Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Eternal Duelist Soul is the first Yu-Gi-Oh! game released for the Game Boy Advance in North America, and the first Yu-Gi-Oh! game to use the same rules as the real game.

Bugs

Unused Text#

There are too many cards in your Deck. 
In this game, the limit is 50 cards to a Deck. 
I hate to break it to you like this, but you need to reduce the number of cards in your Deck to 50 or less...

Presumably, this line would have been spoken by Trusdale (known as Solomon Muto in other English Yu-Gi-Oh! media), who appears when the player tries to use a deck with less than 40 cards.

In the final game, the player can't add any more cards to their Deck once they reach the limit of 60 cards in their Main Deck. The dialogue is based on the Japanese version, which only allows the player to include 50 cards total between their Main and Fusion Deck.

Hm? You haven't got any cards in your Bag! 
You should stock your Bag with cards in order to trade for other cards. 
You should also remember that if your Deck doesn't contain 40 cards, you won't be able to trade at all. 
I shouldn't have to tell you that your Deck must contain at least 40 cards in order to participate in any Duel...

In the Japanese version, Trusdale appears if the player tries to trade a card when no cards are in the Trunk. This doesn't happen in the localized version, but the dialogue was still translated.

The Trunk is referred to as the Bag, just like in the Japanese version.

GER:
FRA:
ITA:

These strings are listed after "ENG" and "JPN" in the ROM. This implies that a European release was considered for the game.

Vol.1
Vol.2
Vol.3
Vol.4
Vol.5
Vol.6
Vol.7
LOBEWD
Phantom of G
MagicRuler
Pharao'sSurvant
CurseOfAnubis
Premium 3
Celemony
Expert Pack 1
Expert Pack 2
Expert Pack 3
Duelist Pack
The Final Duelist
Rare Selections
Expert Pack 4
Expert Pack 5
Limited Collection

These names are listed starting at Offset 0x0865E0 in The Eternal Duelist Soul. They appear to be (localized) leftovers from the names for the Booster Packs from Duel Monsters 5 Expert 1. They seemingly weren't corrected after an early translation-pass due to their unused nature. Strangely, no names are listed for the booster packs in the final localized version and neither japanese Expert-game seems to use such a list for their (mostly already english) Pack-names.

DAY 0101
DAY 0211
DAY 0429
DAY 0503
DAY 0504
DAY 0505
DAY 0720
DAY 0915
DAY 1103
DAY 1123
DAY 1223
ADULT DAY
SPORT DAY
SPRING DAY
AUTUMN DAY
MURAN's Birthday
Hallowerrn
X'mass Eve
St.Valentine Day
White day
Weekly Jump
V Jump
Duel Celemony
1st Tournament
2nd Tournament
Semi-Final
Final match
SUGOROKU Pre
SUGOROKU Match
RARE HUNTER COMMING !!

Starting at 0x087720, text related to the calendar from Duel Monsters 5 Expert 1 is leftover in an early localized state in The Eternal Duelist Soul for unknown reasons. It is possible that the calendar in the english game was originally meant to be more similar in style to the original japanese Calendar or that this list was kept as reference for the creation of the used english calendar-text.

Effect Prompts#

There are multiple unused effect prompts in the game. Most of the prompts seem to have been taken from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2, which Eternal Duelist Soul takes some elements from.

Special Matches#

If a character is selected on a certain day, they will challenge the player to a Match instead of a regular Duel. After the Duel, the player will receive a specific booster pack.

All of the dates (except June 28) are based on Japanese holidays or celebrations. Holidays marked with a * have been abolished or moved to a different date since the game's original release.

Unused Graphics#

There are unused graphics at offset 0x0865E0 that originate from the Japanese version Duel Monsters 5.

Regional Differences#

The game received a massive overhaul when it was localized. Some of the changes come from Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 6: Expert 2.

In the following sections, Duel Monsters 5 refers to the Japanese version, while Eternal Duelist Soul refers to the localized version.

Opening#

Duel Monsters 5 contains an intro movie. After the company and series logos appear, there's a shot of the Rare Hunters. The game then cuts to manga panels of various opponents in the game and follows with close-ups of Yami Yugi and Kaiba. Finally, the intro ends with a shot of the Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon facing off. If the player waits on the title screen long enough, then the intro movie replays.

Eternal Duelist Soul lacks an intro movie. Also, the series logo is replaced with a "Licensed by Nintendo" screen.

