Yu-Gi-Oh! EARLY DAYS COLLECTION (PC) Review

BELIEVE IN THE START OF THE CARDS

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a strange franchise as it was originally a shonen manga started in 1996 based around a magical entity released from a puzzle box that would punish those who were cruel or unfair in the world via games that ultimately would provoke the villains to act in a way that would cause their downfall. In one of those early chapters Yugi (the titular character) challenges Kaiba (the recurring rival and sometimes villain character) to a card game clearly inspired by Magic: The Gathering (I will get back to this). An anime from Toei would later come but not the one most people in the West are familiar with, that focused on the darker revenge plots seen in the manga. Yu-Gi-Oh! as a franchise was already popular and would see trading cards released in 1998 but not by Konami. Bandai released these early cards and used art from the Toei anime and the cards looked more like their anime/manga counterparts, but the game rules were messy to say the least. That being said, there were multiple sets released totaling over 100 cards and only came to an end when Konami received the exclusive rights to Yu-Gi-Oh!

But before I go further let’s go back to that Magic the Gathering statement. Magic: The Gathering was tested in small areas before it went to a wide release, but Magic had the benefit of not being made in response to the sudden popularity of an IP. While Bandai was printing physical cards Konami was making games. The manga would sometimes reference simplistic games like table hockey or even toys that react to sound, some were more complex including the aforementioned card game against Kaiba or a chess like game using small monsters and while there’s clearly some logic as to how the game plays out so readers can follow along, there is no design document explaining all the rules of these games simply because that’s not what the manga is trying to do. That’s why Bandai’s rules for their card game are so different from Konami’s more well-known international card game and why a lot of the games in this collection play very differently from the card game most people might be familiar with. However, the card game would eventually define the series and dictate the direction of the IP (despite a few times deviating and failing) making it one of the most valuable franchises in the world spawning a second anime series, a theatrical movie that I dragged my father too, more anime series, more games, more cards, etc.

PLATFORMS: PC, SWITCH
MSRP: $59.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $39.99

This collection is a weird examination of a card game in development more than an actual playable card game simulator though. Early games are littered with bad cards (which to be fair was unfortunately the meta of the time) and odd systems and unlike other games that are constantly changing meta, you don’t see a lot of meta changes here because the systems are so primordial. I will assume readers will have some basic understanding of Yu-Gi-Oh! if they are reading this because I can’t explain why these games are odd if I don’t write a dissertation and this is going to be a lot anyways. If anyone reading this wants a great way to get into Yu-Gi-Oh! I suggest Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution which uses the familiar anime

A brief overview of the collection is that it is serviceable. Menus are clean, emulation is nice, manuals are translated well except certain pages which are clearly for some unavailable mechanic in this collection, but I think for posterity should be there. I will say that turning on the “all cards” or “no deck limit” options really make these games more playable because of a consistent issue with Yu-Gi-Oh! games that didn’t follow the TCG rules which is a lot of boring grinding and deck limiting. These are artificial aspects that don’t make the games any more fun and are just there to force more grinding from the player and these games have enough grinding as is. There are also no tutorials so reading the manuals is somewhat necessary but a lot of the strategy is just get monsters with bigger numbers on the field. There’s also a rewind feature which comes in handy if the wrong card is played. I am impressed at how many languages they translated these games into as well as including the original Game Boy releases and Game Boy Color releases for the Japanese games (only the Game Boy Color releases are translated).

Now the games.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters for the Game Boy from 1998
This is the second Yu-Gi-Oh! game and the first Duel Monsters game (Duel Monsters is the in universe name for the card game). The sound is quite awful and made me mute the game but the pixel art on the character portraits and card art is fantastic. Unfortunately most of gameplay is done via plain menus and battle screens and when a battle is completed the game unceremoniously dumps the player on the title screen. The game is slow and requires each character to be battled five times. There’s only 350 cards so prepare to see a lot of the same. The only thing that matters is ATK and DEF because monsters have no effects, no summon costs, and spells are pretty limited with only equip and field cards and work differently than their real-life counterparts. Fusion monsters are made by just combining card types of the right types, it’s very experimental rather than functional and anyone who has played the PS1 Yu-Gi-Oh! game Forbidden Memories has had to exploit this exact fusion method to win. There are also only five monster slots on the field, spells do not have their own field space and are simply played from the hand. It’s a rough outing but in terms of basics I do think this is a great way to teach someone the extreme basics of a card game. The skeletal structure is here and ignoring monster effects could be played with real cards for the most part if someone so desired. Surprisingly however whether due to limitations or design choices (it’s hard to say what is what in these early games) this game does introduce a hard deck limit of 40 cards which at the time the TCG did not have and took someone exploiting in a tournament with a deck that was so big it had to be carried by two people to get a rule set in place although that rule would settle on between 40 and 60 in the TCG.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters II: Dark Duel Stories for the Game Boy Color from 1999
So, this one has a weird mess up in the English manual but thankfully it’s only that the table of contents is in Spanish because Duel Monsters II introduces the alignment system: a feature that was thankfully never in the TCG. So, the game still works off the “bigger number wins” ruleset however the alignment system also includes a rock paper scissor element where even if the attacking monster has more attack it can lose if attacking the wrong alignment meaning a 3000 ATK monster can lose to a 250 ATK monster simply because a feature that is both inaccurate and not included in the TCG says so. The alignment system would become a standard for most games so people buying Yu-Gi-Oh! games expecting a simulation of the card game would be disappointed until late GBA releases and honestly, I think Nightmare Troubadour on DS would be the first game to really simulate the game accurately. The alignment would not change until its removal though so just to be clear…

