Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel – First Impressions on Switch

I have been a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan for many, many years. I remember having to watch the anime before leaving for school every morning, trading cards whilst at school and then playing it with my brothers when I’d get home. Having not played it or collected it for years, you can imagine I’d be quite eager and excited to play the newly released Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel on my Nintendo Switch – just for old times sake.

Well, I have spent some time with it already, and here are my first impressions!

Upon first loading up the game, and answering a few simple questions on if I knew what Yu-Gi-Oh! was, I was given the opportunity to partake in a few tutorials. Luckily, I was able to skip past these and still gain the rewards from them which I was glad about because I still remember pretty much everything I knew about the card game originally. I wasn’t being punished for already knowing how to play, which is nice. After that, I was given a choice of 3 starting decks, and off I went.

Firstly, I explored the menus. There’s a single-player mode, which seems to unlock new decks, packs to purchase, and items of the like by completing them, and there is an online option which is like a ranked mode. There is also a ‘Duel Pass’ system which is a battle pass system, but here’s the twist – you don’t actually have to use your own money to purchase it, which is a first! You can simply spend your in-game currency, which I seemed to build up pretty easily and quickly.

My favourite thing about collecting any kind of cards was the opening of packs, and so it’s no different with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. I went straight to the games store and opened any packs I could – all purchased with in-game currency. You seem to unlock further packs as you progress, which is also nice.

One thing that seems apparent in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is that every generation of Yu-Gi-Oh! seems to be present here. From the original card releases to the most recent, and I adore that because it is super nostalgic. I can recreate my very own deck I played with all those years ago!

From my time playing so far, the gameplay feels pretty solid. I’ve not encountered any issues finding a match and have had no problems whilst in those matches – apart from not being able to win, because I suck… but nope, can’t blame that on any bugs or anything. Just my own abilities (Or lack thereof).

It looks pretty decent, too. The card descriptions are a little difficult to read whilst in handheld mode, but docked there are no complaints from me. The art on the cards look great, and there are no jaggy edges.

There we are! My first impressions of Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. A short insight into a brilliant game. We will be looking to follow this up with a full review, so keep your eyes peeled for that. For now, all you need to know is you absolutely should download this game. It’s free! Go do it! It’s fun!

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As always, thank you for stopping by Nintendo Link! Have you had a chance to try this out on Switch yet? Have you had experience with Yu-Gi-Oh! before? What are your impressions? Let us know in the comments! Happy gaming, everyone!