The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection is a fantastic grouping of several iconic Yu-Gi-Oh! games from across the series’ beginnings. The games themselves largely hold up quite well and the newly added features are more than welcome. If you’ve ever wanted to play the older portable Yu-Gi-Oh! games, this is the best way to do so.
Credit: Konami
Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Price: $50
Platform: Nintendo Switch and PC (reviewed)
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review.
I played a whole lot of Yu-Gi-Oh! games as a kid who was obsessed with the anime and card game. I’ve yearned to return to them in the years since, but never got around to digging out the old consoles they were released on. In comes the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, which collects several classic titles from the series in a compact and improved-upon way, to make this easier for me, and I’m very glad it did.
The games that are a part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection can be divided into three categories: duel simulator, RPG, and board game. I’ll discuss each type of game categorically, then go into some of my thoughts on the more general parts of this package.
Duel simulators (Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters II: Dark Duel Stories, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelists, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2, Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel, Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004, and Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005) have you take on a number of opponents and win several times before advancing to more challengers.
Credit: Konami
These are normally based on the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs of the series and are filled with characters like Weevil Underwood, Mai Valentine, and Marik Ishtar. Though the most simple of the collection, these titles focus entirely on dueling and unlocking better cards as you dominate each screen of opponents.
It’s easy to jump into duels and addicting to unlock better cards or open packs to improve your deck, and intriguing to play these games in order to see them evolve. That being said, the general gameplay leans more towards beatstick competitions with strong monsters for the most part in the early titles, making them a bit less fun to play for long periods. That being said, the earlier games do have slightly weirder and less established rules to them, which is an interesting piece of Yu-Gi-Oh! history.
RPGs (Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule GB, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction) are longer and focus more on a story alongside the duels. I was particularly curious about Monster Capsule GB since it was never released here and focuses on the pre-Duel Monsters era of Yu-Gi-Oh! Combining board game and RPG mechanics, this title was a neat one to check out and was surprisingly complex, especially for a Game Boy game.
Credit: Konami
Overall, the mechanics of the RPGs differ a bit, with Reshef of Destruction having some odd choices like life points that carry over, but these games offer a ton of value to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection. They let you inhabit the world of the anime alongside the many iconic characters with solid stories while allowing you to duel and improve your deck like the duel simulator games, making these some of the best games in the bunch.
“These additions will likely go a long way in making these games more accessible for newcomers and easier to mesh with for returning players who haven’t played them in ages, so I’m glad they were included.“
Finally, board games (Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters and Yu-Gi-Oh! Destiny Board Traveler) are the most complicated games in the collection. I thoroughly enjoy Dungeon Dice Monsters for how unique it is, as you use dice to summon monsters on a field in an attempt to reach and defeat your opponent. Building out a path and taking on enemy monsters is a strategic affair, and the ability to freely take on anyone after facing them in a tournament adds replayability.
I wasn’t as big into Destiny Board Traveler, which has you take on others as you try to take over a 5×5 map using dice with cards on the sides. It’s a bit slow and dull, but the pixel art is great and the inclusion of cards from the filler Waking the Dragons arc is a neat addition. Though it’s not my favorite, I’m glad this game was included, as I never played it prior and was always curious about it.
Credit: Konami
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection features loads of enhancements
Each game in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection allows you to rewind up to a minute behind where you currently are, which can allow you to undo moves or cheese the pack unwrapping process if you so choose. You can also save at any time or load said save whenever you wish, as well as use cheats to unlock all cards, all opponents, and other handy things on the title menu. These additions will likely go a long way in making these games more accessible for newcomers and easier to mesh with for returning players who haven’t played them in ages, so I’m glad they were included.
As can be expected at this point, Digital Eclipse has gone above and beyond in preserving these games and external media for them in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection. In addition to the aforementioned features, you can browse through the instruction manuals for the different titles at your leisure – something that is surprisingly handy for the more complicated games like Dungeon Dice Monsters and Destiny Board Traveller. It’s a great step in preserving the games and the media they came with, which also brought back some buried memories from having these games so long ago.
The Final Word
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection is an excellent grouping of Yu-Gi-Oh! games that fans of the series should check out. The care and attention put into this by Digital Eclipse is palpable, making this a masterstroke collection of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s early days. Here’s hoping the console games and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX titles get this treatment, as this is the best way to play these classics.
MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
