Last updated on January 15th, 2026 at 02:40 pm
MIYAMOTO – Card Game Review
MIYAMOTO is a Card/Board game from HIDEKI HANIDA, first launched in 1st December 2018.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 204+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes MIYAMOTO Stand Out
MIYAMOTO is a single player card game with a miniature board.
Game art is simple and oriental world with Samurai.
Also offers fast paced gameplay and strategy for mobile optimized.
This game is not TCG/DCG. Like a Roguelike card game.
The important tactics is when and where and which play your card.
Random deck on each battles will not promise their results, It's up to your tactics.
Collect unique heroes and defeat MIYAMOTO.
Features
- Solitaire style gameplay
- 8 unlock unique Heroes
- Random instant deck building and loot a card by every fights
- 2-3mins fast paced gameplay
This Card game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, MIYAMOTO is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 28th November 2020
Recent improvements include:
+Local PvP mode is now available. You can play with your family or partner using one device.
+optimized new iPhone resolutions.
+fixed few bugs.
Download & Availability
MIYAMOTO is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
The game is great, but there is not a tutorial (though frankly it doesnt need one, its pretty simple to figure out) so bear that in mind. But that said, its fun, easy, and addicting. As you start, your monarch tokens are set on the board on square bases, every other unit is on a circle base, the goal is to take out your opponents monarch. Yeah, the AI does often get a better hand in the later levels, but, if youve managed to figure things out well enough, its not much of a problem, and 90% of the time, the AI will only place two cards per turn. Coins are a little tedious to collect, you get them by winning levels, the amount depends on what the opposing monarch was and what level it was we think, and thats about it. All in all, we think its a great game.
1 of our favorite games on our phone for the past 2 years. Yeh it may not have online or cloud save feature, but its a fun solid game that makes u plan ahead and rethink your strategy and next move. We like what this game dev did. Also doesnt have microtransactions or ads which is totally awesome. Very clean game, runs smooth, havent come across any crashes or bugs. Definitely buy this. It will keep u coming back.
Beautiful miniature tactical game.
It came with no instructions or tutorial but after a few rounds we were able to figure out how this game works and we love it. We beat it after a day and then was able to use points from winning to get new characters with different abilities to try the game again and again.
Absolutely love this game. Wish sev would make a part 2 or add more. But It is just such a well made and fun game.
Didnt purchase this for years due to the somewhat non-impressed 4 star reviews. Glad we finally pulled the trigger as this game is so much fun, super easy to pick up how to play, a decent brain teaser, and the art is beautiful. This is a fantastic game – thank you so much for making it.
Might be the best game ever made, even with its limited build out. The strategy… While in the surface simple, its a very complex stretchy game, really. We would PAY MUCH MONEY FOR AN UPDATE TO THIS GAME.
The multiplayer mode isnt super useful right now because player two does not get tooltips.
Really cool game if you like strategy. Beautiful design as well. Only problem is its not long enough. Please add more levels.
Pro: we still play this game, unlike the other 98% of the games we download, play once, and eventually delete. Con: No way to mute the sound? Thats kind of odd. Also, we have no clue why you get to pick a reward card after winning a battle. Its not like you can edit your deck or winning a card makes it more likely to appear or anything. Seems like an unfinished feature to us. Not sure why it wasnt removed.
This game has amazing potential, but with that being said its kind of a let down. The amount of gold you receive from each battle is small and the cost to get new leaders is crazy high. For the price tag its not bad at all for a few days of game play.
Ive really enjoyed this game. We wish there were new board pieces, just for fun. We know chess hasnt changed for hundreds of years but doesnt mean we have to do the same thing here. Also after 3rd person the difficulty raises tremendously. Only beat the lineup once. Also initial character strengths could be balanced as well. These are small asks, overall its worth the few dollars we spent. Thank you to the devs.
We give this a 4, nice concept and beautifully done but its missing one thing. The chance to play against someone else that actually isnt a cpu. When that day comes you will get your 5.
We like the gameplay and visuals. However, our low score comes from that lack of content and variety. The game is very short with not a lot to it. The only variety comes from multiple heros to unlock. You only get one path during the game play. Leads straight to the same boss. You can complete the whole game in like 10-15 minutes. But every completion earns coins to unlock the other heroes. Very few cards to use throughout the game. And you always get the same ones. Making each run feel the same. Our last complaint is that the game drains our battery faster than it should.
