Back in May, Duelists around the world found out that they would only have to wait acouple more monthsto officially get their hands on the nextYu-Gi-Oh!game:Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution.In light of that news, we thought it was a good idea to catch up with Konami and get an idea of what it was like bringing the game to the Nintendo Switch.
Over the course of the interview, we touched onscrapped content from the original gameandwhy the game’s new content isn’t coming to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions, both of which we revealed earlier last week, and more. Check out the full interview with Konami Producer Charles Murakami below:
Tanner Pierce:Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolutioncomes with over 9,000 cards, which may be daunting to newer players. What decks or strategies would you recommend to people who may not know where to start in order to do well?
Charles Murakami: 9,000 cards is definitely a huge number! It may seem like an unmanageable number, but the game includes two very useful mechanics to make the Deck you want. In the single-player mode, if you win Duels against other players, you’ll get cards from their Deck. So, if you encounter an opponent with a Deck that you like, you’re able to play against them again and get all the cards you need to make that Deck in no time.
The other tool players can use are “Related Cards.” In the Deck Editor, you can select a card you like and filter only the cards that work well with your selected card. It’s a very useful tool that lets the player shrink a pool of thousands of cards to about a hundred or less.
TP:What influenced the development team’s decision to portLegacy of the Duelistto Nintendo Switch?
CM:We wanted to leverage the portability and home console style of the Switch, making it an intriguing choice for both local and online play. Additionally, we considerYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolutionthe most comprehensiveYu-Gi-Oh!game ever. While fans of the originalYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelistwill find comfort in its familiarity, it is far more than a port!
TP: Konami has been a supporter of the Nintendo Switch since day one. How smooth do you all find the porting process to Nintendo Switch?
CM:Yes! We love the Switch! We already haveSuper Bomberman Rand theClassic Collectionson the Switch – the former being a launch title for the system – so we’re excited to release aYu-Gi-Oh!title to the Switch as well. There are challenges when bringing a game to a new system. As we took on these challenges, we focused on the new features the Switch affords, especially local wireless multiplayer and touch screen controls.
TP: What were the biggest challenges when transitioning a console game to a platform that can be takenon the go?
CM:With the Switch being a hybrid console, we knew players will expect a feature that is in other portableYu-Gi-Oh!games – local multiplayer. So, making sure all the multiplayer modes work both online and local play was essential. Another challenge wasn’t specific to the Switch, but with the game now containing over 9,000 cards, getting the AI to play with and play against such a large pool of cards was tremendously difficult.
TP: The original game was exclusive to western markets and only used TCG cards, artwork, etc. Was there always a plan to bring the game to Japanese audiences from the start or that decision change over time?
CM:Yes, we had the plan from the start. Since the originalYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelistwas planned as a TCG-only game, much of the UI, backgrounds, card art, story, and even the gameplay was created with western players in mind. When we heard that Japan would like to release the next update to the series to Japanese audiences, the first thing we did was try to find all episodes of the original anime series in Japanese. Then, we re-watched every episode that appears in the original game and tried to match up all the dialog.
TP: 2015’sLegacy of the Duelistused the Rule Set from the Pendulum Era as the announcement of theCurrent Rule Set was still a few years away at the time.Link Evolution forces players to use the CurrentRule Set, which includes the Extra Monster Zone, the rearranged Pendulum Zones, etc.Were there anyplans to support the Rule Set from the Pendulum Era in the game?Is there anything you wouldrecommend to the people who might not have played the game in a while and feel overwhelmed by thenew changes?
CM:Even back during the originalYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist,we considered having the previous rules when playing through the earlyYu-Gi-Oh!series campaign. But, we wanted to make sure that players can use their own Deck creations in addition to the story-themed ones. Playing Pendulum Cards without Pendulum Zones was problematic. Now, playing Link Monsters without the Extra Monster Zones would be unintuitive. Also, we found that it was confusing to new players when the field and rules kept changing.
Ultimately, we found that sticking to one set of rules was the easiest to understand and fun for most players. However, this game is a great place to start whether you are new toYu-Gi-Oh!or haven’t played it in a while. There are tutorials throughout the game and the difficulty and complexity slowly ramps up. I recommend starting with the very firstYu-Gi-Oh!series. By the time you finish the very last match-up in the most recent animated series,Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, you’ll have a firm grasp of all the new rules and become a world-class Duelist!
TP: Konami has previously stated that the originalLegacy of the Duelistfor PC, PS4, and Xbox Onewouldn’t be upgraded to supportLink Evolution’srules, characters, and card set. Why did the teammake that decision, and would the team ever consider upgrading the previous titles in the future?
CM:We are considering different possibilities for all of our games on all systems. However, Link Summoning being added created lots of differences from the originalYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist.ForLink Evolution,we tried to retain as much of the original game and add new content to it, but underneath it’s almost an entirely new game. So, it’s not the same as before where we can just add the cards via an update or DLC.
TP: The Japanese version ofYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution,which has already released,includes English text and logos. Is that localization the same as the one that will be in the game’swestern release?
CM:Yes! Including all languages allows players all over the world to play together and against each other. We want players to know how they rank compared to other players around the world, not just in their territories.
TP: Does KONAMI plan on showing offYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolutionat E3 2019?
CM:We will be there demonstrating the game behind-closed-doors.
TP:Legacy of the Duelistfor PS4 and Xbox One got DLC both at launch and post-launch. Are there plans for post-release content or DLC forYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolutionon Nintendo Switch?
CM:We can’t confirm anything at this moment; however, if players want more content, we’ll always consider it. The game is titledLegacy of the Duelistsince the theme is chronicling all of the history ofYu-Gi-Oh!.There is plenty of history left to still write.
TP:Is there anything else you would like to let DualShockers’ audience know about Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy ofthe Duelist: Link Evolution for Nintendo Switch?
CM:We’re excited to bring both a packaged version, which comes with 3 exclusive TCG cards, in addition to the digital version to western markets! I hope everyone looks forward toYu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution!
DualShockers would like to thank Charles Murakami for taking the time to conduct this interview.Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolutionwill release for Nintendo Switch on August 20, 2019and can be pre-ordered right now on Amazon.
