computer games featuring tarot cards

Darkmage

Oh Lord, don't get me started on the Shin Megami Tensei/Persona series. I love them. The only reason I haven't been playing them more is because my TV is failing and my screen is distorting as well as the vertical hold is shot. :( Hello Best Buy. :/ Yeah, Tarot plays a major role in that series. The Goetia does too. Two topics near and dear to my heart. ;)

There was a Japanese game called Texthoth Ludo that used Tarot cards. The game even originally came with a deck. I found a copy, sans deck, years ago. Thing is, I don't speak Japanese so I've had to figure out what little I know via trial and error. It came out in 98? or thereabouts for the Sega Saturn. I can play imports on my unit so when I stumbled across this, I had to get it. I found instructions online ages ago but failed to mirror the site, so now they've been lost. *headdesk* I'd love to score the cards that came with it but I don't feel like paying Ebay's scalpers. :/

There was also an old NES game called Taboo. It was published by Rare waaay back in 1988. You can find it as a ROM for an emulator easily enough. I actually have the cartridge itself. It's not bad, you enter your question and it generates a ten card Celtic Cross reading with your 'lucky numbers' at the end. Some of the images used for the cards came from the Thoth deck, others are original. It's an interesting toy, if nothing else, esp. since it comes from the days before automated online readings became common.

Bust A Move 4 on the Sega Dreamcast has a Tarot reading program hidden in it. Well, it's not really an Easter egg as such--it's opened once you beat the game. 'Love' is the only topic selectable and it generates a six-card reading. That wasn't something I was expecting to find there.

There are several Japanese Tarot games available for various systems from the SNES and beyond. But I don't speak Japanese so I don't understand what they're trying to tell me. :/

If I think of anything else I'll post it. I'm a vg collector so I've got tons of stuff and haven't played some of my titles in ages.
 

MizGrace

The thread is interesting and will keep me busy looking at things.
I did find 2 pc games called '3 cards to midnight' the second one is a similar title and there is a follow up there are tarot cards within the game but I dont know if you can actually buy those decks. They are quite nice cards. The back of cards I noticed are The Cosmic Tarot, I only know because I have this deck which is a new find for me! I love them but the front of the decks no idea what they are.
I'll read over the thread now







off topic !!!

I will have to get back to the thread in a few days time I am dealing with a loss at the moment. I just had my Familiar my Cat put down a few hours ago. She had been sitting with me the night before rubbing her face on my tarot cards. she seemed to like the Bohemian animals tarot. I put my flourite near her which I use for backpain and bought her some jade I have kept the stones and they will sit on my wiccan altar. I am pretty sure I will get another cat in time because they are so important to me. she liked sitting by my laptop while I was posting on here and pushing nose and tail into my face for attention.Mrs Bossy paws as I called her. I had sketched her recently and was going to include her in my final tarot deck. I am sure I will add her to it now. I have had many losses in recent years and all too close together as, soon as I have stopped grieving another loss has occurred. since this is a tarot forum I will head back to topic. please let me grieve for now. Thanks so much for your posts here. I will of course respond as its keeping me extra busy which is exactly what I need to be.
 

rygD

There was also an old NES game called Taboo. It was published by Rare waaay back in 1988. You can find it as a ROM for an emulator easily enough. I actually have the cartridge itself. It's not bad, you enter your question and it generates a ten card Celtic Cross reading with your 'lucky numbers' at the end. Some of the images used for the cards came from the Thoth deck, others are original. It's an interesting toy, if nothing else, esp. since it comes from the days before automated online readings became common.
That is exactly the "game" I came to this thread to mention. It feels a bit clunky and slow to me, although it is for the NES. Did you get it back then, or more recently? I haven't seen what the usual asking price is, but I might want to add it to my collection.
 

Darkmage

That is exactly the "game" I came to this thread to mention. It feels a bit clunky and slow to me, although it is for the NES. Did you get it back then, or more recently? I haven't seen what the usual asking price is, but I might want to add it to my collection.

