Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light

'Yu-Gi-Oh! the Movie: The Pyramid of Light, known in Japan as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light' is an anime film based on the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. The film's director was Hatsuki Tsuji. Although the movie took place after the Battle City arc, it is debatable as to whether or not it is canon due to the alternate explanation of how Yugi Muto solved the Millennium Puzzle and the inclusion of Anubis (who has not been mentioned outside of the film) in the film. However, this movie became canon thanks to the remastered version.

The characters and naming are the same as the English version of the Yu-Gi-Oh!, or Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters television show.

The musical score and the sound effects are all completely brand new and American-made, and there is no original Japanese music or sound effects in the English dub of the movie. It has also been turned into an ani-manga.

On February 1, 2018, it was announced by Fathom Events and 4K Media that the film will be getting a remastered re-release in 800 American theaters through March 11 to 12.

Synopsis
The events of Battle City have just concluded, and Yugi now owns all three Egyptian God cards. As a result of his this and his past victory in Duelist Kingdom, Yugi has become famous around the world for his masterful strategies and possession of the God cards. Seto Kaiba longs to finally defeat him, but finds every attempt by his research team to formulate a strategy to defeat the Gods fails and overloads their computers. At wits end, Kaiba decides that since Maximillion Pegasus created the Egyptian God cards, he would have also created a way to beat them, just in case something ever went wrong.

At the same time, Pegasus has a horrible nightmare about the Egyptian God cards becoming trapped in a blue replica of the Millenium Puzzle; despite no longer having a Millenium Item, Pegasus senses something horrible will soon happen.

Kaiba heads off to Pegasus's castle and challenges him to a duel. The stakes are the following: if Pegasus wins, he gets Kaiba's three "Blue-Eyes White Dragons"; if Kaiba wins, Pegasus hands over the card that can beat the Egyptian Gods. They face off in a Duel Arena, which Kaiba mocks Pegasus for still using. Pegasus manages to back Kaiba into a corner with his Toons, but Kaiba turns the tables by calling out his XYZ-Dragon Cannon and destroying Toon World to rid the field of monsters. Kaiba searches a deck Pegasus laid aside, finding two cards. However, Pegasus is confused; he only created one card to beat the Egyptian Gods, not two...Meanwhile, Yugi Muto and Téa Gardner, seeking refuge from a mob of duelists wanting to face Yugi for the Egyptian Gods, stumble into Domino Museum, where they discover a new attraction on display called the Pyramid of Light, which looks a little like the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi's grandpa, Solomon Muto (who also happens to be visiting the museum), reads an inscription on the side of a sarcophagus (The eye that sees what's yet to come, its vision shall be fulfilled, unless blinded by events predetermined, thus light & shadows both be killed), triggering a strange vision in Yugi's mind concerning his Millennium Puzzle, the Pyramid of Light, Anubis, and Kaiba. After he wakes up, he finds the pyramid stolen, the sarcophagus now empty, and Mokuba standing outside. Mokuba says that Kaiba wants Yugi to bring his duel disk to the KaibaCorp Duel Dome immediately.

Yugi does so, transforming into Yami Yugi on the way, and finds Kaiba ready to duel. Seto asks Mokuba to seal all the exits, forcing Yugi to duel him, but not before Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor find their way in to watch.

The duel goes on for what seems like an eternity, and Yugi is starting to suspect that there are dark forces at work - especially when Kaiba activates a Trap Card called the "Pyramid of Light", which not only bears a striking resemblance to its namesake in the museum, but also prevents Yugi from using any of the Egyptian Gods! Before long, Kaiba has his "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" on the field, but to Yugi's surprise, he sacrifices it to summon a monster known as the "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", which is even stronger!

The Pyramid of Light also pulls the souls of Yugi, Joey, and Tristan into Yugi's Millenium Puzzle, where they are chased by a group of mummies controlled by an unknown force...

The power of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" brings Yugi to the verge of defeat, but Kaiba decides to humiliate his rival with the most ironic victory possible: wiping him out with his own Egyptian Gods! Having used "Pyramid of Light" to remove the gods from play, he intends to use "Return from the Different Dimension" to get them under his control - but first, he needs to destroy "Pyramid of Light", otherwise it would just destroy the gods again! Kaiba commands his "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to use its "Shining Nova" effect, which allows it to sacrifice itself to destroy anything on the field - and he aims it at the "Pyramid of Light". Suddenly, a ghostly voice calls out, "This I cannot allow!", and the Pyramid stays exactly where it is. Then, a man rises up from behind Kaiba, throws him aside, and takes over the duel himself.

