Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

"Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie" redirects here. For other Yu-Gi-Oh! movies, see Film (disambiguation).

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

Promotional film poster
English name	Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light
Japanese name Japanese 遊（ゆう）☆戯（ぎ）☆王（おう）デュエルモンスターズ 光（ひかり）のピラミッド Base 遊☆戯☆王デュエルモンスターズ 光のピラミッド Furigana ゆう☆ぎ☆おうデュエルモンスターズ ひかりのピラミッド Rōmaji Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu Hikari no Piramiddo Translated Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light
Release date	March 16, 2005 (ja) August 13, 2004 (en)
Running time	101 mins (ja) 90 mins (en-na) 86 mins (en-eu, ko)
Production
Producer	Michael Pecoriello
Studio	4Kids Entertainment Studio Gallop
Licensor	Warner Bros.
Music by	Elik Alvarez Joel Douek Freddy Sheinfeld John Angier Wayne Sharpe Gil Talmi Blaze

Yu-Gi-Oh! the Movie: The Pyramid of Light, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light, is an anime film based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. The film's director was Hatsuki Tsuji.

In English, the character names and voice actors are the same as the English dub of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.

The movie was also adapted as an ani-manga, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Ani-Manga, and a Japanese novel, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light.

Synopsis

The Pyramid of Light (right) and its Stone Tablet on display at the Domino City museum. Note the three Egyptian Gods (Slifer, Ra, and Obelisk) engraved on the Tablet.

The events of Battle City have just concluded, and Yugi now owns all three Egyptian God cards. Seto Kaiba longs to finally defeat him, and he has a plan. He suspects that since Maximillion Pegasus created the Egyptian God cards, he would have also created a way to beat them, just in case something ever went wrong.

Kaiba heads off to Pegasus's castle and challenges him to a Duel. The stakes are the following: if Pegasus wins, he gets Kaiba's three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons"; if Kaiba wins, Pegasus hands over the card that can beat the Egyptian Gods. Kaiba wins, and Pegasus must fulfill his wager: he picks up two cards from Pegasus's decks. However, Pegasus is confused; he only created one card to beat the Egyptian Gods, not two...

Meanwhile, Yugi Muto and Téa Gardner, seeking refuge from a mob of duelists wanting to face Yugi for the Egyptian Gods, stumble into Domino Museum, where they discover a new attraction on display called the Pyramid of Light, which looks a little like the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi's grandpa, Solomon Muto (who also happens to be visiting the museum), reads an inscription on the side of a sarcophagus (The eye that sees what's yet to come, its vision shall be fulfilled, unless blinded by events predetermined, thus light & shadows both be killed), triggering a strange vision in Yugi's mind concerning his Millennium Puzzle, the Pyramid of Light, Anubis, and Kaiba. After he wakes up, he finds the pyramid stolen, the sarcophagus now empty, and Mokuba standing outside. Mokuba says that Kaiba wants Yugi to bring his duel disk to the KaibaCorp Duel Dome immediately.

Yugi does so, transforming into Yami Yugi on the way, and finds Kaiba ready to duel. Seto asks Mokuba to seal all the exits, forcing Yugi to duel him, but not before Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor find their way in to watch.

The duel goes on for what seems like an eternity, and Yugi is starting to suspect that there are dark forces at work - especially when Kaiba activates a Trap Card called the "Pyramid of Light", which not only bears a striking resemblance to its namesake in the museum, but also prevents Yugi from using any of the Egyptian Gods! Before long, Kaiba has his "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" on the field, but to Yugi's surprise, he sacrifices it to Summon a monster known as the "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", which is even stronger!

The Pyramid of Light also pulls the souls of Yugi, Joey, and Tristan into Yugi's Millenium Puzzle, where they are chased by a group of mummies controlled by an unknown force...

The power of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" brings Yugi to the verge of defeat, but Kaiba decides to humiliate his rival with the most ironic victory possible: wiping him out with his own Egyptian Gods! Having used "Pyramid of Light" to remove the gods from play, he intends to use "Return from the Different Dimension" to get them under his control - but first, he needs to destroy "Pyramid of Light", otherwise it would just destroy the gods again! Kaiba commands his "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to use its "Shining Nova" effect, which allows it to sacrifice itself to destroy anything on the field - and he aims it at the "Pyramid of Light". Suddenly, a ghostly voice calls out, "This I cannot allow!", and the Pyramid stays exactly where it is. Then, a man rises up from behind Kaiba, throws him aside, and takes over the duel himself.

