The BEST episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters season 3

#1 - Merger Of The Big Five (Part 3 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 7/2/2002

The Big Five go from strength to strength as they continue to take full advantage of all five of their Deck Masters. But even with only one Deck Master each, and seriously depleted Life Points, Yugi and Joey refuse to give up all hope of winning just yet and set about proving that the Big Five aren't the only ones capable of combining their powers.

#2 - Merger Of The Big Five (Part 2 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 6/25/2002

As Johnson takes the stand for the Big Five, Yugi and Joey begin to realise just how much power the Big Five has with five Deck Masters at their disposal. However the two friends are not finished yet, and although things may not be going their way they too have powerful decks and Deck Masters at their disposal.

#3 - Noah's Final Threat (Part 1 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 8/6/2002

Noah, bonded to Shinato, and Yami start their match, with Yami shuffling in the rest of Kaiba's deck into his own and Noah adding in some new cards to his deck. However, the match must start as if it were Kaiba making his next move. This means that in addition to having the life point totals as they were before with Noa at 7400 and Kaiba at 400, Yami cannot start with any cards in his hand and must rely on the cards he draws. He also must keep Kaiba's Deck Master, which is useless to Yami since most of his monsters are Dark Monsters. Tristan points out that if Yami does not draw a monster card on his first turn, he is finished, as Noah's monster Shinato (with an attack of 3300) is on the field. Yami draws, gets Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts and promptly puts it in face-up defense mode. Noah draws but doesn't get a monster that he can play, so he attacks Gazelle with Shinato. However, Shinato's effect is that if it destroys a monster in defense mode, it cuts Yami's life points in

#4 - Noah's Final Threat (Part 2 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 8/13/2002

The attack went through, but Yami activated the trap card Nutrient Z, which gave him 4000 more life points if the damage done to him was greater than 2000 before the attack. Now Yami now has 1800 life points. However, since Yami lost 2300 life points, Noah gains them, setting him at 8200. He then chains with a Quickplay Magic card from his hand: Sebek's blessing, which lets him gain the damage done to Yami, setting his lifepoints at 10,500. But then the turn ends and the Yamata Dragon returns to his hand, setting off the Spring, which makes Noah's life points 11,000. Yami plays Alpha the Magnet Warrior in attack mode and attacks directly, making Noah's life points 9600. Noa then turns Tristan to stone. He explains that one person will be turned to stone during the end of each of Yami's turns. Noa draws and plays Inaba White Rabbit which can attack directly, setting Yami at 1100. He ends his turn, recalls the Spirit monster, and gains 700 life points from Shinato and 500 life points fro

#5 - Burying The Past (Part 1 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 8/27/2002

Having escaped from the Virtual World in Mokuba's body, Noah sets about to shut down the system once and for all, destroying the minds of his father and everybody else in the Virtual World at the same time. Yugi and the others, meanwhile, continue to search for an exit from their virtual prison, but Kaiba is more interested with defeating his step-father once and for all. However a duel between the two relatives soon proves to be a lot more challenging than Seto could have ever expected.

#6 - Courtroom Chaos (Part 1 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/30/2002

Continuing his search for a way out of the Virtual World, Joey believes he has found his way back to Kaiba Craft 3 until Johnson reveals that it is just a manipulation of the Virtual World. As a duel between Joey and the third member of the Big Five begins, the Deck Master effect of Joey's Flame Swordsman initially gives him the advantage until Johnson's Deck Master, Judge Man, begins to take control of the duel in more ways than one.

#7 - Mechanical Mayhem (Part 1 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 5/14/2002

Still unable to locate any of the others, Tristan, Duke and Serenity begin to grow concerned that they themselves may soon be challenged to a duel and when Nezbitt, the technology expert of the Big Five, finds the trio he challenges Serenity to a duel. As both Duke and Tristan insist that he duel them instead a 3 vs. 1 duel begins with the three amateur duellists duelling for their survival. However as if getting to grips with the Deck Master system wasn't difficult enough, Serenity still needs to get to grips with the basics of duelling.

#8 - Settling the Score (Part 1 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 5/28/2002

While Yugi and the others try to figure out how to get Tristan's body back from Nezbitt, and also work out what the deal is with the strange robot monkey that is following them around, Kaiba has more important things to consider when Mokuba is kidnapped. After the rescue attempt fails, Kaiba is confronted by Leichter, the fifth and final member of the Big Five, whose Deck Master may prove to be the most powerful yet.

