YuGiOh Early Days Collection received a mostly positive reception from fans. Currently, it’s sitting at a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam. Among reviewers, the game didn’t quite garner the best of impressions with an OpenCritic score of 68%. However, I can’t help but feel like this is one of those cases where reviewers were, perhaps, a little… harsh? All I’m saying is: so far, I got the YuGiOh TCG nostalgia hit I was looking for!
Yes, you’re paying $50 (or $40, if you take advantage of a sale like I did) for a collection of old-ass YuGiOh games. Some of which haven’t aged… the best. But, overall, you’re getting what you would expect! If you walked into this expecting a 20/10 superstar, I’m sorry — this is a cheesecake nostalgia joint. …That’s missing Falsebound Kingdom, Duelists of the Roses, and Forbidden Memories. BUT, if/when Konami releases a follow-up collection, that will be the 10/10 I believe reviewers were looking for!
So, this won’t be a review, necessarily, seeing as I only played the first three games of the YuGiOh Early Days Collection. And if y’all like this format, perhaps I’ll throw out some impressions of the rest of the games in the collection. But, as a bit of a TCG nerd, hey. Let’s have some fun with it!
Drive-by impressions: ‘yugioh early days collection’s first three games
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (1998): This one stinks. I don’t mean to be rude. I know you can’t just skip games in a collection like this, but Konami, y’all could’ve left this one in the vault. Honestly? I hate everything about it. It’s zero-sugar YuGiOh. You start with the most uninspired deck imaginable. And worse? You get to duel some of the series’ most iconic characters! FIVE TIMES EACH. Granted, you have the choice of jumping between people to duel. But, still. It’s ugly, it sounds awful, and I don’t like it. Dwayne’s Decision: (4/10)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters II: Dark Duel Stories (1999): The one sucks a little less, but I still walked away with a negative opinion of it. Sure, there are more cards, and you can actually use Trap and Ritual cards here. But, this YuGiOh villain belongs in the Shadow Realm with its older sibling. At least the cards have colors. But, for some damn reason: YOU STILL HAVE TO DUEL EACH PERSON FIVE TIMES. It’s not a good progression system! As far as I could tell, the battles don’t even get incrementally harder! Your opponents have the same decks for each time you duel them. Thanks, but no thanks. Dwayne’s Decision: (4.5/10)
but then, my not-tcg savior arrived
Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule (2000): Monster Capsule, however, has the juice. So, differing greatly from the first two titles, this turns YuGiOh into a strategy game. Instead of cards, you go to capsule dispensers and pay one Star Chip to randomly receive a monster. That you can then level up with stat-based capsules, and each monster has its own attributes, buffs, and even attack ranges. And, if one of your monsters perish? That’s it. They’re gone for good!
I don’t want Konami to get any ideas, but Monster Capsule, only having played two other games I explicitly didn’t like up to this point, justified the $40 I spent on the collection. The dice-based attack system worked for me, I lost some beloved creatures to greed and hubris, and it was just a great time! Dwayne’s Decision: (8.5/10)
I love my TCGs, man. YuGiOh was my favorite of all of them, and through my initial foray into the Early Days Collection? I felt those old mega-geek habits creeping back to the surface! Let me know if y’all want me to keep this going! …If I could guarantee I’d have someone to play with, I’d buy some YGO booster packs.
The post ‘YuGiOh Early Days Collection’ — I’m Three Games Deep, And My $40 Purchase Is Already Justified appeared first on VICE.
