Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Coliseum is a Yu-Gi-Oh! video game for the PlayStation 2, and a successor to Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule Breed and Battle and Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule GB.
Based off of the Capsule Monster Chess stories in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and the real-life Capsule Monsters board game, it follows Yugi and his quest to earn the title of King of Capsule Monsters as he battles many opponents from the series, training his monsters along the way.
Gameplay is a turn-based strategy game similar to chess. Each monster has an attribute, level, and movement range, which determine its stats, how far and in what directions they can move, and how well they do on certain terrain and against certain monsters. The game can be won in one of two ways: destroying your opponent's Symbol, or destroying all of your opponent's monsters.
This game contains examples of:
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Marik, Yami Bakura, and Yami Marik's duels are Shadow Games, which makes them deadly.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Surrendering a match will make any pieces that were unavailable previously available again.
- Unlike previous Capsule Monster games, you can move and attack with more than one piece per turn.
- Awesome, but Impractical: While they are undeniably powerful, focusing primarily on the high power, high MP cost monsters will limit the amount of monsters that you can actually bring into battle below the maximum amount that you can deploy. The sole exception to this is the Final Battle where you have unlimited MP and can bring out whatever monsters you please.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: In-universe, having your Symbol destroyed is regarded as much less humiliating than losing all your monsters in battle.
- Boring, but Practical: Using primarily weak monsters such as Happy Lover, Kuriboh, Feral Imp and Fire Reaper. They may be weak and unimpressive but their low MP and AP cost meant that you can choose a lot of weak monsters to back up your stronger monsters, overwhelming opponents with numbers. Furthermore, you can level them up over time whereas the opponent will never level up their monsters aside from when they just used them meaning that a level 9 Kuriboh can easily go toe to toe with a Meteor B. Dragon if you can grind that far enough.
- Boss Banter: Duelists will say different things depending on how the duel is going, whether you brought half of the maximum pieces into the fight, when monsters are attacked or destroyed, when half of a player's monsters are destroyed, whether one side is making a comeback, when you take a long time to move your pieces, and when losing or winning (especially if you won by consistently targeting your opponent's symbol). There's also banter before and after the fights, and dummied-out dialogue reveals even more variations, like when evolving or fusing monsters and when the player surrenders a match.
- Boss Game: The whole game is Yugi facing off against his friends, rivals, and enemies.
- Cherry Blossoms: Ryou Bakura's stage is a cherry blossom garden, referencing his dead sister and mother from the manga.
- The Comically Serious: Shadi is all business when you duel him, which makes his comments if you're doing poorly quite funny.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Several of Marik and Yami Marik's lines imply that they're this.Marik: (hit with a heavy attack) Nice... it's no fun if you don't fight back...
Yami Marik: (hit with a heavy attack) Ha ha ha! Pharaoh... Keep it coming! - Continuing is Painful: Winning a fight but losing monsters in the process will render them unavailable for the following battle. You can get around this by losing or surrendering a match, which makes all of your monsters available again.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mokuba references his Capsule Monster skills from the manga, while Yami Yugi makes note of how he defeated Mokuba in Capsule Monsters previously.
- Ryou Bakura's stage being filled with cherry blossoms is a reference to his deceased mother and sister in the manga. Cherry blossoms are seen as a symbol of the beauty and fragility of life, as well as for death.
- When dueling Mai, Yami Yugi mentions that she can't put perfume on her pieces like she did in Duelist Kingdom.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: Losing to Yugi's friends makes them incredulous that they actually won.Téa: I won! I can't believe it! I actually beat Yugi!
Joey: Yugi, I won, but I’m sure it was just luck. A miracle, even. - Demoted to Extra: Yugi only shows up in a few short scenes, as Yami Yugi handles everything else. It gets lampshaded before the final area.Yami Yugi: No matter who stands in my way—I mean, our way... We will not be defeated!
- Disproportionate Retribution: If you idle against Yami Bakura while winning he may threaten to send you to the Shadow Realm out of boredom.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: A monster's attribute determines how strong it is against an opponent and whether certain fields give it a bonus.
- Elite Mooks: Some duelists have their signature monsters, which they delay summoning normally and summon in a cutscene instead. Rex Raptor has Two-Headed King Rex, Mako Tsunami has Fiend Kraken, Bandit Keith has Barrel Dragon, and Seto Kaiba has Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": While most duelists address Yami Yugi as Yugi, Marik and Yami Marik refer to him exclusively as "Pharaoh."
- Eye Scream: Pegasus touches on this in some of his idle dialogue.Pegasus: Move! I can feel my Millennium Eye rusting!
- Fragile Speedster: Wind-type monsters have high movement ranges and decent attack, but generally low HP and defense.
- Gimmick Level:
- Shadi's first level has both Symbols separated from the main forces, meaning moving your Symbol out of the way or attacking his Symbol takes priority over attacking monsters.
