We're Finally Getting New YuGiOh Video Games! — Too Much Gaming

In the advent of trading card games being represented in digital form, one property has been surprisingly absent in that forefront on modern systems. Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, the purveyor of the Heart of the Cards, hasn't had a proper digital version of their paper card game in a long time. But during their Digital Next livestream, that's looking to change.

The first announcement was information for Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Saikyou Battle Royale!! A tie-in game to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens anime coming to the Nintendo Switch on August 12, 2021 in Japan, and a global release sometime in the fall of 2021. Rush Duel is a new separate format from the original game with its own unique cards that came out exclusively in Japan in 2020. Hopefully this means that the paper counterpart will be seeing an English release sometime soon.

Revealed next was the next big update coming to the mobile game Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. Duel Links has been slowly adding in worlds from the mainline YuGiOh animes and along with them came their unique summoning mechanics and card archetypes. ZEXAL was the latest world added in 2020 and introduced XYZ cards into the game. For 2021, the world of ARC-V will be added, teasing the all powerful Pendulum summoning mechanic.

The third piece of news is something that I have been clamoring for for a while now. And that is a new digital medium to play the proper YuGiOh card game. Konami must've read my mind because what they showed off was exactly what I've been looking for. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a digital card game that lets you play the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG and TCG following the Master Rules format on virtually all modern game systems and looks to include cards that are currently legal in the paper format. The game looks to have taken visual tips from other current digital card games like Magic: The Gathering Arena and Legends of Runeterra, touting impressive looking visuals, card animations, motion graphics for certain monster cards, and even virtual pets that stand beside you during duels. Originally announced last year but only in name, Master Duel will be available on the PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Steam, iOS, and Android systems.

And last but not least, Konami announced that a new project is being worked on. A new four-player card game under same brand called Yu-Gi-Oh! Cross Duel. No gameplay or screenshots were shown but judging from the game's logo, it looks to follow a 2x3 field system similar to Duel Links and is possibly the first official multiplayer variant of the YuGiOh card game. The game is set to release on globally on Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store.

As someone who has been trying to get back into this card game, all of these announcements are incredible exciting. I've been having a ton of fun in Duel Links but playing with the smaller field size and limited card pool just isn't the same. As far as the Master Rules format is concerned, the last real release for it on modern systems was Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution back in 2019, which was just an updated version of its original release back in 2015.