It is Anubis, the Egyptian Lord of the Dead, whom the Pharaoh destroyed 5000 years ago. But now he is back with the Pyramid of Light around his neck and two of his most powerful monsters - "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia"! On top of this, Téa, Joey, Tristan and Yugi are all trapped inside the Millennium Puzzle, leaving the Pharaoh to duel all alone. Putting all his faith into the cards, Yugi draws the "Double Spell" card, which allows him to discard his other spell card to activate "Monster Reborn" from Seto's Graveyard. He uses it to revive "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", who then destroys the "Pyramid of Light" (after it was weakened by Yugi from inside the Millennium Puzzle), along with "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia". But Anubis is not finished yet. With the Pyramid gone, he combines his fallen Sphinxes into a new, even stronger monster - "Theinen the Great Sphinx"! Yugi, however, activates "Reverse of Reverse" to activate Kaiba's "Return from the Different Dimension". The God Monsters return and destroy the Great Sphinx, seemingly taking Anubis with it. But a giant jackal - the ancient Egyptian representation of Anubis, the Lord of the Dead - rises from the remains of the Pyramid!

Kaiba and Yugi join forces, putting all their strength into the "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" card, and using Shining Nova to destroy Anubis once and for all. On top of it all, Pegasus, who had earlier arrived via helicopter to help them, gets them out of the explosion in time.

Relation to the anime

Anubis

It is unclear whether the movie is considered canon to the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime. Despite the supposed prominance of Anubis in the Pharaoh's past, he never appeared outside of this movie—despite the "Dawn of the Duel" arc's exploration of the Pharaoh's past.

The movie debuted in the United States between episodes 138 and 139.

The movie is set after the Battle City finals, with Yugi wielding all three Egyptian God Cards in the movie. According to Animation World Network, the movie is set directly after Episode 144 (the final episode of the Battle City Finals). In the English dub of episode 148, Tristan references the events of the film.

In the film, one of the video screens shows Yugi and his three Egyptian God monsters in the sky, which is footage taken from Yugi's clash with the Great Leviathan in Episode 183. While this could indicate the movie takes place after Episode 184 (the final episode of the Waking the Dragons arc), it is likely just footage being reused (since Episode 183 had already aired in Japan prior to this movie's premiere).

Release

The movie was released in theaters in North America, Europe, and Australia. In the United States, the movie debuted on August 13, 2004.

The movie was not released theatrically in Japan. It was shown at special screenings in Japan on November 3, 2004. The movie aired on TV Tokyo on January 2, 2005. Notably, unlike in the United States, the movie debuted in Japan after the conclusion of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie Ani-Manga comic book was released in the United States on November 23, 2004. In English, it came with a "Slifer the Sky Dragon" promotional card.

In the United States, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie DVDs were released on November 16, 2004.

Promotional cards

In the United States and Japan, attendees of the premiere received a Movie Pack along with their ticket. In Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom, Movie Packs were available at all screenings, not just the premiere. The Movie Pack contained one of four Limited Edition promotional cards.

The booster pack Exclusive Pack was released at retailers to coincide with the film, containing cards introduced in the movie.

In the United States (and some other countries), Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie VHS tapes and DVDs included the promotional card "Pyramid of Light". In the United States, the VHS tapes and DVDs also included mail-in-offer, which customers could fill in to receive the other three Movie Pack cards.

Two fans managed to steal a box of 2,400 cards in California. Disguised as Warner Bros. workers, they made off with the cards, claiming that wrong cards were sent, and promising a new shipment.

Reception

When the movie was released in theaters in the United States, it was largely panned by critics. It received a 5% from all critics, and a 0% from all top critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Featured Duels

Simulated: Seto Kaiba VS. Yugi Muto

"Obelisk the Tormentor" Tributes "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" to activate its effect.

Simulated: Seto Kaiba VS. Yami Yugi

(Duel already in progress; this Duel is not real but the result of a simulation by KaibaCorp's computer)

Seto Kaiba has 1300 Life Points, controls 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", no face-down cards and three cards in his hand. Yami Yugi has 2200 Life Points, controls "Obelisk the Tormentor", "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" and has no other cards on his field or in his hand.

Kaiba's Turn
Kaiba draws "Polymerization" and subsequently activates it to fuse "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" on the field with two copies of "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in his hand in order to Fusion Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (4500/3800) in Attack Position. Kaiba then activates "Megamorph" and equips it to "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". Since Seto's Life Points are lower than Yami Yugi's, the ATK of "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" is doubled ("Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon": 4500 → 9000/3800).

Yami Yugi activates the effect of "Obelisk the Tormentor" to Tribute "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" in order to increase its ATK to ∞ ("Obelisk the Tormentor": 4000 → ∞/4000) and attack, destroying "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (Seto 1300 → 0).

Joey Wheeler VS. Unidentified Man

Joey Wheeler VS. Unidentified Man

Unidentified Man's Turn
The man draws "Injection Fairy Lily" and subsequently Normal Summons it (400/1500) in Attack Position. "Injection Fairy Lily" attacks directly.

