At E3 today, I had the chance to check out Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, the Nintendo Switch exclusive collection of Legacy of the Duelist and its DLC. As someone who loved Yu-Gi-Oh! but dropped off around the Zexal/XYZ summoning era, I was excited to see what I missed and what I remembered as I tried out this definitive Switch edition. After playing using old and new rules both, I’m definitely looking forward to getting back into Yu-Gi-Oh! this summer.
Link Evolution lets you play through famous duels from any Yu-Gi-Oh! series, from the original to the current VRAINS season. Each series introduces you to the new summoning mechanics introduced in them (Synchro, Pendulum, etc.), which is a huge help to newcomers or rusty veterans like myself. I figured out XYZ summons just from my 25 minute session, which goes to show just how effective the in-game tutorial duels are.
Duels net you cards from specific duelists, as well as currency that can be used to buy booster packs with. I like this system, as it takes some of the random luck out of card drops, as you can simply duel the character whose cards you want in order to obtain them. There are over 9,000 cards in the game, though any region-exclusive cards aren’t present for the sake of fairness. Many key monsters (i.e. famous ones like Dark Magician or Elemental Hero Neos) have unique 3D animations upon being summoned, which adds some visual flare to the package.
The portability of the Switch is a major plus for Link Evolution. The Playstation Vita didn’t get any Yu-Gi-Oh! games, and the 3DS had a pretty limited selection, so playing on the go in any modern way felt more or less impossible. Link Evolution seems to be the long-awaited cure to these woes, as it can be played anywhere, both in singleplayer and wireless multiplayer, as well as online multiplayer when you’ve got a connection. Making decks and dueling will make future plane rides far more tolerable, so I for one am definitely looking forward to that.
The physical edition of Link Evolution will come with three game-legal cards in the package, harkening back to the days of Dawn of Destiny and the Gameboy Advance Yu-Gi-Oh! titles. Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution launches for the Nintendo Switch on August 20th, so if you’re a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan, or someone just looking for a deep and exciting card game, you’d better get ready to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel.
