Yu-Gi-Oh!: Nightmare Troubadour: - The Definitive Version of the Card Game

Directly related to the emphasis on multi-player, and general portability of games based around collecting, the Yu-Gi-Oh games have made a snug home on the Gameboy Advance thanks to Konami. There was always something missing from this mix, as the basis of the card game is all around organizing, collecting, and setting cards in various matches against the computer. The something that was missing was personability; a lot is lost in translation from physical interaction to clunky menu based antics. With the release of the Nintendo DS comes new dimensions to old games. Konami has apparently seen it fit to continue the line of card games with the release of Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour. With new hardware comes new features making this old engine more playable. Is Nightmare Troubadour a worthy addition to your library of Nintendo DS games? Read on to find out.

Quite honestly, I own (or have owned) nearly every Yu-Gi-Oh handheld iteration released so far. Yeah it's weird for a grown man of my age to purchase this kind of game in such magnitude, but we all have our guilty pleasures. This is why I can compare Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour to the licensed games released on the Gameboy Advance. To be quite frank, I'm becoming quite tired of the card game and really only wanted this version to see what touch screen has to offer in the realm of Yu-Gi-Oh. This is why my score for this game is going to be lower than what I handed out to the GBA games, despite the fact that this is far and away the best simulated version of the card game I've ever played. Now that this is out of the way, let's get to the review.

Story
Nightmare Troubadour is completely based around the infamous anime series Yu-Gi-Oh. The show is based around a young child named Yugi Moto, who, upon acquiring an ancient puzzle from his grandfather manages to fit it all together, thus releasing the spirit of an Egyptian pharaoh. This entity shares his body with Yugi, and the two work together to save the world by playing a modern card battle game called Duel Monsters which is based off a magic the same pharaoh used in order to protect his kingdom. There is hardly a mention of the basic story from within the game, but with the backstory knowledge it's helpful to pick up subtle hints from gameplay.

So exactly how much of the story is in play? The biggest references are from the various characters in which you can duel (the name given to card game matches). You'll see most of your favorite highlighted characters from the second and third seasons of the anime show. This has always been a pretty decent touch, considering that they use their trademark cards and combinations from the show. Of course, in an effort to even things out substantially, new cards have been added to each character's decks to make them much more formidable. Still, the biggest novelty here is to watch your favorite characters use their trademark cards in a battle while you must try to think of a way to counteract them.

Gameplay
The first thing you will need to do is get a deck of duel monsters cards. Upon starting the game, you will be asked several questions and the computer will use your answers to determine certain cards to throw in. From here, you can organize it any way in which you wish, but undoubtedly your thirst to acquire more cards will get the better of you, so it's off to duel so that you can acquire some booster packs. Konami offers a method for encountering duels that seems many steps backward from what they've previously supported. Encounters are very limited this time, and are based around the classic hot or cold concept (represented by an icon) while moving a cursor around the various areas of the city. The only only slightly cool idea behind this is the fact that the top screen displays scenery from the area in which you are presently scoping out.

Once you encounter another duelist a card battle breaks out. From here, the starting turn is determined by a simple game of rock paper scissors. After the order of turns has been arranged, both player's decks are shuffled and five cards are drawn from the top as the starter hands, and one card is pulled at the start of each consecutive turn. The basic game design features three primary types of cards; monster, magic, and trap. Monsters are the cards with stats that do the fighting and defending, whereas magic and trap cards have special effects which have unique effects to sway the flow of battle. I've always liked that this card game limits overpowering by requiring monsters higher than level four to require other monsters to be sacrificed so that they can be summoned. This makes strategy and know-how a definite must. Each player begins a card battle with 8000 life points, but a match is won when an opponent's reaches zero.

Magic and trap cards, along with effect monsters allow for a heavy element of combination. It's possible to completely turn around a duel with just one lone card, though it's possible to make combinations with seemingly infinite length, provided you have a ton of cards. Many cards accent each other well, and as such, it's sometimes best to have a deck which follows a certain theme. With this in play, you can place some very intricately laid out stategies if luck should be on your side. Of course, some trap cards are based around destroying combos, and so you will need to plan ahead from your opponents strategies. Although Yu-Gi-Oh is a child's show, the card game is extremely deep and elaborate in all it's card battling glory.

Obtaining new cards is as easy as winning duels and tournaments. After beating an opponent, the player is awarded both experience points and special kaiba corp points which can be redeemed at the card shop for extra cards. If you feel particularly rich however, you can take the points to the card password machine to obtain specific cards through the input of special passwords. The experience system works to control how powerful your deck can become. As you gain levels with these points, more opponents and booster decks will become available. What this means is that you will have to duel often to unlock all of what this game has to offer, which is a surprisingly rewarding experience.

