Bandit Keith

Bandit Keith, whose real name is Keith Howard, is the former U.S. Duel Monsters Champion. During the final round of the Inter-continental Championship tournament in New York City, Keith was up against Maximillion Pegasus, who uses his Millennium Eye to read Keith's mind and predict his moves. Afterwards he writies down something on a piece of paper and calls over a kid from the audience. He tells the kid to duel against Keith using the instructions on his note. Using it, the kid defeats Keith in one turn. Keith, shocked and humiliated at being defeated by a child, fell into depression. He sneaks into Duelist Kingdom to defeat Pegasus and reclaim his glory.

Duelist Kingdom
Along with two duelists (in the manga, they are unnamed; in the Japanese second series anime, they are named Takaido and Satake; while in the English anime they are named Zygor and Sid, respectively), he trains a Ghost and Zombie Duelist named "Ghost" Kozuka (Bonz in the English anime). He has Bonz duel Joey Wheeler (Katsuya Jonouchi in the Japanese anime) and gives Bonz several rare cards, including the powerful Call of the Haunted, to strengthen his deck. Although Keith directs nearly all of Bonz moves, he still loses. Afterward, Keith calls Bonz a loser and ignores Joey's challenge for a duel face-to-face. After leaving the arena, Keith traps the heroes in the cave, then attacks his own minions and steals their star chips, giving him enough to enter the castle as a finalist.

Keith later duels Joey in the semi-finals of Duelist Kingdom. He unveils a rather devastating deck of Machine cards. His Machine cards not only have superior firepower over Joey, but also are immune to any sort of magical attacks (this is not a real rule). Keith cheats by pulling cards out from underneath his wristband to power up his monsters but, Jonouchi still wins. Afterwards, Keith claims that Jonouchi should be disqualified since the card he used to enter the semi-finals wasn't his. Joey admits that Mai Valentine (Mai Kujaku in the Japanese anime) gave him her card, but then asks how Keith knew that his card didn't belong to him. Pegasus chuckles and explains that Keith obviously stole the card, citing evidence of how he came to the conclusion (earlier, Keith was sure Jonouchi would not be able to find his entry card, and no wonder- Keith had it himself). Joey and the gang then says that Keith should be disqualified, and Pegasus agrees, but not just because of his thievery. He tells Jonouchi that Keith was keeping his 7 Completed cards beneath his wristband, allowing him to use them when needed, and orders his security guards to take Keith away.

In the anime, Keith breaks away and confronts Pegasus. He points a gun at his head (the gun is removed in the US version) and demands the 3 million dollars prize money for the tournament. Pegasus is calm and just makes fun of Keith. Keith steps forward, and Pegasus moves his foot to hit a hidden button. The floor around him falls away, and Keith plummets down a tunnel into the ocean.

Marik Ishtar
Keith is then seen in the beginning of the second season being under the control of Marik Ishtar. Disguised as a fortune teller, Keith asks Yugi Mutou if he can see his Millennium Puzzle. When Yugi hands it over, Keith steals the Puzzle and flees to a hidden arena. Chaining the Puzzle to the arena, Keith says the only way for Yugi to reclaim the Puzzle is to duel for it. (In the English anime, Marik has Keith duel Yugi to win the Puzzle for him. In the Japanese anime, Marik has Keith duel Yugi in the hopes Dark Yugi will appear.)

Although Keith is hooded, Yugi quickly deduces his identity from his Machine deck. At this point, Marik reveals that he and his Rare Hunters rescued Keith after he was dumped into the ocean by Pegasus. He then took him under his control. Keith's deck, augmented with rare cards courtesy of the Rare Hunters, surprisingly begins to defeat Yugi. However, the duel is watched by Yami Bakura. He senses the dark energies from Keith, and realizes he has been hypnotized. He refuses to let Yugi lose and forfeit the Puzzle since he wants it for himself and uses the Millennium Ring to break Marik's control of Keith. While Marik and Keith struggle for control, Keith shatters the Puzzle against the console (In the English anime, he does this because Marik commands him to. In the Japanese anime, Keith does it himself because he thinks the voice trying to control him is the spirit of the Puzzle). Yami Bakura then swings down, knocking Keith off the arena.