It's Anubis, the Egyptian Lord of the Dead, whom the Pharaoh destroyed 5000 years ago. But now he's back with the Pyramid of Light around his neck and two of his most powerful monsters - "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia"! On top of this, Téa, Joey, Tristan and Yugi are all trapped inside the Millennium Puzzle, leaving the Pharaoh to duel all alone. Putting all his faith into the cards, Yugi draws the "Double Spell" card, which allows him to discard his other spell card to activate "Monster Reborn" from Seto's Graveyard. He uses it to revive "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", who then destroys the "Pyramid of Light" (after it was weakened by Yugi from inside the Millennium Puzzle), along with "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia". But Anubis isn't finished yet. With the Pyramid gone, he combines his fallen Sphinxes into a new, even stronger monster - "Theinen the Great Sphinx"! Yugi, however, activates "Reverse of Reverse" to activate Kaiba's "Return from the Different Dimension". The God Monsters return and destroy the Great Sphinx, seemingly taking Anubis with it. But a giant jackal - the ancient Egyptian representation of Anubis, the Lord of the Dead - rises from the remains of the Pyramid!

Kaiba and Yugi join forces, putting all their strength into the "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" card, and using Shining Nova to destroy Anubis once and for all. On top of it all, Pegasus, who had earlier arrived via helicopter to help them, gets them out of the explosion in time.

Quotes
"Kaiba doesn't believe Pegasus"

- "Looks like you had TWO cards up your sleeve." "What do you mean, two cards? Kaiba, there was only one." "Nice try you snake."

"Pegasus reveals he figured out Anubis's plan"

- This was all arranged by an evil lord, who, five millennia ago, tried to destroy the world. And now it looks like he's back to finish the job.

"Kaiba mocks Pegasus's Toon deck after winning"

- That's all folks.

Relation to canon
''Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light creates some mild continuity problems within the Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga/anime series by inserting the character of Anubis into the show's history. Though designed by Kazuki Takahashi himself, the character is mentioned nowhere else in canon; despite his supposed prominence in the Pharaoh's past, he does not appear during the "Dawn of the Duel" arc, though their encounter could easily take place prior to the events shown in that storyline.

The scene at the start of the movie showing Yugi's completion of the Millennium Puzzle differs slightly from that seen in the original manga, but the Duel Monsters anime had, at that point, never shown the puzzle's completion, meaning this scene did not contradict anything yet established in the anime's continuity. A flashback in episode 180 would later show the puzzle's completion, matching what was seen in the movie.

If taken as canonical, the movie can be considered to take place between Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes 144 and 145 (between the third and fourth seasons, following the conclusion of the Battle City Finals but before "Waking the Dragons") The news report that follows the movie's title sequence makes clear that the Battle City Finals have only recently concluded, and Yugi has all three Egyptian God cards, which will be stolen from him at the start of the "Waking the Dragons" arc. The dubbed series had Tristan make reference to the movie's events a few episodes later in episode 148, and Joey will do so again in episode 202.

Errors
There were several errors in the English version of the movie. However, most of them were fixed or pointed out when it aired in Japan and remastered verison.


 * When the duel between Seto and Pegasus begins, the latter is shown with 4 cards in his hand.


 * When Joey challenges a group of duelists wanting to have a go at Yugi and his Egyptian God cards, the first challenger Summons "Injection Fairy Lily" on the first turn. The entire card itself was either vertically reversed or placed upside-down while horizontally reversed.
 * Furthermore, players are not permitted to attack on the first turn anyway.
 * "Injection Fairy Lily" appears in her original design - riding a needle - when earlier episodes of the dub have replaced the needle with a rocket.


 * When Kaiba has his computer run a simulation of a duel between him and Yugi, Yugi is listed as using "Paladin of White Dragon".


 * When Kaiba has his computer run a simulation of the duel between him and Yugi, Yugi is misspelled as "Yuugi".
 * However, due to Yugi having the circumflex romanization (Yūgi), the spelling of Yuugi is not much of a typo and is another way to write the name in rōmaji (to pertain to the furigana).


 * When "Familiar Knight" is attacked, the card underneath is reversed.


 * When "Peten the Dark Clown" is destroyed by battle, Kaiba activates "Deck Destruction Virus", which can only be activated when a Fiend-Type Monster with 500 ATK or less is destroyed by battle. "Peten the Dark Clown" is a Spellcaster-Type monster.


 * Seto Kaiba's plan for a 'perfect victory' by Summoning all 3 of Yami Yugi's Egyptian God cards would not normally work, as "Return from the Different Dimension" only affects cards removed from play that you possess. Since they were Yami Yugi's cards, Kaiba would be unable to Summon them. It is possible that Kaiba probably had another strategy to make "Return from the Different Dimension" work with Yami Yugi's monsters.


 * When Yami Yugi Summons "King's Knight", the text on "Queen's Knight" is displayed backwards.
 * When Kaiba summons "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", he explained that it gains 300 ATK points for every Dragon-Type monster he has in his Graveyard, and stated that he had five, being "Rare Metal Dragon", 3 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", and "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". However, this is an error as "Paladin of White Dragon" is also a Dragon-Type monster, and therefore should mean that Kaiba has six Dragon-Type monsters in his Graveyard, and thus the ATK of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" should have been 4800, not 4500.
 * This would also mean that when "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" attacked and destroyed "Sorcerer of Dark Magic", Yami Yugi's Life Points would have dropped to 0, losing the Duel.




