Monster Strike
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is a mobile Japanese role-playing
physics game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. Man ...
with elements of
puzzle A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are differe ...
,
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...
and
cooperative multiplayer A cooperative video game, often abbreviated as co-op, is a video game that allows players to work together as teammates, usually against one or more non-player character opponents ( PvE). Co-op games can be played locally using one or multiple in ...
. It is developed by
Mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded ...
for
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and
Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...
platforms. The game was created by former
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
game designer
Yoshiki Okamoto , sometimes credited as Kihaji Okamoto, is a Japanese video game designer. He is credited with producing popular titles for Konami, including '' Gyruss'' and '' Time Pilot'', and for Capcom, including ''1942'', '' Gun.Smoke'', ''Final Fight'' and ...
. In Japan, its name is often shortened to . The game can be summed up as a cross between
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's ''
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'' and Capcom's '' Metal Walker''; the former in that it centers around monster collecting and the latter in that battles take place using catapult mechanics. By October 2018, the game grossed over worldwide, surpassing ''
Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with Role-playing video game, role-playing and strategy games, strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android (operating system), Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzz ...
'' to become the highest-grossing mobile app of all time. The game has grossed a total revenue at least . A more traditional role-playing game of ''Monster Strike'' was released for the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
in December 2015. The game was adapted into an
anime series is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
in 2015. An anime film adaptation titled ''
Monster Strike The Movie is a 2016 Japanese animated action-adventure film directed by Shinpei Ezaki, written by Taku Kishimoto and based on the video game '' Monster Strike'' by Mixi and Yoshiki Okamoto. It is a prequel and sequel to the ONA anime series of the same ...
'' was released on December 10, 2016. A second anime film, titled ''Monster Strike the Movie: Sora no Kanata'', was released on October 5, 2018, in Japan. A third anime film titled '' Monster Strike The Movie: Lucifer Zetsubō no Yoake'' was slated to be released in June 2020 but it has since been delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


Gameplay

''Monster Strike'' has been compared to competitor ''
Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with Role-playing video game, role-playing and strategy games, strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android (operating system), Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzz ...
'' and other
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puzzle games in that the player battles waves of monsters to collect them, fuse them, and evolve them and earn gold and other items through gameplay to get stronger monsters, and build a list of friends with monsters to use as well. What sets it apart is that rather than being a
tile-matching video game A tile-matching video game is a type of puzzle video game where the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. In many tile-matching games, that criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the ...
, the player aims and flicks their monsters around on a field, similar to
billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...
/
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, bumping off of walls and enemies to perform damage. Colliding the currently in play monster with any of the allied monsters activates that set off explosions, energy beams, or projectiles to perform damage on opponent monsters. Every turn, numerous counters on enemy monsters count down to launch various attacks that deal damage or add hazards to the field. Player monsters often have other unique passive abilities to counter these hazards, or may have passive abilities that cause greater damage to particular kinds of enemy monsters. Some monsters also have gauges that when it is launched at the right time, it activates a secondary gauge ability as well as slightly increases their attack strength. Each of the player's monsters also has its own counter, which allows the player to activate the monster's attack to perform more damage. The final battle of each Quest Mission features a Boss monster that has a moving critical hit point. ''Monster Strike'' also offers co-operative play for up to 4 players. Quests in the game are divided into Solo and Co-Op and then Normal and Event. Event Quests are only available for limited periods of time and often feature rare monsters that are powerful or that can be used in the Ascension of other monsters. Completing the levels of a quest awards the player monsters, catalysts, and coins. In Normal Quests, for completing the penultimate level in the quest, players are awarded a rare catalyst and for completing the final level, they are awarded an Orb as well as unlocking a Bonus Level featuring the experience-increasing or high-selling turtle monsters. A Mission Log is also given to players to reach certain goals in Quests to win other Catalysts, Orbs, or experience-increasing monsters. A third set of Quests are available in the Temple of Heroes. Clearing any of these awards the player that gives one of the player's monsters an additional stat bonus. Initially, only certain Hatcher monsters could have an Ableberry. Later, the ability for rare Event Quest monsters to have Ableberries was added, but only if the player has Max Luck on two copies of the same monster. A Tower of Champions event is also occasionally run in Japan, providing an increased challenge for players to win rare monsters and prizes. A similar event was held in the North American version of the game for Christmas 2015. Each monster has its own HP, Attack, and Speed statistics. The player's three monsters' HP and their friend or helper's monsters' HP are combined for a total HP. Attack determines how much damage the player's monster does to enemy monsters and Speed determines how fast (how much distance) the monster travels in a single turn. These values are increased by fusing monsters together to gain experience, or using special stat-only increasing monsters. There is also a value, symbolized by a
four-leaf clover The four-leaf clover is a rare mutation of the common three-leaf clover that has four Leaflet (botany), leaflets instead of three. According to traditional sayings, such clovers bring good luck, a belief that dates back to at least the 17th cent ...
, that determines the possibility of obtaining bonus prizes at the end of a Mission. Luck can only be increased by fusing two of the same monsters together, or monsters in the same evolutionary line; fusing two Red Smydras or a Red Drake and a Red Smydra will both cause Luck to increase. An additional Luck Skill was added to the game, allowing certain monsters to either have a critical hit or a shield to prevent damage on one turn. After raising a monster to its maximum level, the player can them through the use of . Players can also their monsters into even more powerful forms through the use of other monsters with specific Luck levels. is a combination of the two evolutions, giving the monster a second tier to their Strike Shot and a second slot for an Ableberry. The game also features that the player spends either Friend Points (earned through choosing another player's monster to complete a level) for fairly common monsters or Orbs for rarer monsters. The main Hatcher cycles through a series of different sets of monsters that have an increased availability, with the rarest found during the events. The Friend Hatcher is sometimes used for giving out rare Event monsters for collaborations, such as with
Line Corporation was a Japanese internet company. It was a subsidiary of Z Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank Group and Naver Corporation. It was established in 2000 as the Japanese subsidiary of South Korean NHN Corporation's online game community si ...
and
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...
in Japan. The Japanese edition of the game has also featured a special Hatcher to commemorate the release of ''
Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...
'' requiring special Godzilla Sharls to use it. Collaborations have also been made with Lawson's convenience store chain, ''
Monster Hunter is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games, beginning with first installment '' Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of pl ...
Big Game Hunting Quest'', ''
Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!! is a manga series created by Tetsuhiro Koshita, first serialized in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic magazine from July 1994 to October 1999. The manga centers on Retsu and Go Seiba, brothers who focus on the world of miniature car racing kno ...
'', ''Game Walker'', ''
Parasyte is a Japanese science fiction horror manga series written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki. It was published in Kodansha's ''Morning Open Zōkan'' (1989) and ''Monthly Afternoon'' (1989 to 1994). The manga was published in North Americ ...
'', ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...
'', ''
Rebuild of Evangelion ''Rebuild of Evangelion'', known in Japan and on Amazon Prime Video as , is a Japanese animated film series and a reboot of the original ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' anime television series, produced by Studio Khara. Hideaki Anno serves as the ...
,
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'' and ''
Ultraman The , also known as ''Ultraman'', is a Japanese science fiction media franchise owned and produced by Tsuburaya Productions, which began with the television series '' Ultra Q'' in 1966. The franchise has expanded into many television shows, fi ...
''. The game has an in-game store to purchase Orbs that are used to continue lost Missions, expand the number of the player's available saved monsters, restore Stamina used to play Missions, or use them in the game's Hatcher to earn powerful and rare monsters.


