out of the woodwork every month. Some of these were quite obscure, others marginally succesful, but not one of these games ever beat the succes of Magic. In 1996, Ani-Mayhem was released and it came out at a time where the biggest hype of trading card games was already over. Still, Ani-Mayhem was unique in it’s own way, as it was the first cardgame of it’s kind that was designed to play solo.
I came across the game myself at a games con back in the late 90’s, and I was lucky enough to buy a box of both sealed starter decks and boosters. Now, you have to understand that back in those days I hardly knew what anime was. I had faintly heard of it, but it also wasn’t as popular yet as it is today. Ani-Mayhem featured a couple of classic anime series such as Armitage III, Bubblegum Crisis, Dominion Tank Police and a whole lot of other shows. Sadly the game wasn’t a huge succes and after one other expansion that focussed on Dragonball Z, the game was discontinued. A real shame as the game really is quite a lot of fun to play, once you figure out the rulebook. Erm yeah, I do mean figure out, as the rulebook was quite a mess and didn’t do a great job of explaining how to play. (Luckily these days you can find pretty much everything on You-Tube) One of the appeals of the game is the way it looks. I am a huge fan of classic anime and I love the retro style of the artwork that is featured on these cards. As you can see from some of the pictures, the cards feature very bright and clear stills of the shows they are based on. If you love older anime shows, you will fall in love with this game, as it truly brings back that great feeling of nostalgia.
Gameplay
So how does it play you ask? Well Ani-Mayhem honestly isn’t a very difficult game to learn, despite the fact that the rulebook isn’t very clear. Basically what it comes down to is that you select a group of anime characters to include in your deck. This group races across a grid of locations from the different shows to find a number of items. You also have cards that can make your characters stronger, vehicles they can use and loads of other goodies. Every character has a number of skills, and in order to access a location and get to the item you have to enter it with the required combination of skills. Ofcourse things are never easy and what is a game without opposition right? In this game that comes in the form of disasters. Disasters are enemies or events that make life more difficult for you as the player. Not only do certain enemies try to pick up items themselves, they also attack in order to incapicate your characters, or even worse kill them. Disasters come in many forms, such as runaway elevators, satelite strikes, killer robots, and loads of other “fun” stuff. In order to win you have to recover more items than the disasters.
Final thoughts
I rediscovered this game while I was cleaning out my closet, and it inspired me to come up with this new feature for my blog. I have always been a fan of all things nostalgic, and I thought it would be a fun way to talk about some of the gems from the past. I was very surprised to discover that I still have quite an amount of unopened starter decks and booster packs. I don’t know about you but I always get a kick out of opening a pack of collectable cards and finding out if you might acquire something new. So I have been having a lot of fun with ripping open some of those sealed packs. Ani-Mayhem is also still a blast to play. I have been playing a number of games the past few days, and you almost feel as if you are writing your own anime show. Great stuff! Sadly though Ani-Mayhem is out of print, but have no fear as later this week one of you will get the chance to win a starter deck and two booster packs of this great game. So, keep your eyes out for that! Well, that’s it for this first installment of Retro Raist. Next time I will be reviewing a classic Jean Claude van Damme movie. Let me know what you think of this feature and of course of this post in the comments section down below. For now I will leave you with a slide show of some of the cards from the game. See you next time!
I never really got into these types of games, but I love the colors and graphics Michel.☺️
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Haha, no problem Kim, these kind of games certainly aren’t for everyone😊 But so true the graphics for these cards are amazing! 😊
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Oh, wow! I remember seeing those cards when I was a kid!
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Haha…It’s such an amazing and fun game. I pretty much forgot how much I enjoyed this! Well…later this week you will get a chance to win a copy of this as a prize, so who knows, you might be able to look at these again if you win! 😊
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Nice! I never played it, but that was the first game of it’s kind. That’s good to know!
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I have never seen this game or heard about it… But then again other than books I know nothing.. 😂
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Haha…that almost sounds like Jon Snow talking lol😂😂
Well…later this week you can win a copy of this game…so…maybe you can still play it if you win 😊😊
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I had never even heard of such games until I read about them on your blog in 2018. I can imagine that they might become addictive, so it was probably just as well I didn’t know about them.
I had to smile at a ‘Classic’ JCVD film. Did he make any ‘classics’, I wonder? 🙂 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Haha…well, the addictive part of these type of games are buying new packs of cards and hoping you get something good 😂 But true though, these games can become way too addictive for your own good 😅
Haha….well….maybe classic is a relative term in this case lol 😂😂 The movie I will be reviewing in a few weeks is Cyborg 😊
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I have played quite a large number of Card Games, really love them, and I must say I love the way this one looks, very colourful and clean! I dont think we ever had this here in the Netherlands, but might have just missed it. I love reading about retro and Nostalgia stuff , so thanks for the blog!
