We are having a look at the Physical Copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution – for the Nintendo Switch. There is also a digital version of this game, but I have no idea why you would invest your money in the digital version, because you don’t get the free promo cards with the digital version. The promo cards are exclusive to the physical version. The suggested retail price of this game is $39.99.
Here are the 3 promo cards you get inside Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Progleo, Micro Coder and Cynet Codec. These cards are not available any other way as of this writing.
Crunch$G’s quick review of these cards: “Micro Coder and Cynet Codec are amazing cards for the Cyberse theme, basically staple three-ofs in the deck. Progleo isn’t really that useful, hence why it’s $2-$3 while Micro Coder and Cynet Codec are about $15 a piece. If anything, it means you’re paying $10 for the game basically with the potential of even profiting if you were to sell the promos in the future because it usually takes a while for them to reprint game promos”.
With the Promos out of the way, let’s take a look at the actual game. Legacy of the Duelist was originally released in 2015 for the XBox1, PS4 and on PC (Steam). There was a base game, and then microtransactions for add ons. Back in the day, if you bought the base game and all the addons, you paid a little over $100 to get everything. The Switch version is titled: Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution and includes the base game, and all the microtransactions from those previous expansions. There are currently no microtransactions in the Switch version. So you get everything previously released and new content as well for one low price.
The Switch version adds Link Monsters which the predecessors did not have. The Switch version also uses Master Rule 4, which brought in two extra Monster Zones to the field. These zones are used whenever you bring out monsters from the Extra Deck. The new Switch version gives you access to cards up through Hidden Summoners. There are also more animations when summoning powerful monsters.
Main Menu Options:
- Single Player (Story Mode): Experience over 20 years of Yu-Gi-Oh! history by playing through some of the anime storylines. You get to relive some of the experiences the characters went through by playing their decks versus the decks their opponents played.
- Multiplayer: You can play ranked matches online, Random Matches online, and/or play vs friends online or locally.
- Battle Pack: This allows players to played “Sealed Play” and “Draft Play” online or vs the A.I. You unlock battle packs as you play through the campaigns in Story Mode. Afterwards, you get to keep all the cards you’ve earned in these battle packs.
- Deck Edit: This is where you make and edit your decks from the cards you’ve acquired/unlocked through story mode.
- Card Shop: You can buy various in-game Booster Packs using currency you’ve earned in-game from your duels.
Single Player / Story Mode:
I have found the Story Mode to be very fun. You play through the various stories of each series by reenacting famous duels from the series. So for example, you get to play as Joey (and his Time Wizard Deck) and battle against Mai Valentine (and her Harpie Ladies Deck). And after the duel, you can go back and play a “Reverse Duel” and play with Mai’s Harpie Ladies Deck vs. Joey’s deck.
The Story Mode also gives you the option of battling against the opponents with your own personal in-game deck. You start with a very basic deck, but you can continually improve it by gaining cards from the character’s you’ve beaten, and by buying booster packs with the in-game currency you’ve accumulated. If you play through all the story missions, you can eventually unlock over 9,100 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards to make decks for Story Mode or for Online Multiplayer Battles.
Story Mode has various storylines from: The Original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime; Yu-Gi-Oh! GX; Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s; Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL; Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V and Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. You will eventually Duel against over 140 iconic Duelists like Weevil, Seto Kaiba, Pegasus, Chazz Princeton, Jack Atlas, Shark, Declan Akaba, etc.
After you beat an opponent, you will likely open the option to buy their themed Booster Packs from the Card Shop with your in-game currency. Mai’s Booster Packs will give you Harpie Lady cards. Bakura’s packs will give you Toon Cards, Kaiba’s pack Blue Eyes White Dragon Support. As you play through the story mode, you will be able to buy cards from Booster Pack representing characters from:
- Yu-Gi-Oh – Yugi, Grandpa, Joey, etc.
- GX – Chazz, Alexis, Bastion, etc.
- 5D’s – Tetsu, Leo, Jack Atlas, Crow, etc.
- Zexel – Kite, Quinton, Shark, etc.
- ARC-V – Gong, Zuzu, Shay, etc.
- VRAINS – Playmaker
So, if you want to focus on building a certain archetype, you can focus on buying cards from that character’s booster packs.
Story Mode is somewhat ruined by Master Rule 4 being forced on you in this game. Master Rule 4 only allows one Fusion Monster on the field at a time. Master Rule 4 was not in effect for prior to 2017, when most of these stories were written. So if you’re playing 5D’s, the story mode is kind of ruined by this rule. Many of the decks in the storyline brought out more than Fusion Monster at a time. So you cannot faithfully recreate many of these battles, and this has bothered a lot of players.
The Tutorial:
If you are a new Yu-Gi-Oh! player (or a returning player), there is a very good Tutorial included. The 19-segment Tutorial will walk you through how to play the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (TCG) and how to play the TCG on the Switch. The Tutorial Guides you through the Phases of the game, Duel Flow, Spells and Traps, Fusion Summon, Effect Monsters, Synchro Summons, XYZ Summons, Pendulum Monsters, Link Summons and more.
Multiplayer:
Multiplayer is cool and lame at the same time. The coolness is that you can actually play online with others in ranked matches. The lameness is that the Leaderboards are based on the total number of victories of Ranked Matches. And this includes people playing in other countries. Players in Japan are included in the ranked matches. This game was released in Japan several month before it was released elsewhere. And some players already have over 2,000 victories. There is no way you are going to catch them, unless you are bonkers crazy?! I’m not sure why Konami isn’t using the Chess Rating System? Nintendo use a chess rating system for online play for Mario Kart, and I feel like this system would make online play more rewarding for all players.
The Multiplayer Mode Forbidden List – In the story mode, you can use any card you want (and banned cards can be unlocked early in your campaign). But if you want to play online in ranked matches, you have to abide by a huge banlist. This game uses a Custom Forbidden and Limited List created specifically for this game’s online play.
You can also play games against your friends online, or locally through the Switch. This might actually be the best use of the Multiplayer aspect.
Gameplay on the Switch
I must say, the game plays pretty well on the Switch. You have the option of using the Switch’s touch screen to view and play cards, or using the regular game paddles. The game also looks great on a big screen TV too when you dock your Switch.
The battle system works pretty much flawlessly. You can easily view cards, view your Extra Deck, Search you graveyard, etc. The game gives you a short animation when you summon a powerful character like The Dark Magician. This kind of puts you right in the midst of the anime. I’m not sure if you can turn the animations off, but I kind of enjoy them, so I haven’t even looked it. They only last a few seconds.
I have two small problems with Gameplay:
- The A.I. sometimes seems to take a long time to decide it’s best moves, and then execute them. You just expect computers to do this immediately these days, but the game’s CPU seems slow at times.
- I wish the game used some actual voice dialogue between matches during the Story Mode. It doesn’t. You have to read all the text, instead of having voice actors do the work for you. This just seems very antiquated for 2019.
Final Thoughts
If you own a Switch, and want to play Yu-Gi-Oh! on the go, then this purchase is a no-brainer. The game only costs $40, and you get $30 worth of Promo cards inside.
If you already own this game on the XBox or PS4 or Steam, then I’m not sure if this investment is for you, unless you would really like this Switch version – and want access to those promo cards, some more in-game cards, and the new Master Rule.
I have found the game to be truly fun, and I’m really enjoying the Single Player Story Mode. It’s fun playing with the character’s decks (both heroes and villains). And it’s also rewarding to use your own personal deck – that you continually improve during the journey.