Title Screen#

The title screen was changed. Also, Duel Monsters 5 contains a third option called D-Tactics.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

Erase Data#

The erase data screen was also changed.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

Name Entry#

After the player starts a new game in Duel Monsters 5, they are prompted to enter a name. This name can be changed later.

Initial Deck#

Each 40-card red, green, or black starter deck is generated from 11 different pools of cards. The contents of the pools differ between each version. The player receives a stronger starter deck in Eternal Duelist Soul.
Also, the player can immediately check their starter deck in Duel Monsters 5.

D-Tactics#

Menu	Briefing

Duel Monsters 5 contains a mode called D-Tactics, which teaches players how to play the game. The player is given a pre-constructed scenario and must win the game in one turn, similar to the Duel Puzzles of later Yu-Gi-Oh! games. There are six puzzles at the start; once all six are cleared, six more are unlocked. There are 24 puzzles in total.

Translations of the puzzles can be found here.

Main Menu#

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

Duel Monsters 5's main menu contains six options: Campaign, Trade, Calendar, Duel, Deck & Bag, and Option.

In Eternal Duelist Soul, Option was removed and was replaced with Record and Password; "Trade," "Duel," and "Deck & Bag" were renamed to "Card Trading," "Link Battle," and "Deck Edit"; and the background was changed to a sky.

Link Battle#

• In Duel Monsters 5, Joey speaks to the player before the start of a Link Battle.
• Duel Monsters 5 uses a special banlist for Link Battle. For instance, Pumpking the King of Ghosts is Forbidden, while Time Seal is Limited.

Deck Edit#

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

The deck edit menu received a massive overhaul. Eternal Duelist Soul's menu is taken from Duel Monsters 6.

• Duel Monsters 5 has a scrolling background and uses the music from the main menu, while Eternal Duelist Soul has a static background and is silent.
• The default option is the Trunk in Duel Monsters 5 and the Main Deck in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• The current section of the menu (Trunk, Main Deck, and Side Deck) is listed at the top of the screen in Duel Monsters 5 and at the bottom of the screen in Eternal Duelist Soul. Also, Duel Monsters 5 shows that the player can switch between the different sections by pressing the L or R button.
• The cards in Duel Monsters 5 are numbered, similar to past Yu-Gi-Oh! titles. The cards are listed in numerical order by default in Duel Monsters 5 and by alphabetical order in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• The total number of cards that a player can put in their Deck is different.
  • In Duel Monsters 5, the player may include up to 50 total cards in their Main and Fusion Deck. Since the Main Deck must include at least 40 cards, the player can only include up to 10 Fusion Monsters in their Fusion Deck.
  • In Eternal Duelist Soul, the player may include up to 60 cards in their Main Deck and up to 20 cards in their Fusion Deck, for 80 cards total.
• In Duel Monsters 5, each card is listed in one line in the Trunk, but each copy is listed line by line in the Main and Side Decks. In Eternal Duelist Soul, all cards only take up one line in all three sections.
• The search option is different. Each version also contains its own loading screen.
  • In Duel Monsters 5, players can sort all cards by name, Attack, Defense, Level, or type.
  • In Eternal Duelist Soul, players can also sort all cards by Attribute. The player can also choose to filter by Normal Monsters, Effect Monsters, Fusion Monsters, Ritual Monsters, Magic cards, or Trap cards.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• Eternal Duelist Soul has a "Statistics" option that lists the total number of cards in the current tab broken down into six categories (Normal Monsters, Effect Monsters, Fusion Monsters, Ritual Monsters, Magic cards, and Trap cards).

Record#

• Duel Monsters 5 uses the music from the main menu, while Eternal Duelist Soul is silent.
• The player can scroll through the menu faster in Eternal Duelist Soul.

Calendar#

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, there's a small message if there's no event for the current date.
• The music for the main menu plays in Duel Monsters 5, while Eternal Duelist Soul is silent.
• The font for the days of the week is larger in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• Duel Monsters 5 has "WJ" (Weekly Jump) and "VJ" (V-Jump") icons, while Eternal Duelist Soul has "WY" (Weekly Yu-Gi-Oh!) and "MY" (Monthly Yu-Gi-Oh!) icons.
• The Millennium Puzzle icon moves in Duel Monsters 5 and remains still in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• Duel Monsters 5 allows the player to skip through the months by holding L or R, while Eternal Duelist Soul forces the player to keep pressing the buttons to progress through the months.
• Duel Monsters 5 only allows the player to view months in the current year, while Eternal Duelist Soul allows players to view months in future years.

