Mushiking: The King of Beetles

Mushiking: The King of Beetles (甲虫王者ムシキング, Kōchū Ōja Mushiking, lit. Beetle Ruler Bug King) also called Mushiking: Battle of the Beetles, is a combination arcade game and collectible card game developed by Sega and released in Japan and other Asian countries such as the Philippines. The game involves battles between cards describing various beetle species. The cards can be scanned in by a Mushiking arcade machine, which will both carry out battles and dispense new cards.

Mushiking: The King of Beetles
Developer(s)Sega
Publisher(s)Sega
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)Hybrid collectible card and arcade video game
Mode(s)Up to 2 players simultaneously
Arcade systemSega NAOMI

As of 2008, more than 100,000 tournaments have been held, and 20 million cards have shipped. The game has made it into the Guinness World Records with the highest numbers of tournaments held for an arcade game.[1] Mushiking has inspired several children's card games in arcades released by Taito, Sega, Konami, Bandai Namco, Takara Tomy, Atlus and Square Enix.

Plot

A long time ago, there was a forest full of trees inhabited by insects and fairies. A fairy named Popo was a friend of the insects of the forest. He refers to the Japanese beetle as "Mushiking". One day, giant beetles from parts unknown arrived in the forest to wreak havoc, under the control of Adder, a wizard exiled from the forest who wishes to conquer it. Popo enlists the player's help to fight against Adder.

Characters
Popo (ポポ, Po po)
Popo is one of the fairies of the forest and is one of the main protagonists. He is responsible for leading the player throughout the events of the games and is a close friend of Mushiking. He is kind and is willing to help and heal other beetles, even if they serve Adder. In the story, he is able to trace and imprison Adder initially with the help of the player, and he imprisons Adder. Though Adder escapes, Popo heals the beetle that helped Adder, and they defeat him again in his fortress. After Adder's supposed death, Popo moves elsewhere to another forest as Adder had burned down their previous one. When Adder is revealed to be alive, Popo continues to have the player and Mushiking stop Adder's plans.
Adder (アダー, Adā)
Adder is a wizard previously banished from the forest, and acts as the game's main antagonist. Prior to becoming a wizard, Adder was a doctor that treated insects of the forest. However, an accident took the life of Adder's son, and the grief-stricken man became evil shortly afterwards. He mutates other beetles by injecting red fluids into their bodies, making them more aggressive, powerful, and submissive only to him. The effects of this mutation is evident by the red, glowing eyes of his beetles. During the games, he returns from his banishment, bringing a wave of foreign and powerful insects to attack the forest. Though he is defeated by Popo and the player, he uses a beetle whistle to escape confinement. After another defeat, Adder proceeds to set the forest on fire. Unfortunately for him, Mushiking had already evacuated the insects of the forest, and he is confronted by the player, Mushiking and Popo, and he is presumably killed at the end.
He later reappears, having survived the attempt with a new plan to mutate beetles in their pupa state, with the hopes of making them even stronger than they normally are, and corrupting them before they can even develop properly.
Mushiking (ムシキング, Mushikingu)
Mushiking is a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle who is good friends with Popo who considers him as the strongest beetle in the forest. During Adder's invasion, Mushiking is unable to fight off all the invading insects, and doesn't appear until much later in the game's story. Once Adder sets the forest on fire, Mushiking appears to save Popo and joins him and the player in confronting Adder for the final fight. He later assists Popo in foiling Adder's new plan of corrupting beetle pupa.
During gameplay, Mushiking was initially treated as a standard Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle, but with extra power. By version 12, however, Mushiking was given his own exclusive card, along with his skill level and super finishing attack being readjusted to fit the change.

Gameplay

Mushiking is a rock-paper-scissors-style battle game that can be played by one player against CPU-controlled beetles, or with two or more players against each other in Tournament mode or Tag Battle mode. The game is played with cards representing beetles and skill cards related to three move types-- "Hitting", "Pinching" and "Throwing". Players scan their cards with the card scanner in the middle of the machine, and choose one of the three move types to execute within a given time limit. The first player whose beetle reaches 0 stamina points loses.

The following things can happen during a battle:

  • If a player chooses the winning move, the winning player's beetle shall execute the skill learned for that type of move.
  • If both players pick the same move, a tie will result and both players' beetles lose 10% of their total stamina.
  • If a player has chosen a move and the other player has not selected a move within the time limit, the other player's move will automatically lose.

Tournament mode is a 2-out-of-3 match between two players, and Tag Battle mode allows players to cooperatively play two beetles as a tag team against an opponent, where they can perform joint attacks if they are compatible types.

Cards

The cards for Mushiking have lengthwise barcodes for players to scan into the arcade machines, and come in several types. Later versions, however, changed this to a single crosswise bar code at the bottom of the card, before the bar code was removed from the front entirely. This was presumably to prevent people from simply printing out an image of the card online, and scanning the bar code on the reader.

