Yu-gi-oh Forbidden Memories Review

[Astro Dude]

FlameDragon closed my "Legacy of the Duelest Duels left out" thread for multi-spamming. So I thought I would spend more of a positive light by writing up reviews from past Yu-gi-oh Video Games. The first one being Yu-gi-oh Forbidden Memories. And before you come at me with your Berserk Gorilla's, Dark Allenby's, Chou-Chou Sadists and Iris Hearts, and go, "You have no right to judge it, you weren't born during those days." crud,  there is something I need to say. This, was my third or so Playstation video game and I was born in 1985, so I know what it is like to grow up with certain games. So I, and I bet all of you, can look beyond the nostalgia and see that this game is the equivalent to the Gen 1 Pokemon games, meaning it is a piece of crud. Outdated graphics, unspeakable balancing issues and the fact you can't beat this game without a Gameshark cheat device to get three of each card like I did. Before I go on, let's just dive into the story.

 

[spoiler=Plot]

The plot revolves around a young prince, which you can name whatever you want, kinda like Pokemon. This young prince is in fact the future Pharaoh and main protagonist of the first series franchise. An evil sorcerer named Heishin wants to use the powers of the Millenium items to rule the world. Yup, standard plot. You sneak out and meet up with your friends, Jono and Teana, ancestors of Joey Wheeler and Tea Gardner respectively, and Seto, we all know him as Kaiba's ancestor. You seen Heishin's sorcerer's plot something, but you go back home and as you sleep, the kingdom is being invaded by Heishin's troops. and Simon Muran gives you the Millenium Puzzle, which transports both him and Simon inside.

 

In Present day there's a big duel tournament and Yugi and Joey participate. The first half consists of 4 duelist kingdom duelists, Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, Mai Valentine and Bandit Keith. The second half consists of Millennium Item Weilders, mind you all, this was before Marik Ishtar claimed the Millenium Rod. Shadi, who holds the Millennium Key and scales. Yami Bakura with the Millennium Ring, Pegasus the Millennium Eye, Isis (Who will later be known as Ishizu Ishtar), who holds the Millennium necklace and Kaiba, who holds the Millennium rod.

 

After beating them, the prince returns, with the item cards, to find the place in shambles. Heishin and his followers have taken over. So you track down his followers, Anubisius of the Forest, Secmeton of the Ocean, Atenza of the mountain, Martis of the Wasteland and Kepura of the meadow. Along the way you meet Sadin who looks like Shadi. During some stuff, you reach the climactic duel with Seto, win and face a two-part final boss, win and the game ends.

 

 

 

More details are found here:

 

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Forbidden_Memories

 

Okay, now that the plot is out of the way, next is gameplay. It's ancient Yugioh so you can play whatever monsters you want. There is also a boost system in alignment with planetary symbols. For example a Neptune monster can beat a Mars monster but not a Pluto monster. This game follows the prototype rules, Also, fusions can be performed without Polymerization, three specific monsters are required for Rituals, and there are polygraphic monster battles between two monsters. We really need more of these. Again, details are found here.

 

http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_Forbidden_Memories_Gameplay

 

Although I am nostalgic to this game I am not going to list every detail. However, a five card hand limit, 40 card deck seems balanced on paper, but since it follows prototype rules, expect a challenge from the first time you play. This game also includes an odd forced loss fight where you're supposed to lose. If you win, you have to play again until you lose. This game also has a card shop. And you pay with star chips. But unless you want to use a Gameshark, most cards are expensive. The game only has 722 cards, including only 10 trap cards. And they're not even good trap cards, except Acid Trap Hole and Widespread Ruin, but come on, couldn't they have included Mirror Force? The character roster does contain some original characters not seen in the anime. My personal favorites are Anubisius cause he's a cool mummy and the servant girl. Kinda wonder what happened to her after she was taken away. The graphics are outdated, but this is an early Playstation game, what would you expect? The cards from the anime were cards seen up to Champion vs. Creator, with Magician of Black Chaos thrown in for good measure, even though it did not appear until Match of the Millennium.

 

This game is a lot like Gen I Pokemon games, like I said, unbalanced gameplay, archaic graphics by today's standards, and expensive cards requiring you to grind like there is no tomorrow. The best cards cost nearly 1 million star chips. But does this mean I hate the game, of course not. The characters were well written, the music was awesome, especially the Mountain Shrine, and the story is great. Not to mention, summoning Exodia is a feast for the eyes. So anyway, I give this a... 6.5/10. If this was your first Yugioh game, tell me what you think. Some might not care but that's okay.

 

And Flamedragon, if you're reading this, if no one replies in 24 hours, lock this thread up. Next up, my take on Duelist of the Roses.