Johnny Flores Jr. is a News Editor at TheGamer. He joined the team in 2024, and is focused on bringing the latest news to readers in a fun and easily digestible format. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Johnny owns a B.A. in Journalism and minor in Sports Media Studies. California born and raised, you can often find Johnny enjoying the sunshine and In-N-Out. When not gaming or writing news, Johnny can be found playing with his two male chihuahuas, Akira and August, whom he affectionately calls his sons.
As a kid, I rented The Duelists of the Roses thinking that it would be just like the anime. Instead, I was treated to an overly complex TCG sim that went way over the head of 9-year-old me.
No mind, creator and anime fan, Kongmeng, decided to take Yami Yugi and transplant him into the world of Dragon Ball FighterZ, the highly stylized fighting game from Arc System Works that is as technical as fighting games get.
The mod, which works on the PC version of FighterZ, takes Yugi and his iconic deck of cards and pits him against DBZ’s finest heroes and villains.
Being that it is Yugi, there’s Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl, plus Silfer the Sky Dragon, and, of course, Exodia the Forbidden One. What’s more, this isn’t a simple reskin mod like we’ve seen in the past. Rather, Yugi has a unique moveset centered around his cards, with unique twists and turns that only he can experience.
For instance, Silfer will do extra damage the more cards you have in your hand, and Exodia will guarantee you win the duel.
On the other hand, if you manage to use up the entirety of your deck, then you will automatically KO. The mod follows up Kongmeng’s previous creation from a year ago, where he took Dio from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and also put him in FighterZ.
Sparking Zero’s first DLC pack is pricey, but its new batch of perfectly-realised characters from Super-Hero make it a treat for fans.
It’s a somewhat painful reminder of just how good the FighterZ formula is, and just how well it would lend itself to so many anime and manga properties. One Piece FighterZ anyone?
Yugi Was Technically In A Fighting Game Before
For those who keep up with their anime games, you’ll remember that Yugi was in Jump Force, the now-delisted celebration of everything Shōnen Jump that reviewed poorly.
His inclusion was rather neat, with Dark Magician essentially serving as his stand on the battlefield while he took on the likes of Luffy and Naruto.
Post-launch, Jump Force added Seto Kaiba and his Blue Eyes White Dragon into the game. Kaiba and Yugi had some unique dialogue as well, making the DLC, at the time, a must-have for Yu-Gi-Oh! fans.
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Which is to say, the concept has worked in the past, and after today, it’s evident it could work in the future. Here’s hoping someone out there can bring to life a 1v1 fighter.
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