Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories

"The God of Card Games Has Arrived."

Introduction to Yu-Gi-Oh! - First you'll need to know some things about Yu-Gi-Oh! The story is about a card game that existed for millenniums called Duel Monsters. In ancient Egypt, this card game was fought using special Millennium Items. The Items transported the duelists to The Shadow Realm, where the monsters on the cards came to life. Upon losing this, often the duelist's entire fate was decided. But one day a wielder of the strongest Millennium Item destroyed this card game for good. Then... millenniums later, Industrial Illusions, lead by Pegasus J. Crawford, made the new Duel Monsters games.
Behind this, however, there is a hidden agenda... The Millennium Items shall once again be reunited...

Introduction to the Game - Before you even rent this game, you should know that it is REQUIRED that you read the instruction manual. Even if you do know how to play duel monsters because of GameBoy or whatever else, this follows the actual card game almost exactly. You'll need to know about Fusion, Field Power Bonus', Cosmic Alignments, etc. All of this is covered in the instruction booklet, so you'll know how to play quickly. Even though you read it, you may need to play a few games to get used to it. I did.

Tips - Before playing this game you should terminate whatever life you have. You do not need it. This game will consume your very soul. You'll also need a pen and notepad, so that you can scribble down whatever you find in this.

Controls - This game has incredible controls. I have yet to find a flaw in them. Outside of a duel it's straight-forward. Just the basic commands used for any other game, basically. In duels the controls are magnificent. On the GameBoy the controls were kind of... sloppy. And they did get annoying. But not here. If you want to lay a card use 'X'. To put it in defense mode press 'L1' or 'R1'. To challenge another monster to a duel you simply press 'X' on your monster and select the other monster using the 'D-Pad'. If you want to fight using a 3D battle sequence press '' and select the opponent's monster with ''.

These controls do not get annoying, frustrating, or painful to press. It's all basic, and very easy to understand. Hell, even a two-year-old could master the controls with a little practice.

Sounds - Okay, I'll admit, the game lacks good music. Some tunes are good, but the majority are pretty annoying. You might like them, but chances are you won't. They're all fairly basic. Just digitized noises. No actual guitar, piano, or anything. The only enjoyable one early on is in the Town Square. It's good a dark sound to it, and it highly enjoyable. When scrolling through your deck or chest for cards that annoying beep will make you want to pull your hair out. You'll get sick of the music after a few hours playing, and will probably play the game on mute for the rest of the time like I have.

There aren't many (If any) cool sound effect in this. I've yet to hear one, unfortunately. The lack of sound effects and no actual music in this killed the game. If you've got a CD player, radio, or computer with mp3s... you'll need them.

Story - Mmmm... An excellent storyline. Follows the anime closely, while still adding new elements. You start off in Ancient Egypt as Prince [Name optional]. You stay back there for a few duels as the story progress', and eventually you'll begin to play as Yugi. You start out at a tournament, but that's all I can say without spoilers. This is the best storyline I've come across in a game for a while. It does leave you guessing mostly, and you'll want to play on. You'll eventually get your Yami side, etc. You're going to like this story a lot -- even if you haven't seen the anime.

Gameplay - Well, what needs to be said about the gameplay was mostly mentioned under controls, but there is still a fair amount that hasn't been said. The flow of gameplay is great. The card game has one difficulty setting: #@&%@*%#&%#&^%#%!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are easy duels and there are hard ones, though they're 99% hard. It can get frustrating, but it remains fun at the same time. I can't say that for any game I've ever played.

There are several modes of gameplay: Campaign, Free Duel, Build Deck, Password, and Card Library. This is after you select 1P (One Player) first. The main modes are 1P, 2P Duel, and Options. I'll take you down through all of these.

1P - Listed below...
2P - This is where you can duel a friend. You need two memory cards (Both including a deck of 40 cards) and two controllers.

1P Continued...

Campaign - This is the story mode, basically. It follows the anime as I've said earlier. If you lose a duel it's Game Over in most cases. There are special cases, such as the duel with Heishin early on.
Free Duel - You can duel against the characters you've fought in the Campaign mode, such as Seto, Juno, Teana, Villager1, and Heishin. Upon winning you get a card (Can be rare or common) and an amount of Star Chips depending on your Skill Level. If you get an 'S' ranking you get 5 Star Chips, etc. Straight-forward stuff.
Build Deck - You can manage your deck and chest here. Once again, it's straight-forward.
Password - You can enter passwords to get one of the 700+ Duel Monster cards here. However, there is something. You will need to spend your Star Chips. Unlike the GameBoy versions where you could enter a password and get the card, this is much better. It will definitely prevent you from cheating. If you want the best cards like Perfectly Ultimate, Dark Magician, Blue Eyes White Dragon, etc. you'll need to spend the maximum amount of Star Chips, which is 999,999. The cheapest monsters you can get are for 10 Star Chips. Definitely an amazing feature that will make you work for your earnings.
Card Library - This is where you can view information on the cards you own and/or have seen in a duel. You can view the actual card, and when you press the 'D-Pad' right, you'll see the 3D model of the card. Basic stuff. A nice addition.

Graphics - Well, they're not good, but they aren't bad. For a game made in 1996 it looks quite good. The 3D battles are like Pokemon Stadium was, though the graphics couldn't touch the 3D models of the Pokemon. The cards look great. Flawless, actually. The graphics, overall, are good for a game made in '96. Definitely worth it if you don't compare it to games made after '96. Can't really go into detail here, since there isn't a lot of things to comment on.

Translation - I just want to add a little note about the translation. It isn't like the anime. The translations on this are accurate. Joey is Juno, Tea is Teana, though for the most part, the characters were accurately translated for the dub of Yu-Gi-Oh!

ESRB Rating - 'E' (Everyone)

The Numbers -
(Marked out of 10)

Controls - 10
Sounds - 6
Story - 10
Gameplay - 10
Graphics - 8
Translation - 10
Overall - 10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/02, Updated 09/29/02