 * When Kaiba uses the 'Shining Nova' effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to destroy "Pyramid of Light", although the attack failed, "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" disappears, and later Yami Yugi activates "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon it from the Graveyard. However, "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" is shown to appear next to Anubis for a short time, after it had already been destroyed following the activation of its 'Shining Nova' effect.


 * In the Japanese version of the movie, when Yami Yugi Summons "Magician's Valkyria" and attacks "Peten the Dark Clown", he's briefly shown to have "Magician's Valkyria" with "Premature Burial", "Mage Power" and 2 face-down cards. However, that's the field he has 1 turn later, when he revives "Magician's Valkyria" to face "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".


 * In the English version of the movie, during Yami Yugi's final turn after his Draw Phase, "Exchange" and "Diffusion Wave-Motion" are visible in his hand. In the Japanese version of the movie, it was fixed to show "Exchange" and "Double Spell".


 * When Anubis activates "Inferno Tempest" and "Fallout" to make Yami Yugi and Seto Kaiba drop all of their cards, 2 copies of "The Winged Dragon of Ra" and "King's Knight" are shown flying out of Yami Yugi's Duel Disk. There should only be one of each Egyptian God card in existence.


 * When Kaiba and Anubis argue over how to defeat Yami Yugi, they both mention they could win the duel there and then, but with the way the field was, there's no way Kaiba could have won on that very same turn.


 * When Yugi uses Kaiba's "Return from the Different Dimension", he mentions how Kaiba wanted 'a perfect victory', but Kaiba never said that - he only thought it.


 * Several cards shown in the movie do not have the proper font for their card names when their cards are played.


 * When Seto and Pegasus draw due to "Card of Sanctity", "Dark Magician Girl" can be see in Pegasus' hand instead of "Toon Dark Magician Girl".


 * When "Peten the Dark Clown" attacks the Pharaoh, he stabs him through the back; however, Kaiba calls the attack "Bloodlust slash"; this is incorrect as a slash leads to a cut, not a puncture.

Simulated: Seto Kaiba VS. Yugi Muto
(Duel already in progress; this Duel is not real but the result of a simulation by KaibaCorp's computer) 

Seto Kaiba has 1300 Life Points, controls 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", no face-down cards and three cards in his hand. Yami Yugi has 2200 Life Points, controls "Obelisk the Tormentor", "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" and has no other cards on his field or in his hand.

Kaiba's Turn

Kaiba draws "Polymerization" and subsequently activates it to fuse "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" on the field with two copies of "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in his hand in order to Fusion Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (4500/3800) in Attack Position. Kaiba then activates "Megamorph" and equips it to "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". Since Seto's Life Points are lower than Yami Yugi's, the ATK of "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" is doubled ("Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon": 4500/3800 → 9000/3800).

Yami Yugi activates the effect of "Obelisk the Tormentor" to Tribute "Slifer the Sky Dragon" and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" in order to destroy all monsters Kaiba controls and inflict 4000 damage to Kaiba (Seto 1300 → 0).

Joey Wheeler VS. Unidentified Man


Unidentified Man's Turn

The man draws "Injection Fairy Lily" and subsequently Normal Summons it (400/1500) in Attack Position. "Injection Fairy Lily" attacks directly.


 * (NOTE: This would be illegal in the real game, since an attack cannot be declared on the first turn; in the Japanese version, Joey even questions the legality of this move. In the Japanese version, the man activates the effect of "Injection Fairy Lily", paying 2000 Life Points to increase its ATK to 3400, so it could be an anime-exclusive effect of "Injection Fairy Lily" to be able to attack like this.)

(The rest of the duel and perhaps another are not shown; it can be assumed that Joey beat his opponent(s))

Joey Wheeler VS. Boy
Duel already in progress, Joey Wheeler has unknown Life Points, controls "Gearfried the Iron Knight", "Little-Winguard", "Rocket Warrior" and "Baby Dragon". No face-down cards and no hand. Boy has unknown Life Points, controls "Fenrir" and "Inpachi", no face-down cards and one card in his hand.

Boy's Turn

The boy Tributes "Fenrir" and "Inpachi" in order to Tribute Summon "Maju Garzett" (?/0) in Attack Position. Due to the effect of "Maju Garzett", its ATK becomes equal to the combined ATK of the monsters Tributed to summon it ("Maju Garzett": ? → 3000/0). "Maju Garzett" attacks & destroys "Gearfried the Iron Knight".


 * (NOTE: It is unclear whether "Gearfried the Iron Knight" was in Attack or Defense Position; Joey's Life Point counter isn't shown to change, but before it's destroyed, "Gearfried the Iron Knight" is not in its usual "kneeling down" Defense Position pose).

