The 25th anniversary of Yu-Gi-Oh arrives in 2023, and April 21 will bring reprints of some older cards from the original series. Some fans find this news a bit underwhelming due to Konami reprinting the original cards so many times. However, it’s good news for newer players who have missed out on the previous sets.
Yu-Gi-Oh‘s card game is usually referred to as just Yu-Gi-Oh, but in the anime series, it’s called Duel Monsters and is the primary game featured in the series. A good deal of other anime throughout the years have included their own games which have been recreated in the real world, but some of them have been lost in many fans’ memories.
Scan2Go
The game in Scan2Go focuses on miniature car races where players send their cars across a track that may traverse past all sorts of hazards and obstacles. These cars can receive various effects via cards where the player can gain the upper hand to aid themselves or to disrupt another player.
This game also exists in the real world with the recreation of the cars seen in the anime alongside the cards that come with them. There is a standard racetrack created for the game as well that players could purchase and use.
Dinosaur King
Dinosaur King is a bit like Pokémon but with dinosaurs and in the virtual reality world that the main protagonist, Max gets sent to, a card game is the most vital aspect of it. This card game also exists in the real world primarily in the form of an arcade card game.
There was also a trading card game made separate from the arcade game that focuses on utilizing various dinosaurs in duels. A video game for the DS had also been created that uses the same card game.
Gungi
A board game that many anime fans may have forgotten existed is the one featured in one of the best Shonen Jump anime of all time, Hunter x Hunter, called Gungi which Meruem and Komugi play. While this game does bear some similarities to games like Chess, Shogi, and Janggi, it is a game that only existed in Hunter x Hunter.
Even though the board game is a rather small part of the anime as a whole, it was created into a real board game with a full set of rules. The primary downside to this board game is that it’s expensive and will cost most people over $400 to purchase.
Capsule Monsters
Duel Monsters, one of the best digital card games, from Yu-Gi-Oh is far from forgotten, however, the same can’t quite be said about Capsule Monsters. Capsule Monsters is a game featured in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series twice and bears strong resemblances to many popular turn-based strategy games.
Capsule Monsters received seldom physical versions of the game, however, there were a few different video games created based on the game with the most notable one known as Capsule Monster Coliseum on the PlayStation 2.
Cardfight Vanguard
Many anime series have tried to create something new and unique like Yu-Gi-Oh with a central focus on a card game. Cardfight Vanguard was one of the more successful ones, but it never became a household name as Yu-Gi-Oh did.
Still, the anime had been successful enough that the card game seen in the anime became a real thing. While the card game has faded into obscurity since then, it continues to receive new cards with a continuation of a fantasy focus.
Bakugan
Bakugan was the second coming of Beyblade with its anime series titled Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The premise of the show was surrounded by the game where the battle brawlers fought with Bakugan.
This quickly became a real-life game with small orbs that folded out into a different monster, a concept not too different from Pokémon with Poké Balls. These orbs are shot down onto Gate cards and the first player to capture three Gate cards is the winner.
Monsuno
In this anime series, the characters called Controllers used what was known as Cores to summon Monsunos to do battle in a way that’s very similar to Pokémon. Once a battle has ended, the Controller then has the Monsuno return to their Core.
A card game was created for Monsuno to attempt to replica the show and there are even Cores that come with some of the cards. There was far more added to the TCG beyond just Monsuno cards, like most TCGs, to support various decks.
Dungeon Dice Monsters
Dungeon Dice Monsters is yet another game that originated in Yu-Gi-Oh and is an even more forgotten game than Capsule Monsters. However, these two alongside Duel Monsters are the only games from the series that have managed to receive real physical versions.
The rules of the game are very well detailed in the anime series and the board game that players can purchase is an official Yu-Gi-Oh product. There was also a video game release of Dungeon Dice Monsters released once for one of the best-selling Nintendo consoles, the GameBoy Advance.
Beyblade
Once upon a time, Beyblade, one of the best fantasy games in anime, was an extremely well-known anime and game, however, it has lost its position as a memorable franchise and has faded into obscurity. The game focuses on using spinning tops where two players (sometimes more) pull back on the string launchers into the arena.
The two spinning tops then fly down, whirling as they spin and slam into each other. There are multiple rounds, but the winner of each round is the Beyblade that spins the longest. Some stadiums also have out-of-bounds where one Beyblade can knock the other into.
Duel Masters
Duel Masters is one of the most forgotten TCG series ever and began as an anime series that takes obvious inspiration from Yu-Gi-Oh. The series received a TCG almost immediately and was published by Wizards of the Coast in English, which also publishes Magic: The Gathering.
After the card series was discontinued in 2006, a new series by Wizards of the Coast was released called Kaijudo. However, this TCG series also didn’t last as it ended in 2014. While it has been nearly ten years since the TCG ended, there’s always a chance for it to come back as the franchise began airing a new anime series in 2022.