Beetle cards represent the beetle characters the player can control. Each beetle card is marked with information on the beetle's species (name, Latin name, description, etc.) as well as the card's stats such as strength in the three move types and stamina as well as their base power, which is usually determined by the size of the beetle and rarity of the card. The Finishing Move indicates the beetle's "favored" move, which can cause major damage to the opponent if the player wins through a Finishing Move. Rare beetle cards are printed with a holographic background and is colored in either Bronze (for 160 Base power), Silver (for 180 Base power) or Gold (for 200 Base power). Several different editions, such as the Parallel Edition cards and the Adder Collection, have been released of the same cards.

Skill cards represent the abilities a beetle can use. A player can only scan one skill card per skill type. Every skill card requires a certain skill point number; if the number is equal to the beetle's skill point level, the result will be a perfect compatibility. If the beetle's skill point is greater than the skill, it results in a "good" compatibility. If the beetle's skill point is less than the skill point of the card, it will worsen the effectiveness of the skill used by that beetle.

Special Skill Cards are skill cards that may give a player the advantage over the opponent aside from an elaborate, damaging move. The skill point of Special Skill Cards is marked with an Exclamation Point ("!"). Special Skills are activated when certain conditions have been met, such as pressing a move on the first count of the countdown, experiencing a tie, etc. There are also rare, "upgraded" skill cards with certain low-level beetles' Finishing Moves. If the right skill card is scanned with the right beetle, the result will be a "Super Max" Compatibility and will deal tremendous damage if used. The upgraded skill cards are moves used by beetles with a Base Power range of 100 to 120, which gives them an advantage against rarer, stronger cards with a higher Base Power rating.

License cards can be scanned prior to the battle, which cause the machine to read off a certain title for the scanning player. These cards are normally awarded by Sega and other officiary bodies to winners of major Mushiking championships or tournaments, and are not dispensed by machines.

Card listing

Beetle card listing
  • 000 Mushiking
  • 001 Giraffe Stag Beetle
  • 002 Hercules Beetle
  • 003 Grand Stag beetle
  • 004 Caucasus Beetle
  • 005 Elephant beetle
  • 006 Japanese Stag beetle
  • 007 Five Horned Beetle
  • 008 Humorous Stag-beetle
  • 009 Little Stag-beetle
  • 010 Parry Stag-beetle
  • 011 Armor Stag-beetle
  • 012 Flat Stag-beetle
  • 013 Saw Tooth Stag-beetle
  • 014 Deer Stag beetle
  • 015 Japanese Beetle
  • 016 Thailand Five Horned Beetle
  • 017 Grant White Beetle
  • 018 Upright Horned Beetle
  • 019 Actaeon Beetle
  • 020 Palawan Stag beetle
  • 021 Rhinoceros Beetle
  • 022 Speciosus Stag beetle
  • 023 Neptune Beetle
  • 024 Atlas Beetle
  • 025 Flat Horned Beetle
  • 026 Rusty Beetle
  • 027 Yellow-Winged Stag-beetle
  • 028 Chilean Stag beetle
  • 029 Tarandus Stag-beetle
  • 030 Golden Stag-beetle
  • 031 Burmeisteri Stag-beetle
  • 032 Moellenkampi Beetle
  • 033 Gideon Beetle
  • 034 Mandibularis Stag-beetle
  • 035 Giant African Beetle
  • 036 Maximus Stag-beetle
  • 037 Saturn beetle
  • 038 Alcides Stag-beetle
  • 039 Emperor Stag-beetle
  • 040 Blue Hercules Beetle
  • 041 Anubis Beetle
  • 042 Fabricei Stag-beetle
  • 043 Didieri Stag-beetle
  • 044 Hasterti Stag-beetle
  • 045 Juggernaut Beetle
  • 046 Feisthameli Stag-beetle
  • 047 Trident Beetle
  • 048 Micro Stag-beetle
  • 049 Hyllus Beetle
  • 050 Cantori Pentagon Beetle
  • 051 Mikura Gamunus Stag Beetle
  • 052 Hardwickei Five Horned Beetle
  • 053 Cypri Stag Beetle
  • 054 Leopoldi Axe stag beetle
  • 055 Gyas Beetle
  • 056 Wallacei Stag-beetle
  • 057 Golden Buckleyi Beetle
  • 058 Gigasu rhinoceros beetle
  • 059 Diamond upright-horned beetle
  • 060 Papua golden stag-beetle
  • 061 Mars beetle
  • 062 Alces Stag-Beetle
  • 063 Tityus Stag-Beetle
  • 064 Stevensi Stag-beetle
  • 065 Black Five Horned Beetle
  • 066 Delicatus Stag-Beetle
  • 067 Melanesian three horned Beetle
  • 068 Forsteri Stag-Beetle
  • 069 Mandibularis three tack Beetle
  • 070 Black Trident Beetle
  • 071 Rubrofemoratus Stag-Beetle
  • 072 Tityus white beetle
  • 073 Black hercules beetle

Cards in the "Adder Collection" have these card numbers with the letter "A" added at the end of the number designation. Currently, the English version features the phrase "Adder Collection" with a small image of Adder.

