Yu - Gi - Oh ! Duel Monsters 4 : Battle of Great Duelist Yu - Gi - Oh ! Duel Monsters 4 : Battle of Great Duelist ( 遊戯王デュエルモンスターズ４ " Yūgiō Dyueru Monsutāzu 4 Batoru obu Gureito Dyuerisuto " ) is a Japan only Yu - Gi - Oh video game for the Game Boy Color , and the fourth installment in the " Duel Monsters " series . It was released December 7 , 2000 as three separate versions ( Yugi Deck , Kaiba Deck , and Jonouchi Deck ) , each being able to use only a certain selection of the 900 available cards . Each of the god cards are usable after completing the game , but they can only be obtained from a different version by trading : Duels . Players must beat each player in a stage 5 times ( or more in some stages ) , in order to get to the next stage . Once the player beats a character 5 times , he or she may keeping on dueling them for more points . Here are the list of characters that a player may duel against ( the characters are the same in the 3 versions ) : Format . This does not totally conform to the rules of the Official Card Game . Some of the monsters and Magic / Trap Card s have different effects . During gameplay there is more than one way to win . A player may win by decreasing the opponent ' s life points to zero , forcing your opponent to run out of cards ( have them unable to draw a card at the start of their turn ) , or by having all five pieces of Exodia in your hand . In order to duel , a player ' s Deck must contain exactly 40 cards and be under their current Duelist Level . If the Deck is over / under 40 cards or over the Deck limit cost , the player will not be able to duel until the error is fixed . Here are some basic rules for playing : Battle types . In the game , players may notice a few different types of battle between monster cards . The most basic way to defeat an opposing monster is to have a monster with higher attack Example : Player A ' s card = 1000 ATK , Player B ' s card = 1200 ATK . Player A ' s card is destroyed and loses 200 Life Points However , in Yu - Gi - Oh ! Duel Monsters 4 : Battle of Great Duelist monsters can be destroyed because they have an inferior Alignment ( which substitutes Attribute in this game ) . In this format , the difference between Attack or Defense points does not matter and the card with the inferior alignment is instantly destroyed . The exception to this rule is when the monster with the superior alignment also has higher attack points ( when attacking ) or defense points ( when being attacked in Defense position ) , in which case Battle Damage is calculated normally . However , when a Defense position monster is attacked by a monster with an inferior alignment , the monster with the inferior alignment is destroyed . Alignment list : Fire " beats " Forest Forest " beats " Wind Wind " beats " Earth Earth " beats " Thunder Thunder " beats " Water Water " beats " Fire also : Shadow " beats " Light Light " beats " Fiend Fiend " beats " Dreams Dreams " beats " Shadow Fusion . Since " Polymerization " is not included in this game , Fusions occur differently ; selecting one card and placing it on top of another compatible card could result in a fusion for an entirely different monster . These Fusions are Alignment - based and are reflected as such in the combination they create . For instance , fusing " Thunder Kid " with " Yamatano Dragon Scroll " would result in " Thunder Dragon " . Similarly , combining it with any number of Aqua monsters would normally result in " Bolt Escargot " . Also , combining " Time Wizard " with " Baby Dragon " would result in " Thousand Dragon " .