Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses
Developer(s)	Konami
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	JP September 6, 2001 (2001-09-06) NA February 16, 2003 (2003-02-16) EU September 26, 2003 (2003-09-26) Greatest Hits JP December 12, 2002 (2002-12-12) NA 2004 (2004) JP July 29, 2004 (2004-07-29) (Konami Denkō)
Genre(s)	Card Battle Simulator
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone
Media/distribution	DVD-ROM

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses, Released in Japan as 遊戯王真デュエルモンスターズII 継承されし記憶 (Yu-Gi-Oh Shin Deyueru Monsutazu Tzū Keishō Sareshi Kioku, Game King New Duel Monsters II Inherited Memories), a video game for PlayStation 2 in the Yu-Gi-Oh! series, has loosely been based on the real-world Wars of the Roses.

Yami Yugi (Yugi Mutou in the English anime and the original Japanese adaptations) could assume the identity of the head of the Tudor dynasty, Henry Tudor, while Seto Kaiba would represent the head of the Yorkist can force as Christian Rosenkreuz.

The player can choose the Red Rose for the Lancastrians, or the player can choose the White Rose for the Yorkists. Each side has different opponents and different endings, but there is an option to restart the game after completion to travel the path not chosen in the first game. Both paths end with a battle against Manawyddan fab Llyr, a Card Guardian at Stonehenge once all sixteen Rose Cards have been gathered there. It's at this point that Seto will reveal that his family made a pact with a Card Guardian centuries ago (likely the DarkNite from Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories), and he allowed the gathering of the Rose Cards to summon Manawyddan in the hopes he was the Guardian his family dealt with.

Plot and story

If you choose to side with the Lancastrians, the map where you play over is on England. The game gives you two opponents to start with, Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor, and depending on which one you defeat will determine what opponents you can battle next. If you defeat Weevil, you unlock Pegasus Crawford and Bandit Keith, and if you defeat Rex you will be able to defeat Necromancer and Panik (Darkness-Ruler). Players of the game often consider the latter the easier opponents, which usually leads to defeating Rex before Weevil. Defeating Rex's path unlocks, Panik and Necromancer, grant you a Rose card in which you need 8, but do not offer new opponents. Defeating Weevil's path unlocks however grant another duelist, respectively, Labyrinth Ruler and Ishtar. Defeating Pegasus Crawford does not grant you a Rose card and is the only duelist in the game besides Rosenkreuz and Mannawydan fab Llyr to do so. After defeating those opponents, a battle with Richard Slysheen of York is granted for the next rose card. A cutscene and extensive dialogue highlighting Richard's fall in battle is given unlike most other characters, giving a climactic, almost boss like feel to Richard despite him not being as proficient a duelist as other Rose Crusaders. Richard however is not considered a boss as he does not have unique background music in his match, but the traditional castle icon over his mark is replaced by two swords clashing together. After defeating Richard, Yugi suggests you defeat Rosenkreuz, and Crawford, who has now sided with the Lancastrians, reveals Seto is at the Stonehenge. The respective map for this battle features a layout akin to the stonehenge, featuring walls surrounded by meadows. After defeating Seto, he uses the 16 rose cards to summon the "Card Guardian", Mannawydan fab Llyr. Featured on both sides, fab Llyr is established as a near undefeatable opponent in the game and uses many cards unobtainable in the game even after completion of both sides. On this side, fab Llyr's Stonehenge map is filled with the crush terrain that destroys any over 1500 attack level card. His strategy is to surround the outskirts of the field with powerful monsters while laying the middle with intensely high power trap cards.