Joey's Turn

Joey draws "Gilford the Lightning". He then Tributes "Baby Dragon", "Little-Winguard" and "Rocket Warrior" in order to Tribute Summon "Gilford the Lightning" (2800/1400) in Attack Position. The effect of "Gilford the Lightning" then activates, destroying "Maju Garzett". "Gilford the Lightning" attacks directly (Boy (2800 Life Points or less) → 0).

Seto Kaiba VS. Maximillion Pegasus


Turn 1: Pegasus

Pegasus draws "Toon World" and subsequently activates it by paying 1000 Life Points (Pegasus 4000 → 3000). Pegasus Normal Summons "Toon-Gemini Elf" (1900/900) in Attack Position and Sets a card.

Turn 2: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Attack Guidance Armor". Aside from "Attack Guidance Armor", Kaiba's hand is shown to contain "Return from the Different Dimension", "Soul Release", "Z-Metal Tank", "Y-Dragon Head", and "X-Head Cannon". Kaiba Normal Summons "X-Head Cannon" (1800/1500) in Defense Position and Sets two cards.

Turn 3: Pegasus

Pegasus draws "Card of Sanctity" and subsequently activates it to make him and Seto draw until they both have six cards in their hand (Pegasus and Kaiba both draw 3 cards each). Pegasus' hand is shown to contain "Toon Table of Contents", "Toon Summoned Skull", "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon", "Monster Reborn", "Cost Down", and "Toon Dark Magician Girl". Kaiba's hand has "Soul Release", "Z-Metal Tank", "Y-Dragon Head", "Ring of Destruction", "Monster Reborn", and "Polymerization".

Pegasus then activates "Cost Down", discarding "Toon Table of Contents" to lower the Level of every monster in his hand by two. Pegasus then Normal Summons "Toon Dark Magician Girl" ( 6 → 4/2000/1700) in Attack Position. "Toon-Gemini Elf" attacks directly via its own effect as Kaiba controls no Toon monsters (Seto 4000 → 2100). Since "Toon-Gemini Elf" inflicted Battle Damage, its second effect activates, forcing Seto to discard "Monster Reborn".

"Toon Dark Magician Girl" attacks directly via its own effect, but Seto activates his face-down "Attack Guidance Armor" to redirect the attack to "Toon-Gemini Elf" instead, destroying it (Pegasus 3000 → 2900). Pegasus activates "Monster Reborn" to revive "Toon-Gemini Elf" ( 4 → 2/1900/900) in Attack Position. Pegasus then activates his face-down "Ultimate Offering", which allows him to Normal Summon more than one monster during his Main Phases and Kaiba's Battle Phases at the cost of 500 Life Points for each extra monster summoned.

Pegasus then Tributes "Toon-Gemini Elf" in order to Tribute Summon "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon" ( 8 → 6/3000/2500) in Attack Position (Pegasus 2900 → 2400). Pegasus then Normal Summons "Toon Summoned Skull" ( 6 → 4/2500/1200) in Attack Position (Pegasus 2400 → 1900). On Pegasus' End Phase, the effect of "Cost Down" expires ("Toon Dark Magician Girl" and "Toon Summoned Skull": 4 → 6; "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon": 6 → 8).

Turn 4: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Dark Core" and subsequently activates it to discard "Y-Dragon Head" and banish "X-Head Cannon". Kaiba then activates "Soul Release" banish "Y-Dragon Head" from his Graveyard. Kaiba then Normal Summons "Z-Metal Tank" (1500/1300) in Attack Position.

Kaiba then activates his face-down "Return from the Different Dimension" to pay half his Life Points (Seto 2100 → 1050) and Special Summon "X-Head Cannon" (1800/1500) and "Y-Dragon Head" (1500/1600) from the Banished Zone in Attack Position. Kaiba then banishes "X-Head Cannon", "Y-Dragon Head" and "Z-Metal Tank" to Special Summon "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" (2800/2600) in Attack Position.

Kaiba then activates the effect of "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" to discard one card and destroy "Toon World". Because "Toon World" is no longer in play, "Toon Dark Magician Girl", "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon" and "Toon Summoned Skull" are all destroyed. "XYZ-Dragon Cannon" attacks directly (Pegasus 1900 → 0).

Yami Yugi VS. Seto Kaiba/Anubis


Turn 1: Kaiba

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 41 → 36) Kaiba draws "Deck Destruction Virus". Kaiba's hand is shown to contain "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Familiar Knight", "Rare Metal Dragon", "Des Feral Imp" and "Peten the Dark Clown" and "Deck Destruction Virus". Kaiba then Normal Summons "Familiar Knight" (1200/1400) in Defense Position.

Turn 2: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 36 → 35) Yami Yugi draws "Mirror Force". Yami Yugi's hand contains "King's Knight", "Magician's Valkyria", "Premature Burial", "Sage's Stone", "Queen's Knight", and "Mirror Force". Yami Yugi then Normal Summons "Queen's Knight" (1500/1600) in Attack Position.