• (NOTE: This would be illegal in the real game, since an attack cannot be declared on the first turn; in the Japanese version, Joey even questions the legality of this move. The man activates the effect of "Injection Fairy Lily", paying 2000 Life Points to increase its ATK to 3400, so it could be an anime-exclusive effect of "Injection Fairy Lily" to be able to attack like this.)

(The rest of the duel and perhaps another are not shown; it can be assumed that Joey defeated his opponent(s).)

Joey Wheeler VS. Boy

Joey Wheeler VS. Boy

Duel already in progress, Joey Wheeler has unknown Life Points, controls "Gearfried the Iron Knight", "Tiny Guardian", "Rocket Warrior" and "Baby Dragon". No face-down cards and no hand. Boy has unknown Life Points, controls "Fenrir" and "Inpachi", no face-down cards and one card in his hand.

Boy's Turn
The boy Tributes "Fenrir" and "Inpachi" in order to Tribute Summon "Maju Garzett" (?/0) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Maju Garzett", its ATK becomes equal to the combined ATK of the monsters Tributed to Summon it ("Maju Garzett": ? → 3000/0). "Maju Garzett" attacks and destroys "Gearfried the Iron Knight".

(NOTE: It is unclear whether "Gearfried the Iron Knight" was in Attack or Defense Position; Joey's Life Point counter isn't shown to change, but before it's destroyed, "Gearfried the Iron Knight" is not in its usual "kneeling down" Defense Position pose.)

Joey's Turn
Joey draws "Gilford the Lightning". He then Tributes "Baby Dragon", "Tiny Guardian" and "Rocket Warrior" in order to Tribute Summon "Gilford the Lightning" (2800/1400) in Attack Position. The effect of "Gilford the Lightning" then activates, destroying "Maju Garzett". "Gilford the Lightning" attacks directly (Boy: 2800 Life Points or less → 0).

Seto Kaiba VS. Maximillion Pegasus

Seto Kaiba VS. Maximillion Pegasus

Turn 1: Pegasus
Pegasus draws "Toon World" and subsequently activates it by paying 1000 Life Points (Pegasus 4000 → 3000). Pegasus Normal Summons "Toon-Gemini Elf" (1900/900) in Attack Position and Sets a card.

Turn 2: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Attack Guidance Armor". Aside from "Attack Guidance Armor", Kaiba's hand is shown to contain "Return from the Different Dimension", "Soul Release", "Z-Metal Tank", "Y-Dragon Head", and "X-Head Cannon". Kaiba Normal Summons "X-Head Cannon" (1800/1500) in Defense Position and Sets two cards.

Turn 3: Pegasus
Pegasus draws "Card of Sanctity" and subsequently activates it to make him and Seto draw until they both have six cards in their hand (Pegasus and Kaiba both draw 3 cards each). Pegasus' hand is shown to contain "Toon Table of Contents", "Toon Summoned Skull", "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon", "Monster Reborn", "Cost Down", and "Toon Dark Magician Girl". Kaiba's hand has "Soul Release", "Z-Metal Tank", "Y-Dragon Head", "Ring of Destruction", "Monster Reborn", and "Polymerization".

Pegasus then activates "Cost Down", discarding "Toon Table of Contents" to lower the Level of every monster in his hand by two. Pegasus then Normal Summons "Toon Dark Magician Girl" ( 6 → 4/2000/1700) in Attack Position. "Toon-Gemini Elf" attacks directly via its own effect as Kaiba controls no Toon monsters (Seto 4000 → 2100). Since "Toon-Gemini Elf" inflicted battle damage, its second effect activates, forcing Seto to discard "Monster Reborn".

"Toon Dark Magician Girl" attacks directly via its own effect, but Seto activates his face-down "Attack Guidance Armor" to redirect the attack to "Toon-Gemini Elf" instead, destroying it (Pegasus 3000 → 2900). Pegasus activates "Monster Reborn" to revive "Toon-Gemini Elf" ( 4 → 2/1900/900) in Attack Position. Pegasus then activates his face-down "Ultimate Offering", which allows him to Normal Summon more than one monster during his Main Phases and Kaiba's Battle Phases at the cost of 500 Life Points for each extra monster Summoned.

Pegasus then Tributes "Toon-Gemini Elf" in order to Tribute Summon "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon" ( 8 → 6/3000/2500) in Attack Position (Pegasus 2900 → 2400). Pegasus then Normal Summons "Toon Summoned Skull" ( 6 → 4/2500/1200) in Attack Position (Pegasus 2400 → 1900). On Pegasus' End Phase, the effect of "Cost Down" expires ("Toon Dark Magician Girl" and "Toon Summoned Skull": 4 → 6; "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon": 6 → 8).

