Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
| Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links | |
|---|---|
 | |
| English | Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links |
| Kanji | |
| Romaji | Yūgiō Dyueru Rinkusu |
| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami Digital Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | iOS / Android / PC |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Card Battling |
| Ratings | PEGI 7 (Violence)[5] |
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is an Android, iOS and PC game. Its name is likely taken from the Duel Links system featured in "TRANSCEND GAME" and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions.
Contents
History[edit]
Pre-release[edit]
The game was first announced at Jump Festa 2016. On January 6, 2016, it was officially announced that the game would be released globally, along with the news that Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation and Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist would both receive further updates in winter 2016.[6]
On March 18, 2016, the Japanese site was updated with more information about its gameplay, characters, and online content, as well as the first YouTube trailer for the game. Pre-registration for the game is currently open in Japan, with rewards available for accounts pre-registered before the game launch. The rewards are accumulative based on the total number of existing pre-registered accounts when the game launches: 50 gems (10,000), "Dark Magician" card protectors (30,000), an additional 50 gems (50,000), a Yugi Muto-themed Duel Field (100,000), and an additional 50 gems (150,000). Additional rewards were added on March 29, 2016, after the number of pre-registered accounts exceeded 200,000: "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" card protectors (200,000), an additional 100 gems (250,000), and a Seto Kaiba-themed Duel Field (300,000).[7]
Closed beta[edit]
On April 19, 2016, the official site announced that in order to further improve the game quality, the game would go into a closed beta testing phase in June. Beta testers are picked randomly among the players who pre-registered the game before April 30, 2016. As a result, the public release date of the game will be postponed to a later date rather than April 2016 as initially planned. Players also receive more rewards at the start of the game which details will be disclosed in further announcements.[7]
Pre-registration emails and surveys were sent out on June 13, 2016 for people in the United States and United Kingdom. On June 23, 2016, the sign-up period was extended.[1] In late July, e-mails were sent to accepted applicants notifying them of their accepted participation in the Closed Beta Test, as well as informing them that the game would be "polished" for another one to two months before the Closed Beta Test would start. On September 1, 2016, applications for the closed beta closed. The Closed Beta Test started on September 7, 2016, and subsequently closed on September 27, 2016, after maintenance was conducted that day from 1:00 AM - 3:00 AM (EST).
Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links was released worldwide in January 2017.
Updates[edit]
- Includes over 8000 individual cards.
- Unlike other Yu-Gi-Oh games, Duel Links mainly focuses on anime events and characters to release new cards.
- New cards are constantly released with in-game events.
- Each new Special Summoning method was introduced with their respective Duel World releases (Synchro Monsters with 5D's World, Xyz Monsters with ZEXAL World, Pendulum Monsters with ARC-V World, and Link Monsters with VRAINS World).
- Most characters release with a Main/Mini BOX or a Structure Deck featuring cards related to them.
- Cards with certain effects are not added to the game as obtainable cards, such as:
- Cards that ends the Battle Phase, due to Speed Duel format not featuring Main Phase 2.
- Cards that limit Special Summoning for your opponent.
- Cards that summon Tokens to the opponent's side of the field, to prevent Stalling tactics.
Gameplay[edit]
Duel World[edit]
Duel World is the hub area where the player can select and challenge NPCs to Duels. The player's character earns experience to increase their Level by Dueling.
The player has a Stage in each different Duel World, which can be increased by completing missions. Increasing the Stage causes new Legendary Duelists and features to be unlocked.
Each year, during September, a new Duel World is released, featuring new characters and often introducing a new Summoning mechanic.
PvP[edit]
It allows real time duels with other Duelists or friends around the world in Duel Links. Furthermore, there are practice plays, Decks from Duelists played against, and replays from other Duelists can be watched.
A PvP Ranked Season lasts for 1 month, which players Duel each other for the Rank "King of Games" and rewards such as Gems and Tickets. After a season ends all players drop 1 tier, even if they’d did not participate in that season.
Events[edit]
Duel Links has several timed events, some of which allow players can Duel under special rules or against Event Duelists to obtain Gold, Gems, cards, and other rewards. Events come in either a PvE and PvP format, with PvE events being the most common.
Duel Links also has sales and other promotions often in celebration of new features or events.
Sets[edit]
Rules[edit]
Speed Duel[edit]
- Each player only has three Main Monster Zones and three Spell & Trap Zones, rather than five of each.
- Each player must have 20-30 cards in their Main Deck (instead of 40-60) and 0-8 cards in the Extra Deck (instead of 0-15).
