Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel

"The latest Yu-Gi-Oh! GameBoy Advance Game!"

This is actually the first game I bought for GameBoy Advance. I had purchased a GameBoy Player a while ago, and I thought that it was high time that I got a GameBoy Advance game! I hadn't previously played any of the other Yu-Gi-Oh! games (Eternal Duelist Soul, Forbidden Memories, Duelists of the Roses, etc.) before, but I've been playing the card game since early 2002, so I knew all of the rules for the game quite thoroughly prior to playing Worldwide Edition. So, is this a good game for the Yu-Gi-Oh! fan or casual card game player to get? Read on, and you'll see!
Controls: 8/10
The controls are pretty easy to remember; pressing start on Battle City map allows you to select a language, the control pad (and/or control stick, if you're playing through the GameBoy Player) is used to move the cursor to select menus, commands, and cards, the A button is used to confirm a selection and execute actions, the B button is used to cancel and shift into phases during a Duel (i.e., Battle Phase, Main Phase 2), and the R button can be used to open up the sub-menu, which allows you to look at your Trunk (where all of your cards that aren't in your deck are stored), your Main Deck (where your cards used for Dueling are stored), and your Side Deck (15-card deck used to exchange cards in your Main Deck in between Duels in a match). L and R are also used to toggle through the selections of Trunk, Main Deck, and Side Deck.
Game Play: 7/10
If you've never played the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game before, or any of the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! games, I'd advise you to read the instruction booklet first, because the game doesn't have a tutorial mode, or even a section about the rules that you can look at. After reading about how to play, by playing against various opponents, you should be able to figure it out on your own. It comes down to this: at the beginning of the game, you choose one of three decks to use, then you begin to look for new opponents that you can Duel, and passerby that will tell you information. The game isn't in real-time, but a day passes every time you talk to a by-stander, defeat or lose to a Duelist, or participate in a tournament. Every Monday, ''Duelist's Weekly'' is delivered, which contains one pack of cards. Also, there are special ''Target Weeks'', where you are assigned two Duelists to find and defeat by a certain day. You won't be able to know who you are challenging, because the face of any Duelist that you haven't Dueled before is not shown. But, after you defeat them, you are able to see their face, name, and your total wins and losses against them. You get or lose a certain amount of points each time you win, lose, or draw in a Duel (or a match; two or three Duels that decide the winner).
As for the customization of your deck, there's a LOT of room here! There are over 1000 cards to find in all, and you can use any of them in your deck (although, there are limits to the amount of a single card that can be in your deck. Mostly, you can have up to 3 of the same card in your deck, but for some of the more powerful ones, its up to 2 or 1). You can use 40 to 60 cards in your deck (and, optionally, create a 15-card side deck, used to exchange cards between Duels in matches). Even though you start with one deck at the beginning of the game, there is also a password entry feature that allows you to get new cards! On the bottom left corner of a Yu-Gi-Oh! card, there is an 8-digit number. This is the number that is used to get that card in the game! Each password can only be used once, and some cards don't have a password (such as Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon or Dian Keto the Cure Master), but that doesn't mean that you can't get them in the game! They're just harder to obtain...
So, by using the password system, you can re-create the same deck that you use in real life! The deck that I'm using in the game now is mostly my actual deck (with the edition of some stronger cards). You could add your whole Yu-Gi-Oh! card collection to the game, if you wanted to!
The process of Dueling seems basically the same as it should be; drawing cards, the placement of them, the card's effects, etc. The only thing that bothers me is that you never get to see what your character looks like! The map of Battle City is laid out, and you select your opponents, cards, and everything, but you don't actually WALK around!
Another neat feature is the ability to change the language to one of six available: Japanese, English, and. Changing the language to Japanese is cool, because most of the cards carry their original names (even though the card pictures have still been changed...*sigh*). However, this won't be that big of an improvement, if you can't read Japanese...You may not be aware, however, that most of the English names are not in fact the translated forms of their Japanese counterparts. Take, for example, Destiny Board (letter F), and the Spirit Messages (letters I, N, A, and L).