Turn 4: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Dark Core" and subsequently activates it to discard "Y-Dragon Head" and remove "X-Head Cannon" from play. Kaiba then activates "Soul Release" to remove "Y-Dragon Head" in his Graveyard from play. Kaiba then Normal Summons "Z-Metal Tank" (1500/1300) in Attack Position.

Kaiba then activates his face-down "Return from the Different Dimension" to pay half his Life Points (Seto 2100 → 1050) and Special Summon the removed from play "X-Head Cannon" (1800/1500) and "Y-Dragon Head" (1500/1600) in Attack Position. Kaiba then removes from play "X-Head Cannon", "Y-Dragon Head" and "Z-Metal Tank" to Special Summon "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" (2800/2600) in Attack Position.

Kaiba then activates the effect of "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" to discard one card and destroy "Toon World". Because "Toon World" is no longer in play, "Toon Dark Magician Girl", "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon" and "Toon Summoned Skull" are all destroyed. "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" attacks directly (Pegasus 1900 → 0).

Yami Yugi VS. Seto Kaiba/Anubis

Yami Yugi VS. Seto Kaiba

Turn 1: Kaiba
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 41 → 36) Kaiba draws "Deck Destruction Virus". Kaiba's hand is shown to contain "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Familiar Knight", "Rare Metal Dragon", "Des Feral Imp" and "Peten the Dark Clown" and "Deck Destruction Virus". Kaiba then Normal Summons "Familiar Knight" (1200/1400) in Defense Position.

Turn 2: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 36 → 35) Yami Yugi draws "Mirror Force". Yami Yugi's hand contains "King's Knight", "Magician's Valkyria", "Premature Burial", "Sage's Stone", "Queen's Knight", and "Mirror Force". Yami Yugi then Normal Summons "Queen's Knight" (1500/1600) in Attack Position.

"Queen's Knight" attacks and destroys "Familiar Knight". The effect of "Familiar Knight" then activates, letting both players Special Summon a Level 4 monster from their hand. Seto Special Summons "Rare Metal Dragon" (2400/1200) in Attack Position while Yami Yugi Special Summons "King's Knight" (1600/1400) in Attack Position.

The effect of "King's Knight" then activates, letting Yami Yugi Special Summon "Jack's Knight" (1900/1000) from his Deck in Attack Position (Yami Yugi's Deck: 35 → 34). Yami Yugi Sets a card.

Turn 3: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Pyramid of Light" and subsequently Sets it.

Turn 4: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 34 → 33) Yami Yugi draws "Slifer the Sky Dragon". He then Tributes "Queen's Knight", "King's Knight" and "Jack's Knight" in order to Tribute Summon "Slifer the Sky Dragon" (X000 ATK / X000 DEF) in Attack Position.

Due to the effect of "Slifer", its ATK and DEF become equal the number of cards in Yami Yugi's hand times 1000. Yami Yugi currently has three ("Slifer the Sky Dragon": X000 → 3000/X000 → 3000).

"Slifer" attacks and destroys "Rare Metal Dragon" (Seto 4000 → 3400).

Turn 5: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Obligatory Summon" and subsequently activates it to force Yami Yugi to Special Summon all monsters from his Deck with the same Attribute as the monster he controls. Yami Yugi Special Summons "Obelisk the Tormentor" (4000/4000) and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" (? → 0/? → 0) in Attack Position. (Yami Yugi's Deck: 33 → 31)

Kaiba then activates his face-down "Pyramid of Light" to remove the Egyptian Gods from play. At this point, "Pyramid of Light" envelops the playing field, which prevents both Yami Yugi and Seto from exiting until the Duel is over. Whenever Yami Yugi or Seto lose Life Points, their actual life energy is drained from them and used to feed Anubis.

A Dark Red Eye appears on the side of the pyramid, absorbing the souls of Joey and Tristan. They are transported to Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. Yugi's own soul is absorbed within his Millennium Puzzle, leaving Yami Yugi to Duel against Seto by himself. The stadium where Yami Yugi and Seto are dueling begins to collapse, but the "Pyramid of Light" protects them from the debris.

Seto activates "Mystical Space Typhoon" to destroy Yami Yugi's Set card (noted to have been "Mirror Force" in the Japanese version). He then Normal Summons "Peten the Dark Clown" (500/1200) in Attack Position. "Peten the Dark Clown" attacks directly (Yami 4000 → 3500). Kaiba Sets a card.

Turn 6: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 31 → 30) Yami Yugi draws. He then Normal Summons "Magician's Valkyria" (1600/1800) in Attack Position. "Magician's Valkyria" then attacks and destroys "Peten the Dark Clown" (Seto 3400 → 2300).