While Yami Bakura leaves Yugi to put the Puzzle back together, Keith hallucinates Marik nearby, giving him orders. Grabbing a length of pipe and attacking the images, Keith shatters the arena power unit, causing a fire. While the building burns, Joey and Tristan break down the door. A terrified Keith runs past them, claiming the arena is haunted. He is not seen again, though his "lost soul" is seen when the gang enters Dartz's lair in the Waking the Dragons arc.

Note: In the manga, the Duel between Yugi and Marik-controlled Keith never happened. After Keith loses to Joey in the Duelist Kingdom finals, he threatens Pegasus with a knife. Pegasus uses his Millennium Item to "turn" Keith's hand into a gun. The hand "shoots" Keith, killing him instantly.

The Sacred Cards
In the Game Boy Advance game Yu-Gi-Oh! The Sacred Cards, Keith is still under Marik's control. He duels several duelists around town before confronting the player. He later appears again at the Docks, trying to keep the player from Joey and Téa Gardner. He is defeated twice.

Reshef of Destruction
In Yu-Gi-Oh!: Reshef of Destruction, Keith is the new leader of the Rare Hunters. He, like Pegasus (under the guise of Sol Chelavsky) and the player, is after the Millennium Items. Reshef the Dark Being has re-sealed the Egyptian God cards in their stone tablets, and the Millennium Items can free them. Keith successfully claims the Millennium Puzzle, and the Rare Hunters take Domino hostage.

While other duelists (including Weevil Underwood, Rex Raptor, and Mai Valentine) help the player free Domino, the player, along with Joey and Yugi, battles through the Rare Hunters to the Museum, where Keith confronts Ishizu Ishtar. He threatens Ishizu, and orders the player to hand over the other six Millennium Items they have collected. Once this is done, Keith orders Ishizu to transform Ra using the items. Ishizu does so, but Ra's card appears in Sphere Mode (Ra's 3 forms- Sphere Mode, Battle Mode, and Phoenix Mode- all count as different cards in the game).

Keith, enraged that Ra cannot be used, duels the player. After being defeated, Ra transforms into Battle Mode, and strikes Keith down with a lightning storm for daring to use it. Afterwards, the Millennium Puzzle is retrieved, but Reshef possesses Keith and, much like in the anime, grapples with Yugi, shattering the Puzzle. While Keith collapses again afterwards, a minion of Pegasus enters the room and steals a piece of the Puzzle.

World Championship 2004
Keith is a level three duelists that becomes available after getting Barrel Dragon, but the player must not put it in the deck or he won't appear. It may be put in after beating Keith 10 times.

Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel
In that game, Keith becomes available once you have five more wins than losses for all other duelists except Mokuba Kaiba and Duke Devlin.

Dueling Cards
Keith's deck consists of all sorts of Machines. In his duels, he cheats by hiding cards in his wristband. Similarly, when he wears the Rare Hunter robes, a claw mechanism feeds cards directly to his hand. Because the duelists are so far from each other when dueling at an arena, Keith opponent's rarely realize he is cheating.

Monster Cards

 * Pendulum Machine
 * Launcher Spider
 * Zoa (Devilzoa)
 * Metalzoa (Metal Devilzoa)
 * Barrel Dragon (Revolver Dragon)
 * Slot Machine
 * Blast Sphere (Sphere Bomb)
 * Cyber Jar (Cyber Pod)
 * Mechanicalchaser (Mecha Hunter)
 * Ground Attacker Bugroth
 * Machine King
 * Megasonic Eye
 * Zera the Mant (Zera)
 * Seiyaryu (Holy Night Dragon)
 * Garnecia Elefantis

Spell Cards

 * Stop Defense (Defense Seal)
 * 7 Completed (Seven Card)
 * The Pillager
 * Machine Conversion Factory
 * Graceful Charity (Angel's Charity)
 * Zera Ritual
 * Curse of Fiend
 * Tribute to the Doomed (Tribute to the Dead)

Trap Cards

 * Metalmorph
 * Time Machine
 * Magic Jammer
 * Solemn Judgment (Judgment of God)