Yu-Gi-Oh! EARLY DAYS COLLECTION

literally ONLY the gameboy and gameboy advance games you still have to look elsewhere for forbidden memories or duelists of roses

Duel Monsters (1998gb) B+ tier. Box art is great, its rather short, its not too difficult and it plays really fast in the collection. Wonderful art for the cards. A great starting point for Yu-Gi-Oh!. This deserves a lot of attention simply for being the foundation of the series. Duel Monsters 2/ Dark Duel Stories Japan? (1999gbc) C tier. Didn't improve enough to make it worth it. Made a few things worse. Slowed down the gameplay with extra options and was mostly repetitive. Big detractor was the ability system where like a light monster always kills a fiend monster, I did end up learning this system by the end of the collection but I still think initially putting it in was the biggest problem, so moving on I will try not to complain too much about it. The color addition was the best part of this title. Monster Capsule GB (2000gbc) C+ tier. I struggled to put this game anywhere above C tier even though I think it ultimately deserves it. The dice rolling slows everything down, the arenas are too small and attacks are too big. Only moving a square at a time sucks. Animations take too long and there's no real boundaries besides the four main walls that are always there. The monsters are all mostly the same, and some attacks, when they become upgraded, become worse. But somehow even with all that negativity, the game is good. The story is the best of the GBC titles, and possibly the best story out of any Yu-Gi-Oh! game ever made. The collecting of monsters is obviously addictive and the multiple worlds that it takes you to are all vibrant and unique. The characters are lively, and the game ultimately leaves a good impression. Dark Duel Stories US/Duel Monsters 3? (2002gbc) A tier. This was my favorite of the game boy/color titles. For some reason this one just plays better than 2. The card additions are better even though there's not a whole lot of them. The battles feel more balanced. The crafting system is a really nice touch. The menu is organized and within the color pallet.... Everything kind of just works. The music is also a step up. When I think about going back and playing one of the DM titles its most often this one. Duel Monster 4: Battle of Great Duelists - Yugi/Kaiba/Joey (2000gbc) B- Tier. The gameplay is worse. The attack values for 4 star monsters are all skewed. Its probably the worst to play through out of all of them. But again, somehow, I end up thinking about this game a lot..... The reason is probably obvious to those who have played these three titles. The soundtrack is superb... I mean it is the best 8bit soundtrack I have ever heard. If you have time, go listen to the whole thing. Spectacular. All in all its another DM title and worth playing through. Dungeon Dice Monsters (2003gba) A+ tier. This game was so much fun to play. I am honestly shocked. I did not expect this game to be this complex. Yeah the setup is slow, and I struggled at first, but after reading a few things, and watching a video or two I started to get it. The music could have used some work, but the depth of the game was wonderful. As a fan of chess and tactics like games, this one hit way harder for me than Monster Capsule GB. No wonder this game has such a cult following. The Eternal Duelist Soul (2002gba) B+ tier. This one actually plays more like the modern TCG. The background does make me sick to my stomach, and the story does lack complexity. That all said, it will be the foundation for a few other titles moving forward, and it did a lot for the series just existing. My only wish is that I could see the card images without having to select the card. Good music, good change of pace, good artwork. Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2 (2001gba) F tier. Yeah okay I understand that I can play the game just by looking at the cards, but no. The Sacred Cards (2003gba) S tier. Wow. I did not expect this game to be so good. It takes the best bits of previous games, smashes it together with some new ideas, and creates a gem. The collection is worth it just for this title. Its got a compelling story, solid UI, it has a card shop, a house, a full on map, and has plenty of different deck builds. This is what a Yu-Gi-Oh! game should be. The music is pretty good and the sprites are recognizable. I could list off things I like about this title all day. If I had to say something bad I would complain about the box art and maybe some of the music. That's it. Reshef of Destruction (2004gba) D+ tier. This one was really hard to gauge because of some of the technical problems I ran into. There's a weird thing that happens in between every action where the game runs the cursor over every card slot. Also if you play Slifer it'll stop after every action to tell you Slifers ability again. I also had some weird moments where once Espa Roba spawned near Ishtar it would lag out the game while walking around. All of that ended up being really annoying. The music is pretty bad too, which is wild because they have shown that they are able to put out good tunes. Its much harder for no reason, and a lot more confusing to get around the maps and know what to do. Overall its still a fun game I just think I personally enjoyed it less than its counterpart, The Sacred Cards. Its weird that these two games are so vastly different. I think if the problems I listed were fixed I would put this higher on the list. Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel (2003gba) A- tier. Essentially this is the playable version of DM6. I rank this on the lower side of the games influenced by Eternal Duelist Soul. Its missing a lot and the map is pretty bad to initially understand. It feels a little empty because of it. There's really not much to say about this title. It's good ultimately. I feel like I keep seeing people rank this higher than I would. The music is pretty catchy at least. So Ill give it a little bonus for that. World Championship Tournament 2004 (2004gba) S- tier. Improves on everything that Eternal Duelist Soul got right. While I still prefer The Sacred Cards, this title is great. They slowed down the background so I don't vomit anymore. The music is at least 30% better. The deck building menu is more streamlined and you now have up to 3 decks you can save....If I have to complain I would say its a little slower than its counterparts but I will probably come back and play this one some more. Destiny Board Traveler (2005gba) D- tier. I can see how this game could be fun, but a Yu-Gi-Oh! style Mario Party game is kind of weird. 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005 (2005gba) S Tier. Yeah yeah yeah another S tier I know. Here's the thing though, they got rid of the background completely. Its gone. It gives you the walking around stuff from Sacred Cards/Reshef of Destruction, and the modern gameplay of Eternal Duelist Soul/World Championship Tournament. Its a solid hybrid with good UI and an easy to traverse world. Out of all of them. This one plays the best from a general Yu-Gi-Oh! card game perspective and is the closest to the modern game. For sure the best one to finish out the series on. The cover art is a little clumsy but colorful. I can save more decks. They brought back the Card Shop. This collection is a great value for its price, doubly so on a sale which is how I got it. If you want to just achievement hunt you could probably get it done in like 40 hours I would say. Overall I have to give this collection a solid 9/10 or A+ Tier. I had a lot of fun and I plan on jumping right back in now that I have finished this review. EXODIA OBLIDERATE!