Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection Review: Time to Duel

For Yu-Gi-Oh! fans looking to revisit the earliest games in the franchise, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection is an exciting opportunity. It brings together an impressive total of 14 games from the beginnings of Yu-Gi-Oh!, taking players on a tour of dueling through the years. The collection centers heavily on card duel simulation titles from the Duel Monsters series, with a few unique spinoffs thrown in the mix for good measure. This makes the Early Days Collection a fascinating tour through history, with a few gems that will truly delight nostalgic and first-time players alike.

The Early Days Collection brings together Yu-Gi-Oh! games from the Game Boy through the Game Boy Advance, and many of them hold up surprisingly well. The Switch ports run quite smoothly overall and are visually appealing set against the optional backgrounds added in the updated collection. Another highlight of the collection is that the original game manual for each title is included and easily accessed at any time by popping up the menu, a feature that’s especially helpful given the lack of any real in-game tutorial content. I found myself opening these manuals quite often, as they’re both a valuable resource and enjoyable trip through gaming history.

Opening up the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection is a pleasure in and of itself, as the game carousel for the home screen is both beautifully designed and easy to navigate. It offers players an enjoyable tour through their options as they settle in for a play session. The games are ported largely in their original versions, with a few added customization features to let players remove features like Deck Capacity, Duelist Level, and Forbidden Cards. This lets fans enjoy the games as originally intended or speed things up according to their preference. Having the original box art is another nice added touch for the collector who wants a slice of Yu-Gi-Oh! history.

With 14 Yu-Gi-Oh! games to choose from, not every option is created equally here. For those looking to spend hours dueling against a computer opponent, the Duel Masters games have plenty to offer. Though there are some progression and difficulty quirks in these early games, and the mechanics are a bit dated at times, they are surprisingly engaging to this day. I was impressed with how easy it was to sink hours into a game where the basic premise is just dueling the same characters several times in a row. Somehow, those early Duel Monsters titles still hold up, and it was fascinating to play them in succession and see how they evolved over time. Though many of the early titles are quite similar to one another, having so many to choose from ensures players will be able to duel to their heart’s content, and that’s before considering the online PvP option offered in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelists. 

Difficulty level and duelist progression is a bit of a challenge with the Duel Monsters series, though it doesn’t detract too much from the sheer joy of the duel. Some matchups are laughably easy right through to the end, while other games start off so tough players are hard-pressed to win enough battles to add new cards to their decks. The recommended order to take on opponents isn’t always made clear, so duelists can pretty easily wind up getting thrashed by an opponent whose deck is far beyond their current level. Thankfully, the ability to toggle off certain built-in limitations can help assuage these frustrations a bit, giving players an edge against tough NPCs when it’s not clear where to start. 

It’s not all straightforward card dueling simulators in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, though. Some of the more adventurous titles from the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh! turned out to be some of my personal favorites. For instance, 2000’s Monster Capsule is an odd hybrid of Yu-Gi-Oh characters with Pokemon and Dungeons & Dragons-inspired gameplay, and yet, the combination is oddly charming. I found myself unwilling to move on from the chess-like battles and Dungeon Master-style confrontations to check out the next game on the list. Similarly, The Sacred Cards brings a little more story to the duel simulation concept. Walking around the map as a pixel character and hanging out with beloved characters was a treat, but I still got to enjoy plenty of duels in a beautifully streamlined system. Setting this aside to check out the rest of the collection took some willpower, and I suspect I’ll find myself returning to it often. 

Unfortunately, some of the Yu-Gi-Oh! games don’t translate quite so well. Visual quirks with a few entries make them tricky to play. The moving backgrounds during duels in some of the Game Boy Advance era entries can be distracting at best and motion-sickness-inducing at worst. Destiny Board Traveler, which offers a fun board-game-inspired premise, is hit hardest by visual issues. The white text against brightly colored backgrounds is nearly impossible to read, rendering the game almost unplayable. Reshef of Destruction, a beloved follow-up to The Sacred Cards, also suffers from an odd cursor blinking error that makes dueling more of a slog than a pleasure, which is a real shame given the game’s otherwise enjoyable setup. 

In all, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection features plenty of enjoyable titles alongside a few games that don’t quite hold up. With so many options to choose from, players get many hours of entertainment, even if they wind up leaving a few of the messier ports on the virtual shelves. The updated backgrounds and customization options add a nice polish to a collection of retro games that will delight Yu-Gi-Oh fans eager to return to where the video game franchise began. Despite a few challenges with translating retro games to a modern audience, the Early Days Collection is a must-have for anyone who wants to revisit the earliest entries in the Yu-Gi-Oh! video game series or experience them for the first time.

Score: 3.5/5

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection was reviewed on Nintendo Switch. A review copy was provided by the publisher in advance for the purpose of this review.