Highlights
- Konami is releasing a collection of classic Yu-Gi-Oh games, but it seems to be Japan-only for now.
- The collection, titled Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days, will include games from the franchise’s early years like Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of the Great Duelist and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2.
- It is uncertain if the collection will be localized for other regions, so fans will have to wait for an official announcement from Konami.
Konami has announced that it will be bringing back some of its classic Yu-Gi-Oh games, though it appears this collection might be Japan-only right now. The Yu-Gi-Oh franchise is turning 25 in 2024, with Konami celebrating the long-running franchise’s anniversary with new projects. This includes an anime series based on the card game’s lore, more cards, and updates to games like Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel. It also appears that Konami is digging into its back catalog and bringing back a series of retro games for fans to play.
Konami has developed an eclectic library of Yu-Gi-Oh games over the past 25 years. These include direct simulations of the card game like Master Duel, spin-off titles that tackle a different genre, like Falsebound Kingdom, and even games that have their own original story based on the show, like Reshef of Destruction. With such a diverse library of games, some fans are naturally nostalgic for them and hope they will be re-released one day. Fortunately, Konami has been re-introducing its older games to new audiences with re-release collections for IPs like Castlevania and even Felix the Cat, and now it’s doing the same thing with Yu-Gi-Oh.
5 Video Game Adaptations That Significantly Changed An Anime’s Tone
Be it revised narratives or altered characters, these anime game adaptations deviate considerably from their source, changing the tone altogether.
The announcement was posted on the official Yu-Gi-Oh card game Twitter account, stating that this new collection will be released on Switch and Steam sometime in 2024. Based on a machine translation, this collection will be titled Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, and will consist of games released during the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise’s early years. The first two games revealed in this collection are Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of the Great Duelist and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2, which were released on the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance respectively.
Games Revealed for Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of the Great Duelist (Game Boy Color)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2 (Game Boy Advance)
Based on the “Early Days” title and games currently revealed in this collection, fans can assume that the other video games in this collection will be from the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters Game Boy games, which had a very early rule set that was made before Konami officially streamlined it. Of the eight mainline Duel Monsters Game Boy games, the West only got the fifth, seventh, and eighth titles, which were localized as Dark Duel Stories, The Sacred Cards, and Reshef of Destruction. Some fans are hoping other obscure and weird Yu-Gi-Oh game spin-offs like Duelist of the Roses end up being included in this retro collection.
The games currently revealed in this collection were previously Japan-only Nintendo titles, which makes it sound unlikely for this Yu-Gi-Oh collection to be localized. This is just speculation, however, and fans should still wait until Konami says anything regarding a localization.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Yu-Gi-Oh! series is a massive franchise that stretches across a wide array of mediums including Manga, animated series, trading cards, and video games. The original release followed the story of protagonist Yugi Moto as he used powerful cards to battle against his foes. Yu-Gi-Oh! has since been through multiple series and spinoffs that introduce new characters and monsters to the franchise.
