A trading card game based on the Ultraman franchise is about to blast into players’ hands in the summer of 2024 like the Kyodai Hero’s Ultra Beam. At this year’s TableCon Quest, a tabletop gaming convention held in Singapore, Tsuburaya Productions had the first gameplay demo of the Ultraman Card Game in the country, which we got to experience.

At the event, we also got the honor of having a convention with Eiji Shishido, a seasoned trading card game (TCG) industry veteran with more than a decade of experience and the General Producer for the Ultraman Card Game.

Interview was edited for clarity. 

Ultraman Card Game’s Development

It is not uncommon for big pop culture IPs to launch a card game, but a lot of thoughts were no doubt considered when developing them. In terms of the inspiration behind the development of the Ultraman Card Game, Shishido emphasized that Ultraman is a long-running IP that has lasted for generations, saying that it is for the kids of today as it was for the adults and the elderly.

While Shishido acknowledged that their first target audience would be children, he emphasized that the most important aspect of development is to ensure the card game is “accepted as part of the Ultraman universe and matches with other merchandise, even if it is independent”.

He further elaborated: “How we connect the Ultraman card universe, the characters, their product, activities, and so on is the most important aspect. Our point is that for TCG players, even if they don’t know much about Ultraman – once they played the card game, we hope they may go like, ‘Oh, where is this from? Who is this Ultraman? What this Kaiju?’ We hope they become interested in the universe and the TV series – leading them to get into the franchise, know more about Ultraman, and then in return, become more invested in the Ultraman Card Game.” 

The emphasis on representing the universe faithfully extends to flavor texts, which he mentioned that some card games tend to do away with because they can be a hassle in development. This is not the case for the Ultraman Card Game, as Shishido highlighted that Tsuburaya Productions went the extra mile to localize the game into many languages with proper wording and naming that direct translations may not present the concept well.

“We did it because we believe that it lets players feel the essence of the Ultraman universe, which is very important. So the one key point I will emphasize is the flavor text.”

What Makes the Ultraman TCG Unique? 

Further discussing what makes the Ultraman Card Game unique compared to the other TCGs in the market, Shishido once again mentioned that children would be the primary target audience for the game as most fans would likely be from that age group. However, trading card games are known for long text – while seasoned players love this aspect of card games, it can also be complicated and daunting for children and newcomers.

For the Ultraman Card Game, Shishido highlighted that the cards will have less text because they want it to be “approachable to Ultraman fans, not just TCG fans. It has to be easy to understand and play whether you play TCG or not.”

Shishido then further discussed the marketing of the game and mentioned that the Ultraman Card Game is currently the latest and newest in the TCG market right now. He noted that it is important to study and understand other TCGs in the market, such as the recently released Detective Conan Card Game. One thing Shishido noted is that now the younger generation prefers videos to short, and compares the Ultraman Card Game to it.

“Anime on TV runs for 30 minutes, but now the younger generations prefer watching something short – YouTube Shorts, Instagram Shorts, TikTok Shorts,” said Shishido before revealing the game length of an average Ultraman Card Game session. “This game doesn’t need 30 minutes to play for one session, only six to seven minutes. Even the teaching of the game will be short because the rules are simple. Some card games can last for over an hour, but the Ultraman Card Game will be under 10 minutes.”

The short gameplay session and simpler rules are the main strengths of the card game, Shishido confidently expressed before adding that the mechanics are also rather different from others in the market. “If our card game is similar to others like Magic the Gathering or Duel Masters, players might get the rules much easier but they also don’t feel that there’s anything new. However, the Ultraman card game is something new, everyone can play regardless of how long they have been playing TCG.”

Keeping the Spirit For A Long Time

As we continued discussing the game, we were wondering how Tsuburaya Productions would capture the spirit of the franchises with this TCG. Shishido quickly pointed out that Ultraman releases its TV series annually and every year a new Ultraman is introduced.

“In the TCG industry, it is difficult to bring in new players to a card game because it’s complicated. But for Ultraman, every year there is a new Ultraman – this year we have Ultraman Arc, next year we will have Ultraman ‘something 2025’. This is a very important opportunity to run a TCG for a long time. Every July, we have a chance to draw in new players. In terms of a franchise point of view, we need to push every year with the new Ultraman.”

However, he noted that the newly released Ultraman may not be as popular since not a lot of people know it yet. As such, he expressed strategies to utilize both the new and old to “connect the tunnel to all the series”. That way, “older fans will know about the latest series and the newer fans will know of the older ones.” As Shishido said, “This year is Ultraman Arc, but last year we had Ultraman Blazar, and the year before Ultraman Decker, Ultraman Trigger, and so on.”

Shishido then mentioned that the franchise strategy for Kaiju characters would be different because they are more known thanks to their unique designs – using Zetton and Baltan as examples. Ultraman is not that popular of a character in the USA but the West does enjoy Kaiju as Shishido mentioned “Pacific Rim” is one of his favorite movies. So, Tsuburaya can use this observation as a way to push their franchise for those interested in the monsters rather than the heroes.