- The initial Extra Deck limit is 5, and can be increased to 8 by using Extra Deck+ items, which are obtained by clearing Lifetime Missions that require performing 10 Synchro, Xyz, and Link Summons each.
- Each player starts with 4000 LP, rather than 8000.
- Each player starts with four cards in their hand, rather than five.
- There is no Main Phase 2. The End Phase takes place right after the Battle Phase.
- Each player can have one Skill. Skills must be unlocked before they can be used, with each character having their own set of possible Skills. Skills are obtained separately for each character—Skills available to multiple characters must be unlocked individually for each one. Depending on the Skill, it may be always activated at the start of the Duel (e.g. Power of Dark makes the player start with "Yami" on the field), optionally activated when a player meets certain conditions (e.g. Draw Sense: Spell/Trap ensures the next drawn card is a Spell or Trap Card after the player's Life Points have dropped by 1800), always activate when a condition is met (e.g. Chain Reaction inflicts damage when the player activates a Trap Card), or simply apply passively for the entire Duel (e.g. My Warrior Buddies boosts the ATK of Level 4 EARTH Warrior-Type monsters).
- During special events (such as the Turbo Duel Grand Prix event and Raid Duel events), players may have an EX Skill in addition to the regular Skill. The EX Skill is a special Skill provided by the event, and does not prevent the usage of the normal Skill.
- Some Skills put restrictions on Deck building (e.g. Territory of the Sharks requires all monsters in the Main Deck and Extra Deck to be WATER) or on the player themselves (e.g. Clear Wing Acceleration prevents the player from Normal or Special Summoning monsters, except Synchro Monsters and WIND Dragon or Machine monsters) in order to be used.
- Some Skills add cards to the player's hand, or play cards on to the field, from the player's possession or from outside the Deck, or may remove cards from the game entirely. Any monster played on to the field with a Skill is treated as it were properly Summoned with its own method. Any Trap Set by a Skill can be activated during the same turn.
- Pendulum Zones normally occupy the left and right Spell & Trap Zones, like in New Master Rule onwards.
- ARC-V characters have Skills that add dedicated Pendulum Zones to their own field, separate from the Spell & Trap Zones, like in Master Rule 3.
- Extra Monster Zones are placed between the two sides of the field in first and third columns, and follow the same rules as Master Rule (April 1, 2020 revision):
- Link Monsters in the Extra Deck and monsters Pendulum Summoned from the Extra Deck can only be Special Summoned to an Extra Monster Zone, or a Main Monster Zone pointed to by a Link Monster.
- Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters in the face-down Extra Deck can be Special Summoned to any Monster Zone.
- Extra Links are not allowed. Cards whose effects mention Extra Linking have those effects removed, such as "Topologic Gumblar Dragon".
Rush Duel[edit]
- The Rush Duel format was added in September 28th, 2023. Rules follow the real-life version, with the following exceptions:
- Each player can have one Skill.
- Each player must have 30-40 cards in their Main Deck (instead of 40-60).
- Each player starts with 6000 LP, rather than 8000.
Modified cards[edit]
Some cards have their effects modified from the TCG and OCG to suit the Speed Duel format. With the exception of "Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise", cards with modified effects began to be released on September 29, 2020. Starting in June 2022, these cards are marked with a "DL" icon in the shop (but not in most other locations). So far, these changes have only been applied to Speed Duels and not Rush Duels, as the only major change to Rush Duels is the difference in starting Life Points.
- Due to starting with 4000 LP in Speed Duels
- As each player starts with 4000 LP (half of the starting 8000 LP used in the TCG/OCG), many effects that inflict damage were deemed to inflict too much damage. All cards released from September 29, 2020 onward that inflict effect damage to the opponent (and in some cases, even cards that inflict effect damage to the player) have that damage halved.
- Cards released prior that date were not changed, except "Lava Golem". Cards that were exclusive to opponents but not obtainable by the player (such as "Ectoplasmer"), or exclusive to the Extra Card Booster Item (such as "Magic Cylinder"), have their damage halved upon release. This change then also impacts the cards used by opponents and added by the Extra Card item.
- This also applies to cards that have not appeared in the TCG and OCG (i.e. video game-exclusive cards) that are released in Duel Links from September 29, 2020 onward. These cards have their effect damage halved relative their appearances in previous video games.
