
So what makes Rush Duels stand out from the standard formats? There’s a couple of core differences, but the goal of the game remains the same: defeat your opponent by reducing their 8000 life points to zero. Did I mention that the soundtrack is terrible too? It’s filled with repetitive tunes that pushed me to flip on a podcast as soon as possible. This gives RDBR very little personality and made me resent playing most of the time. My suspicion is that the game has to tie into the currently Japanese exclusive series but can’t interfere with a nameless player character. The characters are incredibly annoying and are definitely geared towards a younger audience, although I’m still struggling to exactly nail down why these kids are so into dueling. While the game uses a sort of pleasing visual style, the world in which you travel from duel to duel is slow and cumbersome to navigate. You play Rush Duels against other citizens and collect points to buy packs. This time around you become friends with the inventors of a new format called Rush Duel. You play as a generic character that just moved to the new city where a new dueling card game is sweeping the nation. RUSH DUEL: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! (RDBR) follows a format that is similar to earlier story-based YGO video games.

The problem is that the game is so incredibly lackluster that it immediately banished all my interests for RUSH DUEL to the Shadow Realm. While word on the street is that this system will not make its way west in the physical form, Yu-Gi-Oh! RUSH DUEL: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! is possibly the first taste for duelers to try out this new format. Japan however, got an entirely new format a couple of years ago called RUSH DUEL. That was translated to a physical trading card version called Speed Duels, that used similar rules to Duel Links but has its own card-pool. First, there was the incredibly popular Duel Links, using a 3x3 format and adjusted rules for quick playing sessions on mobile devices. That said, over the last few years it’s been interesting to see Konami experiment with new formats using the YGO IP for spin-off trading card games.

Throughout the format changes that Konami has implemented, there still is a unique playstyle to Yu-Gi-Oh! (YGO) compared to other trading card games like Magic the Gathering and Pokémon.

I am still actively collecting and battling with these trading cards after nearly twenty years. Yu-Gi-Oh! is very near and dear to my heart.
