Ultra Deluxe 2D Arcade Mega Fighter
Ultra Deluxe 2D Arcade Mega Fighter Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 15 Fighter Boards
- 63 Button Cards
- 34 Super Tokens
- 24 Swap Tokens
- 61 Damage Counters (40 x "1" and 21 x "3")
Setup
Shuffle the Button Deck and place it to the side of the play area. Place the Super Tokens, Swap Tokens, and Damage Counters within reach of both Players. Each Player then draws 5 Button Cards from the Button Deck as their starting hand.
Each Player drafts a team of 3 Fighters from the Fighter Roster. We recommend the following drafting method (though any can be used):
- Player A drafts 1 Fighter
- Player B drafts 2 Fighters
- Player A drafts their final 2 Fighters
- Player B drafts their final Fighter
After drafting, Players will choose one Fighter to be the Frontline Fighter, and the other two to their Sideline Fighters. Place the Frontline Fighter in front and the two Sideline Fighters below it on either side.
The Player who most recently played an arcade fighting game will be the first Player. You are now ready to begin playing.
Game Turn
There are 2 Phases to a turn: Action and Draw.
Action Phase
You perform three Actions during your Action Phase. Five Actions are available:
Start Combo - String Combo - Swap Fighters - Taunt - Draw
You may do these Actions in any order. You may do them multiple times. The only exception is String Combo, which requires that you use Start Combo earlier that turn.
There are some "Free" Actions you may perform on your turn that do NOT count towards your total of 3 Actions. (See below.)
A: Start Combo
Play Button Cards from your hand to the table in front of you to perform Attacks listed on your current Frontline Fighter. Each Attack has 2 Buttons needed in a specific order to be performed from left to right.
Some Button Cards are double sided. These can be played as one of the Buttons shown, not both. When playing these cards, orient the card so the desired Button is upright.
Each time you Start Combo, you must discard any previously played cards.
Performing an Attack: If you play the correct Buttons, you perform the corresponding Attack. Each Attack lists the amount of damage done to a specified Fighter, usually the Frontline Fighter. All Attacks have additional effects.
Ultimate Attacks: Each Fighter's third Attack is their Ultimate Attack. In addition to the correct Buttons, Super Tokens must also be spent to perform that Attack. These can greatly swing the game, so plan for them wisely!
Example: Your current Frontline Fighter is Frankfurderer. You START COMBO with a blue Button Card, followed by a yellow Button Card. This allows the "Weeny Gun" Attack to go off. You deal 2 damage to the opposing Frontline Fighter and draw a card.
(Sidebar: the opposing Frontline Fighter takes 2 Damage Counters from your "Weeny Gun" Attack. Your opponent receives a Super Token because one of their Fighters took damage.)
Definition of Combo: This term comes up a lot! Here's what it means. A Combo is the sequence of cards that begins with a Start Combo action, which results in an Attack effect. This sequence may continue with one or more String Combo actions, each with their own Attack effects as well, as you'll see on the next page.
Damage and K.O.: When a Fighter takes damage (shown as a fist icon), put that number of Damage Counters on that Fighter. Damage Counters stay on a Fighter from turn to turn. When a Fighter has Damage equal to or higher than their HP, that Fighter is K.O.'d and removed from the game.
If a Frontline Fighter is K.O.'d, the Defending Player must immediately choose a new Fighter to place in the Frontline position before the Current Player continues their turn.
Some abilities may trigger when a Fighter is K.O.'d.
Super Tokens: If a single Attack deals 1 or more damage to any of the Defending Player's fighters, the Defending Player receives 1 Super Token (shown as a star icon). This occurs only once per single Attack even if the Attack dealt damage to multiple Fighters or multiple times to a single Fighter. The Defending Player cannot receive more than 3 Super Tokens in one turn in this manner.
Note: Super Tokens are NOT gained if:
- any damage is Blocked, even if some gets through
- damage is dealt to your Fighters from Abilities
- your Fighters deal damage to themselves
- your Fighters deal damage to any of your other Fighters.
B: String Combo
If you already used a Start Combo action this turn, you may use this Action to play a new Button Card next to the most recently played Button Card. This allows you to perform multiple Attacks per turn without needing to start a new combo. (Remember, do not discard your Combo until the end of turn or until you use the Start Combo action.)
Example: After a START COMBO Action, you STRING COMBO with a red Button Card. This allows the "Kraut Bomb" Attack to go off. You deal 1 damage to the opposing Frontline Fighter and 1 damage to each of their Sideline Fighters.
C: Swap Fighters
Swap your Frontline Fighter with a Fighter from your Sideline. If you have an Action available, you can Combo or Start Combo with the new Frontline Fighter. (Remember, if you do a new Start Combo action, you will discard any previously played cards.)
D: Taunt
Gain 2 Super Tokens.
E: Draw
Draw 1 card from the Button Deck. You may also choose to spend 1 Super Token during this Action to draw an additional card.
