Odd request: Yu-gi-oh in videogame form?

[Togath]

So after playing the recent "Duel Links" game for a while and getting a nice surge of nostalgia(before the odd rules and annoying focus on daily things reduced that a bit), I've kind of wanted to try looking into other Yu-gi-oh videogames that might be out there.
Like, surely there's been more than just that Duel Links mobile game that doesn't quite follow the rules, an old ps1 one game I can't recall the name of from before they really figured out the rules, and that ps2 board game thingy?
Any that seem especially worth checking out to someone looking for both a fun game and some nostalgia? Any system works and old or recent or whatever is fine.

[Slayn82]

About 10 years ago, I played the GBA game, Eternal Duelist Soul. It was an ok game, with the normal duel rules. My brother played another version, where you walked around, but I don't remember its name.

[Antonok]

Oh boy. What rule set you want? Got a couple generations to choose from.

But personal favorite is Sacred Cards for the GBA. Uses Battle City rules. Second would be the GX Spirit Caller for DS. Can't stand anything after GX though.

[Winthur]

You can download YGOPro and play online with people using the current cards, but if you want nostalgia, I'd recommend the Power of Chaos series, particularly Joey the Passion, because it has the most cards. Game made in the beautiful time where a 1900 ATK 4 Star monster was a threat and your Extra deck is for Fusions only. It's pretty neat to waste some time and grind some cards, although you will have a really poor deck at the start.

[Togath]

Any sort of era works... mostly I'm aiming for "40 card deck, 8000 life points, and effects/summoning/phases work as they do in the physical card game".
I think I mostly played up to about the start of xyz stuff, but anything works I think. That odd mobile spinnoff really sparked an urge to play YGO in general again, even if that specific spinnoff's a little wonky(reduced hand size, deck size, life points, and it cuts out a few turn phases and reduces the field size).

[Winthur]

Any sort of era works... mostly I'm aiming for "40 card deck, 8000 life points, and effects/summoning/phases work as they do in the physical card game".

Power of Chaos works exactly like that, the only problem is that the game can get repetitive since you will only fight against the same duelist forever and the game format is "play a single duel" or "play a match duel with a side deck". He has a lot of decks to throw at you (complete with some more oddball ones like Exodia or mill), but he also has a lot of animesque reactions to everything you ever do.

Joey is the newest game in that series. There's also Yugi and Kaiba, but they have fewer cards available since they come from the older versions of the same game. Every main character has their anime voice actor (no, not LittleKuriboh). The main problem with Joey is that I can remember one of the lines he says verbatim, and it's always annoying when he says it:
I'll just go along and set this card here. Let me give ya a little tip - ya better be careful, cuz dis card's a trap!
That little monologue takes like 5 seconds, is endlessly smug, and then IMMEDIATELY afterwards you can do something like cast Mystical Space Typhoon and eliminate that threat in a second. Gah. Yugi and Kaiba are more fun in that regard because Yugi is DA PHARAOH and Kaiba is a beautiful asshat. They often launch those extremely dramatic monologues that go like IT'S ALL OVER... FOR YOU - I SACRIFICE THREE CARDS TO SUMMON MY BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGOOOOOON!!!!! and then you just Solemn Judgment them and they go H-h-how can this be?!? It's honestly a very anime experience.

Otherwise I'd recommend to just go with the free YGOPro client and play online, because it follows all the TCG rules and is constantly updated. You will probably get destroyed with an oldschool deck, but I guess I could reinstall it and put my crappy old Dark Necrofear or Zombie World deck against you. Mind you, I never learned what XYZs or Synchros do. xD

[Kitten Champion]

I've played all the Yu-Gi-Oh games for the GBA as they kind of replaced playing Solitaire on my computer for a while... but, well, with all of them there's the running issue that you can assemble a deck after a short while that will win every duel hands down because the AI will never be able to meta-game against it sufficiently.

It thus becomes an exercise in fulfilling the same = pretty easy to execute - dominant strategy rather than any sort of thought or challenge.

[tonberrian]

The World Championship series on DS was, well, tolerable if you wanted to play the card game. I think the last one was 2011, though. Has some gimmicks in story mode, including Turbo Duels and a racing minigame. I haven't played it personally, but I did play 2010 and that was decent enough.

[Seerow]

There was a PC game with a pretty extensive campaign mode and followed the actual rules. I will check the name for you when I get home

[Battleship789]

There was a PC game with a pretty extensive campaign mode and followed the actual rules. I will check the name for you when I get home

You were probably thinking of Legacy of the Duelist, which is also on PS4 and XBox1. The campaign mode covers all of the series through ARC-V, with most important story duels playable (from both sides). It also has an online matchmaking system, though I am not sure how good it is.

[Seerow]

You were probably thinking of Legacy of the Duelist, which is also on PS4 and XBox1. The campaign mode covers all of the series through ARC-V, with most important story duels playable (from both sides). It also has an online matchmaking system, though I am not sure how good it is.

That is definitely the one I was thinking of. Thank you for covering me forgetting to come back to this last night.

[Mikemical]

Y'all weak not naming best Yu-Gi-Oh! game there will ever be:

Spoiler

Show

[Talion]

The PS1 game you're referring to is most likely "Forbidden Memories" which...has its pros and cons. Chief among its pros being that its probably the closest you'll ever get to the 'Rules' (if we can call them that) of the Duelist Kingdom arc and that it gives us a bit of a look into the pharaoh's past. Biggest con is easily that insane GRIND it takes to get any good cards. That and the non-existent tutorial on fusions, but at least it plays quick and (mostly) easy once you figure that out and get a couple functional cards.