If you choose to side with the Yorkists, the game features a more linear gameplay. Each opponent you defeat leads you to one new one, removing the option of choosing an opponent that seems easier to defeat, making it more difficult for those stuck on an opponent. The game starts in England, and progresses towards the docks. You first face Tea Gardner, a weak opponent. The game then progresses with T. Tristan Grey, another weak opponent with a higher deck value. After these two are defeated, Margaret Mai Beaufort is the final opponent to face in England, and features a much stronger deck than both previous opponents, in addition to a map tailored entirely for her deck unlike the previous opponents. After beating Mai, Mako takes you to France, but stops you on the way to battle you. The map features terrain to match the straight, having meadow in the top right and bottom left corners, the rest consisting of seawater to compliment Mako's water based deck. When you beat Mako, you land on France to face Joey (Christopher Urswick). Unlike the two previous two opponents but like the first two, Joey does not have a map that specifically compliments his deck, making him an easier duelist than Mako and Mai. Continuing, you face Shadi Morton who is considered a staple in the game to receive higher powered cards such as Zoa. Shadi also has no specific map terrain bar one corner wasteland for his rock monsters, and the other corner forest for pyro cards. The enemy after Shadi is Jasper Dice Tudor (Yugi's grandfather). His strategy is two block both sides of a labyrinth box with traps and spellbinding flip effects while trying to successfully summon Exodia to win instantly. If this strategy is deprecated, he is easily defeated as he does not have powerful cards. Bakura is the next opponent and has a low cost deck of low power monsters on a field consisting of many crush pieces and forest terrain. Terrain changing cards and high power monsters are an easy way to over power him if you can bring your deck cost down low enough. Yugi is then depicted as a semi-boss, having his own unique BGM. The field for Yugi has a pattern of all terrains that continue from the top left of the board to the bottom right. Yugi gives you the 8th rose card after being defeated, and Kaiba uses the 16 Rose cards yet again to summon fab Llyr. On the Yorkist side, fab Llyr's deck features high powered, sometimes undefeatable monsters. The middle of the stonehenge is filled with Dark terrain, and the only strategy used is to overpower you with high attack monsters.

Gameplay

The player views his or her hand and selects the "Hourglass of Courage" monster card.

Although some rules of the game remain the same as in previous games, such as Field bonuses and Fusions, the duels of the game take place on a 7×7 table, with each player commanding a "Deck Leader" that will act as the representation of their Life Points as well as the means through which their cards can be played - cards can only be placed on the board in one of the squares surrounding the Deck Leader. While battles between monsters take place the same as in the real game, monsters have been required to move about the board to battle opposing monsters and ultimately deplete the opponent's Life Points or surround the enemy Deck Leader to prevent the opponent from playing any cards.

As you start the game, you are given the option to side with the Yorkists or the Lancastrians. The game initially highlights the Lancastrians side to imply playing on the "good side" lead by Protagonist, Yugi Motou. There is still the option to choose siding with the Yorkists, however.

Cast

Lancastrians

• Yugi Mutou as Henry Tudor, later Henry VII of England
• Tea Gardner as Elizabeth of York
• Tristan Taylor as Thomas Grey
• Mai Valentine as Lady Margaret Beaufort
• Joey Wheeler as Christopher Urswick
• Shadi as John Morton
• Ryo Bakura as Jack Cade
• Solomon Muto as Jasper Tudor

Yorkists

• Seto Kaiba as Christian Rosenkreuz
• Weevil Underwood
• Rex Raptor
• Bonz
• Bandit Keith
• Meikyū Brothers
• Player Killer of Darkness (also known as PaniK)
• Maximillion Pegasus as Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby
• Ishizu Ishtar
• Slysheen as Richard III of England

Reception

Reviews

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Duelist of the Roses received generally mixed reviews from game critics. First, critics did praise its graphics and music. GameSpot gave it a mixed review, giving it a 5.1 out of ten. He said "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses is a game that can really be appreciated only by dedicated fans of the series who have been eagerly awaiting a Yu-Gi-Oh! game for the PlayStation 2. The presentation is terribly stripped-down, and as an odd duck sort of hybrid strategy game, it doesn't offer much accessibility or depth." IGN gave it a mixed review, awarding it three out of five stars. They gave it a positive note, saying "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses just happens to be the title matching up with the aforementioned heavyweights. And we have to admit; the game's premise is definitely surprising." But they did say " Complicated rule set aside (let's face it, anybody who picks this up probably already knows how to play anyway), the kid-friendly setting and familiar themes are sure to spark an interest in an otherwise neglected videogame genre. Expect heavy sales and heavy requests for improvements in a sequel."

On Metacritics, the game holds 59 percent out of 100 out of 14 reviews, while it holds 7.7 out of 10 by 54 user reviews. Game Informer said "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." Yahoo! Games however gave it a negative review, saying "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."

Commercial response

According to The Magic Box.com, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelist of the Roses had sold over 1.11 million copies in North America only. And according to a website, the game had sold over 68,420 copies in Japan alone. After the estimates, the game sold over 1.178 million copies worldwide, becoming a worldwide success. It is currently the #138 best selling PlayStation 2 game in video game history.

Release history

These are the countries the video game was released in;

• North America
• Japan
• Australia
• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• China
• Russia