Development

The game was created by former
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
game designer
Yoshiki Okamoto , sometimes credited as Kihaji Okamoto, is a Japanese video game designer. He is credited with producing popular titles for Konami, including '' Gyruss'' and '' Time Pilot'', and for Capcom, including ''1942'', '' Gun.Smoke'', ''Final Fight'' and ...
. ''Monster Strike'' was originally released in Japan in September 2013, and by November 2013 it was credited with saving
Mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded ...
, originally a social media network, under the XFLAG brand, after the app became popular in the
iOS App Store The App Store is an app marketplace developed and maintained by Apple, for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS SDK. Apps can be download ...
. In September 2014, it was announced that a North American version and a South Korean version would be released. South Korean support ended on November 30, 2016, while North American support ended on August 1, 2017.


Music

A theme song for ''Monster Strike'' titled was written by Nagae Kuwabara (lyrics) and Riichiro Kuwabara (composition) and performed by
Hironobu Kageyama is a Japanese musician, singer and composer. He is best known for his work on anime, video game and ''tokusatsu'' soundtracks. Kageyama first rose to prominence as a teenager in the 1970s as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. Following their br ...
. Kageyama performed it live for the first time at the ''Monster Strike'' first anniversary event at the
Nico Nico Douga , known before 2012 as , is a Japanese video sharing service based in Tokyo, Japan. "Niconico" or "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. As of 2021, Niconico is the 34th most-visited website in Japan, according to Alexa Internet. ...
live house nicofarre on October 25, 2014, and the song was later released for sale on October 29.


Reception


Critical reception

With the English language version's release, a reviewer for ''Android Authority'' said that the game was fun, but similar to other games on the market, and had concerns about the length of the game's tutorial levels. On ''
Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...
'', the reviewer found the game not challenging, as there did not seem to be any strategy, and as it is easy to earn Orbs (the premium currency), he could easily use the Hatcher to get better monsters, resulting in just a wait for the Stamina to refill and fuse monsters, until you run out of gold to fuse and space in the Monster Box.


