Entertainment/Gaming Consoles

[vsp]

Told ya.

Nori and Taka (in Joy Joy) are pretty good punching bags for a while, in order to build up a decent card library. Standard opponents give you three cards when you beat them; bosses give you five, but you can't fight a boss until you've beaten all the standards in his/her area, so don't worry about stumbling into a fight that's too tough just yet. (You might stay away from the Resident Evil area for a bit, though.)

The bosses each have a particular strategy. One is in love with AC cards and cards whose powers replenenish his/her own deck, so as to try to run you out of cards and win that way. (Hint: I've been playing for a couple of years and NEVER run out of cards.) One loves extensive use of team-ups, often centered around the Heidern family (Heidern, Leona, Ralf and Clark). One has a lot of brute-force cards. One has a fairly balanced deck with one major "gotcha" card that can be a rude surprise. One takes an anti-AC approach, using cards that strip your hand down to minimal size so that his/her heavy hitters have a clearer path.

Of course, I won't go into which boss is which...

In the meantime, two quick hints:
* There are two noncombat ways of accumulating cards. One is a crane machine (location varying depending on which version you have) that can give you one freebie at a time; usually schlock, but I got a Guile from one once. The other is the trading machine that's in two locations; put in ten D's or five C's, and you get a random card in return. Again, often schlock, but the prizes are often much better, and two are unique to the machines and can't be obtained by other means.

* If you have specific cards in mind -- which you don't yet, as you're busy learning what the cards can do and who's who -- there are traders who'll offer four cards at a time, and who'll trade three of yours for your choice of one of theirs. It's rarity-for-rarity, so you need three C's or rarer to get a C or three B's or rarer to get a B, but it's a great way to get the specific cards you need.

Oh yeah -- and Donovan rules the freakin' earth early on. You'll see why if you get one.