#9 - Settling the Score (Part 2 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/4/2002

As Leichter continues to dominate the field thanks to the Deck Master ability of his Jinzo it looks like none of Kaiba's monsters are strong enough to defeat his ever-growing army of powerful creatures. Meanwhile things aren't looking too great for Mokuba, who is being forced by Noah to remember some of the more distressing scenes from his life with Gozaburo Kaiba.

#10 - Brothers In Arms (Part 3 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 7/30/2002

Kaiba is shocked to see Mokuba standing there... on someone else's side. Noah tells Kaiba that Mokuba thinks Noah is his real brother and that Kaiba is the enemy. Mokuba says that any enemy of his ""brother"" is an enemy of his. Seto ends his turn, definately not willing to risk losing Mokuba for the attack. Yugi calls out for Kaiba to keep fighting, and that to remember when he fought Joey under similar circumstances. Kaiba doesn't want to accept Yugi's help, but realizes that there is one card to prove his and Mokuba's relationship. Noah activates the next day's effect, causing the ice to vanish and the modern world to appear. He activates Dark Hole, getting rid of all the monsters, except Different Dimension Dragon, of course, who must stay. He then plays Gradius, and equips it with Cyclone Laser and and the Modifyer, allowing every attack made by the monster to be 100 points higher than the defense of the other monster, meaning each turn, Kaiba will lose 100 life points. He is attack

#11 - Clash In The Coliseum (Part 5 of 6)

Season 3 - Episode 36 - Aired 11/19/2002

Joey, still unconscious from his duel with Marik, dreams that he is in a Duel Monsters tournament, but loses a duel, but he remembers an important lesson taught to him by Yugi. Yugi's duel with Kaiba continues and Kaiba is able to use his Lord Of Dragons and Flute Of Summoning Dragons to call out all three Blue Eyes White Dragons. As all three dragons attack, Yugi is reminded by Joey of the advice that he once gave Joey: ""Consider all of your options"". Yugi uses the effect of Flute Of Summoning Dragons to summon Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon, but will that be enough to stop Kaiba's assault?

#12 - Battle For The Bronze (Part 3 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 40 - Aired 12/17/2002

Joey tries to use his Baby Dragon/Time Wizard to bring out his Thousand Dragon and weaken Kaiba's Blue Eyes White but it doesn't work and he loses. Meanwhile Yugi decides not to tell Tea about her being possessed by Marik's good side. Despite his loss to Kaiba Joey points out he won't give up and after they leave Isuzu asks Kaiba to support Yugi which Kaiba refuses to do she lets him know that his past self may have been the Pharaohs rival but he was also a close friend who helped the Pharaoh long ago by assisting in sealing up the darkness. Mokuba remembers Seto's previous duels against Yugi and Joey and realizes how much he has changed and expresses how much he misses the old Seto and manages to convince him to help Yugi in some. Kaiba having figured out that one card he has if played correctly can defeat the Wing Dragon of Ra so just before Yugi's duel against Marik begins Kaiba passes the card to Yugi.

#13 - Courtroom Chaos (Part 2 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 5/7/2002

Joey's life points are at 1200 while Johnson has 1000. However, Johnson a monster and a face-down card. Joey has no monsters, but thankfully it's his turn. He then plays Panther Warrior in attack mode and places a Skull Dice. Johnson draws and activates his placed card: a field card that increases a Fusion Monster's attack by 800 when it attacks. This brings Kamionwizard's attack to 2100. He prepares to attack the Panther Warrior, but Joey activates the Skull Dice. It lands on a six, but Johnson manipulates it so that it lands on one instead, unbeknownst to Joey, Yugi and Tea. Johnson then attacks the Warrior and lowers Joey's life points to 1100. However, the effect of the power-up allows Johnson to regain 800 life points when it does damage to Joey, placing Joey at 1800. Joey takes his turn, plays Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode and follows up with Graceful Dice. Again, the dice rolls a six, but Johnson manipulates it to land on one. Johnson then activates the Judge Man's abili

#14 - Back To Battle City (Part 2 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 9/10/2002

As the four way duel continues, Joey asks Yugi to stop bailing him out, determined that he can make it through to the final on his own. However while Yugi may not doubt Joey's abilities as a duellist, his fear of what Marik may do to his friend if the two of them were to face each other in the semi finals is great. Kaiba, meanwhile, is determined to crush Joey and Marik to ensure that he will be able to take his revenge on Yugi in the semi finals.