Commercial performance

During JulySeptember 2014, the game grossed () in content revenue, about 90% of Mixi's total income for the quarter. The game's revenue increased to () in the next quarter, OctoberDecember 2014. It overtook ''
Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with Role-playing video game, role-playing and strategy games, strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android (operating system), Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzz ...
'' as Japan's highest-grossing mobile app in late 2014, and its revenues exceeded () per quarter during JanuaryMarch 2015. By March 2015, ''Monster Strike'' had been downloaded more than 30 million times and had daily revenues of $3.8 million. During AprilJune 2015, the game's revenue increased to () per quarter. By June 30, 2015, daily revenues reached $4.2 million. During AprilDecember 2015, the game grossed approximately (), roughly 90% of Mixi's sales during the period. It was the highest-grossing mobile game of 2016, earning a revenue of $1.3 billion for the year, more than ''
Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game originally developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. It uses mobile devic ...
'' and ''
Clash Royale ''Clash Royale'' is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Supercell. The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena. The game was released globally on March 2, ...
''. ''Monster Strike'' earned another in 2017, when it was the year's third highest-grossing mobile game, behind ''
Arena of Valor ''Arena of Valor'' (), formerly ''Strike of Kings'', is an international adaptation of '' Honor of Kings'' (), a multiplayer online battle arena developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by Level Infinite for Android, iOS and Nintendo Switc ...
'' and ''
Fantasy Westward Journey ''Fantasy Westward Journey'' () is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and operated by the Chinese company NetEase. It was released for the Microsoft Windows platform in December 2001. The game is the most popular on ...
''. In Japan, the game grossed () between January 2017 and October 3, 2017. By May 2018, the game had over 45million players worldwide. The game's popularity has led to a partnership with
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which is also known as the SMBC Group. It is headquartered in the same building as SMBC Group in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. ...
to issue
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credit cards in Japan in 2015. By October 2018, the game grossed over worldwide, surpassing ''
Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with Role-playing video game, role-playing and strategy games, strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android (operating system), Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzz ...
'' to become the highest-grossing mobile app of all time. The game grossed a further () in Japan during 2019, bringing the game's total revenue to at least . It was the world's second top-grossing mobile game during the 2020 New Year period, behind only fellow
JRPG While the early history and distinctive traits of role-playing video games (RPGs) in East Asia have come from Japan, many video games have also arisen in China, developed in South Korea, and Taiwan. Japanese role-playing games Japanese c ...
title ''
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''.


Nintendo 3DS game

A RPG version of ''Monster Strike'' for the
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
was released in Japan on December 17, 2015. It features characters and stories introduced in the anime. Characters based on Japanese YouTubers Tomotake "Max" Murai, former CEO of Japanese iPhone news and reviews site AppBank, and beatboxer Hikakin, who both do
Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and (in some cases) a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough ...
videos of ''Monster Strike'', are featured in the game as NPCs. Before the launch day, XFLAG announced that they had shipped over one million copies of the game, making it the highest selling Japan-only 3DS release of all time. The game debuted in Japan at the No.1 spot in the weekly sales chart based on figures by
Media Create is a Japanese company that gathers and analyzes data from the digital entertainment industry, specifically focusing on the Japanese console gaming market. Business operations include publishing, market research and consulting. It is a popular w ...
, selling a total of 437,903 copies, and dethroning ''
Monster Hunter Generations ''Monster Hunter Generations'' is an action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo 3DS. Announced in May 2015, the game was released in Japan as ''Monster Hunter X'' in November 2015 and internationally in July 2016. ...
'' after a three-week streak in the top spot.


Anime

A
web anime An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...
adaptation of ''Monster Strike'' premiered on October 10, 2015, on YouTube. The series' ending theme is a cover of
Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...
's "
We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...
" performed by Japanese vocalist Gloria. A second season of ''Monster Strike'' has been announced and premiered on April 1, 2017. On YouTube, the anime series had been watched 100million times by August 2016, and over 200million times as of June 2017. The ''Monster Strike'' anime got its first spin-off on May 3, 2017, with the ''A Rhapsody Called Lucy -The Very First Song-'' OVA episode. This leads into the ''MSonic! D'Artagnyan's Rise to Fame'' special mini-series that premiered on June 14, 2017. Both ''A Rhapsody Called Lucy'' and ''MSonic!'' are set in a separate continuity from the main ''Monster Strike'' anime.


Localization

Mixi released an English version of Monster Strike for North American and Australian markets in 2014. It was marketed on online websites such as on Facebook. However, Mixi ceased marketing in August 2016, with English eventually being shut down in August 2017 due to both competition in those markets.


See also

* ''
Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with Role-playing video game, role-playing and strategy games, strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android (operating system), Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzz ...
'' * ''
Puzzle & Dragons X is a spinoff of the mobile game ''Puzzle & Dragons'' for the Nintendo 3DS by GungHo Online Entertainment. It was released in two versions simultaneously on July 28, 2016; the and the . An anime adaptation by Pierrot aired from July 4, 2016, t ...
'' * ''Monster Strike'' (anime) * ''
Monster Strike The Movie is a 2016 Japanese animated action-adventure film directed by Shinpei Ezaki, written by Taku Kishimoto and based on the video game '' Monster Strike'' by Mixi and Yoshiki Okamoto. It is a prequel and sequel to the ONA anime series of the same ...
''


References


External links

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