The competition for the 2022 TGA Mobile Game Awards seems to be more fierce than in previous years.
This year's nominated games include not only the old native mobile masterpieces "Genshin Impact" and "Tower of Fantasy", but also the "APEX Mobile Game" that attracted the attention of players around the world when it was released at the beginning of the year. However, in the end, it was a card game that sounded a little unfamiliar to Chinese players, "Marvel Ultimate Reversal" (i.e., "MARVEL SNAP", hereinafter referred to as "Marvel Ultimate Reversal").
You may not know much about this game, but Marvel Ultimate Reversal wasn't a niche in card circles at the time. In North America, where the game is the main target, nearly 35,000 users have given 5-star praise to "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" out of nearly 38,800 user reviews, and the game topped the download list within 2 weeks of its launch, and ranked in the top 10 card game best-selling lists in 37 countries, with 12.2 million downloads in its first month and revenue of about $10.94 million. The high turnover proves that "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" has good commercial potential, and the rave reviews have pushed it from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, becoming one of the most acclaimed and acclaimed game products of 2022.
In addition to the TGA Awards, Marvel's Ultimate Reversal has also won awards such as the DICE2023 Best Mobile Game of the Year Award and the 2023 Apple Design Innovation Awards. It is not an exaggeration to describe "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" as "the peak of debut", however, under the light of the stage, it is producer Ben Brode's years of hard work in the dark.
Marvel's Ultimate Twist continues to evolve with updates to make the experience even better, so it's definitely a mobile game that we won't be stopping playing anytime soon. ——Tomas Franzese
The Hearthstone Father's Dream Journey
As the soul of Hearthstone, Ben Brode is well-known to many Blizzard players on and off the Internet for his hearty laughter and active figure. He is known as a fun big kid who has dedicated 15 years of his life to his hobby and career, and is a game fan who truly loves games. In 2018, Ben Brode resigned from his position as Hearthstone's game director to set up his own business and found a new studio, Second Dinner.
The Hearthstone community wails over the loss of a powerhouse, but Ben Brode's heart is nailed to the new product. When he was contemplating this product, he had a clear idea in his mind: "My next card game must be faster to play than Hearthstone!" To do this, he needed a fast-paced set of rules that didn't lose depth. This set of gameplay can come from the point game mechanic of GWENT, the field effect of the board game "Kill the Quartet", the three-way lane gameplay of "Dota Relic Card", and the billing action process of Hearthstone...... In fact, you can indeed find their shadows in Marvel's Ultimate Reversal.
On the way to realize his dream, NetEase gave him confidence
In 2019, Second Dinner announced that it had received an investment of 30 million from NetEase and received an olive branch from Marvel IP. In this cooperation, NetEase, which has a deep relationship with Marvel IP, played a decisive role at the negotiation table. As early as 2017, NetEase announced the introduction of 12 Marvel works such as "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Super Spider-Man" and "Captain America" to NetEase Comics, and then, NetEase x Marvel plans to create "superhero" IP in more fields, including games. This is also the main reason for the cooperation between NetEase and Ben Bronze - NetEase is trying to take a deeper cooperation model, providing deep mobile development capabilities to cooperative developers as support, and jointly developing popular mobile games.
Because of this, Ben Brode and his R&D team opened a new chapter with the help of NetEase, NetEase not only assisted Ben Brod to complete the initial team building, but also accompanied him all the way with the completion of the development of the product.
As a result, the framework of "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" was finalized, and after three years of research and development, it was successfully launched in overseas markets, which was a blockbuster.
Now it seems that the turmoil of "breaking up and getting back together" with Blizzard has not affected the cooperative relationship between NetEase and overseas manufacturers, and it is still implementing a larger layout in overseas CCG category games.
In the future, the entry of "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" into the domestic market can also bring more brand influence to NetEase, and players are more willing to see this "hundred flowers blooming" situation.
Blue is better than blue
Marvel's Ultimate Turnaround is partly based on Hearthstone, but it adopts a completely different set of rules, in short, the core rules of the game are to divide the pawns into three lanes, and compete for power points on three independent boards, and after 6 rounds, the team with the higher points in a single field can win the field, and the player who wins two or more fields is the final winner.
All the card effects, field effects and other mechanics in the game serve to control the points, and this simple and easy-to-understand gameplay is similar to "Witcher Gwent Cards", with a low threshold and the fun of the game. The mode of 6 rounds of 3 minutes + billed action controls the infinite variables in a limited time, so that the battle is always fast-paced, and "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" uses a triple game design to compress the player's heartbeat and adrenaline in a compact and exciting game experience, which can be described as the "abyss of wild gambling".