#15 - Battle For The Bronze (Part 1 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 38 - Aired 12/3/2002

Kaiba is in a state of shock after losing to Yugi. He then notices that Joey is standing there, awake, and they have their reunion. Kaiba still can't believe that he lost, so Yugi tells him that the power of friendship helped him win. If he didn't have Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon, he would have lost the duel. Kaiba still refuses to believe any of that, but bitterly throws Yugi his God Card: Obelisk the Tormentor. As Kaiba tries to leave, Joey confronts him and challenges him to a duel. Although Kaiba thinks it will be a waste of his time, he never backs down from a challenge. Right from the duel's start, Kaiba takes a huge lead, by getting Joey caught in his Crush Card trap. Meanwhile, Marik gets control of Téa again, and runs back to the top of the duel tower to confront his evil side once and for all.

#16 -

Season 3 - Episode 31 - Aired 10/22/2002

#17 - Freeze Play (Part 1 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/16/2002

Tea collapses after reaching the top of the bridge and looks up at the sky. As she gazes upwards, she notices a peguin. She follows the penguin to a raft in an icy river. She gets on and is led to a large hallway. There, she spots what must be the lead peguin, and also another member of the 5, Crump. The Penguin points out that Tea is not a very good environmentalist and tells her all the terrible things she has done, like littering and forgetting to turn off the lights, which harm the penguins. Tea tries to run away, but is caught up on a large ice block which rises up. Crump rises up on another and challenges her to duel. After Tea chooses her deck, she fishes through her cards to find a Deck Master. She chooses the Dark Magician Girl, as she remembers how she wanted to play that role in a play someday when she grows up. But as Crump starts to question her choice, Tea realizes she forgot to put a Dark Magician in her deck, making Dark Magician Girl not a very helpful monster. Tea ing

#18 - Isolated in Cyber Space (Part 2 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/26/2002

Yami continues the duel with Chimera, the Flying Mythic Beast and the Obnoxious Celtic Guardian on his side. His opponent, Gansley, has done little but defend the entire game. But as he calls an attack on the opponents life points, he activates a special Deck Master ability which shoots Yami's monsters back at him! Weakened from the various attacks, Yami begins to wonder how he can win this duel. Meanwhile, Duke and Tristan, tired from running down an endless corridor, spot an ax and decide to chop their way through the wall. As Tristan picks it up, however, Duke wonders how he is able to touch it in virtual world, as before, Tea couldn't hold the flowers in the demo. Seto and Mokuba are still watching images of their past. They watch as the young Mokuba is sitting on a swing in an empty park. Young Seto comes and tells his brother that they should go back. Mokuba explains that he was there because he remembered visiting there with their parents, and that he hoped he could bring things

#19 - Freeze Play (Part 2 of 2)

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/23/2002

Seto and Mokuba are walking through the forest and spot a cabin on a hill. They decide to rest and open the door cautiously, remembering what happened back at the last illusion. After opening the door, the cabin transforms into their house, but years earlier. They see themselves, years younger, walking through the house. They both recognize it as the day they were adopted... ... on the day they were adopted, they were taken to Gozaburo's house where Seto got to start long and tiring school lessons. The people teaching him said he had to catch up with Kaiba if he ever wanted to be the owner of Kaibacorp. That evening at dinner, Gozaburo tells Seto that he is getting lazy in his studies and orders him to stop playing games all the time so he can study more. That night, Seto goes to his room to rest before his lessons start in 1 hour! Mokuba is standing out in the hallway and hands someone a book and tells them to give it to his brother. The person gives Seto the book and when he opens it

#20 - Isolated in Cyber Space (Part 1 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/19/2002

Everyone accepts the dueling challenge and are transported to the virtual reality world in different places. Yugi finds himself alone in the middle of a swamp, Tea in the middle of the desert, Duke and Tristan in a corridor, Serenity by the lake, Joey in a castle, and Kaiba and Mokuba in a forest. Yugi finds one of the Big 5 members, Gansley, dressed as the Deep Sea Warrior. He challenges Yugi and Yami takes over to accept. Cards appear before him and Gansley instructs him to choose his deck-cards and one Deck Master. As Yami is browsing through his choices, he decides to choose the Dark Magician as his Deck Master, but Kuriboh pops out instead! Stuck with Kuriboh, one of the weakest creatures in the game, Yami begins the duel. Meanwhile, Kaiba and Mokuba find a door in the forest. Considering it an exit, they open it, to find the orphanage where they grew up. They watch as parts of their past begin to play by them. Tea wanders around the dessert for a while, until she meets up with a

