Joker Tale:2.5 Sidescroller with Poker Combat

Alternate Title Ideas:

Shuffle Story

Dealer's Hand

Genres:
2.5D Action-Platformer/Card Game

Similar Games:
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
More like Poker + Castlevania Series (albeit perhaps a tad bit faster paced) 
or Poker + Mega Man

Narrative Summary:
All was well in the land of Deck. The Council of Twelve faces had ruled justly and fairly over the land for as long as anyone could remember, but then the Dealer came to Deck and caused the calamity bringing chaos and disorder to all. This disaster soon came to be called the Great Shuffle. The Dealer then used his infernal powers to control all of Deck to act upon his every whim. But there was one who was immune to his powers.
The one called “Joker” had always been a bit different from the other inhabitants of Deck. He never quite fit in with the clans, and though he was welcomed just the same, he never really had a place to call home. It was this difference the protected Joker during the Great Shuffle, and it is this difference wherein lies Joker’s latent potential.

Unique Hook:
The thing that makes this game unique is the Poker-based combat system. On the surface the game's combat functions in a similar way to other games such as the Castlevania series. In addition, however, is a standard deck of 52 cards of four suits.
The player has access to a hand of 5 cards dealt from the deck. Every time the player attacks, a selected card is sent to a discard pile. Attacks can be linked into a combo of up to 5 cards, after which the hand is refilled back to 5 cards from the deck.
The damage done by an attack is dependent on the card expended. For instance, using a Queen for an attack does more damage than using a 4, but using an Ace does even more damage.
In addition, the type of damage done by an attack is dependent upon the suit of the card used. This comes into play as enemies are allied with one of the four suits. An attack of the same suit does no damage, while an attack of a different suit but the same color does half damage. An attack of the opposite color than the suit of the enemy does full damage.
Special attacks called Hands can be used which use different combinations of cards equivalent to standard poker hands. The effect and damage done varies from hand to hand. When the player's deck runs out, the player is immobilized for a short time and is vulnerable to enemy attack while the deck refills and shuffles.
Another concept possible for inclusion is the pick-up of Joker cards, similar to a collectible or a power-up in any other platformer. The difference is that a Joker card, once picked up, automatically reloads the entire deck and places itself randomly into the deck. When a Joker card is used it acts as a wild card.

Target Demographic:
The target demographic for this game is a mainstream audience of players of all ages who like action-platformers as well as some who also like strategy games.