Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Everything you need to know

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It's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!

Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a Japanese manga series in 1996, which then spawned a popular anime series as well as a trading card game and numerous video game titles. While the card game is still very much alive and well, it can become a pricey hobby if you want to get serious about the game. The alternative is to pick up a Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG video game, as you usually gain access to a large collection of cards without having to pay an arm and a leg for rarer ones.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! video game to come out, and while the original game came out in 2015 and was available on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, the Nintendo Switch version will have many new features, and also allows you to take the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG with you on-the-go in handheld mode.

Here's everything you need to know about Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution for Nintendo Switch!

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link EvolutionIt's time to duel!
Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution

Become the best duelist ever

Take a huge chunk of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG with you on-the-go! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution has over 9000 cards, which is the most in a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game ever. You can build pretty much any deck you want and take on characters from several generations of Yu-Gi-Oh! series, including 5D's, GX, Zexal, and more. It has all of the original content from Legacy of the Duelist and then some.

Yugi and Kaiba

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is a revamped version of the original Link of the Duelist game that came out on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 several years ago. Link Evolution will include all of the previous Legacy of the Duelist content, so you will still have a Story Mode that recounts events from all of the television series, from the original to GX, 5D's, ZEXAL, and ARC-V.

There are still "Reverse Duels," in which you take on the role of villains from the series and battle the protagonist in a duel. Link Evolution also has the Battle Pack Sealed and Draft play modes, which you can enjoy against the computer AI or other players online through Nintendo Switch Online.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist battlefield

Link Evolution includes over 9000 cards, which is almost 1500 more than the original Legacy of the Duelist. It also goes by the "New Master Rule" ruleset, which was not in the original game. Link Evolution also allows you to play with others locally or online through Nintendo Switch Online.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG itself has changed a lot over the years, and Link Evolution reflects that in its huge collection of over 9000 cards. Whereas the original game only got up to Pendulum monsters, Link Evolution brings in the newest Link monster mechanic, which can alter the game board drastically.

Link Evolution also includes new characters from the virtual world of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, who were not in the original game.

This is also the first time in a while that a Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG video game will be available portably.

Yu-Gi-Oh battlefield

Since Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution is a video game version of the actual Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, it has the same rules as the physical game. If you have never played the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game before, you can find the official Konami rulebooks online.

The gist of it is two players duel each other with a deck of cards that consist of Monster, Spell, and Trap cards to defeat the opponent's monsters and bring their Life Points down to 0. Each player takes turns to take action, and there are specific phases at which things can happen, as well as a specific order of events. This can get a bit complicated, so it is best to check out the official rulebook for a general primer.

However, Legacy of the Duelist did a good job of having tutorials for new players, and since Link Evolution is adding new game mechanics, there should be a tutorial on how the game works as well.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution promo cards

If you get the physical retail edition of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, you get three brand-new Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards: Progleo (Link Monster), Micro Coder (Cyberse Monster), and Cynet Codec (Spell Card). These come with all physical copies of the game, not just pre-orders.

Digital downloads of Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution will not come with the three cards as a bonus.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution launches exclusively on the Nintendo Switch on August 20. It will cost $40.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link EvolutionIt's time to duel!
Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution

Become the best duelist ever

Take a huge chunk of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG with you on-the-go! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution has over 9000 cards, which is the most in a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game ever. You can build pretty much any deck you want and take on characters from several generations of Yu-Gi-Oh! series, including 5D's, GX, Zexal, and more. It has all of the original content from Legacy of the Duelist and then some.

Christine Chan
Christine Chan

Christine Romero-Chan was formerly a Senior Editor for iMore. She has been writing about technology, specifically Apple, for over a decade at a variety of websites. She is currently part of the Digital Trends team, and has been using Apple’s smartphone since the original iPhone back in 2007. While her main speciality is the iPhone, she also covers Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac when needed. When she isn’t writing about Apple, Christine can often be found at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as she is a passholder and obsessed with all things Disney, especially Star Wars. Christine also enjoys coffee, food, photography, mechanical keyboards, and spending as much time with her new daughter as possible.