Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel Dawn of the Battle Royale: Flawed but Fun

Developed by Konami and released in 2021 for the Nintendo Switch, Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel Dawn of The Battle Royale is a digital card game inspired by the Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens anime series. You play as a male protagonist who is a new student at Goha Elementary, and you're soon introduced to Rush Duels by the Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens cast. From there, you participate in the city's battle royale Rush Duel tournament and strive to become champion.

One of the game's most unique features is that it has an alternative ruleset used in other Yu-Gi-Oh! games like Master Duel. Rush Duels involve playing monster cards, spell cards, and trap cards on a 3x3 duel grid, in which you can have 3 monster cards and three spell or trap cards on the field at a time. Furthermore, you always draw until you have at least 5 cards in your hand when you start your turn; if you have 5 cards, you draw 1. You also have unlimited Normal Summons during each turn, but no Standby Phase or Main Phase 2. Finally, there is the "Legend Card" category, a card class with certain restrictions.

As daunting as the Rush Duel ruleset might seem, the game does a good job of easing the player into it. Not long after the protagonist meets the characters, they break down the rules in a tutorial that consists of a series of practice duels to help the player learn the ropes. If you still need help after you finish it, you can access the tutorial via the "Other" section and also visit the "Help" subsection there for tips on playing the game.

Once you learn how to Rush Duel, the game gets interesting as you explore Goha City, duel NPCs to progress the story and earn Goha Points to purchase card packs and cosmetics such as Duel Mats and card backings. To my knowledge, this is the first modern Yu-Gi-Oh! game that has an overworld to explore, something that adds an RPG-like sense of progression as you play. You duel an NPC, win, progress the story, and get Goha Points for cards that help you progress further.

Unfortunately, the RPG progression is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it is fun to duel Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens' quirky cast of characters. One of my favorites is Sushiko, who as her name implies, loves sushi and has a sushi-themed deck. However, it is a little annoying that you must duel the characters over and over to get Goha points for normal card packs and the game's expensive Exclusive Cards, that you unlock at a certain point in the storyline. You can also get GohaPoints by completing puzzles called Duel Quizzes, which I enjoyed, but players who aren't good with them might not like doing these.

In fact, a card pack costs 1,000 Goha Points per pack, while the most expensive Exclusive Card costs 42,000 Goha Points. Thankfully, the game's Konami Code cheat code (↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A) lessens the grind a bit when you input it behind a pillar at a basement belonging to the character Otes. When you do this daily, it can get you rewards such as Goha Points and Swap Tickets, the latter of which can be traded for Exclusive Cards. You do have to be careful not to input the code incorrectly too many times, as the game won't allow you to input it again until the next day. However, since the game is synced to real-world time, you can manually manipulate the date on your Switch in the System Settings so you can insert the Konami Code as many times as you want.

Speaking of the Konami Code, it can also be used to unlock deck building once you defeat the duelist known as No. 6 and input the code in front of a door in the Student Council Room. Since this is a game aimed at kids and newcomers to Yu-Gi-Oh!, veteran players will be disappointed to know that deck building isn't available from the start. If you don't use the Konami Code to unlock deck building early, you can't build your own deck until you beat the game.

Yet even with deck building unlocked early, I've found the card pool to be a little limiting. You unlock new card packs as you progress through the storyline, but sometimes get multiple copies of the same card. Without building your own deck, you have to use Deck Recipes inspired by decks used by other characters. You also can't use a Deck Recipe until you have collected every card needed, which takes a while to do. You can get the cards needed in card packs, the Exclusive Cards section, or by dueling a character with a certain recipe. Honestly, you are better off unlocking deck building and then filling in the gaps of the recipe with whatever cards are suitable. However, you can unlock a couple Deck Recipes early on in the game and use them to progress the story and unlock deck building early.

Despite the game's grindiness and limited card selection, Rush Duels are a breath of fresh air that are fun to play. Since the duels are fast-paced, one can be completed in less than twenty turns, or roughly less than half an hour. Although I like the official trading card game rules, the new monster summon types introduced over the years have made some duels run on too long in the solo campaign of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of The Duelist. Rush Duels are a simplified way to enjoy Yu-Gi-Oh! without being overwhelming, especially with neat features like the 3D summons of certain monsters and banter during Duels with English voice acting. You can also toggle these features off if you don't like seeing or hearing them and they won't detract from the duel experience.

All in all, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dawn of The Battle Royale isn't a perfect game, but it is still an enjoyable experience if you want an easier and different Yu-Gi-Oh! experience. The quirky cast, brisk duels, and cheat codes make up for the game's flaws and have given me a good time.

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