The Arcade Game That Started My Love for Animals

Emanuel Theodorus

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Back when I was around 4-5 years old, my parents used to take me to an indoor amusement park called TimeZone pretty much every weekend when I'm going to a mall. There, I found an arcade cabinet which pretty much starts my love for animals:

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Animal Kaiser. The King of Animals.

For those of you who didn't know, Animal Kaiser is essentially a turn-based battle arena which involves many different kinds of animals. This arcade game is very viral in Asian countries, particularly Japan (the cabinet origin), Singapore, and Indonesia (my country).

To sum up the way this game works, first you insert three kinds of card, that being an Animal card (your battle avatar), a Strong card (status boost effects), and a Miracle card (bonus strong attacks). When you battle an opponent, you first hit a green button to select an attack that you want to use randomly, and then use a yellow button to select numbers which indicates which one of you will attack (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or doubling from green). You better hope you get a big number though or else you won't get to attack your opponents. The game pretty much goes on until either of your healthbear depleted first.

In case my explanation isn't clear enough, here's a video to help you understand the mechanics.

I really loved this arcade game purely because of the animal variety alone. This game introduced me to a lot of new animals that I have never known before. This game introduced me to animals like Starburst & Cobalt Blue Tarantula, Indian Gavial, Electric & Manta Ray, Sawshark, Side-striped Jackal, Rattlesnake, Coral Snake, Golden Eagle, and Praying Mantis (my favorite)

This is the card list from Ver. 3, one of the earliest versions of the game, and the first one I've played. I still remember this card list pretty darn well.

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I mentioned earlier versions because Animal Kaiser gradually evolves pretty much every year.
There is ver. 1-6, and then it evolves into Animal Kaiser Evolution 1-6. Every versions introduced new cards to collect and use. And more and more animals are introduced as well. You'd find animals like Killer Whale, King Cobra, Reticulated Giraffe, Sperm Whale, Spotted Hyena, Dugong, and African Buffalo added to the game in later versions I've mentioned above, along with lesser known animals like Spiny Flower Mantis, Grey-headed Flying Fox, Spiny Turtle, Axolotl, Bateleur, Great Hornbill, and
Mata-mata in this game.

There is a brand new version of the game after that, which unfortunately I didn't really play that much because I don't really go to arcades anymore after I was around 10 years old. But that version radically changes many things about Animal Kaiser, and that version is Great Animal Kaiser. That version of the game introduced many things, including an ID card, items, mission-based single player mode, and most importantly, replacing the strong card of the previous versions, are Friend cards, which are essentially your animal assist partner during battle.

Here's a video of it for clearer explanation of the change:

There is a new version after Great Animal Kaiser, that being Strong Animal Kaiser, and it's essentially the evolution version of that game. And that's the last version of Animal Kaiser as far as I know.

This game is pretty darn amazing, and when it hit the arcades, it became one of, if not, the most viral arcade game here in Indonesia. Everyone's talking about it. Whether it's in school or anywhere else, this game gained a lot of fanbase to the point almost every time I tried to play the game, I had to wait on a very long queue of people who just can't stop playing this game. It's THAT addicting.

I wonder if any Asian ZooChatters have a similiar experience with this arcade game, because unfortunately, this game is only available throughout Asia and Australia, and UK recently introduced the arcade game, albeit only up to Evolution, and as far as I know, have yet to get a Great Animal Kaiser cabinet.
 
I remember when it came out, I played it at the arcade and became hooked. Still a bit annoying that you had to go to the arcade every time to play, but it was still a very fun game. I remember when I got Atlas I was ecstatic. I think I remember seeing somewhere that Android used to have a mobile version of the game, though I'm not sure if that is true or not. As you said, I've never played Great Animal Kaiser, never seen it here in the UK. The worst feeling while playing that game is when you get an animal card but it's always Hippo Harry. Hated those 3, because they were so useless when actually in-battle. But yeah, Animal Kaiser is very good.
 
I remember when it came out, I played it at the arcade and became hooked. Still a bit annoying that you had to go to the arcade every time to play, but it was still a very fun game. I remember when I got Atlas I was ecstatic. I think I remember seeing somewhere that Android used to have a mobile version of the game, though I'm not sure if that is true or not. As you said, I've never played Great Animal Kaiser, never seen it here in the UK. The worst feeling while playing that game is when you get an animal card but it's always Hippo Harry. Hated those 3, because they were so useless when actually in-battle. But yeah, Animal Kaiser is very good.

