Main Differences in Adaptions

There were many differences between the Japanese and English versions of the second series anime, such as even changing dialogue that had no threat to children to edit, yet a few of these changes were almost always there, especially during the episodes that included duels, which were mainly all of them.

Original Japanese Version
Both versions had Shadow Games played, with penalty games following, but only the English dub included the Shadow Realm. Characters did not have their minds or souls banished to the Realm, although the loser's penalty still included damage to their minds or souls. Also, characters would die or be seriously injured instead of being sent to the Realm.

The Japanese version of the tiny rectangle that shows both a character's life points and a monster's attack and defense points is a different color, with phrases not included in the dub. The rectangle is gray, and for life points, it has "LP" above the number, while the monster's points, have (in Japanese) words on the left of the respective number that most likely mean "attack" and "defense", with the attack ones on top and the defense on the bottom, although this position of the monster's points is the same in the dub.

English Dub Version
As stated above, the Shadow Realm was created in the English dub in order to make this version of the anime more "child friendly", so the protagonists were able to rescue characters from the darkness that, in the original, died or would die, usually due to penalties of Shadow Games. In most episodes of great danger, there was a very different change in the plot that would involve being banished to eternal darkness, especially in the Battle City Part 1 arc. For example, when Yami Yugi dueled Arkana, the buzz-saws were normal ones in the original that would cut off the loser's legs, but in the dub, they were glowing and would send the loser to the Shadow Realm upon contact.

During episodes that had duels go on for more than one episode, there was always "To Be Continued..." at the bottom of the dub episode's ending scene, until the final episode of the duel, which would not include the phrase. The English rectangle of life points and a monster's attack and defense points is blue with light yellow circular stripes, but there are not any words or letters, like "LP" in the original, but a monster's attack points are shown at the top and the defense points are at the bottom, just like the original.