Button mashing arcade fighters are a huge part of my teenage years. Spending hours at the arcade over Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Marvel VS Capcom, and Tekken is where a lot of my money was spent. Neon Reign is a head-to-head card game built on arcade fighting game nostalgia from designers Manny Trembley and Aaron Hein.
Button Mashing Goodness
Each game of Neon Reign starts with the two players choosing their Hero. The twelve unique Heroes in the game have a special power that players want to unlock by gaining stars during the match. While the Heroes will be different, the decks that the players utilize are both identical.
Neon Reign uses a combination of button and joystick cards to execute a variety of moves. The attacking player will rely on both of these card types while the defending player is working to shutdown attacks with joystick cards. The game does a great job of creating tension using hand management with a max hand of seven cards. The attacking player can play up to three cards while the defending player can respond with up to two cards.
Players each start with twenty-five health on their Hero dial and are fighting to reduce their opponents Hero to zero or below.
C-C-Combo Breaker
As the attacker (active player), you want to create combos using specific button and/or joystick cards. Creating a combo allows you to gain a bonus that can give you the edge against your opponent. Neon Reign has a fantastic player aid that gives you the bonuses from each card combo.
Defending players want to play Counter cards in order to shutdown the attackers cards. The Throw card will remove the attackers joystick while the Block card will remove a players button. Playing the rare Combo Breaker card will shutdown any combos that the attacker has earned and allow you to play a bonus button card to deal damage. As a defender, you can spend some of your earned shield tokens to block the damage from reducing your health.
After resolving all the cards and taking any dealt damage, the defending player becomes the new attacker. As the attacker, you can rest instead of attacking, allowing you to draw back up to the seven card hand limit.
Knock Out
Each Hero in Neon Reign comes with a unique star power that can be triggered when they collect a specific number of star tokens. Earning this power can some times turn the tides of a match. Speedily earning a Heroes star power can throw chaos into a match.
These star powers are nicely balanced with some of the biggest abilities costing a lot of stars while lesser abilities can be triggered multiple times during a match. Stars can be earned from joystick cards along with combos that you can create as the attacking player. Once a Hero is at or below zero health, players can shuffle and play again or go back to selecting a new Hero for another match.
A Fist Full of Quarters
Neon Reign is a tight hand management game. It only takes a couple turns to realize, just because you CAN play three cards as the attacker doesn’t mean you SHOULD play three cards. It feels like a game of chicken as you watch your opponents hand dwindle down, knowing that they may not be able to defend themselves if they don’t skip an attack turn to draw new cards.
There is an excellent back and forth to this game as players make tough decisions each turn. Sometimes it’s better to just take five or six damage to have the cards in your hand at a critical moment.
The gameplay of Neon Reign absolutely feels like an arcade experience. Looking for the right time to counter your opponents attacks and looking for combos is strategic and satisfying. Even though each players deck is the same, the Heroes bring enough uniqueness to the game. We mostly play Neon Reign as a “best of three” matches. I don’t think this is a game where you’ll sit down and play 5 or 6 games at a time, even though a regular match is around fifteen minutes.
Final Thoughts
While I haven’t played the solo mode of Neon Reign, I’ve heard excellent things from other content creators about this automated system. The solo deck and CPU Heroes seem like a great touch for players who want to experience the game when they don’t have another player around.
The electric neon look of the game immediately stands out on the table. It’s honestly surprising how much character this game has even though 80% of the game is button and joystick icons. We have the deluxe version of the game which contains acrylic tokens and metal coins to award to the winning player when playing a best of three game. The player aids are excellent and after two or three matches, you’ll get the rhythm of the game. Since Chip Theory Games is the publisher, the cards are durable PVC plastic that’s going to hold up against heavy gameplay. Just be warned that shuffling these cards the first two dozen times means they may just slip out of your hands like projectiles.
Neon Reign is going to really connect for gamers who are looking for that nostalgic arcade fighter in an accessible card game. It’s quick to learn and the gameplay is fast once you get to know the combos. Neon Reign is a great buy for anyone looking for a head-to-head card game that brings them back to their time in the arcade.
Neon Reign is available at your local game store or online through the Chip Theory Games webstore.
This game was provided to us by the publisher for review. Read more about our review policies at One Board Family.
Highs
- Quick and accessible gameplay
- Fantastic player aid
- Arcade nostalgia and neon style is on point
- Triggering Hero star powers are really satisfying
Lows
- High quality PVC cards are super slippery until broken in
- Replayability may suffer long term with a lot of play
Complexity
Time Commitment
Replayability
