Introduction

Hey everyone, my name's Iceshade, and I'm a fellow content creator over on Youtube who focuses on Card Game History. The history of Yu-Gi-Oh has piqued my interest over the years. This has led me to start the Road to Master Duel retrospective series on my Youtube Channel where I've been going over every Yu-Gi-Oh! game that Konami has released over the years. This leads us to Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed & Battle, the game we will be talking about today.

Capsule Monster Chess

Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed & Battle was released on July 23, 1998 on the Playstation 1, and it was a game that was heavily based on the rules of Capsule Monster Chess from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga and the Toei Anime, otherwise dubbed by the fanbase as Yu-Gi-Oh! Season Zero.

This was essentially just a game of advanced chess where players fought with unique game pieces called Capumon, otherwise known as Capsule Monsters. And each Capumon has unique abilities that could turn the tide of the battle in an instant. Such as Torigun, with its unique "Whirlwind Razor Beak Slash" attack which can one hit KO opposing Capumon in a diagonal line.

To win a game of Capsule Monster Chess, the player must defeat all of the opponent's units before all of theirs had fallen. 

Gameplay Mechanics

Breed and Battle is associated with 2 main modes that differentiate from one another, Breed Mode and Battle Mode. In Breed Mode, players can breed and evolve their Capumon into stronger forms, and in Battle Mode, players battle until there is only one side left standing.

This game closely follows the rules of Capsule Monster Chess from the manga, albeit with a few changes. The first big change is that you bring a team of six capumon to battle instead of five. However, one of those six capumon are randomly put inside of a golden egg piece. This acts as a king piece that will lose you the game if it gets destroyed. This adds a factor of uncertainty, as your best units can be locked away in a match.

In Breed and Battle, each Capumon has their own unique special ability, health bars, levels, type, and race associated with it. Levels determines how many times a monster can use their special ability within a turn. Race determes the type of movement the monster preforms. Type follows a rock-paper-scissors style system labeled as Guts, Cool, and Intellegence.

The main goal of Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed and Battle is simple: to train monsters and battle with them in order to progress further within the game's story mode. And in order to do this, players will have to train and evolve their Capumon in Breed Mode.

Breed Mode is one of the main components of the game, as players will have to hatch their Capumon and take care of them which can affect their stats. In Breed Mode, players will have to feed and train their Capumon in order to improve their mood and increase their stats. Think of this as a Pet Simulator, except that you are training pets that you'll be using in battle. And Breed Mode has a lot of mechanics from those kinds of games, including connecting Capumon together and decorating their living quarters. Breed Mode does take its time, and it requires a lot of effort in order to evolve a single Capumon. Although it is tedious, it is satisfying when your team finally comes together.

In Breed and Battle's story mode, players must battle multiple opponents in a row with each opponent progressively getting harder. There are 8 opponents in total, from Little Yugi, to Green Haired Kaiba, to Dark Yugi. And each opponent in this game has their own unique battlefields and units that they possess.

After beating an opponent in this game, you get the option to trade one of your Capumon, effectively making your team stronger as the game progresses.

And this game definitely provides quite a bit of the challenge, as the starter teams are not enough to beat the game, meaning players will have to breed their own Capumon teams in Breed Mode to stand up to the challenge.

Closing Thoughts

Although this game presents a challenge, it's definitely very fun and unique in its own light. Seeing your own Capumon use unique abilites to turn the tide of the game is just awesome. And that's my main opinion, this game is awesome! The main criticism I would have is that the replay value diminishes the more you play this game. As the 8 opponents never change up their teams, it's still the same game if you decide to play again. However, multiplayer battles could be a blast due to the diverse lineup of Capumon that this game has. 

If you all want more, go check out my Road to Master Duel video below which goes over this game in depth. And without further ado, I'll see you all later!