Throughout the various arcs of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, there have been some pretty intense battles against the big bad of the season. Whether the crew was flying on a blimp or trapped inside of a virtual world where their lives are at stake, final battles are always a ton of fun.
Not all of them are created equally, though. Some are a lot better than others. Some lack in specific areas and some final battles really shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Yugi and Marik’s battle, for example, could have been avoided. Here’s how all these kinds of battles compare.
Honorable Mention: Everyone Who Almost Beat Marik
Marik was outplayed by Mai and Joey in their duels. Joey only lost because he didn’t have enough energy to call his final attack, and Mai didn’t win because of literal ancient magic.
Yugi doesn’t have to be the only one in the final battle, but he typically is. The season would have surprised fans if someone like Mai or Joey had taken down Marik instead.
Yugi/Kaiba Vs. Noah
The same goes for the final duel between Noah and Yugi. Noah had a relationship with Kaiba, not Yugi. While the duel started out between the brothers, Yugi had to be the one to take it over and finish it because he’s the star of the show.
Having Kaiba takedown Noah to prove that he really did have the right to run KaibaCorp would have been so much more powerful, and would have been a great end to the arc. Instead. Yugi had to take over the duel and finish it for Kaiba because of silly plot armor that didn’t need to happen at all.
Yugi Vs. Marik
Yugi and Marik’s final duel was fine, but by this point in the arc, it had been proven that Marik wasn’t all that good of a duelist. He technically lost his first duel of the finals to Mai and then technically lost his duel to Joey as well. Though he won both, it was only because of circumstance. Marik was hyped up, but he had no skills to back it up.
Still, Battle City was a fantastic arc in general, so seeing this final duel play out was a long time coming.
Yugi Vs. Leon
Yugi Vs. Leon was a pretty nice final battle. It was different from the other final battles, as the two were working together in a sense. In order to take down the Golden Castle of Stromberg, the two had to put aside their differences and fight as one. And then, after that card had been taken out, Yugi had only one card left in his deck.
He still managed to beat Leon, though, there is a reason that he’s the King of Games, after all.
Yugi/Kaiba Vs. Dartz
The Dartz battle is pure filler, but it is fun. Every single card in Dartz’s deck is overpowered, and there’s absolutely no reason that Kaiba and Yugi should be able to defeat him at all. And then, of course, Kaiba loses because it can only be Yugi in the end.
Finally, all seems lost when Dartz summons a monster with infinite strength. But he didn’t think of Yugi’s monsters bouncing their attacks off of one another to defeat it! It’s a very silly final duel, but it works for the Waking the Dragons arc.
Yugi Vs. Bakura
Yugi Vs. Bakura is a great final duel. It is something that Bakura had been working toward throughout the entire series. Slowly, with each arc, he got closer to his goal of taking down Atem once and for all. And their final duel was a bit different.
Their final duel took place over the course of a season. Bakura and Little Yugi dueling, the tabletop duel with Atem, Zorc in Egypt, all of it was part of their final duel. It was a ton of fun to watch finally play out.
Yugi Vs. Pegasus
The first final duel of the series is one of the best. With the power of his Millennium Eye, Pegasus seems unbeatable. Yugi, who had shut out Atem after he was willing to kill Kaiba, had to learn to trust him once more.
From there, the two switched back and forth in order to force Pegasus to fight fair. It was still very close in the long run, but the two managed to beat Pegasus and keep their Millennium Puzzle safe and out of the hands of evil.
Yugi Vs. Atem
Yugi Vs. Atem, known as the Ceremonial Battle, is obviously the best final battle of the series. Yugi must prove that he is ready to be on his own, and that involves taking down every single Egyptian God card.
As Atem is willing the cards he needs into his hand in order to beat Yugi, it speaks volumes to Yugi’s strength that he was able to win in the end. He had grown a lot since the first episode, and this duel proved that beyond all doubts.
