Anime-themed trading card game
Ani-Mayhem is an out-of-print anime-based collectible card game first released in 1996 in the wake of the CCG boom created by the popularity of Magic: The Gathering. Produced by the merchandising arm of Pioneer Animation (now known as Geneon) and published by Upper Deck Company, Ani-Mayhem's cards featured images from a variety of anime series and movies. The first two sets were composed of multiple productions and the third and final set was based entirely on the long-running Dragon Ball Z.[1]
History
Ani-Mayhem was created in the post-Magic boom. When the first set, commonly known as Set 0, was published, its rulebook was considered uninformative and incomplete.[citation needed] Later printings of the game attempted to fix this by including a more detailed rulebook that fundamentally altered the way the game played. The Dragon Ball Z expansion, which came in starter decks just as the original set did, included a rule set that rewrote the game for a second time.
The idea of the game was to allow an open-ended system that would allow all characters from all anime to interact with one another in the same card game. The result was a game that did not manage its terminology well. If you were to print out all the card errata, it would be at least three-to-four times as long as the game's rulebook. Another problem that hurt the game came in the wake of the Dragon Ball Z expansion. The cards in this set were typically much more powerful than the average cards present in Sets 0 and 1, leading to serious imbalance that was further compounded by the vast number of rules changes that the expansion introduced. Critics say the Ani-Mayhem card stock is relatively high quality.[citation needed]
Upper Deck Company tried this multi-property approach again five years later, creating the VS System, which proved to be more successful. Other multi-property games include Sabertooth Games' Universal Fighting System and Score Entertainment's Epic Battles. Decipher, Inc. similarly reused the game engine from the Star Wars CCG in its WARS Trading Card Game.
