Overview
Mushiking: The King of Beetle (known in Japan as Kōchū Ōja Mushiking, which loosely translates to "Beetle King Bug king") is a collectible card-based turn-based strategy game developed by Mushiking Team and published by Sega for arcades (using their Dreamcast-based Sega NAOMI hardware) on January 21, 2003.
Set in a fantasy forest inhabited by insects and fairies, the game has players battling in one-on-one matches (with later versions supporting two-on-two) with multiple species of beetles in a rock-paper-scissors fashion (with "hitting" as rock, "throwing" as paper, and "pinching" as scissors).
One unique twist to this game is that it makes use of a card scanner at the center of the machine, allowing players to scan special cards (with barcodes on them) to change their chosen beetle (Beetle Cards) and each of their three abilities (Skill Cards). Players earn a random card at the start of each play, with cards varying in rarity and compatibility (as certain Skills are more compatible with certain Beetles).
The Japanese version of the game received numerous updates until the game's discontinuation (on January 21, 2010), adding new Beetle Cards, new Skill Cards, and new game modes (including a 2-on-2 tag-team mode). Later versions ran on a slightly modified version of the NAOMI hardware (called Sega System SP). The game's concept and arcade cabinet was also used for its spin-off series, Dinosaur King. The cabinet was also used for Love and Berry: Dress Up and Dance!
Along with multiple Japanese-exclusive handheld sequels (with the last game, Kōchū Ōja Mushiking Super Collection for the Nintendo DS, featuring a card reader for scanning in cards from the arcade version), the game received both a manga and anime series in 2005-2006, as well as two animated movies (one based on the first Game Boy Advance game and one based on the arcade game). The game later received a parody spin-off as a mini-game in Sega's 2017 game Yakuza Kiwami (as "MesuKing", where the beetles are women in scantily-clad beetle costumes).
With the game's popularity in Japan, it held the Guinness World Record in 2009 for the most official tournaments held on a single arcade game (with a total of 110,240 officially sanctioned competitions held in Japan between May 2003 and July 2009).
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