I frankly have never liked this system; I think the alignment system could have been handled better like weaknesses or resistances like Pokémon but instead a THUNDER card will always usurp an AQUA card regardless of strength. This is also the first game to introduce the deck capacity which means stronger cards take up more points therefore limiting how many strong cards you can have in your deck, so it’s not just enough to earn stronger cards but players have to earn the right to use them too so turn this off with the options in this collection and a better time is in store. Trap cards and Ritual cards are introduced but like most mechanics they work slightly different than the TCG. This is also the first game to have the Password system. On the bottom of all TCG and OCG (the version of the TCG in certain Asian territories) Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards there is an 8-digit code that when put into these games would unlock that card. Obviously, the cards that players can unlock are limited to what cards are programmed in the game (720 cards in this one) but that was always a great feature and the way the games limit the ability to simply pull in the strongest cards have always been different, but is one of the few times I can understand limiting player access to stronger cards.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule for Game Boy Color from 2000
This is one of three non-card-based games in this collection and the first RPG. The first Yu-Gi-Oh! game ever was based on Capsule Monster Chess from the manga and this is one of three games that would explore this concept at all. It’s a completely unique story in a very Pokémon like RPG, but battles play out in a small grid battlefield where each monster has unique abilities and different terrain types have different bonuses. The main gimmick is challenging other characters to battle but putting the currency that is used to unlock more capsule monsters (essentially gacha or gumball machine toys) up as the ante. It strangely feels like the game had way more budget than the very plain Duel Monsters series from around the same time. It’s the first game that I would argue is more fun than historically interesting.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories or Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters III: Tri-Holygod Advent for Game Boy Color from 2002 and 2000 respectively.
This is the first Yu-Gi-Oh! game released in English which is why I put both titles. In Japan there already was a Dark Duel Stories. It was my first Yu-Gi-Oh! Game. It feels like a production increase from Duel Monsters II in all aspects but especially the music. The music in this game is extremely catchy, and the music for level 1 duels is forever stuck in my head. Monster effects are added, proper tribute summoning is established, and a unique card creation system is implemented. Never attempted again in the series, players could combine a top piece and a bottom piece of a card to create unique cards. There are 9800 combinations of these cards available and while ultimately fairly limited in how strong those cards can be it is an extremely neat concept. This is the first card game I can recommend playing.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle Of The Great Duelists for Game Boy Color from 2000
There’s three releases of this game included because each release changes the starting deck with the options being Yugi, Kaiba and Joey which you choose if you want to lose (his cards are notoriously awful). It’s the first game to limit how many of the same cards you can have in your deck which has been absent until now (three for most cards, some cards are limited to one). This is the only game that can be played online at launch although further online capability for other titles has been promised.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters for Game Boy Advance from 2003
This is by far the most complex game in the set (and this is Yu-Gi-Oh!). No tutorial makes reading the manual a requirement and all that to play the ill-fated and short-lived Dungeon Dice Monsters. I appreciate that DDM recontextualized monsters from the TCG in a strategy board game aspect, but I didn’t enjoy it in the anime or the actual board game. I’m glad it is here but the fact DDM was a stronger push in North America when Capsule Monster Chess would have been a more compelling product will always be strange to me. This game also seems to have less character than the Duel Monsters games before it despite menus having more flair. It’s very much a GBA game in the worst aspects.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal Duelist Soul for Game Boy Advance from 2002
This is the first game in English to truly attempt to capture the TCG in game form. It is by no means perfect, but Fusion monsters now require the card Polymerization to summon, the alignment system is kicked to the curb, deck size is TCG accurates, and mechanics like side decks and tokens are actually implemented. Unfortunately, with the move to being more of a simulation the card artwork is no longer beautifully made pixel art recreations but digitized scans and it’s a sad trade off because the pixel art was extremely impressive in those early GB games but this game really does a good job capturing the feel of Yu-GI-Oh! Obtaining new cards is done by purchasing virtual card packs and a calendar system adds special events and actually looking through cards is no longer a complete chore. It is so close to being great… do not get used to that though because here’s where the games become inconsistent within themselves.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2 for Game Boy Advance from 2001
Japanese only game. This is a sequel to Eternal Duelist Soul which was Duel Monsters 6: Expert 1 in Japan. The English game Worldwide Edition is an altered version of Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2 that was also released in Japan and I’m starting to lose it because I like Yu-Gi-Oh! and this is going from review to long form essay but I think this stuff is important for some reason and so do you if you’re reading this so let’s move on.

