Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses is a video game developed by Konami based on the manga series Yu-Gi-Oh!. The game was released on September 6, 2001 in Japan, and worldwide throughout 2003. The story is a sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories and is loosely based on the Wars of the Roses. The series' main characters, Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba, play opposing teams known as the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Each team is playable, battling various characters throughout the plot to prevent a ritual summoning by using sorcerous rose cards.
Using designs by creator Kazuki Takahashi, the game's battle system is based on a chessboard-style battlefield, with over 800 cards from the franchise. Several new features of The Duelist of the Roses differ from the original card game, such as altered card effects, terrain placement, reincarnations, and deck leader promotions. In addition, each monster card features updated 3D computer graphics modelling, which first appeared in Forbidden Memories. Due to content censorship, dialogue and visuals were changed to allow distribution in North America and Europe.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses received mixed reviews from critics. Some publications praised its story and visuals, while the majority of criticism focused on the gameplay, lack of innovation, and high difficulty. The game was a commercial success, selling over one million units worldwide. Sony Computer Entertainment went on to commemorate the game with a Greatest Hits title, and it stands as one of the best-selling video games for the PlayStation 2 format.
The gameplay begins with a dialogue between Seto Kaiba and Simon McMooran. First, McMooran allows the player to choose from several starter decks with a lead deck leader; each deck leader is dealt in threes, based on the name that McMooran requests at the beginning of the game. Kaiba then allows the player to choose between two teams: the Lancastrians (Red Rose) or the Yorkists (White Rose). Each choice later determines which characters to face in future duels, which are displayed on a world map within the game.
Each duel takes place on a 7x7 battlefield that resembles a chessboard. Each space has a unique terrain that is specific to the character they are fighting. Different terrains (such as normal, forest, meadow, dark, sea, wasteland, mountain, toon, crush, and labyrinth) can increase or decrease different types of monsters' attack and defence by 500 points, as well as increase each character's movement space. Three terrains have special effects: labyrinth, which no cards can pass through except for a few monsters with special effects; crush, which destroys monsters with less than 1500 attack points; and toon, which weakens all monsters except toon monsters.
Each duelist includes a "Deck Leader" who is also placed on the battlefield. It represents the duelists and can move around the battlefield while being vulnerable to attacks from the opponent. Each deck leader has a total of forty cards per duel; each deck has a "deck cost", which is a card's strength-based value. For each battle, the deck must be less than a specific deck cost that is significant to the opponent. Each deck leader can play one card per turn and is placed adjacent to them. When two monster cards collide on the field, they are flipped face up, and a battle is commenced similar to the trading card game, with life points deducted accordingly. Spell and trap cards can also be placed throughout the field and activated under a variety of conditions.
The duel ends when one player's life points are depleted, or when a player ends a turn with their deck leader completely surrounded by enemy monsters in their summoning areas. Additionally, a duel can end after 99 turns, and the player with the most remaining life points is declared the winner. After winning the duel, players can obtain the opponents' cards that were placed in their graveyard during the duel, using a system known as "graveyard slots"; the mechanism is similar to that of slot machines. Players can also obtain cards through the "Reincarnation" system in their deck menu, which allows them to sacrifice one card in exchange for three random cards.
Monsters can be promoted throughout the game and earn experience by surviving each duel, destroying enemy monsters, and attacking the opposing deck leader. When a monster has gained enough experience, it is promoted to the next rank. To act as a deck leader, a monster must have been promoted at least once. Some deck leaders have unique abilities based on their type and rank, such as increasing and decreasing nearby monsters' points, increasing life points, and moving an additional space on the field.
The game is loosely based on the Wars of the Roses, a series of conflicts fought between the House of Lancaster and House of York for control of England in the 15th century. Yugi Mutou takes on the role of Henry Tudor, the head of the House of Tudor, while Seto Kaiba plays Christian Rosenkreuz, the leader of the Yorkist clan force. Other characters from the series take on the roles and names of those involved in the conflict.
The player controls the "Rose Duelist," who is summoned from an unknown time period to 1485 by a Lancastrian druid to help them defeat the Yorkists and reclaim the throne. Both sides have eight "rose cards" with sorcerous abilities. The Lancastrians want the Yorkists' white rose cards because Seto's forces are using their power to create a barrier that protects their territory, and the Yorkists want the Lancastrians' red rose cards because Seto needs all 16 rose cards to attempt a forbidden "rose summoning" that would give the Yorkists great power. The Rose Duelist also requires all 16 cards to conjure enough power to return to their appropriate time period, forcing the player to choose a side.
If the Lancastrians are sided with, the Rose Duelist obtains the white rose cards by defeating the Yorkist forces, which are represented by antagonists Maximillion Pegasus, Weevil Underwood, and Rex Raptor. The Rose Duelist finally defeats Seto for the final rose card at Stonehenge, but the victory is fleeting as Seto reveals that the power released from their duel (along with all of the rose cards brought to the site by the Rose Duelist) has fulfilled the requirements for the great summoning, and that he feigned allegiance to the Yorkists to force the Lancastrians to summon the Rose Duelist in the first place. Seto then summons Manawyddan fab Llyr, a powerful mythological figure known as the card guardian, whom he intends to use to establish his rule over England. The Rose Duelist defeats Manawyddan fab Llyr and banishes him from the time period, ensuring Lancastrian victory. According to the epilogue, Yugi was crowned King of England, but it is unknown whether the Rose Duelist were ever returned to the time period from which they were summoned.
