Exploring the Nintendo Switch Online #1

Near the end of 2024, I started toying with the idea of getting a subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online and covering the games in there. It’s not like I don’t have a ton of games to discuss already, but this could allow me to expand a bit more. It’s also a way to give me stuff to talk about again, as I’m starting to see a potential end to regular Quick Reviews, as the games I’ve got yet to cover are getting longer and I might need to find an alternative eventually. So hey, why not these instead? That could work, right?

Every month since the start of the year, I played a few games from the list, starting from the quickest and working my way up. Many of the quickest games are so short or have so little content that I wouldn’t feel right having an article just for them; so instead, I’ll discuss them in catch-all articles! A lot of the quickest games here can be finished in under an hour. So, I’m going to start with the quickest, and record my thoughts here. Don’t expect in-depth reviews at first – just a paragraph will do. However, as I progress through that collection, I’ll do larger articles. Eventually, I will indeed turn these into Quick Reviews. But for now, the games are too short for this.

And, bonus, I have enough done to occupy a week when I don't have other reviews ready.

I've collected three months' worth of paragraphs on games, and so I decided to focus on those from a single console today: The Nintendo Entertainment System, the one that didn't quite start it all (so much more came before it), but was truly the beginning of Nintendo's meteoric rise in fame.

The Kong Games

Danger! Construction zone! (And ape, too.)

Donkey Kong: Ah, the classic! The game that featured Mario before he was Mario, rescuing his girlfriend of the time, Pauline. Only three levels, you probably know them already: The ladders and the barrels, 75M with the walking fire and the springs, and the third stage with Jumpman pulling support beams to send the eponymous ape crashing down. It’s a classic for a reason, and like many games of the NES era and prior, it feels like playing a part of History. Yeah, it’s basic, but that’s normal for games of the time. It’s not Nintendo’s first game (they released arcade cabinets, games on Color TV, and Game & Watch prior to this), but it’s the one that took them on the road to massive success.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links (Part 2)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Missed Part 1? Read it here. This part? We’re diving into the fun part, for folks like me who love this game because of the connection with the anime.

From Duel Monsters to VRAINS SEVENS Go Rush

After a while, you'll be glad the game has an Auto-Duel
feature, since there's just so many duels to do against NPCs.
Sometimes the AI will make stupid decisions, but it usually
does alright against all kinds of opponents.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links started with very little content, building over time. The overarching plot of Duel Links is that Seto Kaiba, in his constant struggle to prove himself worthy of defeating the Pharaoh Atem (who left for Egyptian afterlife at the end of the original anime series, Duel Monsters), invented the Duel Links virtual world where duelists can meet and battle no matter where they actually are. At the very least, that’s what it feels like for average duelists. Characters from the various anime series, AKA the “Legendary Duelists”, exist in a variety of odd ways in this “world”. The land of Duel Monsters is explicitly said to be a simulation, so the Legendary Duelists met there aren’t real, even in-universe. That world specifically replicates the past, and as a result its characters exist all at the same time even if they didn't back in the actual series. Some characters express bewilderment that they somehow still exist, like Yami Marik (who was erased from existence; it’s a long story).

Oh, also, Duel Monsters is the only world that takes closer inspiration to the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga rather than its associated anime, but there’s still a clear inspiration from both regardless.

He looks just as unhinged as ever.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links (Part 1)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Joey, Red-Eyes (yep, I'm playing that card again!), and Jinzo.
I think I'mma win that one.

I’ve been hoping to review this game forever; this themed month was an excuse to do it. Today’s game is easily the most approachable of them all, with a format that makes it playable on the go on mobile, but it’s also as far removed from “classic” Yu-Gi-Oh! as can be without transforming the game too much. It’s possibly the best game for beginners, because everything regarding mechanics is simplified. Today, we’re talking about Duel Links, which was released worldwide to mobile platforms in January 2017, with the PC version on Steam coming out on November 16th of the same year.