I scored my copy in the late 90's? or thereabouts. Look around--I think it goes for about $15 or so on Ebay which is quite reasonable given the amount of NES collectors out there.

It pops up at Bookman's from time to time which is where I found mine all those years ago. Check in your area if you don't feel like ordering it online. Amazon is full of scalpers--Ebay is too, but they generally tend to stick to a narrower price range.

It is clunky and slow. It's also 30 years old and it was pretty decent for its time. It's like comparing Video Chess on the Atari 2600 to current chess programs. It might as well have been made in the Stone Age.

The Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo also had a Tarot theme game or two. Unfortunately, they were only available in Japan. :( Tarot Mystery is for the SNES, and while it's interesting, there's no translation patch available. It uses the RWS deck and the good old Celtic Cross.
 

MaeWasteland

What about that one Dragon Age game? I don't play DA so I don't know how they incorporated the cards into gameplay. But the art I saw was really good.

Here is a gallery.

Dragon Age Inquisition. The cards don't, from what I remember, actually feature in game play as a divinatory thing or a cardgame (at least, not in the bits I've played through/seen my kid play) but the images are used at various points, e.g. it's a party-based RPG at heart, so there's a party selection screen where you pick which of your companions to bring with you, and the pictures that represent each character are their pictures as seen on the tarot card(s) they feature on - from what I remember, at various points in a given companion's story, their picture may change to a different card. I haven't looked into it too much, but from what I've seen they chose good cards for the characters I'm familiar with.

The deck itself, from what I've heard, is supposed to actually be pretty decent for what amounts to shiny pretty loot from a pre-order, intended to be a nice souvenir rather than an actual working deck, for most people. (There's also a couple of tie-in playing card decks which are available much more cheaply, I've been toying with the idea of getting one for cartomancy type things.)
 

Darkmage

Here's a good article on Taboo: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/kusoge/kusoge-taboo.htm

You can see how they ripped off the Thoth deck for the Strength card. I always found this fun and interesting, but then again, I'm a Tarot fan. ;)

YMMV.

You can find the ROM easily enough with some digging. It runs fine under NEStopia.
 

Shade

The very best use of Tarot cards was in Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness. The hero receives a series of five or so readings in the game to help them get more information about what to do next and which characters to trust. It uses the Russian Tarot of St Petersburg (the game is set in a fantasy version of Eastern Europe). There is a video of the first reading here (the graphics are just those used for the tarot interface - the rest of the game's graphics are much better). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzj1MbZaAcE

Other games:

Rose, one of the fighters in the Street Fighter series is a Tarot reader from Genoa Italy. ANd she even fights with her scarf : ). Her deck of choice seems to be the Radiant Rider Waite in and you can see a bit of her story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxm0i7JO2FE

Ogre Battle uses Tarot cards as spells you can unleash in combat.

Gabriel Knight the Beast Within has a Tarot reading in it that was rather good.

In Assassin's Creed, Mlle Lenormand hires you to murder her enemies ; ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqxRFFGY2YQ
 

MizGrace

Fascinating reading posts. ID reply to everyones IDs but I'll reply to all.
I loved bustsa move but didn't try that version, now I'm interested in it. Ive tried none of the games mentioned except street fighter, assassins creed played them all brilliant fun. There was a game on GameCube you threw playing cards Disney characters were in it.
I'm not familiar with JP games of such other then JP pshome mentioning the new games.except final fantasy imports and a few rpgs so long ago I barely remember the games.
3 cards to midnight I'm playing on PC has tarot detective puzzles in it. Sound HTC give kismet looks fun, saw video if it. Headsets pricey but to be expected. My dishonored deck is OK.
Emulator I need one .. as there a Nintendo DS tarot game persona q. Never bought it but seen it. Lets tarot must be same as snes.
ID like a final fantasy deck. Or maybe castlevania. My quest has begun. Now I want games with tarot themes and decks to hold too. Pay rise needed.
 

rygD

A Castlevania deck sounds nice.