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards for Game Boy Advance from 2003
The first card-based RPG and it’s bloody based on the old rules with the alignment system, Alignment system is back, deck capacity is back, fusions are weird again.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef Of Destruction for Game Boy Advance from 2004
The sequel to The Sacred Cards. I don’t have a lot to say because both these games loosely follow the Battle City arc of the Duel Monsters anime series but use the previously dropped rules from the early card games rather than the TCG. It’s a bitter pill to swallow because I do love the RPG wrapper these games introduce.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway To The Destined Duel for Game Boy Advance from 2003
The sequel to Eternal Duelist Soul once again operates like the TCG and keeps a lot of the features from EDS, but introduces a map screen that obfuscates which opponent is chosen until they have been battled enough times. Add the games more accurately simulate the TCG there’s only small errors in the way cards work or glitches that could be called out. Even later games like my favorite, Nightmare Troubadour, would have issues like this because there’s a lot of logic required for certain effects to work properly. Even the TCG around this point sometimes required too much brain effort to make duels not slow to crawl. The current meta as of writing this is much quicker.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Tournament 2004 for Game Boy Advance from 2004
Outside of returning to the original selecting an opponent and battling them multiple times to proceed system seen in the first Duel Monsters, the game is starting to even simulate chaining card effects better. This is the best duel simulator in this package.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Destiny Board Traveller for Game Boy Advance from 2005
My least favorite game in the collection. At least with Dungeon Dice Monsters there’s a part of me that wants to learn the game because it seems fascinating on some level. This is just Monopoly with extra steps… I think. It seems like it. I tried playing and rolled the dice and then didn’t move and had to watch all my AI opponents duel to put their monsters down on the spaces. Quite frankly this game feels the most cash grabby of the bunch because this is the only original concept in the bunch, and it sucks because the original idea was Yu-Gi-Oh! meets Monopoly. It’s not based on anything from the anime, manga, or the real life TCG. The presentation isn’t terrible but without a tutorial this game is even more obtuse to play than Dungeon Dice Monsters because I can see what I need to do but doing it is nonsensical while Dungeon Dice Monsters was clearly a completely foreign concept which didn’t make me feel like an idiot. Also imagine making a TCG even more luck based… terrible concept clearly formulated by someone who didn’t have passion for board games because no one likes Monopoly.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 Trials Of Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005 for Game Boy Advance from 2005
Thank god we don’t end on Destiny Board Traveler. 7 Trials of Glory is the ultimate culmination of what Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Boy games were up until this point. It blends the RPG elements with the TCG rules in a complete package. Unless the RPG elements are a turn off this is the best experience in this collection. 2004 would be the same year Yu-Gi-Oh! would make its first appearance on DS with Nightmare Troubadour, but it wouldn’t be the last GBA game so I am curious to see if those will be in a future release as those future GBA games would start to be based off the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series (the sequel to the anime).

So, all that to say what? Well, I do think this is a fascinating collection as a fan of the series. While I had played a few of the English releases, I had never touched any of the Japanese games before this release and Capsule Monsters will be a game I return to so I do think this collection is worth owning but the price tag in comparison to other Digital Eclipse series seems a bit high when most of these games aren’t amazing. Good, but not what most people want from Yu-Gi-Oh! and didn’t want from Yu-Gi-Oh! when they originally released. I would love to see design docs on why these games play so differently from the TCG and maybe sprite work for cards that were not implemented. Even a simple write up like I presented at the beginning of this review to explain why these games are fascinating would add value to this collection because of how far this franchise has come since the late 90s. We lost Kazuki Takahashi in 2022 and it’s extremely unique that a man who had a love of tabletop games of all varieties would become an artist and writer remembered not for his manga or anime but the card game it inspired, and these games are critical to the formation of that card game played by millions. It’s a good collection, but it could be even better. It could be great.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.