Nintendo and HAL Laboratory have made some well known and beloved games, such as the Kirby series, but also have made some that most don’t remember and have flown mostly under the radar.Take Arcana, known in Japan as Card Master: Rimsalia no Fuuin,for instance. This was was a card based RPG dungeon crawler., released in 1992.Taking a lot of influence from the Wizardry games and games like Shining In The Darkness, Dungeon Master etc. it had a very detailed story along with a unique twist on the gameplay of the genre. More specifically, the game had a gimmick where all the characters and enemies were represented by cards. Cards were also used in combat at times, but they were not the only part of the game.
The game unfortunately did have a number of issues such as pacing and did not always make the best use of the combat that it had, in addition to a difficulty level that was not friendly to newcomers. This is a shame because I feel it had a lot of potential, and in fact I feel Arcana could still have potential to actually be a big series for Nintendo/HAL Laboratory. It would not be as big as Mario or Zelda obviously, but it could be a very strong additional series for the publisher. Dungeon Crawler RPGs have seen a major resurgence in recent years, and thanks to indie devs, there are more new game in the genre being made now and many using new ideas and mechanics to stand out. This game already has a unique story as well enough of its own identity and a setup that is entirely its own. It could stand out well among games today and provide a different experience.
It would be interesting to see what Nintendo/HAL Laboratory can do with the IP in the modern day, but there is another possibility. Let a developer like Monkey Stories or Almost Human Games have a go at this. They have created some excellent dungeon crawler games and know the genre very well. Arcana was written off far too soon. Nintendo/HAL Laboratory should really consider bringing this game back because it could stand out well for Nintendo today. A title like this would do especially well on the Switch, since the immersion can be had on the go or at home and feel seamless. With the right developer, this could be a hit today.