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Wait…what? You are from the Netherlands? So cool! So am I 😃😃Well, I guess that answers your question if we had this in the Netherlands lol 😂😂😂
But I don’t think it got released here on a very wide basis. As I said I was lucky to find at a boardgame con way back in the nineties! This game really is quite fun to play, and you will be happy to know that later this week (on thursday to be exact), I will be holding a competion where you can win a copy of this game😃 Thanks for the kind words, always appreciate it! 😊
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Question answered indeed, will totally participate in the contest! Nice to meet a fellow dutchie, first time I delve a bit in the wordpress community and must say I am not dissapointed, way more alive then I first believed 🙂
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I have been blogging for almost 4 years now and it’s really been amazing! I have made some great friends here, and everyone is superkind! Definitely nice to meet you too, and cool that you will participate in the contest! Good luck! 😊
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Glad to see this fun new series from you! It’s great that you rediscovered a game from your past and were still able to find joy in it 🙂
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Thank you so much! I really hope to have some fun with this series, and in the future hopefully a lot of 80’s and 90’s stuff will be featured here.
This game really was a lot of fun, and it’s amazing how much fun it still is😊
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Never heard of the game (looks like it predates me getting into anime by a few years), but man are those some cool looking cards! I always find it really interesting to read about stuff like this.
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It’s a pretty obscure game, that dates back to the 90’s, but it’s still very awesome to play! The cards themselves are definitely one of the highlights of this! I have been having a blast playing this game again, and later this week a competition will be out where you can win a copy of the game!
Thanks for reading the post! Glad you enjoyed it 😊
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Oh wow, that looks pretty exciting 😁
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It’s really a fun game, especially if you like classic anime shows! And even better on thursday I will be holding a competition where you can win a copy of the game! 😊
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Oh wow 😁. I’ll keep an eye out.
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They look cool, but I’m more of a Trivial Pursuits kinda person 😀
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Haha…well, I love Trivial Pursuits too! (But then again, I love boardgames of any kind, so there is that 😂😂).
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I tend to get into these kinds of card games more on the PC than I ever did in real life (makes collecting cards much easier as generally you can earn in game currency to buy additions, though you still get wiped out by people who buy cards with real world cash). This looks really fun and like a real nostalgia trip. Thanks for sharing and I think I’m going to like this new feature of yours.
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Well that is definitely the one drawback to these kind of games: it’s hard to be able to complete them. That said, it’s both a curse and a joy to collect them, as there is nothing better than the kick you get when you find a new rare card in a pack 😊 And I will be sharing this nostalgia trip as on thursday I will hold a competition where you can win a sealed starterpack and two sealed boosters (and a runner up price).
I’m very glad to hear that you like this new feature, because I definitely plan on doing more with it soon! 😊😊 Thanks for reading and this great comment! 😃
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The strongest card in Magic the Gathering is the credit card.
Bubblegum Crisis and Tank Police? Sounds like my type of game. I used to watch those classic shows on Sci-Fi Channel late at night during my late teens.
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Haha…I thought it was Black Lotus? 😂😂😂 True enough though it is! Spend way too much money on that game lol 😂😂
Yep…both of them are in this! Well, it’s nice to hear that this is your type of game, because on thursday I will be running a competition where you can win a copy of the game (and there is a runner up price as well) So who knows, you might just win! 😊😊But yeah Bubblegum Crisis was awesome. I saw it at Animecon last year on the big screen and it was great to see it again! 😊
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Believe it or not, I actually know about these! The game has some pretty ugly cards (in terms of utility, not art), and the game is far from perfect, but it does look like a lot of fun to play 🙂 Thanks for showing these off!
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Well, that is cool! It is a pretty old and obscure game, so it’s nice to hear you know about these. As for the ugly part, erm…never had a problem with that to be honest😅
Well, I’m not only showing these off, on Thursday everyone will have the chance to win a copy of the game 😊
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Oh O.o I will for sure check out Thursday then 🙂
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Wow, I’ve never heard of this, but it looks very cool! I’m like you, I like CCGs, but it almost always comes down to who has the most $$$ instead of skill and luck.
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It’s definitely a very cool game! And it’s not suprising that you never heard of it. It’s a pretty old game and an obscure one at that.😊 Yeah, that is so true. That is why I like deckbuilders more these days. In those games you just get all the cards in one buy! 😊😊
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Retro Raist is a very cool idea!! Looking forward to more 😁😁😁😁😁
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Thank you Rose! 😊 I’m definitely going to be releasing more of these in the future! 😊
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Going down the rabbit hole of unopened packs of things on eBay… is amazing
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Yeah, and some of those are going for pretty big prices too😊 It’s really fun, and I’m lucky enough to have a lot of unopened packs still😊 But on thursday everyone will get a chance to win a pack for free! As I am holding a competition then 😊
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I’m sad it’s out of print because it looks like a lot of fun! I haven’t played a card game in a while. I was obsessed with the Star Wars Trading Card Game a few years and finally tried my hand at Magic the Gathering last year, which I also found to be fun and intellectually interesting (in terms of strategy and creating decks and stuff). Thinky card games are just neat in general haha.
