Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 [GBA] Review

Developer	KCEJ
Publisher	Konami
Genre	Role-Playing

KCEJ is Konami’s “go to guy” when it comes to making Yu-Gi-Oh! Videogames. Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 is the game that Yu-Gi-Oh! fans have been waiting for. Arguably the best Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame ever made and with access to 1,000 different Yu-Gi-Oh! dueling game cards; as long as you like what Yu-Gi-Oh! has to offer, you will definitely like what Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 has to offer (YWCT2K4).

Gameplay - KCEJ has made most of the Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames available. KCEJ has also manufactured what is considered to be one of best videogame series of our time: the Metal Gear Solid series (PS and PS2). With this in mind, you would think that any videogame made by KCEJ would be of a prestige quality. This is true in the minds of some gamers, but doesn’t “float” with everyone. The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is based on a world where people battle one another using a deck of cards, which contains monsters, magic spells, and trap spells. The Yu-Gi-Oh! craze much like the Pokémon craze that took the nation by storm a mere couple of years ago, has a television show, a videogame franchise, and a card game that replicates exactly what the whole Yu-Gi-Oh! concept is all about. YWCT2K4 attempts to give gamers the experience of playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game via their Game Boy Advance, and cut out the buying, selling, and trading of the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game. If you are a fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise or have an interest with non-traditional card game, YWCT2K4 is the videogame for you, however the overall concept that the game provides will not attract a diverse group of video gamers.

YWCT2K4 is not like the previous released GBA Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame; Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards, being that you do not have the ability to walk around and go about the game like a typical RPG. YWCT2K4 simply allows you as the gamer to play the ever so popular Yu-Gi-Oh! card game; using your GBA. The gameplay follows all of the stages and elements that actually occur in the Yu-Gi-Oh ! card game quite perfectly. (If you would like to know more about the actual Yu-Gi-Oh! dueling card game or want more information about the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, just visit http://www.upperdeckentertainment.com/yugioh/).

In YWCT2K4, gamers can work with up to three different dueling decks. Gamers, through the act of playing the game itself, can unlock dueling opponents and up to 1,000 different Yu-Gi-Oh! dueling game cards. As in all non-traditional card games, some cards are valued higher then others, which brings in the effects of risk each and every time you play a game of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the brilliance of developing the “perfect” dueling card deck, and the skill needed to battle your opponent. The game itself allows you to battle and unlock popular Yu-Gi-Oh! characters from the hit television show.

The game does support multiplayer dueling, which allows two players to use their own decks to battle one another via a GBA link cable. The game itself is filled with a quite intelligent battling system which picks up on all the rules and strategies, that a Yu-Gi-Oh! rulebook usually helps players deal with. The Artificial Intelligence is surprisingly impressive; characters are rated based on their performance noticed on the Yu-Gi-Oh! television show, thus the character you choose to play against will play precisely as his/her counterpart character does on the television show (characters also play with a deck of cards for which they are known to have). If your opponent is simply a basic dueler, you will tend to have an easy time finding a way to defeat that opponent. But if the opponent is considered to be a top dueler, his/her dueling performance in YWCT2K4 will be quite tough yet rewarding to overcome.

All in all, the gameplay in YWCT2K4 can be considered the best yet for any Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame and properly replicates the actual Yu-Gi-Oh! card game.

Graphics - Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames made for console systems such as Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists Of The Roses (PS2), Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom (GC), and the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! Dawn Of Destiny (XBOX), YWCT2K4 and all other Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames made for Game Boy do not contain battle cinematic sequences. These battle cinematic sequences can actually accelerate the excitement one will get out of a Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame, but gamers will simply have to settle for pictures of the actual cards, and simple vibration effects in YWCT2K4. The battling environments and the overall presentation of YWCT2K4 looks good, and satisfies the eyes of gamers. Based upon what the GBA’s engine has to offer, YWCT2K4 did a good job at not only creating a good Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame, but also at making a good-looking Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame.

Sound - KCEJ did a good job at composing some pretty good and upbeat musical tracks for YWCT2K4, and especially for the dueling system. Eventually, the repetitiveness of the music will find its way to that nerve in your brain that triggers the feeling of being annoyed, but considering that GBA videogames cannot hold hours of music and what not, YWCT2K4 still sounds good. There are not too many action effects in YWCT2K4 thus there are not too many action sound effects (notice the period). The main factor to the sound in YWCT2K4 comes from the music, and once again…KCEJ did a pretty good job.

Bottom Line - For a Yu-Gi-Oh! videogame, Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 can be considered one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames ever made. However, unless you are a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanatic, the previous sentence might have no effect towards you. If you are involved or somewhat involved with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, you should definitely give this game a shot. If you are not familiar with what Yu-Gi-Oh! has to offer, but its concept is kind of interesting in your opinion, then you should also give this game a shot. If Yu-Gi-Oh! does not excite you at all, and even mentioning the name: “Yu-Gi-Oh!”, does not interest you, then you might want to pass this game up. It definitely pleases gamers, but you have to like what is has to offer to truly appreciate it. (Isn't there some type of reward for mentioning “Yu-Gi-Oh!” more than 50 times in a review?)

Review by Sean Nagasawa