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Elemental Monster Duel TCG

In many ways, the Elemental Monster Duel TCG is the forerunner of the ELotH:TES canon, although not directly. Sadly, it has never been released outside of Japan, but an updated version of it is slated to see US stores in 2008.

Published exclusively in Japan in 1986 by PlayOtaku, Elemental Monster Duel actually started life as an innovative RPG board game. Desinged by Kazuki Tajiri, it was a published version of his own card-coded RPG system. Players would create their characters using a pool of Skill Cards from a Character Deck. The players would then place their characters on an Adventure Board and maneuver around an area, drawing Event Cards which triggered things such as finding treasure or fighting enemies. They would attempt to collect more Skill Cards in order to level up their character. There was also an Elemental Monster Deck unique to each player. The combat of the game worked through players summoning Elemental Monsters to do battle with enemies, and also to teach characters spells.

What made the game so unique was that Booster Packs of new cards could be bought and added to the game to increase variety. This made the game wildly successful. As the '80s continued, more full-fledged expansions were released - primarily new Adventure Boards featuring new settings and dungeons with new Event Cards, as well as new Skill and Monster Cards.

Although the game was never released in America, oddly enough the spinoff products were. Hasbro bought the molds and designs of toys based on the game and licensed them for release with an entire new backstory, setting, and name - now known as the Monsters of the Hierarchs. This strange offshoot of EMD would later inspire The Sundering of Vhaxdi novel.

In 1995, the EMD game was revamped to eliminate the necessity to play with the Adventure Board, as Location cards were introduced. This was following a trend started in 1993 where players drew up location cards for themselves to ape the success of various other TCGs, and so that the game could be played more portably.

in January 2007, a reboot of the franchise was begun under the rebranded name of Hierarch Hyper Colosseum Alpha following a lawsuit that granted Kazuki Tajiri more control over the ELoTH:TES franchise, with courts ruling it as a related extension of the EMD. The HHCA game integrates the original world created by Tajiri into the world spawned through the various American spinoffs. The game is also compatible with a card-reading arcade game and is slated for a US release in early 2008.

Differences between Battal and EMD

It is important to note that while EMD spawned the toys that spawned the books of ELoTH:TES, there are myriad differences in story, setting, and characters between the franchises.

For instance, nearly every character had their name, motivation, and backstory changed. For example, the character that eventually became Vhadxi in the US toyline was named Tiger, and was not a vampire, but a heroic Samurai on a quest to save his comatose brother.

Furthermore, EMD was not set on a fantasy world, but rather a forgotten age of Earth with the settings of the Adventure Boards reflecting that - the third Adventure Board was set in the Amazon Jungle, for instance. Elemenstors were also not refered as such, rather they were called Elemental Masters. And the Knack to control Elemanifestations was a potential all humans had.

Kazuki Tajiri has stated does not want to alienate US audiences, so he hopes to resolve and integrate the differences with Hierarch Hyper Colosseum Alpha, and Element Story to create a shared canon between the US and Japanese versions of the two franchies.

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