Kaiba then activates his face-down "Deck Destruction Virus". Now whenever a DARK Fiend-Type monster with at most 500 ATK is destroyed by battle, this card will force Yami Yugi to send ten random cards in his Deck to the Graveyard. The effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" activates (Yami Yugi's Deck: 30 → 20).

Since "Peten the Dark Clown" was sent to the Graveyard, Kaiba removes it from play in order to Special Summon another "Peten the Dark Clown" (500/1200) from his Deck in Defense Position.

Turn 7: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Card of Demise". He then Normal Summons "Des Feral Imp" (1600/1800) in Defense Position. Kaiba then activates "Card of Demise" to draw until he has five cards in his hand (his hand is empty so he draws five cards). Five turns after the activation of "Card of Demise", Seto must discard his entire hand during his Standby Phase. Kaiba's hand now contains "Polymerization", "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", "Attack Guidance Armor", "Paladin of White Dragon", and "White Dragon Ritual".

Kaiba activates "White Dragon Ritual" to Tribute "Des Feral Imp" and Ritual Summon "Paladin of White Dragon" (1900/1200) from his hand in Attack Position. "Paladin of White Dragon" attacks and destroys "Magician's Valkyria" (Yami 3500 → 3200).

Kaiba then activates the second effect of "Paladin of White Dragon" to Tribute itself and Special Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (3000/2500) from his Deck in Attack Position. Kaiba then Sets a card.

Turn 8: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 20 → 19) Yami Yugi draws. He then activates "Premature Burial" to Special Summon "Magician's Valkyria" (1600/1800) from his Graveyard in Attack Position and equip it with "Premature Burial" by paying 800 Life Points (Yami 3200 → 2400).

Yami Yugi then activates "Mage Power" and equips it to "Magician's Valkyria". Now as long as "Magician's Valkyria" is equipped with "Mage Power", it will gain 500 ATK and DEF for every Spell and Trap Card on Yami Yugi's side of the field ("Magician's Valkyria": 1600 → 2600/1800 → 2800). Yami Yugi then Sets two cards ("Magician's Valkyria": 2600 → 3600/2800 → 3800).

"Magician's Valkyria" attacks "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", but Seto activates his face-down "Attack Guidance Armor" to redirect the attack to "Peten the Dark Clown". "Magician's Valkyria" then destroys "Peten the Dark Clown". The effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" activates (Yami Yugi's Deck: 19 → 9) (Noted that one of the destroyed cards was Dark Magician Girl).

Kaiba then removes "Peten the Dark Clown" from play in order to Special Summon another "Peten the Dark Clown" (500/1200) from his Deck in Defense Position.

Turn 9: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Seto activates "Polymerization" to fuse the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" on his field with the two copies in his hand in order to Fusion Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (4500/3800) in Attack Position. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" attacks & destroys "Magician's Valkyria" (Yugi 2400 → 1500).

Turn 10: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 9 → 8) Yami Yugi draws. He then activates his face-down "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon "Dark Magician Girl" (2000/1700) from his Graveyard in Attack Position. Yami Yugi then activates face-down "Sage's Stone" to Special Summon "Dark Magician" (2500/2100) from his Deck in Attack Position (Yami Yugi's Deck: 8 → 7). Yami Yugi then Tributes "Dark Magician Girl" and "Dark Magician" in order to Special Summon "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" (3200/2800) from his hand in Attack Position.

"Sorcerer of Dark Magic" then attacks "Blue-Eye Ultimate Dragon". The second effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" then activates, decreasing the ATK of "Blue-Eye Ultimate Dragon" by 500 for each Spellcaster-Type monster in Yami Yugi's Graveyard that was sent there from the field. There are currently three: "Dark Magician Girl", "Dark Magician", and "Magician's Valkyria" ("Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon": 4500 → 3000/3800). "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" destroys "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (Seto 2300 → 2100).

Turn 11: Kaiba
Kaiba draws. Kaiba then passes.

Turn 12: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 7 → 6) Yami Yugi draws. "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" attacks and destroys Seto's "Peten the Dark Clown". The effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" activates, but the first effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" negates the effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" and destroys it.

Turn 13: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon". Kaiba then activates "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (4500/3800) from his Graveyard in Attack Position. Seto then Tributes "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" in order to Special Summon "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" (3000/2500) in Attack Position. Due to the first effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", it gains 300 ATK for each Dragon in Kaiba's Graveyard. There are currently five ("Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon": 3000 → 4500/2500).

"Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" attacks Yugi's "Sorcerer of Dark Magic". The second effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" would activate at this point, but Kaiba activates the second effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to negate the effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic". "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" then destroys "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" (Yami Yugi 1500 → 200).

