One of the funny things I remembered when getting ready to review the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection was that my brother was really into Yu-Gi-Oh! when it hit the scene. I was familiar with it, having seen the anime here and there, but it was my brother—who was the last person I would’ve expected at the time—who suddenly got into it and decided to bring me along for the ride.
I always found games like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic: The Gathering fascinating from an outsider’s perspective since they required a level of strategy that I didn’t really have at the time. Now that I’ve matured and gotten a bit more competent, I’ve always regretted not really experiencing the game to its fullest, but now, thankfully, the Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days Collection is here to rectify that with a pretty staggering collection of classic games.
Honestly, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection may be the most robust and comprehensive collection of games I’ve ever seen. I almost didn’t believe it. For some reason, I had thought like other recent collections, it might have four or five games on offer. But there are a whopping 16 games in this thing! Not only that, all but one game—Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2, which is only available in Japanese—is available in their US, EUR and Japan regional versions! Talk about bang for your buck.
How much mileage you get out of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection depends on either how much you love Yu-Gi-Oh! or if you have any particular nostalgia for the Game Boy or Game Boy Advance games. For the most part, many of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color games specifically are fairly rudimentary in their structure—you start with a deck, choose an opponent and start battling.
“…as a collection of games, Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection does offer some pretty decent updates and extras to elevate the experience.”
It’s something that felt a bit rigid, primarily since I recently started playing Pokémon Trading Card Game on the Game Boy NSO, which goes to great lengths to provide players with a tutorial while still suggesting they check the official rules for the game. A lot of the games in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection just throws players right into the game, assuming they’re already well-versed in the rules and structure of the game, which I’d argue is a bit of a double-edged sword.
However, something that impressed me about the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection—and surprised me quite frankly—was the amount of variety that exists not only within the pack but the legacy of the series. Having never read the manga, I don’t know if the show ever involved playing a turn-based strategy with Gatchapon monster figures, but it’s there in game form.
If I had to choose the “best game” of the collection, it’s definitely Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul for the Game Boy Advance. Despite being fairly straightforward as some of the aforementioned games, it does a really good job both structurally and visually of recreating the game of Duel Monsters in a fun way. I tried my hand at all of the games, and this was the one I definitely stuck with the longest.
Lastly, as a collection of games, Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection does offer some pretty decent updates and extras to elevate the experience. While the more standard rewind and save-state functionality is available, players are also given “enhancement” options where, depending on the game, they can choose to unlock all cards, increase deck capacities or unlock secret characters at the start of the game.
On top of this, while players will be able to view every game’s box art—as well as some of the regional variants—from the selection screen, every game maintains its Instruction Booklet and even the regional variants depending on your selection. Alongside some nice touches like bespoke borders for every game, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection does offer a genuine degree of preservation for these classic games.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely one of the most comprehensive and well-delivered collection packs I’ve seen in a long time. If you grew up with any of these games, then you’re certainly going to love what’s on offer here. While newcomers may be a bit put off by the rudimentary nature of some of these classics, it still may be worth seeing where videogame adaptations of this classic card-game series began.