"Queen's Knight" attacks and destroys "Familiar Knight". The effect of "Familiar Knight" then activates, letting both players Special Summon a Level 4 monster from their hand. Seto Special Summons "Rare Metal Dragon" (2400/1200) in Attack Position while Yami Yugi Special Summons "King's Knight" (1600/1400) in Attack Position.

The effect of "King's Knight" then activates, letting Yami Yugi Special Summon "Jack's Knight" (1900/1000) from his Deck in Attack Position (Yami Yugi's Deck: 35 → 34). Yami Yugi Sets a card.

Turn 3: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Pyramid of Light" and subsequently Sets it.

Turn 4: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 34 → 33) Yami Yugi draws "Slifer the Sky Dragon". He then Tributes "Queen's Knight", "King's Knight" and "Jack's Knight" in order to Tribute Summon "Slifer the Sky Dragon" (X000 ATK / X000 DEF) in Attack Position.

Due to the effect of "Slifer", its ATK and DEF become equal the number of cards in Yami Yugi's hand times 1000. Yami Yugi currently has three ("Slifer the Sky Dragon": X000 → 3000/X000 → 3000).

"Slifer" attacks and destroys "Rare Metal Dragon" (Seto 4000 → 3400).

Turn 5: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Obligatory Summon" and subsequently activates it to force Yami Yugi to Special Summon all monsters from his Deck with the same Attribute as the monster he controls. Yami Yugi Special Summons "Obelisk the Tormentor" (4000/4000) and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" (? → 0/? → 0) in Attack Position. (Yami Yugi's Deck: 33 → 31)

Kaiba then activates his face-down "Pyramid of Light" to remove the Egyptian Gods from play. At this point, "Pyramid of Light" envelops the playing field, which prevents both Yami Yugi and Seto from exiting until the Duel is over. Whenever Yami Yugi or Seto lose Life Points, their actual life energy is drained from them and used to feed Anubis.

A Dark Red Eye appears on the side of the pyramid, absorbing the souls of Joey and Tristan. They are transported to Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. Yugi's own soul is absorbed within his Millennium Puzzle, leaving Yami Yugi to Duel against Seto by himself. The stadium where Yami Yugi and Seto are dueling begins to collapse, but the "Pyramid of Light" protects them from the debris.

Seto activates "Mystical Space Typhoon" to destroy Yami Yugi's Set (noted to have been "Mirror Force" in the Japanese version). He then Normal Summons "Peten the Dark Clown" (500/1200) in Attack Position. "Peten the Dark Clown" attacks directly (Yami 4000 → 3500). Kaiba Sets a card.

Turn 6: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 31 → 30) Yami Yugi draws. He then Normal Summons "Magician's Valkyria" (1600/1800) in Attack Position. "Magician's Valkyria" then attacks and destroys "Peten the Dark Clown" (Seto 3400 → 2300).

Kaiba then activates his face-down "Deck Destruction Virus". Now whenever a DARK Fiend-Type monster with at most 500 ATK is destroyed by battle, this card will force Yami Yugi to send ten random cards in his Deck to the Graveyard. The effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" activates (Yami Yugi's Deck: 30 → 20).

Since "Peten the Dark Clown" was sent to the Graveyard, Kaiba banishes it in order to Special Summon another "Peten the Dark Clown" (500/1200) from his Deck in Defense Position.

Turn 7: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Card of Demise". He then Normal Summons "Des Feral Imp" (1600/1800) in Defense Position. Kaiba then activates "Card of Demise" to draw until he has five cards in his hand (his hand is empty so he draws five cards). Five turns after the activation of "Card of Demise", Seto must discard his entire hand during his Standby Phase. Kaiba's hand now contains "Polymerization", "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", "Attack Guidance Armor", "Paladin of White Dragon", and "White Dragon Ritual".

Kaiba activates "White Dragon Ritual" to Tribute "Des Feral Imp" and Ritual Summon "Paladin of White Dragon" (1900/1200) from his hand in Attack Position. "Paladin of White Dragon" attacks and destroys "Magician's Valkyria" (Yami 3500 → 3200).

Kaiba then activates the second effect of "Paladin of White Dragon" to Tribute itself and Special Summon "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (3000/2500) from his Deck in Attack Position. Kaiba then Sets a card.

Turn 8: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 20 → 19) Yami Yugi draws. He then activates "Premature Burial" to Special Summon "Magician's Valkyria" (1600/1800) from his Graveyard in Attack Position and equip it with "Premature Burial" by paying 800 Life Points (Yami 3200 → 2400).

Yami Yugi then activates "Mage Power" and equips it to "Magician's Valkyria". Now as long as "Magician's Valkyria" is equipped with "Mage Power", it will gain 500 ATK and DEF for every Spell and Trap Card on Yami Yugi's side of the field ("Magician's Valkyria": 1600 → 2600/1800 → 2800). Yami Yugi then Sets two cards ("Magician's Valkyria": 2600 → 3600/2800 → 3800).