Skill card listing
  • 000 King Tornado Throw
  • 001 Banging Smash (for grand stag (every version))
  • 003 Dangun
  • 004 Rolling Smash
  • 005 Finishing Attack Stopper
    • This disables the opponent's chance to perform his/her beetle's finishing attack for the next turn. The winning move must be a move that counters the finishing move the opponent's beetle.
  • 006 Last Resort
    • When this skill is learned, the player's beetle can cause additional damage when the game thinks that the player's beetle is weak against his/her opponent in terms of stamina.
  • 007 Bull Lock
  • 008 Rolling Clutch Hold
  • 009 Kingfisher Hug
  • 010 Running Cutter
  • 011 Tie Breaker
  • 012 Confusion
  • 013 Rolling Driver
  • 014 Sidescrew Throw
  • 015 Tornado Throw
  • 016 Sidelock Bomb
  • 017 Agitation
  • 018 Counter Attack Healing
  • 019 Daisharin
  • 020 Crashing Sleeper Hold
  • 021 Healing
  • 022 Machine Gun Punches
  • 023 Crossdive
  • 024 Cyclone Whip
  • 025 Hayate
  • 026 Special Skill Stopper
  • 027 Tie Bonus
  • 028 Power Drain
  • 029 Defense Up
  • 030 Power of Venus
  • 031 S.A.S.(Saturn's Air Spin)
  • 032 Complete Smash
  • 033 Forest Bridge
  • 034 Earthquake Throw
  • 035 Submarine Attack
  • 036 Falcon Dive
  • 037 Mole Attack
  • 038 Rolling Cradle
  • 039 Reverse Slam
  • 040 Somersault Press (for Actaeon beetle start from version 11)
  • 041 Deception Trap
  • 042 Triple Suplex
  • 043 Illusion Attack
  • 044 Acid Rain
  • 045 D.B.B.(Dancing Backside Bullet)
  • 046 Surfing Safari
  • 047 Heavy Blow
  • 048 G.Neckbreaker (for Giraffe Stag-beetle start for version 13)
  • 049 Dive Bomber
  • 050 Mystic crash
  • 051 Axis spin
  • 052 Big Payback
  • 053 Burning Burst
  • 054 Axel Grind
  • 055 Strike Back
  • 056 Hercules Spiral (for Hercules Beetle start for version 15)
  • 057 G.G.Rush
  • 058 Pinwheel
  • 059 Air capture
  • 060 Mars Hammer
  • 061 The Scythe
  • 062 Backspin Blow
  • 063 Green Arrow
  • 064 Emerald Frosion
  • 065 Shark Attack
  • 066 AAA
  • 067 Buffalo Crash
  • 068 Tornado
  • 069 Spinning Wheel
  • 070 Head Spin Rush
  • 071 Wind Talker
  • 072 Hiding in the mist
  • 073 Ducking Through
  • 074 Courageous Blow
  • 075 T4

Other media

Mushiking: The King of Beetles ~ Zach Adventure Series ~ is a manga series written and illustrated by Ooseyoshi. It has been serialized in the monthly CoroCoro Comics from February 2005 to October 2006 and in Bessatsu CoroCoro from April 2004 to February 2008. The manga series has a total of 8 volumes. The story follows the adventures of Zach, who is continuously searching for a treasure on a fictional planet, Dekaiya, while at the same time another, rivaling protagonist, Kabuto Maru, is seeking Mushiking. A Mushiking anime, produced by TMS Entertainment and broadcast by TV Tokyo, aired from April 6, 2005 until March 3, 2006.

Pro Wrestling Noah, a Japanese professional wrestling organization, has given a Mushiking-related gimmick, "Mushiking Terry", to one of its wrestlers, Kotaro Suzuki. Mushiking Terry feuds with his rival Mushiking Joker, portrayed by Ricky Marvin.

On July 24, 2007, Sega released a Nintendo DS version of the game in Japan to commemorate the five year anniversary of the franchise. The DS version comes with the Card Reader that players can use on their existing cards from the arcade game or cards exclusive to the DS game. The game comes with a starter deck that includes 7 cards, three of which give a random beetle in a specialized section every time they are used (rock, paper, and scissors). The game supports all of the arcade modes and includes a Wi-Fi mode to play against unseen players across Japan. Due to a significant difference in power between the Nintendo DS and the arcade machines, there is a noticeable difference in graphical quality and frame rate.

In 2016, Sega released Yakuza Kiwami with a MesuKing minigame, a parody of Mushiking, on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan.[2] The game was released in the West in 2017.

See also

References
  1. "Most official tournaments held on one arcade game series". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  2. ［TGS 2015］「龍が如く 極」「龍が如く6」のプロデューサー，横山昌義氏にインタビュー。シリーズ10周年の締めくくりと，次への展望を聞いた (in Japanese), 4Gamer.net, September 25, 2015
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