History YMMV / YuGiOhNightmareTroubadour

** The Level Up system attracts quite a bit of ire in this game and [[VideoGame/YuGiOhGXSpiritCaller it's spiritual sequel]] due to locking out most of the really good cards until late game, forcing the player to put up with a lot of "[[LowTierLetDown pack filler trash]]" until they finally have access to the packs in question. This is not helped by the amount of ForcedLevelGrinding the game puts upon the player in the later stages of the game.

** Duelists will, over time, begin to unregister you if you haven't played them in a while. In a game where there are 23 registered duelists and multiple Shadow Duelists that can interrupt you, it makes it a little bit harder to keep tabs on who everyone is when you're searching.

** The Level Up system attracts quite a bit of ire in this game and [[VideoGame/YuGiOhGXSpiritCaller it's spiritual sequel]] due to locking out most of the really good cards until late game, forcing the player to put up with a lot of "[[LowTierLetDown pack filler trash]]" until they finally have access to the packs in question.

** Certain rulings in the game don't match the actual card game, which can cause some nasty DamnYouMuscleMemory moments. A notable example is [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]]. In the actual cardgame, Fusion monsters summoned through this can be summoned in either face-up attack or defense position, but in this game, they can only ever be summoned in attack position this way. This makes some strategies, such as using Metamorphosis to summon [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Ojama_King Ojama King]] to block off opponents zones completely worthless, since you can't switch them into defense position until after your opponent's next turn after summoning it.

* SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Several moments with Serenity invoke this. When a player meets her for the first time she will tell him/her that she started dueling like her brother. She also help the player get ready to the final play off and is enthusiastic about getting better as a duelist like her brother. She can ask the player to trade for certain cards and if the player accepts she cheerfully says that Joey will be jealous of her trade. When the player gets a draw against her, she smiles and tells you "Yay! It's a draw! I'll keep practicing so our next duel will be even more fun." Her enthusiasm also comes through in her letter to the player, with her expressing her joy over learning how to duel and how she can't wait to duel the player again.

* TranslationTrainWreck: The game gets hit with this a few times.
-->'''Player:''' "Let's already return."
-->'''Tea:''' "Atmosphere badness is embarrassed somehow, but Bakura's been acting weird."
-->'''Yami Yugi:''' "Was it safe...you...? You were dueling in a Shadow Game with Marik. He can knock it down only by the Egyptian God Card. Moreover, take care when meeting Marik. Egyptian God Card is put in your deck. Then."

-->'''Tea:'' "Atmosphere badness is embarrassed somehow, but Bakura's been acting weird."

* SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming:
** Several moments with Serenity invoke this. When a player meets her for the first time she will tell him/her that she started dueling like her brother. She also help the player get ready to the final play off and is enthusiastic about getting better as a duelist like her brother. In her typical meek fashion she will ask the player to trade for certain cards and if the player accepts she cheerfully says that Joey will be jealous of her trade. When the player gets a draw against her might just take the cake, though. She smiles and tells you "Yay! It's a draw! I'll keep practicing so our next duel will be evenmore fun." Her enthusiasm also comes through in her letter to the player, with her expressing her joy over learning how to duel and how she can't wait to duel the player again. Overall this game offers a great, understated look into her as a duelist, making her even more of an AdaptationalBadass and Adorkable than even the anime canon, and makes certain watchers of the anime wonder WhatCouldHaveBeen?

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming:

* CrowningMomentofHeartwarming:

* AwesomeMusic:

* FunnyMoments: Joey tells the player about the differences between Yugi and Yami Yugi by comparing them to a hamburger and veggie burger.

** Rebecca uses a stall/burn deck that works around Gravity Bind, which keeps any Level 4 or above monsters from attacking. Doesn't sound too bad, except for the fact that back then, Mystical Space Typhoon was limited to ''one''. Sure, you also have Heavy Storm and Dust Tornado, but that only leaves you with three cards to destroy her backrow, and unless you want to run very situational cards like Seven Tools of the Bandit, this means you will ''need'' to have Jinzo or Royal Decree if you want to reliably ''attack''. Meanwhile, her Level 4 monsters' effects still stack, meaning she can use Fire Princess and Solemn Wishes to wipe you out, on top of the number of ''other'' cards that slowly increase her LP as the turns go by. Rebecca also has Injection Fairy Lily, a Level 3 card that can increase her attack to 3400 at the cost of 2000 LP per battle... when her deck is built around gaining LP. She ''also'' runs [[GoddamnBats D.D.]] monsters, which makes attacking her face down monsters a very risky process, and ''also'' has [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard an uncanny ability]] to topdeck into Lightning Vortex to wipe your monster zone clean. She's unlikely to beat you after you get your mid-game deck going, but ''all'' of this results in a ''very'' long, ''very'' tedious battle every time you face her. She's also the most common level three duelist mid-game alongside ''other'' level three duelist you ''need'' to beat a certain number of times to advance the plot.

* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: Despite the risk, Shadow Games can be very addictive as the 30 extra points makes grinding for experience easier.

* GoddamnBats:

** The duel with Gozaburo Kaiba gives you 20 turns to win before you die. The sound effects for Final Countdown do not help.

** Shadow duelists ambush you at night when you're moving elsewhere, with a creepy laugh sound effect and the screen shaking. If you fail to defeat them, your soul is sent to the Shadow Realm and you get a Game Over.

** Yami Bakura. In his first deck, he uses a Destiny Board combo, which results in an instant loss after five turns if you can't destroy it. His second deck uses Dark Necrofear, a very annoying monster who's summoned by tributing three Fiends in the Graveyard. Her effect is that, once destroyed by a monster or card effect, she controls one of your monsters. And he has more than one. He also uses cards like Night Assailant, Bark of Dark Ruler, Mirror Force, and Sakuretsu Armor to destroy your monsters directly, making it dangerous to attack him or defend against him.

* NightmareFuel: Shadow duelists ambush you at night when you're moving elsewhere, with a creepy laugh sound effect and the screen shaking. If you fail to defeat them, your soul is sent to the Shadow Realm and you get a Game Over.

** While Joey's monsters aren't too difficult to deal with, his die rolls and traps ''are''. Winning against him can boil down entirely to luck.

** Rebecca has what is quite possibly one of the most infuriating decks to fight against, and will force you to reconstruct your deck in order to deal with her. She uses a stall/burn deck that works around Gravity Bind, which keeps any Level 4 or above monsters from attacking. Doesn't sound too bad, except for the fact that back then, Mystical Space Typhoon was limited to ''one''. Sure, you also have Heavy Storm and Dust Tornado, but that only leaves you with three cards to destroy her backrow, and unless you want to run very situational cards like Seven Tools of the Bandit (which she ''also'' uses), this means you will ''need'' to have Jinzo (limited to one here) or Royal Decree (unlimited, but also negates your own traps as well) if you want to even ''attack''. Meanwhile, her Level 4 monsters' effects still stack, meaning she can use Fire Princess and Solemn Wishes to wipe you out, on top of the number of ''other'' cards that slowly increase her LP as the turns go by. On top of ''all'' of this, she ''also'' runs [[GoddamnBats D.D.]] monsters, which makes attacking her face down monsters a very risky process, and ''also'' has [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard an uncanny ability]] to topdeck into Lightning Vortex to wipe your monster zone clean. She's unlikely to beat you after you get your mid-game deck going, but ''all'' of this results in a ''very'' long, ''very'' tedious battle every time you face her. She's also the most common level three duelist mid-game alongside ''other'' level three duelist you ''need'' to beat a certain number of times to advance the plot. Rebecca also has Injection Fairy Lily, a Level 3 card that can increase her attack to 3400 at the cost of 2000 LP per battle... when her deck is built around gaining LP. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Have fun!]]

** Yami Bakura. In his first deck, he uses a Destiny Board combo, which results in an instant loss after five turns if you can't destroy it. His second deck uses Dark Necrofear, a very annoying monster who's summoned by tributing three Fiends in the Graveyard. Her effect is that, once destroyed by a monster or card effect, she controls one of your monsters. And he has more than one. He also uses cards like Night Assailant and Sakuretsu Armor to destroy your monsters directly.
* ScrappyMechanic:
** You have to get cards through buying packs instead of being able to buy specific cards themselves, making getting cards you want a LuckBasedMission. There are ways of SaveScumming for specific cards you want, but there's still a big element of randomness to it. As a result, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a ''half hour'' to get your desired cards, and thus makes the early game a very slow experience.
** Certain rulings in the game don't match the actual card game, which can cause some nasty DamnYouMuscleMemory moments. A notable example is [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]]. In the actual cardgame, Fusion monsters summoned through this can be summoned in either face-up attack or defense position, but in this game, they can only ever be summoned in attack position this way. This makes some strategies, such as using Metamorphosis to summon [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Ojama_King Ojama King]] to block off opponents zones completely worthless, since you can't switch them into defense position until after your opponent's next turn after summoning it.

** Yami Bakura. In his first deck, he uses a Destiny Board combo, which results in an instant loss after five turns if you can't destroy it. His second deck uses Dark Necrofear, a very annoying monster who's summoned by tributing three Fiends in the Graveyard. Her effect is that, once destroyed by a monster or card effect, she controls one of your monsters. And he has more than one.

* ScrappyMechanic: You have to get cards through buying packs instead of being able to buy specific cards themselves, making getting cards you want a LuckBasedMission. There are ways of SaveScumming for specific cards you want, but there's still a big element of randomness to it. As a result, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a ''half hour'' to get your desired cards, and thus makes the early game a very slow experience.

** Ryou Bakura is very tough early on, as he uses an Ectoplasmer/Call of the Mummy combo that lets him tribute monsters to damage you directly while keeping a fresh supply of monsters on his field to attack you directly. His second deck uses Vampire Lord and Patrician of Darkness, who can remove monsters from your deck and control which cards you attack. He also had Despair from the Dark, which has 2800 Attack Points, 3000 Defense Points, and can summon itself to the field if discarded from the hand or deck to the graveyard by an opponent's card effect.