Eternal Dualist soul is pretty good for its generation, with a fairly wide range of cards and opponents. However, at least in my opinion, it is PAINFULLY slow to play in, especially if you're fool enough to include any 'Quick Play Magic Cards' in your deck.

Sacred Cards does a decent job of Battle-City era play (when the rules were becoming much closer to the real life version but still had its own quirks). You can also get at least one copy of the cards you want fairly quickly. Fitting them into your deck, however, per the deck cost system, can be a nuisance and quite a grind as well (but still has NOTHING on Forbidden Memories).

I didn't play enough of Falsebound Kingdom to get a good grasp of it...but it sure as heck isn't "Yu-gi-oh". Its really closer in style to Dungeon Dice Monsters (as is Capsule Monster Coliseum).

[The Glyphstone]

The PS1 game you're referring to is most likely "Forbidden Memories" which...has its pros and cons. Chief among its pros being that its probably the closest you'll ever get to the 'Rules' (if we can call them that) of the Duelist Kingdom arc and that it gives us a bit of a look into the pharaoh's past. Biggest con is easily that insane GRIND it takes to get any good cards. That and the non-existent tutorial on fusions, but at least it plays quick and (mostly) easy once you figure that out and get a couple functional cards.

Eternal Dualist soul is pretty good for its generation, with a fairly wide range of cards and opponents. However, at least in my opinion, it is PAINFULLY slow to play in, especially if you're fool enough to include any 'Quick Play Magic Cards' in your deck.

Sacred Cards does a decent job of Battle-City era play (when the rules were becoming much closer to the real life version but still had its own quirks). You can also get at least one copy of the cards you want fairly quickly. Fitting them into your deck, however, per the deck cost system, can be a nuisance and quite a grind as well (but still has NOTHING on Forbidden Memories).

I didn't play enough of Falsebound Kingdom to get a good grasp of it...but it sure as heck isn't "Yu-gi-oh". Its really closer in style to Dungeon Dice Monsters (as is Capsule Monster Coliseum).

I was always sad that the real-life version of Dungeon Dice Monsters flopped. It seemed like a cooler game overall than the regular Duel Monsters game.

[Random Sanity]

If you're looking for a 5Ds-era game, go for Duel Transer on the Wii. All the Synchro fun and none of the racing-minigame BS.

[Olinser]

I was always sad that the real-life version of Dungeon Dice Monsters flopped. It seemed like a cooler game overall than the regular Duel Monsters game.

It definitely had an interesting concept but come on, it was ludicrously complicated and RNG dependent, in addition to the age bracket it was targeted at not generally being willing to play a game with so much dice rolling and rules.

[Talion]

It definitely had an interesting concept but come on, it was ludicrously complicated and RNG dependent, in addition to the age bracket it was targeted at not generally being willing to play a game with so much dice rolling and rules.

Yeah, between the random number gods and the fairly weird rules set it almost seems like it was set up to fail. Which is a pity, because as far as I can tell I walked away with a lot of the good monsters (BEWD, Exodia, a few others I can't remember off hand since its been so long...almost had Red Eyes Black Dragon but the booster it came in had its card stolen so like a dork I returned it).

[Togath]

Y'all weak not naming best Yu-Gi-Oh! game there will ever be:

Spoiler

Show

Also known as the first videogame I ever played(though I often forget it's name due to having been really youg).

[Random Sanity]

I've played all the Yu-Gi-Oh games for the GBA as they kind of replaced playing Solitaire on my computer for a while... but, well, with all of them there's the running issue that you can assemble a deck after a short while that will win every duel hands down because the AI will never be able to meta-game against it sufficiently.

It thus becomes an exercise in fulfilling the same = pretty easy to execute - dominant strategy rather than any sort of thought or challenge.

The real challenge in a lot of the Yu-Gi-Oh games is finding ways to win with gimmick decks. Beating the final boss of a campaign mode by deckout/Final Countdown/other weirdness is a total neener-neener moment.

[Ardentex]

Every Yu-Gi-Oh game I've come across has had a fatal flaw that made it not able to compete with other card games in the online format. I wish there was an official Yu-Gi-Oh online-based game like Hearthstone. That said, they released a ton of games on a ton of different platforms, but none of them really stuck. I liked Legacy of the Duelist, for what it's worth. But sadly, they released dozens of over-priced DLC packs that ruined the prospect of me actually investing time or money in the game. Plus, it's not even online.

[The Glyphstone]

It definitely had an interesting concept but come on, it was ludicrously complicated and RNG dependent, in addition to the age bracket it was targeted at not generally being willing to play a game with so much dice rolling and rules.

Well yeah. It wasn't a good game, it was just a cooler one.

[Olinser]

Well yeah. It wasn't a good game, it was just a cooler one.

It COULD have been a good game though. The problem is they simply failed to coalesce their game around a target demographic.

They tried the Yu Gi Oh angle to appeal to young teens and preteens, but then the ruleset had a complexity in games that are generally geared towards adults. They really needed to go all in on the kid angle and simplify the ruleset or go all in on the adult angle and try to make it more a tabletop style game. They did neither and the game was the worse for it. Which is a shame because I actually think the Dungeon Dice Monsters concept is BETTER than the card game.