As AR starts to take off amongst developers it was only a matter of time before we saw a fully functional Yu-Gi-Oh! demo.
When someone brings up the idea of augmented reality gaming a couple of pop cultural references tend to surface. There’s the immediately accessible example of Pokémon Go, though there is some debate to just how augmented that reality is, the game of HoloChess (Dejarik) that Luke and Chewie played against each other in Star Wars, but perhaps more than both of these the most commonly cited example we hear is Yu-Gi-Oh!
For those of you who aren’t fans of the show, Yu-Gi-Oh! takes place in a world where the world’s problems are solved through a game of Duel Monsters – where both combatants use holographic projections of trading cards to duke it out in fantastical fashion. The premise is almost too spot on for the emerging world of augmented reality gaming.
Created by California-based Hololens developer MicrowaveSam, the latest example of the classic anime brought to life features full on multiplayer monster battles, animations, hit points, voice commands, and more. For a fan of the show, the game is a dream come true.
This isn’t the first example of Yu-Gi-Oh that we have seen in immersive realities either. Last year another developer using the Vuforia plugin managed to bring holograms to life on top of physical Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, and the year before that we saw a hackathon bring the game inside of VR. While none of these are official releases by any means, the potential showcased in these fan experiences is clear – don’t be surprised if Bandai, who owns the IP, takes notice. The company has already begun bringing some of it’s biggest titles into virtual reality in its VR arcade in Japan, though it may be a while before we see any of those experiences hit this side of the pond (if ever).
Until then, we have this video to spark our imagination.