Turn 14: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 6 → 5) Yami Yugi draws "Big Shield Gardna" and subsequently Normal Summons it (100/2600) in Defense Position.

Turn 15: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Return from the Different Dimension" and subsequently sets it. "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" attacks & destroys Yugi's "Big Shield Gardna".

Turn 16: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 5 → 4) Yami Yugi draws "Pot of Greed" and subsequently activates it to draw two cards (Yami Yugi's Deck: 4 → 2). Since Yami Yugi added "Watapon" from his Deck to his hand by a card effect, he Special Summons it (200/300) in Defense Position. Yami Yugi then Normal Summons "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian" (1400/1200) in Defense Position.

Turn 17: Kaiba
Kaiba draws "Spear Dragon". On Kaiba's Standby Phase, the second effect of "Card of Demise" activates, forcing Kaiba to discard his entire hand ("Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon": 4500 → 4800/2500).

Kaiba activates the third effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to Tribute itself and destroy "Pyramid of Light" (Kaiba intends to use his set card to use Yugi's own Egyptian God cards against him so he can have a perfect victory). However, Anubis uses his power to prevent the "Pyramid of Light" from being destroyed. Anubis then appears and tosses Kaiba aside in order to take his place in the Duel (Life Points included).

Yami Yugi vs. Anubis

Turn 17: Anubis (Kaiba's Turn continued)
Anubis Special Summons "Andro Sphinx" (3000/2500) and "Sphinx Teleia" (2500/3000) from his Deck in Attack Position as "Pyramid of Light" is present on the field.

Turn 18: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 2 → 1) Yami Yugi draws "Reverse of Reverse". He then Sets a card.

Turn 19: Anubis
Anubis Sets a card. "Sphinx Teleia" attacks & destroys Yugi's "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian" (as it can negate the effects of monsters it battles). "Andro Sphinx" attacks & destroys Yugi's "Watapon". The third effect of "Andro Sphinx" activates, inflicting damage to Yami Yugi equal to half the ATK of his destroyed monster (Yami 200 → 100).

Turn 20: Yami Yugi
(Yami Yugi's Deck: 1 → 0) Yami Yugi draws "Double Spell". At this point, Yugi Muto uses the "Dagger of Fate" to destroy the Eye within Anubis' Pyramid of Light. This action exposes a weakness in the "Pyramid of Light" card, which Yami Yugi senses. Yami Yugi then activates "Double Spell" to activate "Monster Reborn" from Seto's Graveyard and Special Summon "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" (3000/2500) from Kaiba's Graveyard to his side of the field in Attack Position by discarding "Exchange".

Yami Yugi then activates the third effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to Tribute itself and destroy Seto/Anubis's "Pyramid of Light". This time, "Pyramid of Light" is destroyed. With "Pyramid of Light" removed from the field, the souls of Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Téa are returned to their bodies and Anubis's "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia" are destroyed.

Since "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia" were destroyed at the same time, Anubis activates the effect of his face-down "Theinen the Great Sphinx" and Special Summons it (3500/3000) in Attack Position by paying 1000 Life Points (Anubis 2100 → 1100). Anubis then activates the second effect of "Theinen" in order to increase its ATK by the ATK of all monsters in his Graveyard ("Theinen the Great Sphinx": 3500 → 35000/3000) by paying 1000 Life Points (Anubis 1100 → 100). (In the dub, Anubis activates the Pyramid of Light around his neck to release the dead souls trapped within the Pyramid of Light and the Millennium Puzzle and infuse their power into "Theinen".)

Yami Yugi activates face-down "Reverse of Reverse" to activate Seto's face-down "Return from the Different Dimension" as his card, allowing Yami Yugi to Special Summon the removed from play "Obelisk the Tormentor" (4000/4000), Slifer the Sky Dragon" (X000 → 0/X000 → 0), and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" (? → 0/? → 0) in Attack Position by paying half his Life Points (Yami Yugi 100 → 50).

Yami Yugi then Tributes "Slifer" and "Ra" to activate the effect of "Obelisk" ("Obelisk the Tormentor": 4000 → ∞/4000), attacking and destroying "Theinen the Great Sphinx" (Anubis 100 → 0).

Featured cards

The following cards were used in the film. Italics are used to denote cards whose first appearance was in the film.