Card Trading#

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, Trusdale won't allow the player to trade cards if they have no cards in their Trunk. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the player can enter the trade menu, but can't do anything.
• The background was changed.
• In Duel Monsters 5, players can give or receive a card. In Eternal Duelist Soul, players can only trade a card.
• The two games have different animations when a trade fails.

Password#

• The password screen was redesigned in Eternal Duelist Soul.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• When the player inputs a correct password, the card comes out more quickly in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• In Eternal Duelist Soul, players can obtain alternate art cards by taking the first four digits of a card's password, and adding a 0 after each of them. For instance, the regular version of Tiger Axe can be obtained by using the password 49791927, while the alternate version of Tiger Axe can be obtained by using the password 40907090. This method can't be used to obtain Polymerization's alternate artwork, as the card has its own password (the regular Polymerization's password is 24094653, while the alternate Polymerization's password is 27847700).

Option (Duel Monsters 5 Only)#

• The Option menu has five different submenus.
  • The first option allows the player to change their name.
  • The second option lists the player's records against each opponent. In Eternal Duelist Soul, this was moved to the main menu.
  • The third option allows the player to enter passwords. In Eternal Duelist Soul, this was moved to the main menu.
  • The fourth option allows the music to be adjusted. There are three options: On, SE (Sound Effects only), and Off.
  • The fifth option keeps track of the player's Duelist Points.

Campaign Mode#

Opponent Selection#

• Duel Monsters 5 uses the music from the main menu, while Eternal Duelist Soul is silent.
• The results counter can display up to three digits in Duel Monsters 5 and up to two digits in Eternal Duelist Soul. Also, if the player has less than 10 wins, draws, or losses against a character in Eternal Duelist Soul, then the tens digit will have a gray 0.
• In Duel Monsters 5, the yellow tabs at the sides of the screen are marked with "L" and "R."
• In Duel Monsters 5, the background of tier 3 has a hexagram. It was replaced with an Eye of Wdjat in Eternal Duelist Soul.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

Pre-Duel#

• When opponents speak in Duel Monsters 5, the sides of the screen feature two Anubis carrying ankhs. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the Anubis were redesigned and the ankhs were removed. However, ankhs are still visible in the rock-paper-scissors background.
• Some of the backgrounds were changed in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• A few backgrounds, such as Yami Yugi, Joey, and Tristan's, are darker in Eternal Duelist Soul.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, Arkana's background features the Dark Magician and Nightmare's Chains. In Eternal Duelist Soul, Nightmare's Chains was replaced with another shot of the Dark Magician, but part of the chain is still visible.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, Shadi's background contains the Millennium Scale and the Millennium Key. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the Millennium Key was replaced with another shot of the Millennium Scales.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, Umbra's background contains The Masked Beast while Lumis' background contains Mask of Restrict. These card images were removed in Eternal Duelist Soul, possibly because neither card can be obtained in-game. Also, Lumis' portrait is slightly different between versions.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

Duel Changes#

Visual Changes#

• The field was redesigned.
  • Duel Monsters 5 uses a simple yellow field, while Eternal Duelist Soul's field is taken from Duel Monsters 6.
  • In Duel Monsters 5, there are three boxes that display both players' Life Points, the number of cards in the player's Deck, and any current Field Spells in play. (These boxes can be hidden with the L button, but they reappear if a player plays a card or moves to another phase.) The current phase is listed below the boxes. In Eternal Duelist Soul, there are two boxes in the middle of the field that list both players' Life Points and the current phase.
  • In Duel Monsters 5, there is no area for cards that have been removed from play. In Eternal Duelist Soul, cards that have been removed from play are placed above the Graveyard.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• Duel Monsters 5 has unique backgrounds for the Graveyard and the Fusion menu, while Eternal Duelist Soul uses the same background for both areas.

Graveyard	Fusion Menu

• A hexagram appears when a monster is Ritual Summoned in Duel Monsters 5.