A game comes from the best-of-three rules to bring players a "Tian Ji Horse Race" style of strategic considerations, players on both sides should carefully consider the combat power of the card deck, the point advantage side should use their own "superior horse" as much as possible to catch the opponent's "superior horse", as far as possible in the three ways to form a suppression, while the inferior side should find a way to use the "inferior horse" to deceive the opponent's "superior horse", to fight for the other two ways to gain an advantage. This makes it impossible for the game's "local tyrant decks" to form a crushing advantage, and players still need to be cautious even if the opponent is using the base deck.
The double game is infused by the combination of cards, restraint, and arena effects, and the form of the field is quickly reversed due to the entry of these factors. For example, there is a card in the game that can instantly destroy all monsters above 9 points, which is a perfect restraint for the monster genre, and if the player wants to play the monster genre, they should consider bringing a single card like "armor" in the deck to avoid the destruction of the card.
Turning over the fields in turn may also change the total value of the field, for example, some fields have their own pave effect, and some aura buff cards can produce better effects; Some fields will move the cards on the field to other locations; Some venues require certain conditions to be met in order to enjoy the triggered field effect, such as the Rainbow Bridge, which will move all cards to the adjacent location on the right. Players not only have to play on the size of the points, but also guess the next possible field effect, so that the "betting" component of the game greatly increases.
It's really a test of how well the player can build a deck, and the more accurately a player predicts the composition of their opponent's deck, the more they will have an advantage in the game. "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" itself has a good balance, few waste cards, and random elements such as random venues, and the opponent card deck construction and playing style are different every time players encounter, which ensures the diversity of the gameplay experience, and also tells players that the game does not recommend a set of jack-of-all-trades card decks with old designs.
Triple Play is the most interesting and catalyst for the excitement of Marvel's Ultimate Twist – the Snap option. This option comes from Texas Hold'em's concept of "raising", which is commonly known as the "super double" in Joy Fight Landlord. If the player chooses to "raise" at the end of the game, the game's gains and losses will be doubled, and both sides will double their losses by 4x.
Since the final settlement is for both sides to flip their cards at the same time, the outcome is unknown until the bet is placed. Players can use certain strategies to induce their opponents to make bad decisions, such as showing weakness to double their opponent's head when they have a big hand, or choosing to double down on their opponents to admit their right to abstain when they know they are going to lose (if one side chooses to withdraw to protect the points, the other team wins). The raising mechanism further amplifies the importance of the ability to read the card deck, players have to guess the opponent's deck almost every game, fight for the maximum profit expectation, and the moment of opening the cards is even more heart-pounding and blood-pumping, which is also the core fun of "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" and wanting to open one by one.
Although Marvel's Ultimate Reversal has a very rich number of cards and has more layers to consider when playing, this does not mean that players will face a high learning threshold when they first enter the pit. The game's card trading method is more conducive to players to better understand the game design, because the way to get cards in the game is mainly through continuous experience, and one by one during the game.
This method of collecting cards not only allows players to play the full deck without any monetary investment, but also allows players to slowly familiarize themselves with each card in their hands during the game, deepen their understanding of the deck, and have a smoother learning curve and are easier to get started.
In general, "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" not only inherits and carries forward the strategy and game of "Hearthstone", but also uses a set of simple and easy-to-use new rules to control the time of a single game within a few minutes.
"Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" has received praise from a large number of players since its launch, topping the download list in only 2 weeks, and has won the top 10 best-selling lists in more than 30 other countries. In North America, 92% of the nearly 38,000 user reviews gave 5-star reviews.
The success of "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" is not over, and it has also set off a thousand waves in the industry field. After the product was launched overseas, it has successively won awards such as [IGN Best Strategy Game Award], [D.I.C.E. Best Mobile Game Award], [Apple App Design Innovation Award], [Steam Best Portable Game Award], and many well-known game media such as Toucharcade also scored 90+ in the evaluation, which shows that its excellent game quality and changeable card battle strategy have made the name of "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" famous in the field of card games. Players who like to play GWENT cards without nothing should definitely give it a try.
The awards recognize the best mobile gaming experience released last year based on criteria such as creativity, gameplay mechanics, technical, artistic, and sound achievement, innovation, audience engagement, and critical and commercial success.
epilogue
"Marvel's Ultimate Reversal", which has been making great achievements overseas for more than two years, is currently planning to launch the national server this year. In May, the game will be first exposed in the domestic media, and the official will give detailed information about the launch of part of "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal" on the national server. Although the progress of the overseas version is currently ahead of the national server, the official proposal will accelerate the iteration of the version, strive to synchronize the progress of the international server and the national server in the future, and there will be return benefits for players in the national server.
With Ben Brode personally in charge, the strong alliance to pay attention to the official operation of players in the country, coupled with the characteristics of its fast-paced strategy battles, I believe that in the future, this card game full of buffs and potential will shine in the card playing circle, and your next Hearthstone may really be "Marvel's Ultimate Reversal".