Seto Kaiba

Main Deck Monster Cards Normal Monsters Blue-Eyes White Dragon x3 X-Head Cannon Effect Monsters Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon Des Feral Imp Familiar Knight Peten the Dark Clown x3 Rare Metal Dragon Spear Dragon Y-Dragon Head Z-Metal Tank Ritual Monsters Paladin of White Dragon Spell Cards Card of Demise Dark Core Megamorph Monster Reborn Mystical Space Typhoon Obligatory Summon Polymerization Soul Release White Dragon Ritual Trap Cards Attack Guidance Armor Deck Destruction Virus Pyramid of Light Return from the Different Dimension Ring of Destruction Extra Deck Fusion Monsters Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon XYZ-Dragon Cannon

Unidentified Man
Monster Cards Effect Monsters Injection Fairy Lily

Differences in adaptations

The English and Japanese versions of the movie are substantially different. The Japanese version is 101 minutes long, whereas the English version is 90 minutes long. In the English version, many scenes from the Japanese version were omitted, switched, or altered.

• All cards have full card text, localized to the language of the film.
  • This is in contrast to dubbed episodes of the anime, in which cards are edited to not use text at all. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Darkside of Dimensions are the media within the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime to display English card text in the English dub.
    • The reason for this is speculated to be FCC regulations in the United States.
  • The cards in the movie also retained the visual rarity that their real-world card game counterparts have, with the rarer cards having gold lettering on them to match those of an Ultra Rare card.
  • In the English dub, Magic Cards display "Spell Card" on their text, despite still being referred to as Magic Cards.

• The Life Point counters used in the main Duel of the film are the same used in the original Japanese series.

• In Japanese, the Pharaoh's past takes place 3000 years ago. In the English translation, it instead takes place in 3000 B.C. (5000 years ago).

• The "Dagger of Fate" was a plot device added to the English dub to give meaning to Yugi throwing it at the eye inside of the Millennium Puzzle. In the Japanese version, the dagger was never mentioned at all before that scene and Yugi just needed to find a hard object to throw at the eye and break it.

• In the English dub, Anubis is heard speaking in Ancient Egyptian on several occasions. In the Japanese version, he seldom spoke the language.

Errors

Visual errors

The 2 copies of "The Winged Dragon of Ra"

• When the duel between Seto and Pegasus begins, the latter is shown with 4 cards in his hand.

• The "Injection Fairy Lily" card is displayed either vertically-reversed or placed upside-down while horizontally-reversed.

• When Kaiba has his computer run a simulation of a duel between him and Yugi, Yugi is listed as using "Paladin of White Dragon".

• When "Familiar Knight" is attacked, the card underneath is reversed.

• In the English version, when Yami Yugi Summons "King's Knight", the entire screen is mirrored (causing the cards of "King's Knight" and "Queen's Knight" to also be mirrored).

• In the Japanese version of the movie, when Yami Yugi Summons "Magician's Valkyria" and attacks "Peten the Dark Clown", he is briefly shown to have "Magician's Valkyria" with "Premature Burial", "Mage Power" and 2 face-down cards. However, that's the field he has 1 turn later, when he revives "Magician's Valkyria" to face "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".

• In the English version, when Seto Kaiba Summons "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", its card is mirrored.

• In the English version of the movie, during Yami Yugi's final turn after his Draw Phase, "Exchange" and "Diffusion Wave-Motion" are visible in his hand. In the Japanese version of the movie, it was fixed to show "Exchange" and "Double Spell" instead.

• When Anubis activates "Inferno Tempest" and "Fallout" to make Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba drop all of their cards, 2 copies of "The Winged Dragon of Ra" are shown flying out of Yami Yugi's Duel Disk.

• Several cards shown in the movie do not have the proper font for their card names when their cards are played.

• When Seto and Pegasus draw due to "Card of Sanctity", "Dark Magician Girl" can be see in Pegasus's hand instead of "Toon Dark Magician Girl".

• The incorrect typeface is used for the names of several cards, including "Magician's Valkyria" and "Toon Summoned Skull".

Ruling errors

• When Joey challenges a group of Duelists wanting to have a go at Yugi and his Egyptian God cards, the first challenger Summons "Injection Fairy Lily" on the first turn, and declares an attack with it despite the player who goes first being unable to conduct the Battle Phase.

• When "Peten the Dark Clown" is destroyed by battle, Kaiba activates "Deck Destruction Virus", which can only be activated when a Fiend-Type Monster with 500 ATK or less is destroyed by battle. "Peten the Dark Clown" is a Spellcaster-Type monster.

• When Kaiba Summons "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", he explained that it gains 300 ATK points for every Dragon-Type monster he has in his Graveyard, and stated that he had five, being "Rare Metal Dragon", 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", and "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". However, this is an error as "Paladin of White Dragon" is also a Dragon-Type monster, and therefore should mean that Kaiba has six Dragon-Type monsters in his Graveyard, and thus the ATK of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" should have been 4800, not 4500. This would also mean that when "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" attacked and destroyed "Sorcerer of Dark Magic", Yami Yugi's Life Points would have dropped to 0, losing the Duel.

