Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is an Android, iOS and PC game. Its name is likely taken from the Duel Links system featured in "TRANSCEND GAME" and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions.

The game was first announced at Jump Festa 2016. On January 6, 2016, it was officially announced that the game would be released globally, along with the news that Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation and Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist would both receive further updates in winter 2016.^[9]

On March 18, 2016, the Japanese site was updated with more information about its gameplay, characters, and online content, as well as the first YouTube trailer for the game. Pre-registration for the game is currently open in Japan, with rewards available for accounts pre-registered before the game launch. The rewards are accumulative based on the total number of existing pre-registered accounts when the game launches: 50 gems (10,000), "Dark Magician" card protectors (30,000), an additional 50 gems (50,000), a Yugi Muto-themed Duel Field (100,000), and an additional 50 gems (150,000). Additional rewards were added on March 29, 2016, after the number of pre-registered accounts exceeded 200,000: "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card protectors (200,000), an additional 100 gems (250,000), and a Seto Kaiba-themed Duel Field (300,000).^[10]

On April 19, 2016, the official site announced that in order to further improve the game quality, the game would go into a closed beta testing phase in June. Beta testers are picked randomly among the players who pre-registered the game before April 30, 2016. As a result, the public release date of the game will be postponed to a later date rather than April 2016 as initially planned. Players also receive more rewards at the start of the game which details will be disclosed in further announcements.^[10]

Pre-registration emails and surveys were sent out on June 13, 2016 for people in the United States and United Kingdom. On June 23, 2016, the sign-up period was extended.^[1] In late July, e-mails were sent to accepted applicants notifying them of their accepted participation in the Closed Beta Test, as well as informing them that the game would be "polished" for another one to two months before the Closed Beta Test would start. On September 1, 2016, applications for the closed beta closed. The Closed Beta Test started on September 7, 2016, and subsequently closed on September 27, 2016, after maintenance was conducted that day from 1:00 AM - 3:00 AM (EST). It was released worldwide in January 2017.

Gameplay[]

Duel World[]

Duel World (デュエルワールド) is the hub area where a character that either is a Standard Duelist (スタンダードデュエリスト) or Legendary Duelist (レジェンドデュエリスト) can be selected and challenged to obtain cards and increase the character's Level. It is possible to increase the stage level by doing missions, and by doing so, a new Legendary Duelist or new features will appear.

Online Versus[]

It allows real time duels with other Duelists or friends around the world in Duel Links. Furthermore, there are practice plays, Decks from Duelists played against, and replays from other Duelists can be watched.

Rules[]

• Normal Duel
  • The Speed Duel format is used.
  • Each player only has three Monster Zones and three Spell & Trap Zones, rather than five of each (the left and right Spell & Trap Zones act as Pendulum Zones. However, certain Skills can create separate Pendulum Zones, similar to Master Rules 3).
  • Each player has one Field Zone.
  • There are two Extra Monster Zones.
  • Each player must have 20-30 cards in their Main Deck (instead of 40-60) and 0-8 (only in Duel Links) cards in the Extra Deck (instead of 0-15) .
  • Each player starts with 4000 LP, rather than 8000 LP.
  • Each player starts with four cards in their hand, rather than five.
  • There is no Main Phase 2. The End Phase takes place right after the Battle Phase.
• Rush Duel (new methods added)
  • Introduced from the anime in Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS, Banish Zone and Extra Monster Zones are removed.
  • Each player must have 30-40 cards in their Main Deck (instead of 40-60).
  • Each player starts with 6000 LP, rather than 8000 LP.
  • During the start of the player's Draw Phase, changes in rules from Master Rules 3 stating "The first player no longer draws during their first Draw Phase" is disregarded. The player who goes first is still allowed to draw a card on the first turn.
  • During the turn player's Draw Phase, they draw cards until they have 5 cards in their hand (instead of 1). If the player has 5 or more cards in their hand, they draw one card.
  • Standby Phase is disregarded.
  • Players can Normal Summon/Set as many monsters as they want in a single turn. (Just like in Speed Duels, Level 5 and higher monsters must still be Tribute Summoned normally.)
  • All Rush Duel Effect Monsters on the field can only be activated once per turn while they are face-up on the field, similar to a card in the TCG/OCG stating "Once per turn".
  • If a player will perform Maximum Summon and there is a monster(s) left on the field, procedures are as follows:
    1. Important Requirement: Player must have 3 copies of the same name with 2 cards displayed "[L]" and "[R]" from their hand during the Main Phase.
    2. The remained monster(s) you control is/are automatically sent to the Graveyard.
    3. Maximum Summon monsters are automatically Summoned in Attack Position and uses the "Maximum ATK" as base ATK.
  • For Maximum Monsters, just like the same rule in Link Monsters, they cannot change into Defense Position as they do not have their DEF values.
  • If a player would draw but does not have enough cards left in their Deck (e.g. the player has 4 or less cards in their Deck and no cards in their hand during the Draw Phase), that player automatically loses the Duel.
• Each player can have one Skill. The available Skills vary between characters. Depending on the Skill, it may be always activated at the start of the Duel (e.g. starting with "Yami" on the field), optionally activated when a player meets certain conditions (e.g. ensuring the next drawn card is a Spell or Trap Card after the player's Life Points have dropped by 1800), or always activated when a condition is met (e.g. inflicting damage when the player activates a Trap Card).
  • Monsters played by a Skill are treated as if they have been properly Special Summoned. So they can be Special Summoned from the GY.
• Cards that mention Main Phase 2 have their effects changed to remove it.
• Some cards that inflict effect damage have their damage halved (e.g., Lava Golem).
• You can only have a total of 1 Limited 1 cards in your Deck instead of 1 of each limited card. Same thing as "Legend Cards" in Rush Duels.
• You can only have a total of 2 Limited 2 cards in your Deck instead of 2 of each semi-limited card (either two of the same copies or two different cards indicated with "2").
• For Limited 3 cards: You can only have 3 card copies of your choice in your Deck (either same or different).