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Well…..It’s out of print: BUT…I have a competition coming up on thursday that will give everyone a chance to win a sealed copy of the game😊😊 So…that’s pretty cool!
Magic the Gathering is a real fun game, and you are so right about the strategy aspect of the game. I really enjoyed playing it! But there are a lot of CCGs out there that have some great strategy in them 😊
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Ive never heard of this ever… my oldest brother has a box full of magic the gathering cards. But i never got into the rules and all the diff editions. And the fact that they now also incorporate pay to win has also put me of of getting into it. I do however love the art on those cards. The same can be said of this ani-mayhem. Thanks for sharing man👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
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Well, that’s not a big surprise, as this game is pretty obscure and dates back all the way to the 90’s 😊
Magic is a great game, but the fact that it’s become a game for who has the most money kind of made it less fun to play. A lot of the cards of these kind of games always have the best art😊 And of course, you are welcome!
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“It almost became a kind of arms race back in those days, with a huge amount of games coming out of the woodwork every month.”
And… not all of them well done or play tested. (As you found out.) We picked up the SimCity card game, and as soon as we started trying to play we found that the cards and the rules might as well have been from different universes. (And the latter contradicted itself in *so* many places…)
Spent the better part of weekend trying to make sense of it, and then gave up. The game kicked around the house and storage for years before it finally went into the Goodwill box.
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Haha….you know, I actually remember that game😊😊 Back in the day I was very much into Magic, and I bought magazines for CCG games like Scrye and another I can’t remember the name of. But I remember seeing advertisements for the SimCity card game😊 Didn’t know it was such a bad game though…wow, that really sounds horrible 😅
This one though….definitely not one I would consider a bad game. The rulebook certainly wasn’t the bestm but the game is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. It really feels like playing an anime! 😊
I really wonder how many CCG games came out back in those days though….it was totally crazy! 😂😂
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This is a pretty cool-looking game! I probably mentioned it before but back in elementary/high school, I was deeply in love with Yu-Gi-Oh, and enjoyed collecting on the side, Pokémon. And your talk about Mr. Suitcase is so true and quite unfortunate. As these trading card games became more and more popular, it ended up being a question of money more than skills/luck/trading to get the best decks and all. Definitely look forward to your next installment of Retro Raist now! Great post, Michel! 😀
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Yeah, it’s the case with a lot of things I guess: too much of a good thing is…well…too much😊
I have never really followed the YU-Gi-OH/Pokemon cards, but I have to admit I definitely understand their appeal. Some of those cards looked awesome. Luckily these days there are deckbuilding games that are just as much fun to play, but where you simply have the entire set complete in one go 😊 Thanks Lashaan! Looking forward to it myself as well! 😃
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The game might be older than me…
😂😂
It sounds fun though! My friends and I went through a Pokemon Card collector and Beyblade era haha
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Lol😂😂 It is a lot of fun Auri. Yes it’s an old game, but it’s still a game that is really enjoyable to play😊
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I hear you, playing Magic the Gathering is expensive.
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So true, it’s pretty much the only reason that I stopped playing 😊
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Having been born in the 90s, all this looks really exciting and interesting!
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It’s a really amazing game, and very cool looking as well. And…you can join in the competition if you would like and maybe win a copy! 😊
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I remember having some of those cards, but I never played the game. I think I might still have them stashed away somewhere.
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That’s cool! You should see if you still have them. It’s a really fun game, and I honestly forgot how much I enjoyed playing it! 😊 There are some videos for it on youtube that can teach you the game 😊
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I really love the art work on the cards. It looks so cool and the game play sounds like a lot of fun. Like you could go on your own wee adventure while playing this game 🙂 I’m kinda sad the game never made it here, but your post has reminded me of how much fun Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon cards where when they came out. Collecting them and battling was so much fun 😀
I’m very sorry. I’ve fallen really behind on reading your posts. Hoping to catch up with all posts very soon 😀
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You certainly don’t have to apologise for that at all😊 Really, don’t even worry about it for a single second. I just hope you are okay: that is way more important😊
As for this game, it is really so much fun! I absolutely loved revisiting it, and well…you have a chance to play it too: if you enter the competition I’m currently holding for this game: You have until the 14 th of august to enter this, so there is still plenty of time! 😊
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Thanks for your concern and for understanding 🙂 I’m ok, there was just some deaths in the family and I went on a little break. 🙂
The game sounds amazing, I’ll have to check the competition out 😀
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Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that 😔 Well, than it is a good thing that you went on a little break. I’m glad to hear that you are okay though 😊
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