• When Kaiba uses the "Shining Nova" effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to destroy "Pyramid of Light", although the attack failed, "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" disappears, and later Yami Yugi activates "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon it from the Graveyard. However, "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" is shown to appear next to Anubis for a short time, after it had already been destroyed following the activation of its effect.

Other errors

• When Yugi uses Kaiba's "Return from the Different Dimension", he mentions that Kaiba wanted "a perfect victory", but Kaiba never actually said that—he only thought it.

• In the beginning of the movie, it is stated that Yugi defeated Seto Kaiba to win the finals of the Battle City Duel Monsters tournament. However, Yugi's true opponent for the final of the tournament was against Marik Ishtar / Dark Marik as all scenes that follow the headline show Yugi receiving The Winged Dragon of Ra from Marik.

Cast

• Dan Green as Yugi Muto, Yami Yugi
• Greg Abbey as Tristan Taylor
• Wayne Grayson as Joey Wheeler
• Tara Jayne as Mokuba Kaiba
• Amy Birnbaum as Tea Gardner
• Eric Stuart as Seto Kaiba
• Scottie Ray as Anubis
• Charles Rocket as Narrator

Music

The musical score and the sound effects are all completely brand new and American-made. There is no original Japanese music or sound effects in the English dub of the movie.

The ending theme for the Japanese version of the film is Fire, which is sung & composed by Blaze.

The musical score (background instrumentals) was released for the Japanese version of the movie. While the score for the English version was never officially released, Joel Douek, one of the series' composers for the dub, unofficially released these tracks on his YouTube account and FTP.

Posters

• 

Trivia

• In contrast to dubbed episodes of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light featured substantially more violence:
  • Contrary to the usual concept of Shadow Realm, the words "kill" and "die" are used. "Die" is used by Anubis, "Killed" is used by Solomon Muto's reading of the prophecy.
  • Violent comments like "Soon worms will feast your flesh, just as they did on mine" and "You will be destroyed" are used by Anubis.
  • No censorship is applied on mummies being dismembered or Yugi's silhouette being "stabbed" by "Peten the Dark Clown".
  • The cards are displayed in their TCG form, but "Dark Magician Girl" displays a pentagram (as per the original card) instead of her usual censored "ruby".
  • "Injection Fairy Lily" also rides a syringe, as opposed to the rocket she rides in the dubbed anime.
  • Pegasus makes a direct reference to "wine spritzers", where alcoholic beverages are usually changed to something else in the dub (usually fruit juice).
  • Near the end, Kaiba says the word "bull" (short for the swear word). This is as close as the English dub got to a swear word, unless the word "crap" is considered in the same category.

• A few times during the movie, Seto Kaiba's hair glowed green, which could be a homage to the Toei anime.

• In the newspaper Solomon reads near the start of the movie, a picture is credited to Norman Grossfeld—the writer and executive producer of the movie.

• In the beginning of the movie, a group of archaeologists discovered Anubis's tomb. Their appearance is similar to the archaeologists who discovered the Millennium Puzzle in the first episode of the Toei anime.

• Though elements of the Dawn of the Duel story arc from season 5 of the show are used, the plot of this film greatly mirrors that of the Waking the Dragons story arc from season 4. An ancient enemy arises and uses the Pharaoh's power against him in some way, they possess a powerful artifact and use its card counterpart to surround the field and prevent any interference, Yugi is prevented from using the God Cards until the end, after the enemy loses the final duel from a combined attack of 3 Legendary Monsters they take the form of or combine with a great beast to attack Yugi and his friends (Joey even uses some of the same monsters to fight both), the enemy uses Pegasus to manipulate Kaiba when he seeks him out for answers, Pegasus later shows up to provide background information and other answers for Yugi and/or his friends, and Yugi and the Pharaoh are separated for a sizable portion of the story and are only reunited once the enemy suffers some form of defeat and loses what was originally going to be the source of power for their attack on the world.

• Many cards use their first English TCG text, regardless of any errata applied in subsequent reprints.

• After Kaiba defeats Pegasus, he says "That's all Folks!", referencing the Warner Bros. catchphrase to mock Pegasus's Toon Deck.

• When Tristan sees the mummies for the first time, he yells "Zoinks!", the iconic exclamation of Shaggy Rogers from "Scooby-Doo".

• An image of "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon" appears on the label of Pegasus's red wine bottle.

• This is the only Yu-Gi-Oh! movie where a "Red-Eyes" monster did not appear.

• A scene at the start of the movie shows Yugi's completion of the Millennium Puzzle, matching a flashback in Episode 180 (which had already aired in Japan when this movie debuted). Notably, the backstory seen in these two episodes differs from the backstory given in the manga.

External links

• Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie at WarnerBros.com
• Press Release