Its cool, and its slick, and its got a nice minimalist approach, but for a game where your main goal is to replay the game over and over until you eventually win only for the game to give you a very bland congrats for winning message before starting you back over is highly disappointing. As are the spelling errors on the cards. But its neat to play.
We gave this game 2 stars only because the design and concept are really cool. But there are too many problems. We regret buying it and dont recommend it. (1) it made our phone very, very hot. Our phone isnt old and Im on the latest iOS. (2) it drained our battery super fast, one percent a minute. Thats insane. (3) Even if you win a level, if you close the app, you have to start all over. We can understand starting over if you lose, but if you win it should save your place. Who has time to go through all 8 levels in one session? Not us. (4) you eventually figure out the mechanics, but the UI isnt very intuitive. A game at this price should have at least a simple tutorial. We wish we hadnt bought this game.
We very much enjoy the game, and we only have one problem. We want to turn off the sound/music. It overpowers the music/podcast we are listening to. We will change this to 5 stars when this is made available (or easier to find if it does exist).
The game will literally put you at the mercy of the Deck and the Card Draw RNG. You win or lose when the game says so. Heavily punishing. Not worth even the fraction of money we paid for this game. If you want a better card game with similar art style but just overall better then go play Fights in Tight Spaces on Steam.
This game is a really good game. You have to have a good strategy and some luck. Unfourtanly no instructions at the beginning but if you are smart it is easy enough to figure out. Some features we think that need to be added is an actual campaign mode and online battles. This is really worth the money please get.
We have noticed minor glitches here and there, but as time went on most things were fixed. We would love if the developers decided to insert a online multiplayer mode. We feel that playing the computer is not enough of a challenge for us. We make up our own challenges for ourselves as we play along. For example, sometimes we make a point to eliminate every enemy piece before we can finish of the queen/king. Or try to eliminate as few as possible. If there were varying levels of difficulty you could choose we think the game would be that much better. Until some more additions are made this is only a 4 star game for us.
This game would be a lot better with new characters and a way to check your stats. Multiplayer isnt really an issue now that pass and play is a thing now, but stats and at least 2 more characters should be added. Things like Pawns killed bosses defeated MIYAMOTO defeated Pawns played Highest damage 1 pawn had Highest win streak Things like this should be added in a stat sheet. And 2 new characters would be really cool. We play this game a lot. And the strategy has gotten very Easy. It would be really cool to have some new characters to spice it up a little bit. Like a pawn that knocks things back or a pawn that could heal add 1 or 2 hp to surrounding pawns when used. This game has so much potential and a high opportunity to be one of the best mobile games out there. The matches dont take so long and its visually pleasing. We hope a wish the developers would keep adding and making this game the best it can be.
This games core mechanisms are fantastic. It just needs more than the handful of cards. It would be amazing to see more cards getting added.
Good game, but we went from confused and barely knowing how to play to beating the game already in a day. Wish there was more to do/ more cards.
The game looks as if it's a good concept but where are all the words? Where is the text telling us what anything is? Where's the tutorial.
Just drops you right into a card game that has no tutorial or even help section (you literally have to Google how to play). There's even a mode that if you click it you're just stuck in it with no way to back out (you have to force quit the app). Save you $3 for something you know you'll enjoy. Game doesn't even give you a demo. Stupid. Waste of money.
Im loving this game! Its super challenging, beautiful art, and very fast game play! We hope there are updates that add new pawn type pieces, there is SO much more potential to an already great game! GREAT JOB.
This is The best Game because The challenge is awesome.
What a great game we stumbled on here! You take turns placing samurai pieces on a board, or playing cards, with the goal of eliminating the enemy general. Each playthrough is randomized with the opponents cards and your own. Make it all the way to Miyamoto, defeat him, and you win! Honestly, we haven't been able to put it down. We just wish there was multiplayer, to let us try facing a human = ). Also, there are no in-app purchases of any kind!! This is great, although we'd actually be happy to chip in and purchase a few new generals to support the creator, if it were a option. Totally 5 stars.
Update: since IOS 13 its causing our iPhone X to run really hot Not sure if its the game or IOS, but something has changed. Great game – attractive graphics, smooth play and short matches. Easy at the start but requires thought as levels get harder. A fair price for what it gives you. We do agree with another reviewer that sound should be user configurable on/off. Otherwise -recommended.