- Yami Marik's second level takes place on a volcano that erupts after eight turns. Any monster standing on the lava gets a huge boost in attack, but non-Fire types take 10 to 30 damage after turns depending on if it's raining.
- Glass Cannon: Fire and Thunder-type monsters have excellent attack, but are frail and often can't move very far.
- Guide Dang It!: Some monsters' unlocking conditions are very obtuse.
- Some monsters must meet certain conditions to be unlocked at Grandpa's shop, such as surrendering 20 times in Areas 2 or 3, or having less than 10 Wind monsters when you beat Area 1.
- Other monsters must meet certain conditions to evolve, which the game does not tell you. Some monsters only need to be a certain level, but others must also be placed on a square with a high boost to their attribute.
- Some monsters can only be obtained through fusing two or three monsters together. While some are intuitive, such as fusing three Harpie Ladies to make the Harpie Lady Sisters, others aren't.
- Hypocritical Humor: If you're winning the duel with Bandit Keith, he may accuse you of cheating despite being a notorious cheater himself.
- Incoming Ham: Marik's entrance is loud, evil, and hilariously over-the-top.Marik: Ah, there you are, Pharaoh! Are you ready to lose everything you hold dear?
- Instant-Win Condition: Destroying the Symbol game piece will net a win regardless of how many monsters are left on either side. You can also win by destroying all of your opponent's monsters.
- Ironic Echo: Losing or winning against Bandit Keith will have the victor say that the duel was over before it started.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: Losing to any opponent gives you a cutscene of the duelist either encouraging you to try again or mocking you for your failure. Or, in Yami Marik's case, banishing you to the Shadow Realm.
- It's Personal: Yami Yugi is infuriated with Bandit Keith and his cheating ways. The entirety of their battle banter is them trash-talking each other.
- Jack of All Stats: Water, Light, and Wood monsters have well-rounded attack, defense, and movement ranges.
- Just Toying with Them: If Marik destroys half of your monsters when you were winning, he'll claim he was only toying with you.
- Kick the Dog: Losing to an antagonistic duelist will have them mock Yami Yugi mercilessly.
- Kneel Before Zod: Losing to Marik makes him delighted to see the Pharaoh groveling before him. Bandit Keith mentions this as well, but tires of it and tells him to get lost.
- Load-Bearing Boss: After you defeat Bandit Keith, the stage you were fighting on crumbles apart.
- Magikarp Power:
- Some monsters can evolve into stronger forms under certain conditions.
- Dark-type Monsters are this, as they start out weak and have costly summons, but if trained can prove very powerful.
- New Game Plus: After beating the game you can restart the campaign with the monsters you've unlocked and leveled up, as well as adjustments to your Symbol.
- Not Worth Killing: Losing to Marik makes him declare that you suck so much you're not even worth banishing to the Shadow Realm.
- Personality Powers: Many of the duelists' stages or monsters reflect something about them or their personality. Hot-tempered Joey has all Fire monsters, and the greedy Bandit Keith's stage is a treasure trove of stolen riches.
- Rare Random Drop: After beating the campaign, you obtain three random monsters from a set pool of exclusives. Beating it again may give you different ones, but could also give duplicates of ones you won the first time.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Defeating Yami Bakura will make him run off and complain that the tournament wasn't important anyway.
- Serious Business: Capsule Monsters is taken just as seriously as Duel Monsters, especially where Kaiba's concerned.
- Support Party Member: Some monsters, such as Happy Lover, have unique abilities to heal or support your teammates.
- This Cannot Be!: Marik really flips out if he was winning and you stage a comeback.Marik: The... They're all gone! Impossible! I was winning!
- To Be a Master: Yugi wants to become King of Capsule Monsters, and nobody will stand in his way.
- Tournament Arc: The game is Yugi progressing through the tiers in a tournament, with a final arena appearing once he's defeated all previous opponents.
- Trash Talk: Yami Yugi and his opponents will do this depending on who's winning.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: It's possible, in a match, to end up with pieces that can only move in certain patterns against one that manages to evade them perfectly no matter how hard you try to box it in. Since the A.I. doesn't know when to quit, they'll happily continue to avoid your pieces with it, despite being unable to do anything else. In such cases, the only way to end the match would be to surrender or let the AI destroy your Symbol.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Antagonistic duelists will do this if you lose to them. The worst is probably Weevil, though Yami warns him that his words will come back to haunt him.
- Victor Gains Loser's Powers: After winning a fight, you can take 2 to 3 monsters from your opponent.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Bandit Keith, who identifies himself as the former American champion.
- You Fight Like a Cow: Half the fun of the game is seeing Yami Yugi or his opponents mock each other during the fights.Bandit Keith: Face it, kid. You suck!
Yami Bakura: Keep losing like the loser you are!
Seto Kaiba: Now I've got a stranglehold on victory!
