Duel Masters is a popular trading card game in Japan, and also a cartoon series (on Cartoon Network). The series follows the adventures of Shobu, as well as his friends Mimi, Rekuto and Hakuoh, and like the game itself is based on a culture of card-duelling. Shobu is the son of a legendary card duellist, Shori Kirifuda, and attends the Junior Duellist Center, along with 40,000 other card-duelling students. Duellists use their collections of cards to summon powerful beings from the Creature World, each of whom can be identified as belonging to one of five distinct civilisations: Fire Nature, Light, Water and Darkness. Each civilisation has different attributes: for example, Shobus deck is chiefly a Fire deck, giving him access to powerful dragons, robots and warriors (his favourite card is the Bolshack Dragon), while his friend Hakuoh, leading duellist student at the Junior Duellist Center, plays a Light deck, which typically summons the ultra-tech guardians of floating celestial cities.
Developed by Mistic Software, Inc., who also made the first Duel Masters game on GBA, Kaijudo Showdown offers a story-driven experience in which the lead character must solve a sinister mystery to prevent the world from falling into chaos. Featuring interaction with characters from the TV show, players have the ability to build and fine-tune decks using 300 cards and the chance to enter Shop Tournaments and win special booster packs. Duelling and card swapping abound in this the second GBA adaptation of the Wizards of the Coast (creators of Magic) trading card game.