Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses is a Konami title based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. It came out in Japan on September 6, 2001, and reached other regions in 2003. The story takes loose inspiration from the Wars of the Roses. Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba lead opposing teams, the Lancastrians and the Yorkists. Players can control either side, fighting through the plot to stop a ritual summoning using magical rose cards.

The game uses character designs by Kazuki Takahashi. Battles take place on a chessboard-like field, with approximately 700 cards from the franchise. Several features set it apart from the original card game: altered card effects, terrain placement, a reincarnation system, and deck leader promotions. Monster cards have updated 3D computer graphics, a feature first seen in Forbidden Memories. To allow release in North America and Europe, some dialogue and visuals were censored.

Critics gave the game mixed reviews. Some praised the story and visuals, but most criticism targeted the gameplay, lack of new ideas, and high difficulty. Commercially, it succeeded, selling over a million copies worldwide. Sony Computer Entertainment later honored it as a Greatest Hits title, and it remains one of the best-selling PlayStation 2 games.

**Gameplay**

A duel starts with a conversation between Seto Kaiba and Simon McMooran. McMooran lets the player pick from several starter decks, each with a lead deck leader. Deck leaders are dealt in groups of three, based on the name McMooran requests at the start. Kaiba then offers a choice between the Lancastrians (Red Rose) or the Yorkists (White Rose). This choice decides which characters the player faces later, shown on an in-game world map.

Each duel occurs on a 7x7 battlefield that looks like a chessboard. Every space has unique terrain tied to the opponent. Terrains—such as normal, forest, meadow, dark, sea, wasteland, mountain, toon, crush, and labyrinth—can raise or lower monster attack and defense by 500 points and affect movement range. Three terrains have special rules: labyrinth blocks all cards except a few with special effects; crush destroys monsters with over 1500 attack points; and toon weakens all monsters except toon monsters.

Each duelist has a "Deck Leader" placed on the field. This leader represents the duelist, can move around, and is vulnerable to attack. The reincarnation system allows you to sa