These are really supposed to be Ouija Board (letter D), and the Death Messages (letters E, A, T, and H). Even though they have already changed the card pictures in Worldwide Edition to match the English cards, in Japanese katakana writing, you can see that ''Destiny Board'' is really ''U-I-JA'', which is then followed by a Japanese kanji that I don't know (which probably means ''board''). The other language's cards are just the English ones translated, but the Japanese ones are their proper names (as far as I can see)!
Graphics: 7/10
The graphics for the characters and scenes are done well, and the cards look like they should (at least, they look like the English ones, which are not always the same as the Japanese ones are supposed to be). However, when you Duel, there is an ugly brick ''screensaver'' that is constantly moving in the background. I can understand the need to have something that's moving continuously, as the chances of a screen freezing are higher if there isn't, but WHY did they have to choose a terrible, annoying brick background? It's not very distracting, because when you Duel, you're usually concentrating on your and your opponent's cards, but sometimes I'll stare at those moving bricks for a while...
It gets worse when you or an opponent uses a field card. For example, the card Luminous Spark is a field card that increases the attack of Light monsters, and decreases that of Dark. When someone puts in on the field, the brick background turns into a background of yellow and black beams moving across the screen...I hate to dwell on this point, however, because it really isn't that much of a problem once you get used to it.
There's also a special sequence for the dice-rolling in Graceful Dice and Skull Dice, and an overly dramatic Exodia summoning. I wonder if there's a special thing for the Destiny Board and Spirit Messages...?
Story: 5/10
There isn't much of a story to discuss here...You play the part of a duelist who is competing in Battle City, challenging anyone who will play against you, or talking to the passerby. Then, the Ghouls strike Battle City, and if you find them and defeat them, you'll win a pack of rare cards...There's a *bit* more later on, but nothing that is really plot-oriented.
Challenge: Variable
As you challenge opponents, you will notice that some of them are harder than others, while some are noticeably easy (*cough* Anzu *cough*), but there skill level does increase a bit each time that you beat them. They don't really change the cards that they have in their deck, but they start planning better strategies, and start to get out more powerful cards that they wouldn't have before. For example, when you first challenge Anzu, she's REALLY EASY. She tries attacking your face down 2000 defense card with one of her cards that has an attack of 850! Heck, she still is the easiest duelist in Battle City, anyhow...But, later on, she starts using better combos, and eventually gets out an oddly powerful card (attack: 2,800)...Having to press the Reset button because you've almost lost to Anzu is kind of scary...o_o;; The random encounters with the Ghouls members are tougher than regular Duels, too. Besides, the difficulty of your opponent also has to do with what cards you have, and how you use them!
Sound: 6/10
There are a series of sounds used for summoning monsters, attacking, using certain effects, and dice rolling, but there's not much else to take note of.
Music: 7/10
There's a lot of catchy music to be found; the Battle City Map and Sub-Menu are okay, but the music that plays when you look at your Trunk, Main Deck, and Side Deck is nice. Certain characters also have certain songs that play when you talk to them and Duel them. I wish there was music that was taken from the anime, though. I'm not talking about the atrocious techno/rock wannabe music in the English version, and the boring opening theme, I'm talking about the Japanese music!
Replayability: 8/10
When you've got over 1,000 cards to choice from, there's a lot of replayablity that can take place. There are all kinds of deck types and variations that you can make to suit your style, and challenging characters, entering tournaments, and getting points is generally fun. You can even challenge a friend that has Worldwide Edition, or trade cards!
Buy or Rent?:
I'm not sure where you'd find a place to rent GameBoy Advance games, but if you see this somewhere, you should buy it. Besides, it comes with 3 free special holographic cards (Harpy's Feather Duster, Sinister Serpent, and Valkyrion the Magna Warrior), and has a lot of replay value!
If you like the Yu-Gi-Oh! card games, or just card games in general, then this would be something to get. If you just like the anime or comic, then I'd bring down the recommendation to ''maybe''; it really depends upon your video game tastes.
Final Score:
''Duel Monsters'' happens to be my favorite card game, and Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of my favorite animes, so I've enjoyed it so far, and I hope that you will too!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/03, Updated 07/29/03