Hyper: Mega vs. Ultra!

We will run a promotion soon where people can acquire a promotional hyper form of one of the monsters from Monsterpocalypse™, and we had a small discussion about how to refer to this figure. I realized that we haven’t told the public anything regarding the hyper and alpha forms of the monsters. Thus, now I post, so that you will know!

One of the elements that I have noticed in some Japanese works is the elevation of a character (monster in our case) to a higher state of being. The character can tap into “something special” within to unleash powers they could not normally perform. This usually occurs when momentum is on the character’s side or when the character is on the ropes and about to be defeated. To capture the spirit of this, Monsterpocalypse offers players hyper forms.

The alpha form is the monster’s “base” form in which it starts play. During the game you may expend Power Dice to transform your monster from its alpha form to its hyper form, which is actually a different figure with a different set of stats. This allows you to finish your opponent with even more awesome stats and abilities than your monster’s alpha form contained. You also enter your hyper form when your alpha form is destroyed; this gives you a chance to turn the momentum of the fight back in your favor. It also means that you must destroy your opponent’s alpha and hyper forms to win. Thus hyper forms cannot be ignored.

When you get a monster in a Starter or Booster Box, it comes with its corresponding hyper form. Some of the monsters actually have additional hyper forms that provide different twists on the same monsters. You can obtain these through special promotions and events. To distinguish the different hyper forms, we have multiple classes. For instance, the first Monsterpocalypse release has ‘Ultra’ hyper forms, while the ones available through our first organized play events are called ‘Mega’ hyper forms, and there will be even more in the future!

A lot of care has gone into making sure the Mega hyper forms do not outperform the Ultra hyper forms. The design goal for these Mega forms is to provide a different experience with the monster, which is just as competitive without creating an unbalanced play experience. Some hyper forms actually lose advantages that the alpha form possessed while picking up other advantages. For example, the Ultra form of Cthugrosh (The Grand Poobah of the Lords of Cthul) actually replaces his ability to fly with jump but gains a mess of higher stats — practically across the board — and swaps his Summon ability for an ability called Terrify that prevents units from going into base contact with him. His Mega hyper form gets a bump to his stats just like the Ultra version, but trades in all six of the abilities on his alpha form for five other abilities, including Overload, which does double damage if your opponent has over five Power Dice! OUCH!

Now when you see the promotion that offers you a Mega hyper form, you will know the difference between that and the Ultra hyper form that comes packed with the alpha form of your monster.

And hyper forms are half the battle!

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