This is a fun game. It does eat your battery and we really wish it had a tutorial. We are looking forward to playing this more.
We are really enjoying this game and it is well worth a try. The reason for the 3 stars is the lack of transparency and/or bugs within the game. Our very first game we made it to the final board where 2 of our figures somehow occupied the same spot on the board and the game eventually locked up. Now that Ive been playing awhile, we see discrepancies often. The computer often deals more damage than their indicated attack. Is this a bug or do they do double damage in certain situations? Our attack bonuss go away or are reduced. How about some sort of explanation in the game for these anomalies or maybe its some bugs need fixing. Edit: After playing some more, we felt the need to add a star. The gameplay just hits a sweet spot for mobile. It is quick and addictive with a fantastic aesthetic. After buying one of the better players to start, we were able to finish a run. The computer occasionally still does more attack then indicated by their attack number which is frustrating and we still feel is a bug (Ive seen the computer do 5 damage several times when his attack is 3. Once when no one else was on the board). Ive also learned that our attack bonus only lasts one hit and that area damage is reduced 1 per square. Again this could have be explained somewhere Still very much enjoying the game and keep coming back for a quick run.
Its a fun game to play in your off time but there is no explanation at all, It took our so long to figure out everything and home screen. And we know it needs improvements but later on, multiplayer would be awesome.
This game was a lot of fun to play but we thought it was a little too easy. Would be cool if you could increase the difficulty. Sometimes the computer just makes some dumb moves that dont make sense. Also would like some more unlockables but that doesnt matter too much. Even still we go back to this game sometimes cuz its relaxing and fun.
Just please please please add more stuff to do after you defeat Miyamoto, new bosses.
One major flaw. The latest update is way too processor and battery intensive. Heats up our iPhone X so that the screen dims and it gets hot to the touch. Please allow a low processor option. Game looks gorgeous but it becomes too taxing to play. This is an excellent roguelike card/board game with gorgeous animations and surprising depthand tons of replayability.
No explanation for anything. U gotta go through some growing pains to understand each unit. Once youve played a few matches, you feel like youve played them all.
Nice art style and we enjoyed playing through the game a few times and unlocking 2 new characters. But there wasnt much else to do after that other than play the same levels dozens of times to unlock the remaining characters. The AI isnt very good, they would often miss the chance to kill your leader (instant loss) and go for a weaker unit instead. Nice game for a few days.
Great game. We like that it is not a pay-to-win CCG like most of the other card/board hybrid games nowadays. In-depth strategy while still a quick, fun play. Biggest flaw is the AI is not very strong. We have seen on multiple games the AI miss game-winning moves. Sometimes it does not seem to recognize that it can kill your "king" and so it just does another attack move instead. We feel like this should be able to be fixed. Minor flaws include a lack of instructions as others have mentioned. While the game can be figured out fairly quickly, why not include a tutorial or instructions? Also, we're still fuzzy on why sometimes our attacks do less damage than we think they should. Others have mentioned RNG but Ive played several dozen games at this point and while, yes, sometimes, you get a bad hand we dont find we lose games to bad luck that often. (It does happen.) Normally we can retreat and play defensively until the card draws turn to our favor.
This game is easy and simple. Not too hard but the amount of strategy involved is more than youd think. Movement is interesting as characters can move around the spaces before they attack, so positioning is cool.
We just want to counter the other reviews mentioning unbeatable heros and getting dealt a bad hand. As far as unbeatable thats not true at all, Ive wrecked all the heros in the game. The archer is one of the most challenging but his damage is so low you can just box him and play your minions carefully to take minimal damage. In terms of being dealt a bad hands, sometimes it happens but Ive discovered if youre skilled you can turn bad hands into a win if you play it right. There is beauty in the little complexities that are not immediately apparent.
Its visual aesthetic, learn-as-you-go style, and minimal but complex strategy keep you motivated to get better and learn how to use each card to its maximum capacity. We have played for at least a month and have finally unlocked all the characters. Ive defeated Miyamoto with everyone (except Hanzo). We will continue playing the game for awhile but see ourselves getting bored if there will not going to be significant updates. We wouldnt mind seeing any of the below: -Broader range of playable characters and more cards -New boards (built in obstacles, hazard spaces, larger sizes, different shapes, ect.) -More difficult bosses or harder mode (the game is already difficult but Id love to see bosses with even more health). -More expansive store and currency system (we have a decent amount of coins now that Ive gotten all the characters) -Allowing for game music to be muted and personal music to be played If those updates dont appear, we just wanted to say thanks for a really intelligent and quality game! Itll be on our phone for a long time to come.
