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Showing posts from February, 2022

Spells, Traps, and Rarities Oh My! (Series 1 Card Layout Part 2)

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      We began covering the cards through the more detailed monster cards . Today, we'll be finishing the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card pool and the basic foundation of rarities in the card game.      MAGIC AND TRAP CARDS have similar designs to one another in Series 1.  NAME                                                       MAGIC ( 魔 ( ま ) Ma)                             MAGIC CARD ( 魔 ( ま ) 法 ( ほう ) カード Mahō Kādo )                                    IMAGE                               Card effect (効 ( こう ) 果 ( か ) kōka)   PASSWORD                                                           COPYRIGHT                                   NAME                                                            TRAP ( 罠 ( トラップ Torappu)                                TRAP CARD ( 罠 ( トラップ ) カード Torappu Kādo )                                     IMAGE                                        Card effect (効 ( こう ) 果 ( か ) kōka)       PASSWORD                                                   

Series 1 Monster Cards (Series 1 Card Layout Part 1)

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      While we're familiar with the modern card format, it wasn't something that'd been established immediately on release. What we call the UNIFIED WORLD FORMAT is something Konami built up to. So how did Konami design the earliest cards? Let's find out.      The previous post discussed the different types of cards that are the building blocks of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. Today's post will be discussing how Series 1 monsters were designed. Name                                                                  Attribute ( 属 ( ぞく ) 性 ( せい ) Zokusei )                                                IMAGE   Race  ( 種 ( しゅ ) 族 ( ぞく ) Shuzoku )     Attack Power   ( 攻 ( こう ) 撃 ( げき ) 力 ( りょく ) Kōgekiryoku ) Lore                                         Defense Power ( 守 ( しゅ ) 備 ( び ) 力 ( りょく ) Shubiryoku) Password                                                                                    Copyright                                                                  

OCG Official Rules (Vol.1)

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    On release, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Card Game (OCG) established many of the core rules and mechanics by which we play to this day. However, there have also been many changes in the past 23 years that many people aren't aware of. This post is intended to put this information down into the English-speaking space for posterity.      The OCG Official Rules ( 公式ルール Kōshiki rūru) were the first rules under which Yu-Gi-Oh! was played. They lasted from release to the official date of April 20, 2000. As mentioned previously, these rules established the core tenets of Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! to the world of cardboard. So before we cover the unique elements of the Official Rules on release, we'll first be covering the basics of the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Official Rules BASIC RULES AND CONCEPTS     Yu-Gi-Oh! has both players begin with a minimum of 40 cards in their Decks. The Deck consists of the Monsters, Spells and Traps that the player will be using in that Duel. At the start of the Duel,

Series 1: The Beginning (Part 1)

          Series 1 ( 第 ( だい ) 1 期 ( き Phase 1) is the first generation of Yu-Gi-Oh! released by Konami for the OCG. This Series introduced many of the core concepts of the game that we still use in Dueling. Many of the iconic monsters and DM staples that we're familiar with also saw extensive play during this period. This is a summary of the first portion of Series 1 up to Booster 3 and the First Limited List. Vol. ( ボリューム ) 1     Vol.1 saw the introduction of the majority of the game's mechanics introduced. Early players played under the Official Rules which will be discussed later. The Yu-Gi-Oh! National Tournament took place on February 21, 1999 with this Core Booster with both an OCG/ Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters tournament which had Kanan the Swordmistress as its attendance card. KEY CARDS: TRAP HOLE, DARK HOLE , Fissure, Beast Fangs, Legendary Sword, Dark Magician, Gaia the Fierce Knight, Silver Fang, Hitotsu-Mi Giant, Mammoth Graveyard, Dark Grey, sparks, red medicine Atten

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (GB) and the Bandai Game: When the OCG was born

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       Released in Japan on December 16, 1998,  Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was the first handheld game in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and the only one for the original GAME BOY. It gave Yu-Gi-Oh! players who were dissatisfied with how Bandai managed the game a more authentic version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! that had been on the pages of the manga. Based off of the then serializing Duelist Kingdom Arc of the manga, your goal was to fight your way through the ship and the island where the Duelist Kingdom tournament took place before finally facing the three bosses Simon Muran, Pegasus J. Crawford and Dark Yugi.     As one would expect from a game that was on a system that elementary school kids had easier access to, this game was a hit on release. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters reached 1.61 million units sold in Japan in its lifespan, and that game's success would spark the true Yu-Gi-Oh! mania that would support the OCG through 1999. However, this game's impact towards how the game we play today ca

A Corporate Blunder, or How Konami Managed to Dominate Yu-Gi-Oh! Game Licensing (Part 2)

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      On the other side of the coin, we have the company known as Konami. Kagemasa Kozuki founded Konami on March 21, 1969 and incorporated it nearly 4 years later on March 19. 1971. The company began as a rental shop and repair for jukeboxes before business shifted to building amusement machines for video arcades. They made their first coin-based video game in 1978 and began exporting to the US in 1979. In the 1980s, Konami came into its own as a video game developer. Frogger, Super Cobra, Time Pilot, Rock'n Rope and Track & Field were massive commercial successes. However, Konami also branched out into the home console market. They're most famous for the creation of the Castlevania, Contra, and Metal Gear franchises in that space along with other hits. By the time the 1990s came, Konami was a $300 million company with a reputation for making strong and popular games. This was their reputation when Konami received the Yu-Gi-Oh! video game license. YU-GI-OH! MONSTER CAPSULE