Because it can be very technical at times, the card game can take a while to get the hang of. Thankfully, Konami has finally decided to stop turning away beginners, and have opted to include several tutorials on how to play the game. What's more is that this developer has even incorporated several scenarios in the card game which you can solve to hone your skills. If you're already experienced with the world of Yu-Gi-Oh and know how the card game plays, than you probably won't learn a whole lot from these features, seeing as they're aimed much for at beginners. The puzzle scenarios I must admit, are a bit fun to tinker with even for myself despite the fact that they haven't taught me anything I didn't already know.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour makes better use of the DS' features than most games released for the system thus far. The touch screen is the obvious choice for selecting options and cards, and this works very well. The touch screen didn't make out with any new ideas though, as it features only scenery (though well drawn) while on the city map, but during battles is a different story. The upper screen actually shows renderings of the summoned monsters, along with a 3-D view of the battlefield and the cards which are currently in hand. Admittedly this sounds nice on paper, but suffers from poor execution in the form of terrible graphics and rendering on every single one of the monsters. This is an area which can definitely be improved in the next Yu-Gi-Oh game for the Nintendo DS.

When it comes to this line of games Konami has proven to have a nasty habit of adding worthless features, while dropping useful ones in later sequels. Such was the case of the card password system, which allowed for input of passwords to acquire specific cards. This feature was dropped in Yu-Gi-Oh Tournament 2004, and so it was doubtful that it would ever see the light of day again. Thankfully, this feature is included in Nightmare Troubadour, though the system now costs a hefty amount of points to use. You're better off just spending points on the much cheaper booster packs in hopes of getting lucky and recieving the powerful cards you desire.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour is only truly rewarding if you have someone else to play with. Sorry folks, there's no single cart multi-player option here, but with good reason. Storing more than one person's settings would be a bit of a hastle. Upon connecting with a friend, you can trade cards between the two collections, and of course, duel each other. One thing I didn't like about the link battles in the previous Yu-Gi-Oh games was the fact that you have to plug in a physical wire in between two systems in order for it to work. This is why I absolutely love the wireless link up between two systems. With all the features upgraded for this version, it really feels like the card game doesn't belong anywhere outside of the DS system.

Graphics, Sound, Controls, and Replay Value
One thing I particularly like is just how much the interface has been cleaned up for this release. It is now vibrant and attractive very much unlike past iterations. The card art is very elaborately drawn with a tremendous amount of detail, which is really quite a nice touch. The bad thing here comes with the upper screens rendered versions of the physical monsters. I would actually have preferred that the top screen would be used only for displaying card information, but Konami really wanted to put some advanced touches on the presentation, but these fall flat on their face. The monsters are animated, but each have only about five choppy frames, and it doesn't help that they are already heavily pixelated. It was either a hit or miss here, but overall I'd say graphics are average when you combine the displays of both screens.

Sound doesn't fares decently in the grand scheme of things, though features only a slight upgrade from the melodies of the past games on the GBA. Often times the sound effects from card activations and monster clashes will cover up what's going on in the background, but these sound fairly nice so it's not a big deal in the big picture. I feel that there are enough songs, enough diversity, and enough musical ambience to keep you listening as you play. Nothing here really fits the anime series, but that's not a problem.

Controls are very nice here, especially because most everything is performed via the touch screen. The touch screen has advanced this general card battle idea so much that I honestly cannot imagine going back to the archaic manual menu surfing that the older Yu-Gi-Oh titles feature. Browsing through your card collection, arranging cards, and creating a custom deck has never been easier than it is here on the Nintendo DS. I honestly cannot imagine going back to the old method of menu browsing. There's just something that feels much more interactive with physically touching the cards on screen.

With all the cards there are to collect, and all the multi-player mayhem to be had, there is a ton of replay capabilities to be discovered. What's more is that the tutorials will undoubtedly open up the game to a broader audience, and so it's going to be much easier to get into the game than ever. Unless you somehow manage to collect every single card in the game, you'll never have an excuse to stop playing completely. I just hope that Konami integrates the ability to transfer decks from this version to the next so that players won't have to start from scratch with each consecutive release in the series.

Final Recommendation
I've decided to give this game a three star rating, even despite all the positive feedback I've given. Honestly, I am beginning to tire of the card game, and as such, it is getting a lower rating than I've given most of the past Yu-Gi-Oh titles on the GBA. Don't get me wrong though, this is the best reproduction of Duel monsters in video game format yet released.

Overall Rating: 7.4