Timeline Placement[]

Duel Links originally did not perfectly fit into the timeline of any adaptation of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Inconsistencies with the series timeline were explained in dialogue as a product of Kaiba's programming. However, after the DSOD world release, it is explained the DM world and characters are just a simulation running inside Duel Links, with the DM world being more explicitly established based on the manga than the anime.

The GX, 5D's, ZEXAL, ARC-V, and VRAINS worlds do specifically not reference the manga nor whether they are also stimulations. For some worlds, rather than stick to a certain time period, the game portrays characters at the point in the series where they were most prominent, though there is dialogue for cards not used by them in the anime (like "Blazeman" and "Terra Firma" for Jaden). For worlds like the 5D's, ARC-V, and VRAINS worlds, the game continues where the series ended, expanding to the original anime plot using the Duel Links setting.

Characters[]

Playable[]

Yu-Gi-Oh![]

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!![]

Non-playable[]

Legendary Duelists[]

Legendary Duelists are duelists based on characters from the anime or manga. All playable characters are also Legendary Duelists, but there are several Legendary Duelists who are not playable characters or haven't become playable yet.

Standard Duelists[]

Standard Duelists are game-original human NPCs who have generic denominations in the Japanese version (such as "Student who likes Dueling" or "Energetic boy"), but are given actual names in Western versions.

Other Duelists[]

Non-Duelists[]

Reception[]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic holding a metascore of 80/100 on iOS.^[11]

External links[]

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Official Website
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Official Website (Japanese)
• Official Yu-Gi-Oh! Youtube Channel: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Promotion Trailer (Japanese)
• Official Yu-Gi-Oh! Youtube Channel: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Gameplay Video (Japanese)
• Official Gameplay Video of Joey vs Mai (Japanese)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Promotional Video: GX World Unlocked (Japanese)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Promotional Video: 5Ds World Unlocked (Japanese)

Trivia[]

• Duel Links avoids programming in cards that need the normal field for use. For example, "Scapegoat" {As it summons 4 Tokens}. This is because these cards cannot be used with the reduced field and would be considered useless.
• Although the game takes place after the events of Dark Side of Dimensions, all of the other characters from each series represented thus far somehow know of it's existence, and even remember all of the events of their series also.
  • Examples of the former include...
    • When you unlock 5D's World (and by extension, Yusei Fudo), where Jack is already in Duel Links and - by the time Yusei shows up - reveals that he also told Yusei about it.
    • When Yuto appears in Duel Links for the first time, even though they - along with Yuri and Yugo - are still in Yuya's body at the end of the Arc-V anime.
      • In Yuto's event, the game reveals he has amnesia (to the point where he doesn't even remember his own name at first), so he has to recover his memories of what happened throughout the anime over the course of the event.
    • When Tori, Anna and Rio appear in Duel Links for the first time, upset at Yuma (and Shark, in Rio's case) for knowing about Duel Links and not telling them about it.
  • The latter leads to very interesting interactions, such as Yusei and Akiza meeting Carly as a Dark Signer, the Arc-V cast entering the 5D's and ZEXAL Duel Worlds during the Declan event while meeting the original versions of Crow, Jack and Kite, Alexis meeting Jaden as The Supreme King and more.
  • During the event "Dive in! Treasure Hunter Ghost Gal", when Playmaker, Ai, Soulburner, Varis, Blue Angel, and Ghost Gal went to the edge of Duel Links, they see the other worlds and the protagonists of their respective series.

References[]