If the Button Deck ever runs out, reshuffle the Discard Pile to form a new Button Deck.
At the end of your Action Phase, discard all Button Cards in front of you to the Discard Pile next to the Button Deck.
Example (Action Phase sequence): First Action: START COMBO. Your current Frontline Fighter is Slumberjack. Your first action was a START COMBO to perform a "Snore-Yuken" Attack using blue and yellow Button Cards. Second Action: SWAP FIGHTERS. You have a red Button Card in hand, so as a second action, you SWAP FIGHTERS, making Tyranosorcerer the new Frontline Fighter. Third Action: STRING COMBO. Then as your last action, you STRING COMBO a red Button Card to Attack with the "Thunder Chomp"!
Draw Phase
When you have performed your 3 Actions, draw 3 Button Cards from the Button Deck. Your turn is over.
Fighter Abilities
Each Fighter also has two Abilities. Abilities do NOT count as Actions. Abilities can be used multiple times in a turn. A Fighter can use their abilities even when on the Sidelines, unless otherwise noted (see Red Bar below).
- Green Abilities are Ongoing Effects that will trigger at different points during the game based on the Ability. Using an Ongoing Effect with a cost is optional; those without a cost are mandatory.
- Blue Abilities can only be activated during your turn. To activate a blue Ability, you must spend the corresponding Super Tokens depicted on the Ability.
- Purple Abilities can only be activated during your opponent's turn. To activate a purple Ability, you must spend the corresponding Super Tokens depicted on the Ability.
- Red Bar: This is an Ongoing Effect with the added restriction that the Fighter MUST be Frontline for the Ability to trigger.
Example: Amoeba Bandita and Pork and Brains are the Frontline Fighters. Pork and Brains attacks Amoeba Bandita with their "Bindlestiff" Ultimate Attack, doing 4 damage to her. However, Pork and Brains cannot use the heal effect, because of Amoeba Bandita's "Cytoplasm" ongoing ability. (Had she been a Sideline Fighter, Pork and Brains would have been able to heal.)
Example: After Attacking with a "Pogo Punch," you SWAP FIGHTERS, bringing Pogorilla to the Sideline and moving Sharkfist to the Frontline position. This allows Pogorilla's "Jump Back Schmack" special ability to activate: You spend 2 Super Tokens to use the "Jump Back Schmack" to do 2 more damage to the opposing Frontline Fighter.
(Sidebar labels: Pogorilla swapped from Sideline to Frontline position. Sharkfist swapped from Frontline to Sideline position.)
Block Cards
Some Button Cards double as Block Cards. These cards may be spent as regular Buttons during your turn or may be played as Blocks during your Opponent's Turn to block incoming damage from an Attack (never from Abilities).
When used as Blocks, reveal and discard 1 or more Block Cards to reduce damage done to your Fighters from Attacks by the amount printed on the Block Card(s). A single Block Card cannot be split between 2 or more different Fighters but you can use multiple Block Cards on the same Fighter or on different Fighters.
No Super Tokens are gained when Blocking, even if some damage still occurs to 1 or more Fighters.
Cards used as Blocks are not considered part of any Combo.
Example: The Attacking Player's La Li attacks with "Candy Catana." Normally, this would deal 3 damage to Coldergeist, then she could spend 2 Super Tokens to draw 2 cards. However, the Defending Player plays a 2 Block card, thus only putting 1 damage on Coldergeist. In addition, the Defending Player does not gain a Super Token. The Attacking Player is still able to activate the remainder of "Candy Catana's" effect if she chooses to.
Single Button Cards
Some Button Cards have only a single Button. These Single Button Cards will have a bonus resource that is gained as soon as the Button Card is played. The resource (as depicted on the Button Cards) will either be a Super Token or a Swap Token.
Super Tokens
Super Tokens are spent to power certain Abilities and effects as well as a required cost to perform an Ultimate Attack.
Swap Tokens
Players can spend Swap Tokens to Swap their Frontline Fighter as a FREE Action during their turn. Swap Tokens may also be spent as a 1 Block (all regular rules for Blocking will apply).
Veteran Rules
In this variant, you will only be able to Block damage by allocating cards ahead of time – you cannot Block directly from your hand.
This variant adds two phases to the game: Bonus and Block. The phases of a game turn will now look like this:
Bonus – Action – Block – Draw
Bonus Phase
During the Bonus Phase, any unused Button Cards from the previous Block Phase will be discarded. For each card discarded you may choose 1 of the following bonuses: draw a Button Card, gain 2 Super Tokens, or gain 1 Swap Token.
Block Phase
During the Block Phase, you have the option to allocate up to 3 Button Cards from your hand to be placed facedown in front of you. These cards can be Blocks or not. However, only Block Cards allocated in this phase can be used to Block damage. All normal Blocking rules apply. Cards played during the Block Phase are not part of any Combo.