Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel Game by Konami Reviewed by Duke DNukem170@aol.com Save: Automatic save after anything Released: 2003 Works with: GameBoy Advance only. **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Unlike Foxlord, I actually do like and play the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. However, like most YGO players, I only got it for the three promo cards: Harpie's Feather Duster, Sinister Serpent, and Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. The first two belong in any deck whatsoever and the last has an entire deck built around Summoning it. It's too bad 4Kids messed up the anime by dumbing it down for kids(It was made for young teens in Japan). But anyway, how is the actual game? **************************************************************************** Gameplay Descripion: You are immediately thrown into Battle City and start searching for opponets or Passerby to talk to. If you Duel and win, you get your choice of booster packs and 5 brand new cards to add to your trunk. Unlike Eternal Duelist Soul, however, the trunk isn't alphabatized from the beginning, which makes finding the cards without the List Filter a little hard. Like EDS, though, it doesn't give you a tutorial. But a basic read-through of the manual and some play-testing will get you on the right track. Also, there are some mini-events such as saving Joey and Tea from Yami Marik and stuff like that. As for the actual Duel, you and your opponet start out with 8,000 Life Points (LP) and you both draw 5 cards from the top of your deck. At the beginning of each turn, you draw a card. There are three main types of cards: Monster, Magic, and Trap. Monsters can be regular or Effect monsters; Magic can be Equip, Continuous, Quick-Play, and a couple others; and Traps can be Counter, Continous, or normal. You may only Summon a Monster into Attack position or Set them into Defense position once per turn, though you can Special Summon more than one Monster per turn. You may play or Set as many Magic & Trap cards as your zone will allow, but Trap cards must be Set for one turn before they can be activated. For any Monster card that is level 5 or 6, you must Tribute (sacrifice) one Monster on your side of the field in order to bring it out, and you must sacrifice two Monsters for level 7+. It's actually a very fun and challenging card game if you give it a try. One more thing, you can actually take the real-life cards (such as the three promo cards you get in the game) and type in the 8-digit number right above the flavor text area. Then you get to use that card in your Deck. Too bad you can't use it more than once. Some cards (such as Black Skull Dragon and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon) have no password. You could always look it up on GameFAQs or something. Liked: The actual Duels are very well digitized. Includes a bunch of cards (such as the popular Crush Card and Dark Magician Girl) that haven't been released over here yet. The password option is cool. Hated: The storyline sucks, especially when compared to the anime. The points system can take a while to pile up. I kinda wish the opponet would comment on the actual duel. Most of the opponets play very weak cards and are relatively easy to beat. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: The map is basically your current position and a bunch of surrounding areas. Stars indicate fellow Duelists, while yellow people signs indicate Passerby. When you select a star, a still picture of the Duelist with his/her mouth moving and a text screen will appear before and after the Duel. Normally, this would be crappy, but most of the memory is dedicated to the 800+ cards and their effects. The Duel screen is as basic as you can get, though the background changes depending on what Field Magic Card is in play. Liked: It's pretty detailed and bright. Hated: The character stills suck, but I understand why it is. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: Meh, it just sits there. There are sound effects for every attack and stuff, but it's not spectacular. Same with the music. Konami probably grabbed some half-way decent-sounding songs and put them in there. But to be honest, most gamers aren't going to pay attention to the music anyway. Liked: It's not down-right bad Hated: But it's not good either. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: A confirms selections, B cancels them, L brings up your menu so you can edit your Deck & put in passwords to get cards. It's very simple, but that's allright. If you have the right cards Set, then a menu will come up asking if you wanna use any cards. For instance, you have a Waboku(Prevents Battle Damage for 1 turn) and a Seven Tools of the Bandit(Pay 1000LP to negate a Trap card) Set on your side of the Field. When an opponet's monster attacks, it asks you if you want to play a card. If you select "Yes," then you will be able to move and select Waboku and activate it. If the opponet counters with a Trap Card, then you will be able to use Seven Tools. It's actually very well done. Liked: Control is spot-on Hated: None really. **************************************************************************** Improve: Have some commentary during the Duel, liven up the Duel screen, have a better storyline. RIYL: Dark Duel Stories, Eternal Duelist Soul, Duelist of the Roses (PS2), or Forbidden Memories (PS1) **************************************************************************** Final Words: Yu-Gi-Oh! fans will probably buy this game, take the cards out, then sell the thing. It's also a good game for beginners. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: **** Graphics: *** Sound/Music: ** Play Control/Game Design: ***** Personal Opinion: ***** Total: 76 Final Score: 76% **************************************************************************** Currently Known Codes: When you start the game to actually play it, I suggest you enter in the codes of some really good cards (such as Witch of the Black Forest, Raigeki, Jinzo, etc.) as many times the Deck you start out with is based more on the anime than the actual game mechanics (Such as getting 5+ Tribute Monsters with more than 6 stars, which is a no-no no matter what your strategy is.)