Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul

Eternal Duelist Soul is a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game for the Game Boy Advance. Gameplay is similar to standard dueling rules, except that the side deck can have less than 15 cards, and is more for convenience of getting to cards for your deck than switching between duels, as CPU duels are single duels rather than matches (though some NPCs will randomly challenge you to a Match).

Gameplay
Opponents are arranged in "tiers," with higher tiers unlocked by beating already open tiers. A tier may consist of 4 or 5 duelists. In order to advance, all duelists on a tier must be beaten before the next level can be unlocked. Beating a tier also unlocks certain in-game events, such as special cards that can only be received by beating that tier.

Another important aspect of the game is the in-game calendar. On certain days of the week (not actual days, as the game does not support a real date function) in game, random events may occur, such as recieving a pack of cards in the mail or being challenged to a Match by an opponent.

This is also the first game to include Polymerization as an actual card and also the first to include the Egyptian God Cards (though they are completely unusable, as the game considers them illegal).

Level 1

 * Tristan Taylor
 * Tea Gardener
 * Yugi Muto
 * Ryo Bakura
 * Joey Wheeler

Level 2

 * Mai Valentine
 * Espa Roba
 * Mako Tsunami
 * Weevil Underwood
 * Rex Raptor

Level 3

 * Umbra and Lumis
 * Strings (rare hunter from whom Yugi won Slifer the Sky Dragon)
 * Rare Hunter - losing results in the loss of the "rarest" card in your deck; may challenge the player randomly on certain days.
 * Marik Ishtar
 * Arkana

Level 4

 * Yami Bakura
 * Yami Yugi
 * Shadi
 * Ishizu Ishtar
 * Seto Kaiba

Level 5

 * Maxamillion Pegasus
 * Simon
 * Solomon Muto, here called Solomon Trusdale
 * A dueling computer

Level 5 is unusual in the fact that each duelist must be unlocked by dueling the computer multiple times until other NPCs are available. Beating Pegasus is technically the last task of the game, but does not result in an ending, as the game is not designed to revolve around a storyline.

Cards
As the game progresses, more and more cards are unlocked that can be used for your deck. But more importantly, beating a certain level or even particular duelists will unlock new Booster Packs or reward the player with rare cards. Like many previous and later Yu-Gi-Oh! games, it also used the 8-digit passwords printed on most cards to unlock new cards. Cards are kept in a Chest where they can be accessed at any time, and may be placed in the Deck or Side Deck. Fusion cards that are added to the Deck do not go toward the 40 card minimum, and are used in the Fusion Deck.

Password System
Passwords can be found on the lower left hand corner of actual physical Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. In this and many other games, a password screen allows these codes to be entered to unlock new cards. However, there are two conditions to this:


 * Certain rare cards will not allow their passwords to be entered, unless the condition to unlock them has been met but the game has not awarded it yet.
 * The player must not already have the card in his/her Chest, Deck, or Side Deck. If he/she does, the Password will simply result in "card already unlocked."

Bonuses
As an added bonus for buying this game, three previously unreleased Holofoil Rare cards. Though not immediately available in-game, they could have their passwords entered immediately. These cards are:


 * Exchange
 * Graceful Dice
 * Skull Dice

Multi-player
EDS supportes 2 player Versus play, provided each player has his/her own Game Boy Advance and their own copy of Eternal Duelist Soul. Also, one Game Link Cable is required to connect the systems (the game is not compatible with the Wireless Link accessory for the GBA). Players can also transfer cards between copies of the game.