"Magician's Valkyria" attacks "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", but Seto activates his face-down "Attack Guidance Armor" to redirect the attack to "Peten the Dark Clown". "Magician's Valkyria" then destroys "Peten the Dark Clown". The effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" activates (Yami Yugi's Deck: 19 → 9) (Noted that one of the destroyed cards was Dark Magician Girl).

Kaiba then banishes "Peten the Dark Clown" in order to Special Summon another "Peten the Dark Clown" (500/1200) from his Deck in Defense Position.

Turn 9: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". Seto activates "Polymerization" to fuse the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" on his field with the two copies in his hand in order to Fusion Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (4500/3800) in Attack Position. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" attacks & destroys "Magician's Valkyria" (Yugi 2400 → 1500).

Turn 10: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 9 → 8) Yami Yugi draws. He then activates his face-down "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon "Dark Magician Girl" (2000/1700) from his Graveyard in Attack Position. Yami Yugi then activates face-down "Sage's Stone" to Special Summon "Dark Magician" (2500/2100) from his Deck in Attack Position (Yami Yugi's Deck: 8 → 7). Yami Yugi then Tributes "Dark Magician Girl" and "Dark Magician" in order to Special Summon "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" (3200/2800) from his hand in Attack Position.

"Sorcerer of Dark Magic" then attacks "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon". The second effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" then activates, decreasing the ATK of "Blue-Eye Ultimate Dragon" by 500 for each Spellcaster-Type monster in Yami Yugi's Graveyard that was sent there from the field. There are currently three: "Dark Magician Girl", "Dark Magician", and "Magician's Valkyria" ("Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon": 4500 → 3000/3800). "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" destroys "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (Seto 2300 → 2100).

Turn 11: Kaiba

Kaiba draws. Kaiba then passes.

Turn 12: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 7 → 6) Yami Yugi draws. "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" attacks and destroys Seto's "Peten the Dark Clown". The effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" activates, but the first effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" negates the effect of "Deck Destruction Virus" and destroys it.

Turn 13: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon". Kaiba then activates "Monster Reborn" to Special Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" (4500/3800) from his Graveyard in Attack Position. Seto then Tributes "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" in order to "Special Summon" "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" (3000/2500) in Attack Position. Due to the first effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon", it gains 300 ATK for each Dragon in Kaiba's Graveyard. There are currently five ("Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon": 3000 → 4500/2500).

"Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" attacks Yugi's "Sorcerer of Dark Magic". The second effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" would activate at this point, but Kaiba activates the second effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to negate the effect of "Sorcerer of Dark Magic". "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" then destroys "Sorcerer of Dark Magic" (Yami Yugi 1500 → 200).

Turn 14: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 6 → 5) Yami Yugi draws "Big Shield Gardna" and subsequently Normal Summons it (100/2600) in Defense Position.

Turn 15: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Return from the Different Dimension" and subsequently sets it. "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" attacks & destroys Yugi's "Big Shield Gardna".

Turn 16: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 5 → 4) Yami Yugi draws "Pot of Greed" and subsequently activates it to draw two cards (Yami Yugi's Deck: 4 → 2). Since Yami Yugi added "Watapon" from his Deck to his hand by a card effect, he Special Summons it (200/300) in Defense Position. Yami Yugi then Normal Summons "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian" (1400/1200) in Defense Position.

Turn 17: Kaiba

Kaiba draws "Spear Dragon". On Kaiba's Standby Phase, the second effect of "Card of Demise" activates, forcing Kaiba to discard his entire hand ("Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon": 4500 → 4800/2500).

Kaiba activates the third effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to Tribute itself and destroy "Pyramid of Light" (Kaiba intends to use his set card to use Yugi's own Egyptian God cards against him so he can have a perfect victory). However, Anubis uses his power to prevent the "Pyramid of Light" from being destroyed. Anubis then appears and tosses Kaiba aside in order to take his place in the Duel (Life Points included).



Turn 17: Anubis (Kaiba's Turn continued)

Anubis Special Summons "Andro Sphinx" (3000/2500) and "Sphinx Teleia" (2500/3000) from his Deck in Attack Position as "Pyramid of Light" is present on the field.

Turn 18: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 2 → 1) Yami Yugi draws "Reverse of Reverse". He then Sets a card.

Turn 19: Anubis

Anubis Sets a card. "Sphinx Teleia" attacks & destroys Yugi's "Obnoxious Celtic Guardian" (as it can negate the effects of monsters it battles). "Andro Sphinx" attacks & destroys Yugi's "Watapon". The third effect of "Andro Sphinx" activates, inflicting damage to Yami Yugi equal to half the ATK of his destroyed monster (Yami 200 → 100).