Tournaments

If you have an interest in card games, you may realize that local events and tournaments are common. Upon hearing us mention the word “tournament”, Shishido responded with great enthusiasm, saying “Tournaments are very important! A lot of companies tried to publish trading card games but they don’t understand how important tournaments are. They are just selling them like toys. It’s totally different. Our industry is very different. Once we launch the game, tournaments are necessary.”

Shishido also mentioned that balance is of utmost importance for a card game – expressing that they would refrain from introducing power creep to the game, because if cards were power crept rapidly then players would have no point in following the meta. “First expansion releases, second expansion stronger, next expansion stronger – power creep so rapidly, then there’s no point to follow, right?’

Rotations were also a balance component he brought up, saying that it is something card games shouldn’t do. “A card game should always continue. A card game should refrain from rapid power increase and rotation, all cards from any expansion should be viable for a long time.” That said, Shishido mentioned that Tsuburaya Productions may still consider separating the game into legacy style and standard style rule set in the future. 

Back on the topic of tournaments, Shishido said that it is something they are actively considering. He mentioned that Tsuburaya Productions is not a card game specialist company, but a IP holder.

“We, Tsuburaya aim to create new experiences in the universe of Ultraman. This is a difficult point. Playing to win, buying to win, strong curves, and so on are not the experiences we want to realize. What we want to realize is ‘connect the world, connect around the gauges, connect generations’, and make that come true. We are not saying tournaments are not important because I play card games too. But it is not something we only aim for, because we are the Ultraman company, you know – hope, courage, compassion. To create that kind of atmosphere is our duty for this project, and let fans enjoy the Ultraman philosophy. Ultraman is always straight ahead, fights justice, or sometimes stays neutral – Ultraman sometimes even protects the Kaiju.”

“This kind of story is important. Our organization should make it happen. We are preparing the exact concept, maybe it is going to be revealed in October just before the launch. You can expect it because that is one strongest concept when we launch trading card games. Again, we not trying to just make it all about money or just making a card game. To us as the IP holder, the experience and brand image are the most important. So, a tournament is a platform and is something we are considering.”

Southeast Asian Market

Growing up, Ultraman has been a huge part of many of our childhood here in Southeast Asia. It is a very popular series for many children growing up in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries.

Talking about expanding the card game across different regions, Shishido said, “From a trading card game industry point of view, Japan is the biggest market followed by the USA. But in Tsuburaya, we always place Southeast Asia as a high priority all the time because as you said, we have a huge fanbase.”

He then added that while the TCG market in Southeast Asia is not as notable compared to other regions, he expressed that they aim to be one of the best TCGs in the world. In Japan, they will be facing the likes of Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, while the USA’s card gaming world is dominated by Magic The Gathering. But in Southeast Asia, Tsuburuya has a chance to push the game to the top with events and cheaper bundles.

Shishido asked us to imagine seeing Ultraman Card Game being in the top 3 most played in countries like Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and so on. “This is the movement going to be in Southeast Asia. This is how we see the importance of the Southeast Asian market. Ultraman has a high recognition in Southeast Asia.” He then brought up a fun fact that their biggest fan base on YouTube is from Southeast Asia. 

Aside from the card game, Shishido also mentioned the various projects in the Ultraman franchise including Ultraman Rising which recently launched on Netflix. He expressed how different it is compared to the TV series, in terms of animation style and storytelling. He said that these projects will attract different people and is a way Tsuburaya aims to expand the brand more to Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

Aspirations for the Game

With the global launch of the Ultraman Card Game coming this October, we asked Shishido about his aspirations for the game. To that, he expresses how much he enjoyed the One Piece Card Game and the reason being that the game brought in a lot of newcomers who have never experienced TCG before.

“The card game industry is small and can be much bigger. Like One Piece, I hope the Ultraman Card Game can bring in fresh experiences and new players who never played TCG before. We will be having tours in the whole of Asia including Japan and China, where we will have demo sessions. So this is going to be the first opportunity for many to touch and experience the card game. For new players, this is going to be their welcome to the card game community and the first they will be in. We want to bring in new players and more kids into card games. “

“Actually, I would like to emphasize that we are not a trading card game company, but an IP holder that just happened to release a TCG. Our goal is to expand our IP. We are not trying to boost the trading card game fans, but through the Ultraman Card Game, we hope we will bring in Ultraman fans and TCG fans alike. We want to let people know about Ultraman and once they learn about the Ultraman universe, we hope they crave more – looking forward to our TV series, movies, merchandise like action figures, and more. Maybe once a fan got married, had kids, and strongly encouraged their kids to enjoy the Ultraman universe. That’s the reason why we push our IP with the launch of our TCG.”

That concludes the interview. We would like to thank Eiji Shishido for taking the time to answer our questions and share his insights into the development of the Ultraman Card Game.