Wild Card emerged as Square's attempt to combine a classic Japanese RPG with a card game, at a time when card battles in Japan were just starting to become a huge topic. The player moves through a world where the card game carries social weight, talks to characters, completes quests, and gradually builds their own deck from what they pick up along the way. Battles, however, don't play out through the usual command menu selection; instead they take place on cards, so a character's strength depends not just on their level but mainly on what the player currently holds in hand and how well they can combine it.
This combination creates a pleasant rhythm. Exploration and dialogue give the whole thing an RPG's structure, while individual battles have a short, self-contained round that's great for a few minutes on the go. Collecting and upgrading the deck functions as the main motivation, and the game pays off for those who don't settle for the first strategy offered. Technically, this is a title from early in the WonderSwan Color's life, so the visuals lean on clean, hand-drawn cards and a clear interface rather than effects; the controls are simple and suited to one-handed play, which fits a card game better than more action-oriented genres.
At the time, it served as an interesting addition to Square's lineup on the console, playing the role of a smaller, more playful piece alongside the big Final Fantasy remakes. It never achieved the fame of its siblings and remained practically unknown outside Japan, so today it's known mainly within the WonderSwan community. That's exactly what makes it interesting, though: it shows how, at the turn of the millennium, Square was experimenting with blending genres and exploring everything a handheld console could do. Anyone who likes card games with a collecting layer will find here one of the earliest attempts to embed them in a full-fledged game world. Playing without knowledge of Japanese is tricky, though, since the meaning of individual cards forms a substantial part of the strategy, and without understanding the descriptions all that's left is guesswork. With a translated guide in hand, though, it turns out to be an unexpectedly addictive little game.
Game 8 of 27 for Bandai WonderSwan