• In Duel Monsters 5, the player can see how many cards are left in their opponent's Deck by hovering over their Deck. This information was removed in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• The information for the cards has a different layout in each version.
• In Duel Monsters 5, "DRAW Press R" is displayed over the player's Deck at their Draw Phase. This was removed in Eternal Duelist Soul, though the image for it remains unused in the game files.
• When a card is played in Duel Monsters 5, it's displayed over a black background. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the card is displayed over the field instead.
• When a Field Spell is played in Duel Monsters 5, a wave effect plays while the field changes. This effect was removed in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• When a monster is Special Summoned from the Graveyard in Duel Monsters 5, the card materializes on the field with a wave effect. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the card is simply placed on the field.
• In Duel Monsters 5, all changes to the player's Life Points are listed in red, while all changes to the opponent's Life Points are listed in green. A thumbs down icon indicates a decrease in Life Points, while a thumbs up icon indicates an increase in Life Points. In Eternal Duelist Soul, any decrease to Life Points is listed in red, while any increase in Life Points is listed in green.
• There is a bright white flash on the screen when a player gains Life Points in Duel Monsters 5. This flash was removed in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• The font for the start of each phase differs between versions.
• In Duel Monsters 5, if a monster is equipped with an Equip card and the player places the cursor over the monster, an Equip symbol will appear on the upper left of the monster card and will move down to the Equip card. (The opposite happens if the cursor is placed over the Equip card.) In Eternal Duelist Soul, Equip symbols will appear in the middle of both cards instead.
• If a player has to discard cards in their End Phase due to the six-card hand size limit, Eternal Duelist Soul displays icons that show how many cards that the player has to discard. Also, Eternal Duelist Soul places the cursor on the leftmost card in the player's hand by default when they have to discard cards, while the cursor's placement varies in Duel Monsters 5.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• The drawing and Deck shuffling animations are shorter in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• The process for Chaining is slightly different between versions.
  • There is a special background for Chains in Duel Monsters 5, while Eternal Duelist Soul simply has a transparent background. Also, Duel Monsters 5's background flashes when the Chain resolves.
  • In Duel Monsters 5, the cards in a Chain are listed at the bottom of the screen, with the most recent card at the top of the Chain. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the cards are listed at the top of the screen, with the cards listed in the order they were played.
  • When a Chain resolves in Duel Monsters 5, the description of each card appears once it resolves. This doesn't happen in Eternal Duelist Soul.

DM5 Chain Activation	DM5 Chain Resolution

The graphics for declaring a regular attack and a direct attack differ between versions.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• When Exodia's cutscene plays in Duel Monsters 5, there is a pentagram in the middle of the runes. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the pentagram was changed to a green Eye of Wdjat. The runes were also changed to feature the same border as the Japanese version of Spellbinding Circle.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• The back of the coin contains a hexagram in Duel Monsters 5. It was removed in Eternal Duelist Soul.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, certain cards have special animations.
  • When Kuriboh's effect is activated, a Kuriboh briefly appears in the middle of the field.
  • When Swords of Revealing Light is activated, yellow swords briefly appear over the opponent's field. If the player tries to proceed to their Battle Phase while their opponent has Swords of Revealing Light on the field, the swords will reappear.
  • When Harpie's Feather Duster is activated, a duster removes the opponent's Magic and Trap cards.
  • When Dark Hole is activated, monsters on the field disappear with a swirl effect and don't play the typical "destroyed monster" sound effect.

Kuriboh	Swords of Revealing Light	Harpie's Feather Duster

• When the player activates Painful Choice in Duel Monsters 5, the cursor rapidly moves between the five chosen cards when the computer selects a card. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the five chosen cards flash on the screen when the computer selects a card instead.

Audio Changes#

• The music that plays during Duels differs between versions.
• In Duel Monsters 5, the music changes depending on whether the player's winning or losing. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the music stays the same throughout the match.
• In Duel Monsters 5, Giant Trunade plays the "negation" sound effect when it's activated. It no longer plays this sound effect in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• When Toon World is played in Duel Monsters 5, the normal battle theme is replaced with a special theme as long as the card remains on the field.

Mechanical Changes#

• In Duel Monsters 5, the player must press B to proceed from their Main Phase 1 or Battle Phase, and press Start to end their turn. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the player must press B to proceed to the next phase or end their turn.
• In Duel Monsters 5, the player's Battle Phase automatically ends once all of their monsters have attacked. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the player has to manually end their Battle Phase.
• In Eternal Duelist Soul, players can hold the R button during the rock-paper-scissors game to make the Duels faster instead.
• In Eternal Duelist Soul, the player can surrender during their turn.

