Lord of Vermilion

Overview

Lord of Vermilion is an arcade game released by Square Enix in Japan in 2008. It utilizes a sensor interface to turn collectible cards into controllable units on a battlefield. Promotional cards, which can be quite rare, were released for a number of the more popular cards in the game. The promotional cards have slightly different stats and sport different artwork.

Characters from the Valkyrie Profile and Drakengard series make guest appearances as some of the controllable card units in the game.

Gameplay

A joystick is used in tandem with direct card manipulation in order to control the game.
 
The game features several modes of play, including a tutorial mode, a story mode, a local play mode (which prevents players from remotely connecting to you)  and an online mode, which will connect you to a player elsewhere in the country who is without a play partner. Special events are also held periodically. 

After fielding your party, the player can switch between units using the joystick to track their positions. While most units are standardized, the player character is highly customizable and his different abilities depending on the weapon and armor he or she is equipped with. Players can register a unique name for their overall ranking which is attached to an ID card; in addition players can rename their protagonist. Nido is the default name for the male protagonist and Lucia is the default name for the female. 

Each unit card costs between 10 and 30 magic points, in increments of five; a player can bring a group totalling up to 90 points to a battle. Multiples of certain units are allowed, this depends on the unit type. Only three units in addition to the player can be fielded per side at one time; however, if a unit falls in battle it can be replaced with another in back-up.  Players can win either by destroying the opponent's party totally, or by gaining control of the various "arcana stones" scattered about the battle area within the given time limit. If there is no clear victor by the end of the time limit, whichever player is judged to have performed better via a variety of criteria wins.
 
The tutorial mode includes instructions on the game's basic playing points and strategies, mostly delivered by Dukes, the childhood mentor and caregiver of the protagonists.

Cards

Many artists have contributed on the cards' artwork, including Yoshitaka Amano, Todd McFarlane, and Akihiko Yoshida.

Music

Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame composed the game's heavy metal soundtrack.