Turn 20: Yami Yugi

(Yami Yugi's Deck: 1 → 0) Yami Yugi draws "Double Spell". At this point, Yugi Muto uses the "Dagger of Fate" to destroy the Eye within Anubis' Pyramid of Light. This action exposes a weakness in the "Pyramid of Light" card, which Yami Yugi senses. Yami Yugi then activates "Double Spell" to activate "Monster Reborn" from Seto's Graveyard and Special Summon "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" (3000/2500) from Kaiba's Graveyard to his side of the field in Attack Position by discarding "Exchange".

Yami Yugi then activates the third effect of "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon" to Tribute itself and destroy Seto/Anubis's "Pyramid of Light". This time, "Pyramid of Light" is destroyed. With "Pyramid of Light" removed from the field, the souls of Yugi, Joey, Tristan, and Téa are returned to their bodies and Anubis's "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia" are destroyed.

Since "Andro Sphinx" and "Sphinx Teleia" were destroyed at the same time, Anubis activates the effect of his face-down "Theinen the Great Sphinx" and Special Summons it (3500/3000) in Attack Position by paying 1000 Life Points (Anubis 2100 → 1100). Anubis then activates the second effect of "Theinen" in order to increase its ATK by the ATK of all monsters in his Graveyard ("Theinen the Great Sphinx": 3500 → 35000/3000) by paying 1000 Life Points (Anubis 1100 → 100). (In the dub, Anubis activates the Pyramid of Light around his neck to release the dead souls trapped within the Pyramid of Light and the Millennium Puzzle and infuse their power into "Theinen".)

Yami Yugi activates face-down "Reverse of Reverse" to activate Seto's face-down "Return from the Different Dimension" as his card, allowing Yami Yugi to Special Summon "Obelisk the Tormentor" (4000/4000), Slifer the Sky Dragon" (X000 → 0/X000 → 0), and "The Winged Dragon of Ra" (? → 0/? → 0) from the Banished Zone in Attack Position by paying half his Life Points (Yami Yugi 100 → 50).

Yami Yugi then Tributes "Slifer" and "Ra" to activate the effect of "Obelisk" (4000 → ∞/4000), destroy all monsters Anubis controls, and inflict 4000 damage to Anubis (Anubis 100 → 0).

Featured cards
The following cards were used in the film. Italics are used to denote cards whose first appearance was in the film.

Cast

 * Dan Green as Yugi Muto, Yami Yugi
 * Greg Abbey as Tristan Taylor
 * Wayne Grayson as Joey Wheeler
 * Tara Jayne as Mokuba Kaiba
 * Amy Birnbaum as Tea Gardner
 * Eric Stuart as Seto Kaiba
 * Scottie Ray as Anubis
 * Charles Rocket as Narrator

Music
The ending theme for the Japanese version of the film is Fire, which is sung & composed by Blaze.

Trivia

 * The movie was released in theaters in North America, Europe, and Australia, but not in Japan. The movie was shown on special screenings in Japan on November 3rd, 2004. The movie then aired on TV Tokyo on January 2, 2005.


 * The English version of the movie was completely edited when it first appeared in theaters in the US, but the Japanese language version (released in special screenings on November 3rd, 2004 and later aired on TV Tokyo in January 2nd, 2005) differs in content, uncut, and is complete with cards in Japanese. The Japanese version is in 101 minutes and the English version runs originally for 90 minutes. Many scenes in the English version were omitted, switched, and some were altered.


 * This movie was screened in theaters in North America before the Battle City finals episodes aired, somewhat spoiling the ending for those who saw the movie.


 * The movie was shown special screenings and on TV Tokyo in Japan after the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters ended there. Thus, Yami Yugi already returned to the Spirit World, the Millennium Items were sealed away forever, and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX already began broadcasting in Japan.


 * VIZ Media released an "ani-manga" comic book version of the movie with the Egyptian God card "Slifer the Sky Dragon" as part of their Shonen Jump lineup.


 * This movie is not to be confused with the 30 minute Yu-Gi-Oh! the Movie that was released in Japan and produced by Toei Animation.


 * The original Japanese story calls for the Pharaoh's past to take place "3000 years ago", but the English translators misread this as "3000 B.C.". The English version thus puts the story 5000 years ago, but some believe this was intentional: nothing is known about Ancient Egypt 5000 years ago, and therefore the existence of Pharaoh Atem cannot be disproved (or proven).


 * In the United States, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Darkside of Dimensions are the only part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe to have the text on the cards included. Unlike the Japanese original version, the English dub of the TV anime series completely edited the text out of the cards due to FCC regulations, expanding the art on them to fill the gap. The cards in the movie also retained the visual rarity that their real-world card game counterparts have, with the rarer cards having gold lettering on them to match those of an Ultra Rare card. In addition, the Life Point counters used in this Duel are the same used in the original Japanese series. However, there are portions throughout the film in which the cards are displayed with the picture and text mirrored backwards.
 * Due to cards being displayed this way, you can see that it says [Spell Card] under each Spell Card's name. In Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, and the movie itself, Spell Cards are still called Magic Cards.


