Greetings, Octoroks!

I’ve found myself getting immersed in pop culture nostalgia quite a bit lately.  It’s not difficult nowadays – this year alone is seeing the 20^th or 25^th anniversary of something major that we all enjoyed years ago – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ghostbusters, Transformers.  And with movies, video games, toys, and Blu-Ray releases of those properties coming out one right after the other, it’s almost impossible to avoid anything from our childhoods right now.

So, imagine my excitement when I was able to find my favorite Collectible Card Game of all time in my garage.  Nope, I’m not referring to Magic: The Gathering.  It can go tap its mana somewhere else.  No – my favorite CCG also happens to be (in my humble opinion) the best super hero CCG that has been produced so far – Overpower!

I started collecting this game when I picked up my first starter deck back in August of 1995 (when it was first released).  I’ve never been a big fan of any kind of card game, but this one had me pulled in just from the initial concept – players battle each other with their own teams comprised of characters from Marvel Comics!  Each player has a team of four characters, which can be made up of heroes, villains, or a mixture of the two.  Each character has a set of stats listed on their character card divided into three categories – Fighting, Strength, and Energy (DC would eventually get in on the Overpower goodness and add a fourth stat: Intellect).  The players use these stats on each character to play power cards with the appropriate categories to attack or defend.  On top of that, each character also has his or her own special attack or defense cards that add a unique touch to each character.  Eventually, other types of cards would be added to expand and change gameplay.

What I loved about this game was how simple it was to pick up and play.  When I picked up my first starter deck I was able to play the game in minutes.  And once I had that down I managed to get several friends and family members hooked on the game also.  It became quite inane.  It seemed like almost everyone I knew was collecting Overpower cards.  We would play for hours.

I continued to find folks willing to play a game or two when I left home and joined the Air Force.  I kept my “team” with me (when I could) wherever I went.  It seemed like that no matter where I found myself, someone had a personalized deck on their person and was willing to throw down.

Unfortunately, Overpower must have listened to the advice of the Kurgan, as the CCG burned out rather quickly over the course of a few years.  The game gained popularity once DC was added to the fold, but the fact that the Marvel side had to reprint all of their pre-DC character cards with an added Intellect icon in order to remain compatible just added one more nail in what would be a quickly-built coffin.  Overpower started losing steam quickly.  By the time Image Comics got in on the action, Overpower was pretty much dead.

Since the demise of Overpower, both Marvel and DC have gotten back into the CCG market.  In fact, both companies went the joint route once more with the VS. CCG system that came out in 2004.  But even that latest attempt has paled in comparison to that first foray into combat card gaming.  I tried playing it a couple of times myself.  But not only are the mechanics different, the VS. CCG just doesn’t have the same heart or spirit of Overpower.  It’s just not the same.

Now that I’ve managed to find my entire collection, I have this growing desire to start playing again.  I really want to start getting people together like I used to and playing for hours.  This game is just that much fun.

Unfortunately, I doubt every other person out there has a deck on them anymore.

The Don is still missing his Intellect stat.

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 6:16 am and is filed under American Comics, Donnie Sturges, Fandom, games, geek love. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.