Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom

An all new Yu-Gi-Oh! Challenge

JP release: 5th December 2002
NA release: 4th November 2004
EU release: 19th November 2004
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
NGC Magazine: Score: NA
Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

To give some credit to The Falsebound Kingdom, this was not what I expected when I booted up a Yu-Gi-Oh! game. I was expecting some kind of card-based strategy game, yet this features no cards (although I presume the monsters in it are the ones depicted on Yu-Gi-Oh! cards). Instead, the main characters get trapped in a fantasy-themed simulation where they have to stop (or support, depending on your character of choice) a ruthless king.

This takes the form of a tactical real time strategy game which is an immensely watered down version of Ogre Battle. You have “marshals” that lead squads of three monsters that you move around the map to free towns before taking on the enemy fort. Movement is incredibly, incredibly slow, so most of the time is spent waiting around doing absolutely nothing, and everything you need to do is very straight forward, so there’s little in the way of tactics.

When you do encounter an enemy squad, it becomes a watered down turn-based RPG. Your monsters have one attack and a guard option, and you can use items like potions. Each individual attack is a slow animation that you need to watch every time. The camera doesn’t even move, even though the same location does have different camera angles (which you’ll get at the start of a new battle). You only have so many action points before a battle ends and your squad leader has to walk back to carry on.

While it’s not the kind of game I enjoy anyway, this is still a particularly boring example of the genre (even fans of the game say you need to emulate it and run it at 500% speed). Everything takes ages and you don’t need to put much thought into it – it’s a tactical RTS with no tactics. I couldn’t last more than a couple of battles with this one.

Poor

You’d have to be a pretty devote Yu-Gi-Oh fan to play though Falsebound — there’s hardly any Yu-Gi-Oh in the game. Konami just shoved this title out the door, relying on rabid Yu-Gi-Oh fans that blindly buy anything Yugi to fuel sales of this title. Do yourself a favor, resist the urge to pull this off the shelf because you’re going to be disappointed.
Mary Jane Irwin, IGN

Remake or remaster?

Perhaps an official release that sped things up or let you skip things?

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom