History VideoGame / YuGiOhForbiddenMemories

* HelloInsertNameHere: You can name the Prince whatever you want.

* AdaptedOut: Since the game was made before Battle City and the Ancient Egypt arcs were finalized, Marik and Thief King Bakura don't appear, with Kaiba having the Millennium Rod in the present day instead.

** Magic cards and trap cards in general are this thanks to the way the game plays in comparison to what would eventually become the OCG and TCG. Unlike the real game, only ''one'' card of any type can be played on your turn period. Meaning most of the time you'll usually want to play a monster to build up your forces when on the offensive or have something to defend you rather than using a card that barely advances your game state. This leaves only a small pool of magic and trap cards that are worth the tradeoff; usually universal removal cards such as Raigeki and Crush Card since wiping the opponent's board at a cost of a summon is still very valuable[[note]]''Especially'' in the endgame where your monsters are so outmatched, you're often going to need removal cards to win[[/note]], equip cards [[note]]equip cards can be chained to a monster summon thus negating the slowness of the cards, while this game's primary strategy revolves around summoning a bigger beatstick than the opponent[[/note]], field cards [[note]]mainly early on in the game and in speedruns, due to the difficulty of getting equip cards and how important powering up your monsters is, as well to eliminate the mages' field advantage in Campaign[[/note]], and universal trap removal cards such as Widespread Ruin.[[note]]Which can at least be used to stall if you get a bad opening hand while potentially taking out your opponent's strongest monster due to how the AI works, or for protection if your board gets wiped by a Raigeki.[[/note]] Then Swords Of Revealing Light would have also been extremely useful, but is an unobtainable Pocket Station card and thus can only be used with cheats or in mods.

** Jirai Gumo doesn't gain ATK at all by being turned into Launcher Spider, instead getting a massive DEF boost (from 100 to 2500). However, gaining the ability to wall a few more monsters on defense isn't that useful, while the 500 ATK points you would gain from a normal equip is again far more valuable.

The game was one of a few that were released before the trading card game was, and as such, uses prototype rules that were originally considered for the TCG. Major differences include no tributes being necessary to summon level five and higher monsters, all monster cards being normal monster cards, only one card being placed on the field each turn, fusion being done without the card Polymerization, and the majority of the possible fusions not being actual fusions in the TCG. The game is additionally poorly balanced, with the vast majority of cards being monster cards, and the few magic and trap cards having simple effects that are [[UselessUsefulSpell usually not useful]], while the ones that ''are'' useful are nearly required to beat the game.

* NintendoHard: Since this game was made a few years before the actual card game was released, the game is extremely unbalanced. Additionally, the deck strength of your opponents scale rapidly once you progress past the early game, the opponents will have access to many powerful cards you'll never legitimately be able to use, and you will need to grind a lot, often to just defeat the next opponent in the story, and especially to be able to survive the endgame.

* BonusBoss: Several opponents in the game are completely optional to duel.
** Simon Muran, who you can duel if you return to the palace before you attend the festival.
** Jono and Teana, as well as Villagers 1, 2, and 3, who you can duel in the dueling ground.
** Seto 1, who you can duel if you attend the festival with Teana.
** When you return to the past, you can duel Jono and Teana 2 in the hidden dueling ground, as well as duel against Villagers 1 and 2.
** Seto 2, who you can duel if you traverse the labyrinth to rescue Teana after defeating 2 mages, but before defeating all of them (if you do this after defeating them, you go to the end game instead). This bonus boss is notable as it allows you to skip dueling the Labyrinth Mage in the final boss rush.

** The game tries an admirable amount to avert this. You can't trade between a copy of the same save to stock up on a single very rare card. It can't however stop you from making a transfer copy ported over to a third memory card and then transferring it to your main save. You can also exploit two memory cards by repeatedly creating new files on a second memory card to transfer over cards from its starting deck to your main save, thus allowing you to easily stock up on good cards from starter decks (such as multiple Raigekis, equips, and good fusion fodder).
** Cards can only be bought in this game by inputting their password, which were printed on the real life cards, and thus a player who could buy the real life cards would have access to the passwords in the days before widespread internet access. Considering how most good cards have a 999,999 star chip cost that makes them effectively unbuyable, and some strong cards back then didn't have their password printed on them at all, in practicality a player would gain little advantage in this game by having the passwords from the real life cards, while nowadays anyone can easily just look up the passwords on the internet.
* ButThouMust: There are a few instances where you're given a choice on what action to take in a confrontation, but the game requires you to pick a specific option to progress the story. Not choosing it will result in a character prodding you to pick the required choice until you do it. Averted with the initial choice to sneak out and enjoy the festival, as you can just give up when Simon catches you and skip the first act of the game.

** No tributing is needed to summon any monster card, fusions don't require a magic card to fuse and most fusions have general requirements rather than specific monsters, only one card can be played on the field at a time, you draw until you have five cards in your hand and you cannot skip a turn without playing a card, and there are several ritual monsters that aren't ritual monsters in the card game.
** Many of the in-game cards are really early cards released in the OCG that didn't get released outside Japan until many years later, or were never released at all. For example, the game's famed Meteor Black Dragon didn't get officially released outside Japan until 2012, 12 years after the game's Japanese release and 10 years after its localization.

** Basic monster fusions are simple enough to figure out through trial and error, and the fusions requiring specific monsters can be learned from watching what the computer fuses. Fusions requiring magic cards are extremely obtuse.
** S-Tec-ing in theory means using a lot of magic and trap cards, but in practice it means forcing opponents to fuse until they deck out, which is an automatic S-Tec. This is especially painful when dueling [[TheAllSeeingAI Pegasus]], who gives out some of the best magic and traps in the game but cannot be bluffed into fusing.

** The opponent not having enough cards in their deck to draw a full hand of five cards. Since the player always goes first, the only way for the player to win by this method would be to exploit the AI into doing more fusion/card combining than themselves. Winning in this manner results in an automatic S-Tec.

** Some opponents (Pegasus, Heishin, Seto 3, and [[spoiler:[=Darknite/Nitemare=]]]) are able to read what cards you have face down on the field, and thus can't be bluffed. Your opponents also have complete access to the cards you cannot legitimately obtain.

** Summoned Skull, with 2500 ATK and compatibility with many equip cards, can be a rare example of this, if the player is lucky enough to win Job-change Mirror early in the game as a rare drop from Villager 2 or Villager 3. In this game, Summoned Skull can be summoned by fusing Job-change Mirror with ANY Fiend type monster with less than 2500 ATK (except Fungi of the Musk). If the player doesn't want to grind early for it, then they'll won't get another opportunity to get it again until midway into the game against Mage Soldier, and buying it isn't an option when it costs 999,999 Star Chips.

** Also among obtainable monsters, there's Skull Knight and Zoa, who possess 2650 and 2600 attack respectively, making them powerful on their own. But Skull Knight also possess some of the best equip versatility in the game (while Zoa has good equip versatility too), get powered up by the Yami field used by half the endgame opponents, and have the coveted Mercury alignment, which makes them the only monsters besides the Meteor Black Dragon that can defeat a BEUD with three equips, while said equip versatility makes that easier to achieve than with the MBD (Skull Knight also possesses a Neptune secondary alignment, which can allow it to beat the MBD with just one equip, the only obtainable monster that can do so aside from your own MBD).

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Gameplay wise, the rules of dueling are quite different from what they later became.

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: The max amount of Star Chips you can get winning a duel is five, and any decent card costs hundreds or thousands of Star Chips. Additionally, many cards, including most of the unobtainable Pocket Station-exclusive cards, cost 999,999 Star Chips each[[note]]'''999,999 / 365 = 2,739.72''' which means, assuming one plays the game for one year non stop, they have to obtain '''2,740 starchips for each day'''. To unlock '''one''' card[[/note]].

** Many fusion and high level monsters in general, that were outclassed or utterly useless in the actual card game even its early days, are far more useful in Forbidden Memories. Some of the biggest examples include Skull Knight, Zoa, Thousand Dragon, and Mystical Sand. The Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon and Meteor Black Dragon can count too; while they were among the best fusions in the early OCG/TCG, fusion in general wasn't very viable at the time, while here they're among the best cards in the game, to the point that every player associates them with Forbidden Memories.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: The game tries an admirable amount to avert this. You can't trade between a copy of the same save to stock up on a single very rare card. It doesn't stop you from making a transfer copy ported over to a third memory card and then transferring it to your main save.

* GameMod:
** Has one in the form of the 5, 10, and 15 card drop mods, which as their titles suggest, increases the number of cards won for beating a dualist. While made primarily for speed runners, they were quick to be embraced by casual players (especially the 15 card drop mod) for greatly reducing the amount of grinding needed to get through the game.
** "Mod Prefect" is a mod that allows players to obtain the cards that are unobtainable in the international version of the game via beating certain opponents. For example, Seto finally drops Blue-Eyes White Dragon in his second battle against him, and many of the cards Heishin uses are also fully obtainable from beating him now. When combined with the 15 card drop mod, many consider it the definitive way to play ''Forbidden Memories''.

** The AI will never put a monster of 3000 or higher base attack in defense mode, and some monsters that have much higher defense than attack will never attack you.
** If the AI's monsters are not strong enough to destroy any monsters on your field, they'll always switch them to defense (with the exception of 3000+ monsters) even if their attack is equal to yours.
** The AI will switch their monsters into defense when they're bluffed into not attacking your facedown monster. This can be exploited to defeat high attack, low defense monsters that you would be unable to destroy otherwise.

** Despite every monster having two Guardian Stars to choose from, the AI will always place their monsters in their first Guardian Star, even in situations where the second Guardian Star would be more advantageous.

** Magic cards and trap cards in general are this thanks to the way the game plays in comparison to what would eventually become the OCG and TCG. Unlike the real game, only ''one'' card of any type can be played on your turn period. Meaning most of the time you'll usually want to play a monster to increase your defenses rather than using a card that barely advances your game state. This leaves only a ''very'' small pool of magic and trap cards that are worth the tradeoff; usually universal removal cards such as Raigeki[[note]]and even then, most people recommend it as a one of at most since situations where you would want to use it are usually a losing scenario anyways[[/note]], universal equip cards like Bright Castle and Megamorph[[note]]equip cards can be chained to a monster summon thus negating the slowness of the cards[[/note]] and universal trap removal cards such as Widespread Ruin.[[note]]Which can at least be used to stall if you get a bad opening hand or for protection if your board gets wiped by a Raigeki.[[/note]]

* ChangingGameplayPriorities: Early on, the game favors basic fusions. As the game progresses, you'll start focusing more on fusing for the Twin-headed Thunder Dragon and its support. By the end game, you'll move away from fusion and rely on the Meteor Black Dragon and other powerful individual monsters with heavy equip and magic support.

* ClippedWingAngel: [[spoiler: Zigzagged with Nitemare. On the one hand, he has no magic, trap, or equip cards in his deck, meaning once you have a monster stronger than the strongest one he has, you'll have the duel won regardless of how badly you were getting beaten. On the other hand, he does have Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon in his deck, which can very quickly destroy your run if you can't draw the cards needed to overpower it or remove it from the field. Speedrunners consider Nitemare to be '''more''' dangerous than Seto 3 because of his lack of magic and traps, as Seto 3 can be stalled into playing face down backrow while Nitemare will always summon high-powered monsters every turn that will relentlessly overwhelm you if you cannot quickly summon something to beat them.]]

* CrutchCharacter: Almost all of the fusions besides the [[DiscOneNuke Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon]] and [[InfinityPlusOneSword Meteor Black Dragon]] are useful early on, peter out in mid-game, and are wastes of deck space by the end game.

** Many of the in-game cards are really early cards released in the OCG that didn't get released outside Japan until many years later, or were never released at all. The game's famed Meteor Black Dragon didn't get officially released outside Japan until 2012, 12 years after the game's Japanese release and 10 years after its localization.

* GameMod: Has one in the form of the 5, 10, and 15 card drop mods, which as their titles suggest, increases the number of cards won for beating a dualist. While made primarily for speed runners, they were quick to be embraced by casual players (especially the 15 card drop mod) for greatly reducing the amount of grinding needed to get through the game.

** Heishin is available in Free Duel once you finish the early Egypt arc. It's possible for a player that can fuse a Twin-Head to defeat him early on if they get ''very lucky'', and then get a very powerful card from him if they get even luckier, all before they start Kaiba's tournament. Even without getting an S/A POW rank against him, he can drop a lot of monsters with stats in the 2000s, and if a player ''is'' lucky enough to get an S/A POW rank, there are many endgame-caliber cards he can potentially drop, including the ''Meteor Black Dragon''. Granted, the amount of luck needed to beat Heishin and get a strong card from him early in the game is too much to make it worth trying to grind against him early, but it's not impossible to happen.

** Magic cards that only destroy a single type of monster are too specialized to be consistently useful, besides a few opponents whose strongest monsters are of the same type.

* GameMod: Has one in the form of the 5, 10, and 15 card drop mods, which as their titles suggest, increases the number of cards won for beating a dualist. While made primarily for speed runners, they were quick to be embraced by casual players (especially the 15 card drop mode) for greatly reducing the amount of grinding needed to get through the game.

** Also among obtainable monsters, there's Skull Knight and Zoa, who possess 2650 and 2600 attack respectively, making them powerful on their own. But they also possess some of the best equip versatility in the game, get powered up by the Yami field used by half the endgame opponents, and have the coveted Mercury alignment, which makes them the only monsters besides the Meteor Black Dragon that can defeat a BEUD with three equips, while said equip versatility makes that easier to achieve than with the MBD (Skull Knight also possesses a Neptune secondary alignment, which can allow it to beat the MBD with just one equip, the only obtainable monster that can do so aside from your own MBD).

*** Likewise, in TCG, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Skull_Knight Skull Knight]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Bickuribox Bickuribox]], and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Labyrinth_Tank Labyrinth Tank]] are fusion monsters while in this game they are normal monsters. The players cannot fusion summon these monsters despite these respective cards' fusion materials actually exist in this game, which, again, confusing the players already familiar with TCG fusions before playing the game.