Changes

| structure = * [[Battle royal (tournament)|Battle royal]] (preliminaries)* [[Single-elimination]](top 8)

'''Battle City''' is a [[Duel Monsters]] tournament hosted by the series tritagonist [[Seto Kaiba]] at the request of [[Ishizu Ishtar]], whose goal it was to gather the three [[Egyptian God]] cards together , in the the [[Yu-Gi-Oh! (anime)|''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime]] and . It is based on the [[Battle City (manga)|Battle City]] tournament from the [[Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga)|manga]].

In the second series anime, [[Arkana]] was "the greatest illusionist and magician since Harry Houdini himself", but his career and "movie star good looks" were lost because of a terrible accident during a simple escape routine. [[Arkana]] dismissed his love, [[Catherine]], not being able to let her see him ruined, regretting it all the rest of his life; Marik falsely promised him the return of Catherine if Arkana became a Rare Hunter and defeat Yugi. In the manga, he tried to commit suicide twice; once when his mother died and another time when he lost his love.

[[Arkana]] plays a [[Main Deck|Deck]] that focuses on the "[[Dark Magician (anime)|Dark Magician]]". He also uses various [[Spell Card]]s to power it up and save it from annihilation. He plays by a rule of [[Shadow Game]]s, where the loser not only loses his rarest card (and his Locator card) but the loser loses his legs (in the dub he would get sent to the [[Shadow Realm]]). Unlike [[Yugi Muto|Yugi]], [[Arkana]] possesses three "[[Dark Magician (anime)|Dark Magicians]]" (only two were played, however, but his statements suggest he had three). However, after both players were down to their last chunk of [[Life Points]], [[Yugi Muto|Yugi]] uses "[[Dark Magician Girl (anime)|Dark Magician Girl]]", whose special [[Card effect|effect]] allows her to gain 300 [[ATK|Attack Points]] (500 Attack Points in the manga) for every "[[Dark Magician (anime)|Dark Magician]]" in each player's [[Graveyard]]s, to defeat [[Arkana]].

In a desperate move to kill and emotionally torture Yugi (take the power of the nameless Pharaoh for himself in the dub), Marik attempts to capture Yugi's friends. Although he fails to capture Hiroto Honda ([[Tristan Taylor]]) and Jonouchi's sister, Shizuka (Serenity in the dub), thanks to Ryuji Otogi ([[Duke Devlin]]) and his dice, he does manage to capture Joey and Anzu Mazaki ([[Téa Gardner]]), and force Yugi to Duel against his friend, in which both were tied to an anchor and the loser would drown from the anchor falling into the water (a rare instance in which death is mentioned in the dub). However, Joey manages to rid himself of Marik's [[Mind Control]] when he declines to take his own "[[Red-Eyes B. Dragon (anime)|Red Eyes Black Dragon]]" from Yugi's hand, and Yugi Summons the Dragon, making Joey remember both his promise to help Yugi and his favorite card (Duel Yugi in the original). Marik becomes very angry at the hesitancy of Joey, and decides to take control over Joey's body, but Joey is able to force Marik out. Joey plays to a [[DRAW]], and both players' keys are released. Joey frees Yugi, but before he can free himself he plummets into the ocean, where he was saved by Shizuka (in the manga, Kaiba saved him). (This is probably the only penalty game in the entire ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' series to not be censored by 4kids in the form of a Shadow Game.)

In the end, the eight Duelists to qualify for the finals were '''Yugi''', '''Joey''', '''Kaiba''', '''Mai Valentine''', '''Marik''' (using the pseudonym "Namu"), '''[[Odion Ishtar|Odion]]''' (whom everyone was led to believe was Marik), '''[[Bakura Ryou]]''' (who had won all his locator cards in one Duel, despite being injured), and '''[[Ishizu Ishtar|Ishizu]]'''.

'''Yugi vs. Bakura''' (Yami Yugi vs. Yami Bakura) was the first Duel. Although Yugi got an early advantage, Bakura plays "[[Dark Sanctuary (anime)|Dark Sanctuary]]", whose effect allows Bakura to possess one of Yugi's monsters so that when it attacks, the attack would be negated, and Yugi would lose Life Points, stalling Yugi. Bakura also plays the "[[Destiny Board (anime)|Destiny Board]]" cards, which, when all five are played, would give Bakura an automatic victory. In desperation, Yugi is forced to Summon "Slifer" and win the Duel, as "Slifer" (Osiris) is immune to the effects of "Dark Sanctuary".

During the Duel, as Red-Eyes Black Dragon was being played, Joey manages to regain consciousness. In the ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters'' anime (but not in the manga), he He promptly challenges Kaiba to a Duel for third place, just for fun. Kaiba declines, believing that Dueling Joey would be beneath him, but Joey manages to convince him to Duel. Although Kaiba won, Joey reveals that Kaiba had simply allowed wrath to get the best of him in both his Duel with Yugi and him (as witnessed by him once taking control of "Blue Eyes White Dragon" in their Duel - a card considered to be Kaiba's prized possessions, and Kaiba using another "Blue Eyes" to destroy it).

Yugi's triumph was short-lived, as Marik combined "[[Metal Reflect Slime (anime)|Metal Reflect Slime]]" and "[[Revival Jam (anime)|Revival Jam]]" to create an indestructible "[[Egyptian God Slime]]". With Yugi unable to attack with Obelisk, Marik revives Ra once again to use Egyptian God Phoenix destroy Obelisk, but Yugi revives Slifer to block the attack (the move would be illegal in the real game because "[[Monster Reborn (anime)|Monster Reborn]]" is a [[Normal Spell Card|Normal Spell]]). When Marik re-revives Ra, Yugi uses "[[Soul Taker (anime)|Soul Taker]]" to defuse and sacrifice the God Slime, allowing Obelisk to use its special ability, making its ATK ∞, which would give Yugi an automatic victory should Obelisk's attack be successful. The attack fails, but Marik manages to revive Ra once again. This time, Yugi sacrifices Obelisk and another monster for his trusty "[[Dark Magician (anime)|Dark Magician]]", and along with "[[Dark Magician Girl (anime)|Dark Magician Girl]]", activate "[[Ragnarok]]", which allows, at the expense of all his monsters, Yugi to finally destroy Ra, and, as Marik was using Point-to-Point Transfer at the time, most of Marik with it (in the manga, he killed Ra by combining the attacks of his two Magicians using "[[Dimension Magic (manga)|Dimension Magic]]"). The two sides of Marik began to fight, the good side attempting to take control and allowing Yugi to attack as a way to atone for his actions, while the evil side attempting to stop Yugi's attack. With the help of a struggling Odion, the good side prevails. When the smoke clears, the good Marik has control of the body, and [[Yami Marik]] is now his sacrifice instead. Marik forfeits his sole remaining life point, destroying his other self, leaving Yugi the last man standing and the winner. Yugi is now the owner of the three God cards, as well as the keys to unlocking the nameless Pharaoh's past.