The popularity of the new format was such that it eventually became adapted to the physical card game with dedicated in-person events, cards printed with the format’s peculiarities in mind, and even Skill cards to look for.

And his time around, we’ve got the clearest connection to the franchise’s many anime series – some would call that nostalgia bait, I call that an incentive to discover them all. Yep, all the way to VRAINS. …And beyond!

Well, let’s go!

From Classic to Speed Duel

Speed Duel was created with the goal in mind to be played in a shorter time than it normally takes for regular duels. For that purpose, several details and mechanics of the game were modified; so the format feels like its own thing, despite being roughly the same. A quick rundown:

Pick your cards wisely!

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Moving on to the second of three Yu-Gi-Oh! games this month. This one has the weakest relation to the anime, but is without a doubt the closest to being up-to-date with the cards and the mechanics, and therefore the best official simulator to play if you want to learn the game on a nearly professional level.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, developed/published by KONAMI and released to Steam and several other platforms on January 18th, 2022, has celebrated its 3rd anniversary. This free game has evolved a lot in three years, adding new modes from time to time to keep things fresh. Whereas Legacy of the Duelist was much more focused on single-player, Master Duel is tailor-made for PvP. Once again, the devil is in the details, so let’s jump in.

The new coat of paint

Since multiplayer is the focus here, the main mode is simply titled Duel, and pits you against a human opponent. The game is free, so it utilizes a free-to-play system that’s thankfully lenient: The special currency here is Gems, which you can buy with real money. Those Gems can be used to buy card packs, structure decks and cosmetics. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, you can gather plenty of Gems on your own by playing duels, completing daily and lifetime missions, logging in every day, and you can even get some during special events.

There is indeed a solo mode, and I’ll discuss it, but the main draw is the multiplayer aspect. It’s only by playing against other people that you’ll get the better rewards; also, most missions only progress when you play in Ranked Mode or in Events. Nope, not in Casual.

Oof, I can feel the heat in this place.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution (Part 2)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Month 2025

Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution: Part 1 – Part 2

Master Duel: Part 1

Duel Links: Part 1 – Part 2

Challenges

Because it’s a card game, a lot of it lies on drawing the right cards and knowing which strategy can win you a duel. Hoping the CPU doesn’t get too many good draws, either. Since so much of this game is reliant on luck, difficulty is all over the place. You may beat one campaign duel on your first try, then need four or five attempts to win the next. There isn’t so much a curve as there is a difficulty rollercoaster. What also doesn’t help is that some duels played here with the regular rules of the game were played with different rules in the anime; as an example, several 5Ds duels were Turbo Duels, features that don’t exist here. Same for VRAINS; that anime utilized Speed Duel rules, where players have 4000 LP instead of 8000, so the decks frequently aren’t optimized for a more classic Yu-Gi-Oh! setup.

Some challenges are easier than others.

The challenges are a different story; there is no associated Story Deck for any of them, so you can either pick a pre-constructed Deck for which you own all the cards, or you can create a custom deck. These decks are supposed to be tough; it’s in the name. These duels are unlocked as a reward for your progress in the anime campaigns, since you must have beaten all of a character's campaign decks to unlock their challenge deck, as well as their portrait to slap onto your custom decks.

So many folks, and I still don't have them all.

Mako Tsunami in the campaign: Weakest shit ever.
Mako Tsunami's Challenge Deck: Will FUCK YOU UP.

Exactly, those are supposed to be tough; but there too, difficulty can vary wildly. If you’ve got a good user deck, you can speed through several of these without much thought. Oh, there’s still going to be the occasional tricky one in there; no deck has answers against every deck gimmick out there.

How many challenge decks are there to beat? 159. That’s on top of all the campaign duels, of which there are 183, both regular and reverse duels, making 366. So… yep, this game offers a total of 525 duels to win. I hope you have some free time if you want to 100% this thing.