Alright, first off big shoutout to Yugioh Everything cuz broski got his hands on a Konami stock report which is essentially a document meant for investors and in there, one of the things Konami officially confirms is a "Yugioh reboot".
Now if you've been on the Yugioh side of YouTube recently you would have seen the vast majority of Yugitubers making videos about how the game is literally dying. Magic the Gathering has their new collabs with other franchises like FF7 and Sonic which are keeping it fresh, Pokemon still has mfs pushing 50 beating the shit outta kids to get their hands on every box so they can scalp it online, meanwhile Yugioh... dead in the water. Product on shelves in major retailers is almost non-existant and dedicated card shops are forced to try to sell the newest main line booster box sets at cost just to not lose money on it. Why? Simple. The game's just not fun anymore and if you ask a lot of people me included, it hasn't been fun in the last 10 or so years.
Pendulums was the mechanic that really ruined the game for me and although Links were initially promised to slow the game back down, they only sped it up in the long run. No one wants to play a game which is largely decided in the first turn. Every deck is now forced to be a combo archetype that takes 10 to minutes to run through its 15 special summons and everyone's forced to jam pack their deck with hand traps to prevent those combos from going off. This power creep turned Yugioh from a strategic back and forth exchange where games would last over a dozen turns to the stupidest game of whack a mole decided by who's going first and who draws the right hand traps. Lame af. With that said, it's no wonder the game's falling off a cliff. Throw in the fact that Yugioh is now missing an anime series that directly ties in with the card game and you got a complete loss of interest in the franchise.
That was one of the reasons as to why Rush Duels were invented and why Sevens which was incorrectly and deceptively marketed as a 20th anniversary celebration of the franchise, while actually turning out to be a reboot. Not only did it not have any prior ties with the other anime outside of a handful of references, it quite literally introduces a new game. Rush duels are not just a new format, they're not even Duel Monsters. Not only are the rules and field size altered to be more kid friendly, but the cards themselves are completely different in terms of presentation, formatting and layout. It is quite literally a different game.
Now even though I don't care for it and I consider Sevens and Go Rush to be "Yugioh" in name only, as far as I know the Rush Duel variant was pretty successful in Japan. I remember seeing it making its way into the top 10 card games in Japan, which was impressive considering it was counted as a separate entity (as it should) than the original card game. So then what happened? Why did Konami seemingly abandon the Rush Duel anime continuity after Go Rush? By their logic, I could see why an anime for the original card game is less necessary now that its player base is almost exclusively full on adults, but surely if they wanted to keep Rush Duels alive for the kids, an anime tie in to promote the cards is an absolute must. Well for one reason or another Konami seems to have shifted its focus fully into yet another reboot. I think the problem is Konami just lacks an understanding of what made Yugioh so special and what the people actually want to see. So... if I was an executive at Konami and I was the final decision maker, here would be my ideal way to carry out this reboot.
First off, we got a return of the anime, using the OG cast from Duel Monsters. Now make no mistake I'm not expecting them to "remake" the Duel Monsters anime by including the earlier arcs like Death T and removing the filler. As great as a FMAB/HxH 2011 remake sounds like, there's simply no monetary incentive for Konami and if they can't advertise new cards, they're certainly not gonna do it out of the goodness of their heart (nor do I trust them to do a good job with the animation which is a different discussion). What I'm proposing is a series that's happening in an alternate dimension/timeline that has nothing to do with the original. This is the only way the late great Kazuki Takahashi's legacy won't be tarnished as it ensures the events happening in this new reboot will have no effect on the original story and continuity of Yugioh. This is even fully supported within the universe canon as we see direct proof of different dimensions and timelines existing.
The strongest piece of evidence can be seen is literally the first scene of Dark Side of Dimensions which is the final canonical piece of the original manga timeline. In the scene, we witness the continuous creation and destruction of countless dimensions until we zoom into a single one, which is revealed to be the original manga timeline. This is further supported in the 5ds manga, which isn't part of the original manga timeline, but still shows a fascinating scene of manga Yusei seeing multiple different alternate timelines relating to his anime timeline counterpart. All of this to say having the OG recognizable cast from Duel Monsters in an alternate timeline of events happening in a different dimension from any other piece of Yugioh media is completely canon and doable, while also respectful enough to keep itself separate from the original story.
Next up, we got the story. This is where the crucial difference between a remake and a reboot is established. We don't need a retelling of the story. What we need is essentially the equivalent of an "elseworld" story in comics terms. Different versions of the characters we know and love in different, new scenarios. This of course doesn't mean there can't be new characters, in fact I'm hoping there are. Imagine multiple new arcs of different groups of imposing new villains going up against the main cast. Imagine a new tournament with alternate equivalents of the God cards. Imagine a 3v3 format inspired by the WRGP arc. Alternate versions of Joey followed by Kaiba followed by Yugi vs a team of Pegasus followed by Bakura followed by Marik on top of more teams of the new villains. The possibilities are endless, they just need to capitalize on the concept.
Finally, we got the big money maker. The cards. This is honestly the easiest part of the entire plan. The legacy characters should be using the legacy support cards, while the new characters should be using the latest new archetype Konami is planning to make meta. Konami has been releasing legacy support cards which essentially turn random old monsters into entire archetypes for years now. Like how do we have an entire Flame Swordsman, Thunder Dragon and Gaia archetype? On top of that Konami can make any old archetype meta with a snap of their fingers. Remember Yubel? The old GX series of cards which you wouldn't even call an archetype because of its lack of direct support, which got a couple new cards almost 20 years later and shot up to meta relevancy INSTANTLY!
Making new legacy support that's connected to their og cards those characters were using and battling new characters who use the newest meta archetype that Konami wants to promote (conveniently found inside the newest main line booster box) is a recipe for printing money. You'll have both the competitive players and the anime fans by the balls, jumping to buy the new sets. But this isn't just a theory. We've seen this working first hand with the Quarter Century sets. Stampede and Bonanza were two of the best selling sets in recent years because they gave both the meta players and the old school anime fans the cardboard they wanted in a ridiculously shiny fashion.
So that's pretty much it. We have official confirmation from Konami themselves that a Yugioh reboot is happening so now we just wait and see if they'll do it right and reinvigorate interest in the franchise or if this will act as the final nail in its coffin.
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sounds peak to me
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