Card Changes#

• Duel Monsters 5 features 108 Normal Monsters that were removed from Eternal Duelist Soul.
• When the player checks a card's details, the background and card layout are different. Eternal Duelist Soul's layout is more similar to the Series 2 layout used in the real game. Also, in Duel Monsters 5, illegal cards state that they can't be played in the card's text, while there is a separate text box for this clarification in Eternal Duelist Soul.
• In Duel Monsters 5, The Winged Dragon of Ra has 4000 ATK and DEF, like in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelist. In Eternal Duelist Soul, Ra has ???? ATK and DEF, just like in the real game.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Eternal Duelist Soul, Toon World's description is inconsistent with its effect. When Toon World was initially released in Japan, it had the following effect:

You must pay 1000 Life Points to activate this card. During each of your Standby Phases, you must pay 500 Life Points or destroy this card.
If this card is destroyed by another card’s effect, you regain all of the Life Points that you paid during your Standby Phase to keep this card in play.

When the card was re-released in Japan, it simply required the player to pay 1000 Life Points to activate the card. All versions of the game use Toon World's original Japanese effect, but Eternal Duelist Soul lists the updated effect text.

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

• In Duel Monsters 5, Waboku doesn't prevent monsters from being destroyed by battle. In Eternal Duelist Soul, it does.

Bug Fixes#

The following bugs are present in Duel Monsters 5. They were fixed in Eternal Duelist Soul.

• The game freezes when Final Destiny is activated.
• Fissure can destroy one of the player's monsters, even though it should only work on the opponent's monsters.
• The player can Special Summon Dark Sage from the Graveyard with cards like Monster Reborn, even if it wasn't properly Special Summoned first.
• An infinite loop bug occurs if the computer proceeds to its Battle Phase while it has less than 500 Life Points and Toll is on the player's field. The computer will repeatedly try to attack, even though it doesn't have enough Life Points to pay for the attack.

Opponent Changes#

Duel Computer#

In Duel Monsters 5, the Duel Computer copies the player's deck, which is consistent with its behavior in the anime and manga. In Eternal Duelist Soul, it uses a fixed deck instead.

Simon#

In Duel Monsters 5, Simon is unlocked after the player wins the annual Championship from the second year onward. In Eternal Duelist Soul, Simon is unlocked after winning the Championship once, and the player receives a copy of every card that is missing from their collection after they beat Simon for the first time.

These changes streamline the game. The player must collect every card to unlock Trusdale; however, the three Ticket cards (Glory of the King's Hand, Set Sail for The Kingdom, and The Monarchy) disappear after the player wins the Championship. In Duel Monsters 5, the player must win the Championship twice to unlock Simon, then play through the Championship a third time to re-collect the Ticket cards. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the player can unlock all of the characters and collect all of the cards within the first in-game year.

Booster Packs#

In Duel Monsters 5, most of the booster packs are based on real Japanese booster packs. Some changes were made in Eternal Duelist Soul:

• The booster packs were redrawn to feature a monster and the Yu-Gi-Oh! logo. (However, the Japanese packaging still appears in several of the game's backgrounds.)

Duel Monsters 5 Packs	Eternal Duelist Soul Packs

• The text at the top and bottom of the pack selection screen were removed.
• In Duel Monsters 5, pressing Left or Right causes the booster packs to scroll in the opposite direction. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the booster packs move in the same direction as the button press.
• When the player unlocks a new booster pack in Eternal Duelist Soul, a copy of the pack is automatically opened. In Duel Monsters 5, the player can pick a booster pack as usual.
• Some of the packs were rearranged.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Magazines#

In Duel Monsters 5, the weekly and monthly Yu-Gi-Oh! magazines are based on the real-life Weekly Shonen Jump and V Jump magazines respectively. In Eternal Duelist Soul, the magazines are referred to as "Weekly Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Yu-Gi-Oh! Magazine."

Duel Monsters 5	Eternal Duelist Soul

Credits Roll#

When the player wins the National Tournament in Duel Monsters 5, the credits play. No credits play in Eternal Duelist Soul.

Localization Issues#

The following oversights are present in Eternal Duelist Soul.

• Kaiba's name is listed as "Kaiba Seto" instead of "Seto Kaiba."
• Exodia uses its unedited artwork in its cutscene.
• Dark Magician Girl's hexagram and cleavage are left intact in Yami Yugi's background.
• The Duel Computer implies that it copies the player's deck, which is only true in Duel Monsters 5.
• The game features three promotional cards that are based on the series' Duelist Kingdom arc: Glory of the King's Hand, Set Sail for The Kingdom, and Duelist Kingdom. The names of Set Sail for The Kingdom and Duelist Kingdom are swapped. Also, Duelist Kingdom is called "The Monarchy."