If the Yorkists are sided with, the Rose Duelist will face Yu-Gi-Oh! series protagonists like Joey Wheeler, Téa Gardner, and Mutou. After collecting all of the rose cards, Seto summons Manawyddan fab Llyr once more at Stonehenge. This time, however, Manawyddan reveals himself to be Nitemare's brother from Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, and he is furious that they summoned his brother in Egypt only to lock him away again. To end the summoning, the Rose Duelist must defeat Manawyddan fab Llyr. After the duel, Seto informs the Rose Duelist that he has been looking for a true card guardian for a long time because an ancestor of his made a pact with one (again, referencing Forbidden Memories). Seto abandons the Rose Duelist with his white rose pendant, and his forces flee England, allowing the Lancastrians to take control of the throne.
On September 6, 2001, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses was released exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, the tenth overall instalment of the series, and Konami's first Yu-Gi-Oh! release for the PlayStation 2 platform. The game was titled Yu-Gi-Oh! True Duel Monsters II: Inherited Memories in Japan, and early releases included the Japanese versions of three out of five cards: "Fairy King Truesdale", "Cypher Solder", "Slate Warrior", "Electromagnetic Bagworm", and "Rigours Reaver".
Due to censorship issues, content from the original Japanese release had to be reworked before the game was released in North America and Europe. Several elements related to Christianity and other religious symbolism, which were used throughout the historical accuracy of the game's plot, were removed. Furthermore, several card artworks and monster animations were edited to include more clothing because it appeared provocative and graphic.
Initial copies were shipped on February 13, 2003. Three days later, it received a wide release throughout North America, with early releases included three cards: "Alpha the Magnet Warrior," "Beta the Magnet Warrior," and "Gamma the Magnet Warrior". On September 26, 2003, The Duelist of the Roses was released throughout Europe. In December 2002, it was re-released as a Greatest Hits title in Japan, followed by North America and Europe in 2004.
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses garnered mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average based on ratings from publications, the video game scored 59 out of 100 based on 14 reviews, indicating "mixed or average". On GameRankings, which assigns a similar metric average, the game scored 63% out of 100. Some critics praised the game's overall accuracy to the original card game. Andrew Reiner, writing for Game Informer, stated that "If a small portion of you has always wondered what a game like this is all about, this is the best card game that money can buy." Absolutely Playstation also gave it a positive review, echoing similar sentiments about the game's faithfulness to the original franchise. Michael J. Nam of GameSpy praised the "interesting" story for "diverging from the typical rehashing of a franchise universe seen in many similar tie-ins."
Most publications were split about the game's mechanism and features. Play Magazine praised the game as a "beautifully produced, rule heavy, text heavy, story heavy, lore heavy, chess-like card battle royale," while GameNOW stated that "As you get deeper into the game, the attack/defence system starts to make sense, and the whole play experience becomes very tense and strategic." GamePro had a mixed reaction to the gameplay, but ultimately said that it was "best appreciated by newcomers to the Yu-Gi-Oh game who want to learn how to play." Conversely, G4TV thought the game was "really freaking hard," while PGNx Media called it a "run-of-the-mill game." GameSpot compared the game negatively to the original trading card methods, saying "The presentation is terribly stripped-down, and as an odd duck sort of hybrid strategy game, it doesn't offer much accessibility or depth." Electronic Gaming Monthly called the game "surprisingly addictive" but found it to be a difficult experience to play.
Some critics thought The Duelist of the Roses was a letdown for the series. PSX Nation stated that the game was "strictly for fanboys, PS2 library completists, or masochists in search of a higher-than-normal threshold of pain in their interactive diet." Official PlayStation Magazine added that the game's difficulty was "ratcheted up so high" and "designed to make you feel like a total loser." Netjak compared it to Forbidden Memories and found it "confusi[ng] and frustrat[ing]." Yahoo! gave it a negative review, writing that "When these sorts of loaded odds are all you get in lieu of a competitive computer player, the whole thing feels like you're being cheated rather than challenged."
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses was a commercial success. Between January 2000 and 2005, the game sold 68,420 copies in Japan, ranking as the 30th best-selling video game in the country. Since April 2020, it has sold a total of 76,248 units across the country. Despite its sales, it was the lowest-performing game in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, selling less than Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule GB, which sold 129,095 units in Japan.
Duelist of the Roses sold 859,966 units in the United States between January 2000 and 2005. By July 2006, the game sold 950,000 copies; Next Generation ranked it as the 60th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006. By 2010, The Duelist of the Roses had sold over 1.11 million copies throughout North America. Konami confirmed that the game sold 1.37 million units between the United States and Europe.