Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days Collection Review Part 5

 In 2004, the original Yu-Gi-Oh manga ended and America, being as late to the party as we possibly could, only then started getting it translated in 2005 while the anime was going into the filler arcs.  You would think the original series would be wrapping up with the story ending, but if you think that you clearly don’t know Shonen Jump.  The anime was such a money maker in America that 4Kids commissioned Studio Gallop to make a movie and the Capsule Monsters miniseries.  Even Japan wasn’t done with the manga because they made Yu-Gi-Oh R!  The original Yu-Gi-Oh was being kept around for at least a little while longer while the sequel to the anime, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, was starting to take off.

Recommended read.

That means more original-era games and the last game included in the Early Days Collection.

7 Trials to Glory: World Championship 2005

As far as being a simulator for the competitive card game, 7 Trials to Glory is the best in the collection.  Players can make a whopping 20 different decks, the new basic wire frame dueling screen shows the entire field at all times with minimal camera shifting, the duel speed is adjustable and both players are given turn timers as if the game is saying

For deck construction there’s a rotating ban list that the computers abide by and the means of obtaining cards has been overhauled.  Now, instead of getting a booster pack for each win, players are given “duel points” currency depending on their performance, which can be used at Yugi’s Grandpa’s shop to buy a variety of card packs of their choice, including some of the real life starter decks.  The shop provides information for the packs for a more informed purchase, such as what kinds of cards are in them and what percentage of the cards from the pack the player already has.

It’s everything outside the dueling that isn’t especially enticing.  7 Trials to Glory takes place in an overworld, meaning no more static character portraits on a boring menu, but there’s so little to actually do in it that it might as well be a menu.  Until the post-game adds one more, there are exactly 4 locations to go to, each of which has exactly one building with one room and all you can do in is talk to people and challenge them to duels.  All the characters, both faceless and named ones from the series, spout off the same line when talked to and that almost never changes because there’s no semblance of a plot.

The titular 7 Trials to Glory refers to 7 different tournaments that can be entered, each having a different rule set, but they feel less like a goal to achieve as part of some grand story to becoming a master and more like something to do because there’s nothing else to strive for.  At least in Worldwide Edition things would happen that changed things up and characters had different dialogue in different situations.  There are fewer named characters in 7 Trials to Glory too, but at least the ones included have some better decks.  Unfortunately, though the ban list helps, decks still have a lot of Penguin Soldiers and Summoned Skulls regardless of which character it is.

I like Worldwide Edition more, but I can see 7 Trials to Glory being someone's favorite and not just because of the new features.  Some players didn’t like the colorful moving backgrounds and/or the rapidly moving camera of the previous duel simulators so even though I find 7 Trials to Glory’s dueling stage boring, those people might appreciate the simplicity.

The overworld, small as it is, also has a chill vibe to it.  Characters are manually challenged, nothing shakes up the status quo and players can go to bed to pass the days and enter tournaments at their own leisure.  The music complements this by being subdued, but without being a droning bore like World Championship 2004.

I may not sing praises about it, but I like 7 Trials to Glory just fine.  I definitely put more of my time into Worldwide Edition, but it’s good that this game is included for the players it hits all the right notes for.

Final Verdict

With every game in the Early Days Collection reviewed, that leaves the final judgment on the package as a whole.  Compared to other game collections, like U2’s Castlevania collections, Capcom’s Fighting Collections or Digital Eclipse’s other collections, such as the Samurai Shodown Neogeo one, the Early Days Collection has little to offer in terms of bonus features.  Other collections have concept sketches, interviews, art galleries and music players.  All the Early Days Collection has is new translations for a few games, online play for 3 of them, the game box scans and cheats, which are all things the other collections have done on an individual basis.

The issue of the lack of features is softened when considering the number of games in it.  Not counting alternate versions of the same game, the Early Days Collection has 12 games, more than twice as many as the likes of the Samurai Shodown collection.

The question then is whether or not the games included are worth the 50 dollar asking price.  To answer that, I’ll quickly go over how much I would be willing to pay for each game if they were sold individually.  This takes into consideration the cheats the collection provides and, in a few instances, pairs of similar games that would have me choosing one or the other to drop money on.

Duel Monsters on the Game Boy: 3 dollars.  It’s kind of cool, but not substantial.
Duel Monsters 2: Dark Duel Stories: Nothing.  I didn’t like it.
Capsule Monsters GB: 10 dollars.  Not only is it a lengthy JRPG adventure, but Digital Eclipse deserves a little extra for translating it all.
Dark Duel Stories or Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelists: 5 dollars.  Fun, but not all-time greats by any stretch.
Dungeondice Monsters: 6 dollars.  A good game to play on the side.
Eternal Duelist Soul or Worldwide Edition: 8 dollars.  Two of the best games ever.
The Sacred Cards & Reshef of Destruction: 15 dollars for both.  It's important to remember this is with cheats.

World Championship 2004: I’d rather get paid to have to play that shit instead.
Destiny Board Traveler: Nothing.  It’s a bonus game.
7 Trials to Glory: 7 dollars.  A step below Worldwide Edition for me, but solid.
 
That brings the value to 54 dollars, give or take, so I think 50 is an ok asking price.  The Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days Collection, at a base level, has some really fun and varied games.  Even when mitigated by the cheats, many of them definitely show their age and I can’t deny that even the best ones aren’t as polished as other, similar games one could buy, but there’s a lot of old-school virtual tabletop gaming with the franchise’s monster designs that you can’t get anywhere else.  I’m happy the Yu-Gi-Oh Early Days Collection exists and I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

This review is HOW many pages long?!