Ok, I am slowly slipping away from the PS2 grip... into the PS1 one...

Nah, but seriously. PS1 was the first console that was a cultural moment in my life. Like I have loved videogames since I am a toddler but the PS1 was really the first one that I felt it was EVERYWHERE, everybody knew the games and everybody got the references and everybody knew what a Memory Card was.

Shit, for a year EVERYBODY played this game, and it was awesome.

I remember a guy in my hometown that made close to 500 dollars just because he had a savegame file with a full stack of cards that he distributed to anybody who asked. He sold Megamorphs and Meteor Black Dragons for 2 dollar a piece and Blue Eyes White Dragons for 5 BUCKS! (He never sold Ultimate Blue Whites of Gate Guardians, probably he didn't want to destroy the power curve in town, I don't fucking know) but it was that popular. Just imagine: I guy with a Memory Card adapter for PC made around 500 dollars in freaking 2002 in the middle of the fuckin mountains of Latin America thanks to Yugioh! Forbidden Memories.

This game is a blast. It hits that sweet spot between mild strategy and braindead grind that makes it really enjoyable. I recently did a playthrough while watching Critical Role on my second monitor and completed the game in ten hours. It was a blast from the past, man.

I have very few critical insights about this game because its perception is so affected by my nostalgia about it. I guess its kind of a lousy card game when compared with the more advanced digital CCGs that came after (I mean, the main strategy of the entire game is Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon goes Brrrrrrrr). The story is so cookie-cutter that is mind-numbing. The only thing going on for it is you get to see some familiar faces from the anime.

Originally I gave this five stars out of pure nostalgia, but honestly, is not that good of a game. But hey, is one hell of a good time, and create a micro-market in the middle of the Andean mountain range 20 years ago. Not to shabby.