#21 - Isolated in Cyber Space (Part 3 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/9/2002

Yami is cornered with no way out of a direct attack that will surely kill him, but as he falls to the ground, he manages to have the strength to get back up again. Gansley is surprised, but doesn't really care. Yami's life points stand at 400, and he is confident that he will win. Meanwhile, Duke and Tristn chop their way through the walls and find themselves on the roof of a castle. They look down at the field below and spot Serenity, running away from a Mad Sword Beast. Tristan jumps off the castle roof and onto the beast while Duke runs and gets Serenity out of the way. As Tristan climbs out a river where he led the beast, he sees that Duke has already taken the credit for Serenity's rescue. Tea wakes up in a large cave and spots Hitotsu-me Giants down at the bottom, boiling a kettle of water. Getting the feeling they're preparing for dinner, and not wanting to be main course, Tea spots a penguin who has drapped a vine down. She starts to climb up, but makes a noise that alerts the

#22 - Clash In The Coliseum (Part 4 of 6)

Season 3 - Episode 35 - Aired 11/19/2002

The God cards destroy each other at the same time, creating a huge explosions and destroying the televisions that are broadcasting the duel. The explosions cause Yugi and Kaiba to go into a flashback where they watch their ancient selves begin a duel. The Priest-Kaiba summons Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Pharaoh Yugi summons Dark Magician. When the flashback ends, Kaiba summons Blue Eyes White Dragon and Yugi summons Dark Magician, creating an image similar to the tablet in the museum. As Yami Yugi and Kaiba return to the duel, they notice that both Egyptian God Cards have been destroyed. But with renewed zeal for winning, Kaiba manages to summon his Blue Eyes White Dragon, while Yugi summons the Dark Magician.

#23 - The Final Face Off (Part 1 of 5)

Season 3 - Episode 41 - Aired 12/24/2002

Yugi is now all that stands between Yami Marik and his sick, twisted desire to rule the world. Even though Yugi has two Egyptian God cards, Obelisk the Tormentor and Slifer the Sky Dragon, his chances at defeating Yami Marik's Egyptian God card, The Winged Dragon of Ra, are slim. However, Kaiba has given Yugi a magic card which may be what he needs to take Ra down, Fiend's Sanctuary. Of course, Kaiba still doesn't believe in his ancient past, but Ishizu thinks he'll be proven wrong soon enough. Yami Marik decides to make their duel a Shadow Game, but there's a lot at stake. If Yami Marik loses, Mai Valentine, and Yugi, who has been taken captive, will be freed but Marik will be gone. If Yami Marik wins, not only does Marik disappear into the shadows, Mai and Yugi as well. Without Yugi, Yami Yugi will cease to exist. Either way, Marik goes bye-bye. Early in the duel, Yami Yugi is already down to 3300 life points, but Yugi still encourages him to keep fighting. Yami Yugi manages to preve

#24 - So Close Yet So Far

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 8/20/2002

As Noah tries to take stock of his defeat against Yugi, he and the others are shocked to discover that Gozaburo Kaiba has also downloaded his mind into the Virtual World and that he is the mastermind behind Noah's plan and that he is planning to take over the world by digitizing the entire world. While Yugi and the others try to convince Noah to release them from their virtual prison to warn the rest of the world, he has other plans as he leads their minds through memories of their Battle City experiences.

#25 - Merger Of The Big Five (Part 1 of 3)

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 6/18/2002

Noah is deciding on how to punish the Big Five,when Nezbitt shows up in Tristan's body.Noah decides that if they all use Tristan's body and beat Yugi,they can have their bodies.When the Big5/Tristan shows up,Kaiba leaves to find Mokuba.Joey wants to fight as well,so the Big5 get 8000 Life Pts.Gansley starts off with a Legenday Ocean and Legendary Fisherman.But after Gansley starts losing his edge,Crump takes control.After his Ocean and Fisherman are destroyed by Joey,Yugi uses Card Destruction,so Crump can't resummon Fisherman with Monster Reborn.Johnson then takes control,and we head back to Kaiba,who can't believe Noah's his step-brother,because not only has he never seen him before, but he hasn't aged in 6 years. As Kaiba comes to a virtual temple ruin,he looks down and see building designs that he created,but has never shown to anyone...