Big fun. Small niche.
The above is a reference to the Sailor Moon RPG (based on the "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" RPG system) that the Sailor Moon CCG is supposedly based upon. The Sailor Moon CCG, however, is more of a variant -- a superior "beer and pretzels" turbo-charged one -- of Pokemon. It's also one of the few superhero ("beat people up") CCGs that actually feels like a superhero game: Unlike Pokemon and most superhero CCGs, each player is attacking Monsters and Villains played by their opponents. The Sailor Moon CCG mechanics also reflect several laws of anime and superheroes: The Villain only shows up after one of his Monsters arrives (players may only play a Villain as an "evolution" of a Monsters); Heroes never use their most powerful attacks until late in battle (players play Energy cards on their Sailors to play the more powerful attacks); and Heroes never use their combined attacks until a critical moment (Sailors may combine their attacks into a team attack for more damage, but require a successful coin-flip -- actually a game of Jen-Ken-Po or rock-scissors-paper -- for the attack to work).
The major mechanical differences between SMCCG and Pokemon are the following: Instead of only drawing one card per turn (boring), you also may discard cards and fill you hand (cool); Instead of having only one Pokemon fight your opponent's Pokemon (boring), rules include risky team attacks on your opponent's Monsters/Villains (cool); Instead of attaching only one Energy card to a Pokemon per turn (boring), you may attach any number of Energy cards to your Sailor (cool), attach Energy cards to your Monsters/Villains to power their abilities (also cool), reduce the amount of damage your Monster/Villain take from your opponent's Sailors (really cool), and even redo a coin flip (even more cool). The rapid cycling and playing of cards eliminates the dreariness of waiting for a playable card, and the multiple options available for Energy cards adds tactics unavailable in Pokemon. However, the greater use of Jen-Ken-Po in the Sailor Moon CCG adds more luck to the CCG than even Pokemon (which is why you set up your hand to play Energy cards to redo critical coin flips!). And, yes, there are simplified rules for the game (the Basic Game is little more than War) for young children.
The game is available in a two-player Introductory Set, and one-player Theme Decks, one for each Sailor in the series. The two-player set consists of two 30-card decks of two Sailors each (Sailor Moon/Sailor Mars, and Sailor Mercury/Sailor Venus), and each theme is a single 60-card deck of one of the Sailors (or Tuxedo Mask) in the series. Your best bet is to skip the Introductory Set, and purchase the Theme Decks -- then tweak the single-Sailor theme decks to have two Sailors so you can pull the really cool team attacks.
It's a shame that most CCG'ers will pass up this game because of its Sailor Moon license. Its mechanics are well-suited for any Hero-vs-Villain genre, from superheroes to perhaps fantasy combat. Sure wish Marvel and DC chose the SMCCG mechanics, rather than Overpower.
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