let me explain to u all about whole game in general...
the game cost 100 yen (roughly a dollar us to play). after you insert the money, you will be able to choose from three options. 1) play by yourself 2) play with two players 3) buy cards. the buy cards option will allow you to buy 5 cards if i remember correctly before the option resets and the machine tells you to let the 'person behind you play.' when you choose 1 player, the first thing that happens is a card will come out. after that, u choose the difficulty (easy normal and hard). after that, you get to scan 2 hero cards. if you dont have any (or dont want to scan any), you can press one of the bottoms and itll automatically choose decade and double for you or just let the time run out and itll do the same. or if you have just 1 card to scan, the second one will be automatically assigned for you. depending on how to pair up the heroes, bonus will be assign accordingly. some combination better than others. after that, you get to hit the decade driver button on the machine and itll randomly assign bonus stats for you. if you get lucky, you will get more bonus compared to others.
the game is base on a slot system. basically there are two rotating columns. if you get it to stop on the colored block (the rest are gray blocks), u'll score higher points. sometimes one if faster than the other. basically you add the score to both columns and if your score is higher than the other person, you get to attack first. depending on what type of cards you use (speed, power, etc), u can get certain advantages during the slot phase. for example, if your main hero is speed oriented, u will get a plus 10 points bonus. if the score at the end is the same, u will need to press all three buttons on the machine as fast as you can. if the number showed on the screen is higher than the other person, you will attack first. depending on the cards you use, the chance of getting a critical attack is higher or lower. if you get one, the other person cannot engage into their attack and fall into the next round.
during round two, you get to choose to use a special card (the yellow cards u all are talking about) or just do nothing at all. in the special card option, you can do one of two things. if your main hero is kamen rider double, you can scan a different double hero card and he will change form and add more stats depending on what u scan. in the 10th series, there will be more changes to that because of cyclonejoker extreme. or, you can simply scan normal special yellow cards. there are two types, one type is the decade final attack ride. basically, you use it as an attack on the other person. or, the other type of special cards are use to increase stats or do other special related things like, in the next round, the other person will damage you less, etc. depending on the situation, using certain cards will be more advantagous compared to others. depending on what u do, the computer can also choose to just attack normally or use special cards too to counter your special cards function.
in the third round, basically you can engage in special cards again if you didnt do it in round 2 or you can use the final move. in most cases, if you can score higher points on the slot system during this round, your chances of winning are pretty high (aganist the computer). depending on what hero u used and what final attack it does, you need to press the decade driver button on the machine when the arrow comes down and meets the outline of the same arrow at the bottom of the screen. kind of like DDR (dance dance revolution). if you successfully do it however many times it tells u to, you can output max damage. of course, if the other person uses some special cards prior, it can affect how much u damage them).
if nobody is dead yet, there is a fourth round and basically a repeat of the last. normally by this round, you used up ur final move and ur special card function so u are left with just dealing normal damage.
if all else fails, the very very last round, both parties HP will turn 1 and whoever gets a higher school on the slot system wins. but this time, both colums will have to be pressed at the same time.
depending on ur cards, sometimes even if you die, u will come back with some HP left for one more chance. its called 'rider gatsu.' another thing to note is, sometimes during the slot system, even if you lose, sometimes itll allow u to hit ur buttons as fast as possible to gain a higher score again.
besides all this, if you win the hard mode, sometimes u get a chance to go for another round in the extra stage. in the extra stage, basically its the two strongest or best combination character (cards) from the currently ganbaride series). i believe if you win again, theres a chance for another round which i have never seen before). there are cards if you buy the card ganbaride folders, that allows u to go directly to this special stage.
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basically that is a simple way of explaining the game. there are a lot of stat stuff to consider when picking and pairing your heroes and how to counter your opponent. but i gotta say, out of most of these carddass machine card games, ganbaride really is quite childish. especially when you play aganist the computer. if you get enough practice, you can land a big score during the slot phase everytime and win easily. it is quite short compared to the other carddass games too.
as for selling these cards or buying them, ya they can get pricey especially the rare ones. but depending on where you buy it from, some places can sell it cheaper than others. some places sell certain cards for like 7000 yen or say 70 us dollars (especially online shops/auctions). but if you know where to go (especially local places in japan), you can find cheaper (like half of that price). so there really isnt a set market price. well, sorta there is.
anyways, in the end, this game is more about card collecting than really playing the actual game. most of the time, people play by themselves anyways. in japan, kids that are like 5 years old to salaryman that are like 30 something also plays the game. so if you want to challenge someone, i think itll be better if you play with someone older. or itll seem a bit odd going aganist a 5 year old kid. but of course, u have to agree to play with each other before the game can begin. its not like street fighter where a player can just jump in.
anyways, hopefully that clears up on how the game works.
