It was considered faithful to the physical version, but reviewers commented that it was not accessible to players who weren't already fans of collectible card games.

[1] The game was designed to portray the VS System rules exactly the same as the physical version,[2] created by baseball card manufacturer Upper Deck Entertainment.

[4] More powerful cards, such as Magneto, require a higher available pool of resources and so can only be played in later turns in a match.

[9] The location of a card on the playing field can affect its statistics; in order to attack, characters further away from the opponent must possess a projectile weapon or the ability to fly, for instance.

[4] Adjacent characters with a matching team affiliation within the Marvel universe can also reinforce one another's attack and defense,[7] such as the Spider Friends and X-Men.

[9] Marvel Trading Card Game's single-player mode allows the player to choose one of two different campaigns; one for heroes and one for villains.

[7] Cards earned in the single-player campaign cannot be used in multiplayer games,[15] but they were available for purchase with actual money in an online store until Konami suspended the service.

Konami explained that the game would use Upper Deck's "VS System" rules and would be available for the DS, PSP, and PC consoles.

The PSP and PC versions allow players to use the same matchmaking system, and the game's code is linked so that if one platform is patched, the other must be as well.

The plot, which revolves around the group of robotic enemies of the X-Men known as Sentinels, was created because in real life, competitive play in the Marvel card game community was focused on Sentinel decks around the time of Marvel Trading Card Game's development.

[2] Marvel Trading Card Game was released for the PSP on February 27, 2007 in North America, June 8 in Europe, and July 6 in Australia.

[23] The PC version was released on June 8 in Europe and July 3 in North America, and included a limited edition.

[24] Online matchmaking and the card store were opened in tandem with the PSP version's North American release.

[4][9][34] Reviewers were pleased with the game's representation of the VS System rules,[7][30] but felt that it was less accessible to players who weren't familiar with the physical version.

[5][33] PALGN said "Even though there are a handful of in-game tutorials, they aren't entirely utilised efficiently as they're basically just a big slab of text making the game less friendly towards a wider audience.

"[7] GamesRadar's Eric Bratcher said "If you aren't familiar with the source, get ready for a very steep learning curve.

[31] The text on individual cards on the PSP version was considered difficult to read,[1][9] but the DS format of holding the console sideways to play was praised.

[7][30] Reviewers praised the gameplay options available to players,[4][5] although GameZone described the story mode as "bland" and IGN called it "too long for its own good".

"[4][5] IGN said of the PSP version "Though MTCG's single-player is fairly deep and enjoyable, the focus is on multiplayer ...