- Due to a lack of Main Phase 2
- Monsters with Ignition Effects that can only be activated during Main Phase 2 (e.g. "Turbo Booster", "The Forgiving Maiden") are changed to have Trigger Effects that activate at the end of the Battle Phase—except for "Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise", which instead lacks that effect entirely.
- Spell and Trap Cards that can only be activated during Main Phase 2 have this restriction removed ("Emergency Assistance").
- Due to only having 3 Main Monster Zones
- The number of Token Monsters Summoned at the same time by card effects may be reduced, if they would otherwise not be possible to use ("Metabo Globster").
- Xyz Monsters that have a variable number of Xyz Materials but a maximum greater than 4 (e.g. "Hazy Flame Basiltrice" and "Shark Caesar") remove the maximum number, to remove the implication that it would be possible to use that many Xyz Materials for its Xyz Summon.
- Since there is currently no way to use cards other than monsters in the player's own 3 Main Monster Zones and 1 monster in the Extra Monster Zones as Xyz Material for an Xyz Summon, and the listed maximum materials was 5, this currently does not make any functional difference and is not indicated with the icon, although it was announced as a difference from the TCG/OCG upon these cards' releases.
- Due to the Extra Monster Zones being in leftmost and rightmost columns, Link Monsters cannot point to monsters with both a left diagonal and right diagonal Link Arrow at the same time. Link Monsters with effects that cannot be used without pointing to monsters with both left and right diagonals (e.g. "T.G. Trident Launcher", "Qliphort Genius", "Junk Connector") remove the pointing requirement from that effect.
Duel Links cards that are not in the TCG/OCG[edit]
There are 140 cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links that do not have TCG/OCG counterparts. All of these cards (except Action Cards) had appeared in previous video games: in either the Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force series of games or Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL World Duel Carnival. Action Cards are adapted from the anime with most of them retaining their anime effects. Monster Tokens are not listed here.
The first video-game-only card to appear in the game was "Ojamandala", which debuted on August 13, 2018 during the Serious Chazz event.
- Bolded cards were printed in the OCG after their release in this game—these cards retain the effects they had in previous video games, rather than being updated to match the TCG/OCG.
- Starting March 28, 2024, cards added to Duel Links before being printed can have their TCG/OCG counterparts implemented separately. In this case, the Deck building restriction of no more than three cards with the same name in one Deck applies even if they have different effects. In addition, if different versions of the same card differ in having an Only once per turn restriction or not, the restriction will only affect copies that have it.
- Cards marked with † are currently unobtainable in-game and are only used by NPCs.
The game also includes Action Cards, which are exclusively available as EX Skill effects in Action Duel-based ARC-V events. They do not appear in-game as cards. Some are taken from the anime, but many are original of this game.
Characters[edit]
Most Legendary Duelists have a special Summoning animation for their signature cards after they become playable. Some characters, most usually the main characters, can receive animations for additional cards with Events such as Duelist Road or Duelist Chronicle.
Cards with special animations
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|
- ↑ a b DSOD artwork has a different animation
- ↑ Arkana and DSOD artworks have different animations
- ↑ Has a different animation when Summoned by Joey Wheeler (DSOD)
- ↑ Animations play only when Maximum Summoned.
- ↑ a b c Animation plays when activated by any character
- ↑ Animation plays only when Link Summoned using another copy of "Heatleo" as material
External links[edit]
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Official Website
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Official Website (Japanese)
- Official Yu-Gi-Oh! Youtube Channel: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Promotion Trailer (Japanese)
- Official Yu-Gi-Oh! Youtube Channel: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Gameplay Video (Japanese)
- Official Gameplay Video of Joey vs Mai (Japanese)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Promotional Video: GX World Unlocked (japanese)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links on The Cutting Room Floor
References[edit]
- ↑ a b "Closed beta test play offer". Konami Digital Entertainment.
- ↑ "To those who were chosen for the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Due Links" Closed Beta Test (Android Ver.)". Konami Digital Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 8, 2016.
- ↑ "777,777 People Pre-registered! "Yu-Gi-Oh! DUEL LINKS" Launch Today!". Konami Digital Entertainment.
- ↑ "Worldwide Release Begins Mid-January 2017! Mobile Game "Yu-Gi-Oh! DUEL LINKS"". Konami Digital Entertainment.
- ↑ http://store.steampowered.com/app/601510/YuGiOh_Duel_Links/
- ↑ "Konami announces release of new Yu-Gi-Oh! content across multiple formats for 2016". yugioh-card.com.
- ↑ a b "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links". Konami Digital Entertainment.