The visuals of this game really drew us to it. However the reviews made us a bit more cautious and made us hold off on purchasing it. We were mainly worried about how people were saying its all random/luck when it comes to winning. After playing this game for over a month now we can say it isnt random or luck at all. Yes, there are no instructions on anything. You learn as you play – and that isnt a bad thing. Once you get a good feeling for the game and gain knowledge on what each pawn does the game is a lot more fun and easier to play. We gained enough coins to unlock every character in a matter of about a week of very casual playing. We have to say, once we unlocked and found the character piece that worked for us and got a better grasp of the game we beat MIYAMOTO 9/10 times. Just remember to keep in mind how other pawns can be used against you. Sometimes the AI makes really stupid choices while other times they make moves we didnt even anticipate. We look forward to more updates – hopefully some new pieces will be introduced to unlock.
We were initially with a lot of the reviews regarding luck being too much of a factor in this game. While we still agree it's true, it's also not as terrible as we initially felt after playing the game more. Yes, you can be dealt some nearly useless hands. Yes, the CPU can sometimes half certain "primary" pieces in their first move on which it always gets to go first. But this game is much more cleaver after getting more time in changing our initial impression. There is a considerable strategic component to this game. And in situations where it seems all is lost, you might find yourself in scenarios where a change in your perspective in how you use your hand can lead to a surprising win. Raising our rating from 3 to 4/5. We'd say definitely worth the money. It might be nice for the system to be more tilted towards skill, but we're wondering if losing on the way to Mayamoto is just part of the fun though admittedly, it doesn't seem to make sometimes beating him feel any better. We usually feel we just got lucky with a good hand. But kudos to the dev on this gem. Edit: This is the 3rd time we're editing our review. After playing the game a bit more, similar to most things with practice, our win rate has increased to a perfect playthrough 5 times out of 10, suggesting to us that RNG isn't too significant a factor. It's really about learning the nuances of the game mechanics including smart use of buffs and debuffs, piece position, CPU limitations (we notice certain things the CPU can't do) etc. We think there's intentionally no tutorial; to encourage you to play around and learn. This is definitely a fun game you can quickly pick up and waste a few minutes at a time on and especially since there are no in-app purchases, it's now 5/5 for us. Already gifted a copy to a friend. If we could make a request, PvP mode.
Simple gameplay, yet there are so many options and tactics. Beautiful graphics. Music meshes well and creates a nice atmosphere. Only suggestion is a more rewarding winning scenario. It felt anticlimactic to finally beat MIYAMOTO and nothing special happens. Otherwise, awesome game. Thank you for making this.
We have too many ship points… Please more.
This is one of those games where you learn the rules quickly but it takes time to master. Its a card battle game with geometry and the low polygon 3d is perfect. The music (which, to be fair, should be mutable) and the sync. Unlockable characters without IAP or the need for a networkand no shortcuts to themand drop dead gorgeous. Perfect game and campaign lengths. And unforgivable insofar as youre not backing out of a bad movewhich, for a game like this, is a very good and necessary thing. This game is one of the best travel iPhone games Ive played.
Best game we have played since MonsterStrikes exit. Cant stand idle games and this certainly is not. This game is simple, tactical and strategic. Now the maker just needs to deepen what they started.
They have a really solid and engaging game, we look forward to updates.
Very fun game, RNG card drawing paired with strategy and crucial character placement. Only draw back is the game is very short (we beat it on our 3rd attempt, once we had got enough coins for the archer). You will not be bored playing this game, but you will be left wishing there was more content for the price of 3 dollars.
Fun game, and well worth the cost of admission, but could use some work. Some features dont make sense, like the loot one picks each round. But more importantly, the game is rather flat. It would be nice if the AI developed better strategy over time.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 2.0.2
- Size: 173.64 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE, JA
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: HIDEKI HANIDA
Last updated: 28th November 2020 | Genre: Card, Board | Developer: HIDEKI HANIDA