 * In the beginning of the movie, it is said that Yugi defeated Seto Kaiba to win the finals of the Battle City Duel Monsters tournament. However, Yugi's true opponent for the final of the tournament was against Marik Ishtar / Dark Marik as all scenes that follow the headline show Yugi receiving The Winged Dragon of Ra from Marik.


 * Much like the early Pokémon theatrical releases, the movie released limited-edition promotional cards in the Movie Pack alongside the tickets bought for the movie. To further stretch the card game tie-in, the Exclusive Pack was released in card shops to help garner interest in the movie. The DVD versions stated that there were 4 promo cards included in the DVD; however, most versions instead came with a "Pyramid of Light" card and a fee was required to be sent to 4Kids Entertainment to be able to receive those cards.


 * Much against Yu-Gi-Oh! North American dub, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light also featured an unusual amount of violence compared to the dub:
 * Contrary to the usual concept of Shadow Realm, the words "Kill" and "Die" are used for the very first time. "Die" is used by Anubis, "Killed" is used by Solomon Muto's reading of the prophecy.
 * Violent comments like "Soon worms will feast your flesh, just as they did on mine" and "You will be destroyed" are used by Anubis.
 * No censorship is applied on mummies being dismembered or Yugi's silhouette being "stabbed" by "Peten the Dark Clown".
 * The cards are displayed in their TCG form, but "Dark Magician Girl" displays a pentagram (as per the original card) instead of her usual censored "ruby".
 * "Injection Fairy Lily" also rides a syringe, as opposed to the rocket she rides in the dubbed anime.
 * Pegasus makes a direct reference to "wine spritzers", where alcoholic beverages are usually changed to something else in the dub (usually fruit juice).
 * Near the end, Kaiba says the word "bull" (short for the swear word). This is as close as the English dub got to a swear word, unless the word "crap" is considered in the same category.


 * Although the musical score (background instrumentals) was released for the Japanese version of the movie, the score for the English version was never officially released.
 * Joel Douek, one of the series' composers for the dub, unofficially released these tracks on his YouTube account and FTP.


 * A few times during the movie, Seto Kaiba's hair glowed green, which could be a homage to the first series.


 * Near the beginning of the movie, when Solomon is reading the newspaper, we can see that the picture was taken by Norman Grossfeld - the writer and executive producer of the movie.


 * In the beginning of the movie, a group of archaeologists discovered Anubis' tomb. Their appearance is similar to the archaeologists who discovered the Dark Puzzle in the first episode of the first series.


 * Though elements of the Dawn of the Duel story arc from season 5 of the show are used, the plot of this film greatly mirrors that of the Waking the Dragons story arc from season 4. An ancient enemy arises and uses the Pharaoh's power against him in some way, they possess a powerful artifact and use its card counterpart to surround the field and prevent any interference, Yugi is prevented from using the God Cards until the end, after the enemy loses the final duel from a combined attack of 3 Legendary Monsters they take the form of or combine with a great beast to attack Yugi and his friends (Joey even uses some of the same monsters to fight both), the enemy uses Pegasus to manipulate Kaiba when he seeks him out for answers, Pegasus later shows up to provide background information and other answers for Yugi and/or his friends, and Yugi and the Pharaoh are separated for a sizable portion of the story and are only reunited once the enemy suffers some form of defeat and loses what was originally going to be the source of power for their attack on the world.


 * The "Dagger of Fate" was a plot device added to the English version to give meaning to Yugi throwing it at the eye inside of the Millennium Puzzle. In the Japanese version, the dagger was never mentioned at all before that scene and Yugi just needed to find a hard object to throw at the eye and break it.


 * In the dubbed version, Anubis is heard speaking in Ancient Egyptian on several accounts, whereas in the Japanese version, he seldom spoke the language.
 * However some of the words may have been fantasized since the correct pronunciation of most Ancient Egyptian words is still somewhat unknown.


 * Despite the movie debuting in 2004 for the US, the cards still have the lore from when they were first printed in the US.
 * Some cards like "Magician's Valkyria" have the incorrect typeface for things like the name possibly due to the fact that the card didn't yet exist in English, though this also occurred for Toon Summoned Skull, which was released before the movie.


 * After Kaiba beat Pegasus, he said "That's all Folks!", referring to the slogan of other cartoons of Warner Bros., also mocking Pegasus's Toon Deck.


 * When Tristan saw the mummies for the first time, he yelled "Zoinks!", this is the exclamation of Shaggy Rogers from "Scooby-Doo", another show of Warner Bros.


 * An image of "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon" appears on the label of Pegasus's red wine bottle.


 * This is the only Yu-Gi-Oh! movie where any kind of Red-Eyes monster does not appear.


 * When the movie was released in theaters in the US, it was largely panned by critics. It received a 5% from all critics, and a 0% from all top critics on Rotten Tomatoes.