The hippo brothers are very amusing to me lmao. Albeit I do kinda wish the hippos have more purpose than just a comedic material. I've never really had that problem where most of the time the cards I get is always Hippo Harry (I don't think I got multiple cards that often, though honestly I kind of disappointed to get Strong cards because back then I thought they were kinda useless lol), and usually, I never really seek out super rare cards like Scorch or Galleon, I just played the game to play with my favorite animals (Praying Mantis is my favorite for being unique and I just liked it a lot. I still remember I got a shirt that straight up prints the whole card of Ver 3 Praying Mantis, because that's how much I loved it lol)
 
I remember when it came out, I played it at the arcade and became hooked. Still a bit annoying that you had to go to the arcade every time to play, but it was still a very fun game. I remember when I got Atlas I was ecstatic. I think I remember seeing somewhere that Android used to have a mobile version of the game, though I'm not sure if that is true or not. As you said, I've never played Great Animal Kaiser, never seen it here in the UK. The worst feeling while playing that game is when you get an animal card but it's always Hippo Harry. Hated those 3, because they were so useless when actually in-battle. But yeah, Animal Kaiser is very good.

And by the way, what's the rarest card you've remembered that you owned?

Mine is Master Leo, albeit I just bought it from a pack, not from the actual arcade itself lmao. I've never really used it though, as by the time I got it, I rarely go to arcades anymore.
 
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Here's a picture of some of the cards I've owned. There are a lot of them, but it was kept somewhere else.
 

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Never heard of this (looks like the game never showed up in the US) but it looks really cool! I totally would have been into it as a kid.
 
Never heard of this (looks like the game never showed up in the US) but it looks really cool! I totally would have been into it as a kid.

Too bad Animal Kaiser never hit the US, because in Asian countries, this game is extremely viral. I was hooked on this game when I was a kid, and there's always a long line waiting for that person who never runs out of credit (to the point they had to made a maximum 5 times to play rule lmao). If you ever get a chance to visit any asian countries, I'd recommend you to go an arcade and try it out.
 
Too bad Animal Kaiser never hit the US, because, in Asian countries, this game is extremely viral. I was hooked on this game when I was a kid, and there's always a long line waiting for that person who never runs out of credit (to the point they had to make a maximum of 5 times to play rule lmao). If you ever get a chance to visit any Asian countries, I'd recommend you to go to an arcade and try it out.
Yeah, it looks fun. I'll look for it if ever end up going somewhere in Asia (Possibly not in Japan because I'd probably spend the whole time looking at Godzilla stuff XD)
 
This reminds me of the Dinosaur King anime I watched as a kid and the arcade game, although I never played it.
It does, in some ways, a bit similiar to Dinosaur King, albeit the rock paper scissors mechanic is different and they don't really do elemental attacks in Animal Kaiser, most of the attacks are rather stereotypical animal behavior/myths.
 
Yeah, it looks fun. I'll look for it if ever end up going somewhere in Asia (Possibly not in Japan because I'd probably spend the whole time looking at Godzilla stuff XD)
It is very fun I've got to say. You don't have to go to Japan, maybe in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, or in my country, Indonesia because that's where this game is also being viral.
 
It does, in some ways, a bit similiar to Dinosaur King, albeit the rock paper scissors mechanic is different and they don't really do elemental attacks in Animal Kaiser, most of the attacks are rather stereotypical animal behavior/myths.
I often find myself wondering what element animals and dinosaurs would control if they ever had those abilities. (Like a seven-year old kid XD)
 
It is very fun I've got to say. You don't have to go to Japan, maybe in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, or in my country, Indonesia because that's where this game is also being viral.
Singapore is on my list of top five countries I need to visit mostly because of the Gardens by the Bay and the several Zoos.
 
While I do appreciate that there's a game that lets me pit animals against each other from bears to sea urchins, I never have been able to compelled by this game because of the hero/legendary characters which looked as if they belonged to deviantart.
 
While I do appreciate that there's a game that lets me pit animals against each other from bears to sea urchins, I never have been able to compelled by this game because of the hero/legendary characters which looked as if they belonged to deviantart.


Hahah, I know that feeling. To be honest, I never really care about the "special" characters outside of Galleon, Atlas, and Scorch. I just cared about fighting the "normal" animals because of their interesting moveset.

And btw, Sea Urchins are also some of my favorite animals there, purely because of how creative and unique their moves can be (shooting barrages of spiky spines, turning giant and crushing opponent with their giant mouth, and turning into an Uni sushi and drops on opponent).
 
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