The WORST episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Every episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters!
Follows the adventures of high school student Yugi, who has a magical secret that comes to life when he plays his favorite card game: 'Duel Monsters.
#1 - Fighting For A Friend (Part 5 of 5)
Season 4 - Episode 29 - Aired 10/1/2003
As Yami Yugi, Tea, and Tristan continue searching and Kaiba and Mokuba fight off swarms of Orichalcos Soldiers, the duel between Joey and Mai continues. Joey again tries to convince Mai that she should stop, but it doesn't work. The duel continues, and Mai continues to have the upper hand. Joey finally draws his Claw of Hermos and uses it to create the Red Eyes Black Dragon sword. Victory seems in his hand, but Mai makes quick work of his sword with her Harpy's Feather Duster. Things look hopeless for Joey as Mai begins her final assult. She is ready to attack his Life Points and end the duel, but she stops. She begins to remember all the good times she and Joey had and all the times Joey protected her from danger. But at that moment, Joey begins to collapse. Mai rushes towards him, but it's too late. As the seal closes in around them, Joey tells Mai that he's glad her soul is safe and pushes her out. As the Seal takes Joey's soul, Mai screams and her Orichalcos shard shatters. Dartz s
#2 - Burying The Past (Part 2 of 2)
Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 8/27/2002
Realizing what a mistake he is making in destroying the minds of the closest things he has to family, Noah returns to the control room in order to shut off the destruction procedure only to discover that Yami Marik's interference has left the controls unusable. Reconnecting to the Virtual World, Noah informs the others of the escape in the Domino Arcade, but as the others make their way to the exit Yugi heads to KaibaCorp's headquarters to retrieve Kaiba, who is still locked in battle with Gozaburo's Exodia Necross. With the time ticking down until the island is destroyed, a race against time begins as both duellists fight to make it out in time and in one piece.
#3 - Back To Battle City (Part 1 of 3)
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 9/3/2002
As Kaiba Craft 3 arrives at the location of the finals, all the passengers are shocked to discover that the four finalists will be deciding their own pairings for the semi finals in a four way duel. With each duellist seeking a different opponent, strategy and teamwork seems paramount in what could be the most significant duel of the tournament.
#4 - The Darkness Returns (Part 1 of 4)
Season 3 - Episode 28 - Aired 10/8/2002
Joey enters bravely in his match against Yami Marik. Marik informs Joey that this is a shadow game now, but Joey says he's willing to go through with it, and that he will make Marik pay for what he did to him and Yugi(taking control of Joey)and the pain he's caused Mai. Marik toys with him by playing a card that will take a card from Joey's hand every turn and discard it. Does Joey have a chance of beating Malik before he runs out of cards, or has his best cards discarded?
#5 - The Darkness Returns (Part 3 of 4)
Season 3 - Episode 30 - Aired 10/15/2002
With Yami Marik's Lava Golem on his side of the field, things look bad for Joey. He has to give up 700 Life Points for each turn it's on the field, and since this is a Shadow Game, he'll feel the pain of the Lava Golem's heat. However, Joey overturns the situation by summoning Gilford the Lightning and gives Marik a run for his money. However, Joey's happiness is short lived, as Yami Marik uses Monster Reborn to summon The Winged Dragon of Ra. He then sacrifies 1000 LP to transform it into the Egyptian God Pheonix. Although he won't lose any life points from its attack, the pain of Ra's flames may be too much for Joey to survive through...
#6 - Clash In The Coliseum (Part 1 of 6)
Season 3 - Episode 32 - Aired 10/29/2002
The duel between Yugi and Kaiba begins with Kaiba using the virtual reality system to make the image of a giant Coliseum appear around the duel field. Yugi starts with Queen's Knight in defense mode and one card facedown. Kaiba summons X Head Cannon and sets one card facedown. Yugi summons Alpha The Magnet Warrior in defense mode and sets another card. Kaiba plays Soul Exchange so that he may gain control of Yugi's monsters and sacrifice them to summon Obelisk The Tormentor, but Yugi uses Change Of Heart to gain control of Kaiba's X Head Cannon, but Kaiba uses Enemy Controler and pays 1000 Life Points to regain control of X Head, so Yugi uses Lightforce Sword to seal Obelisk out of the duel for three turns before Kaiba can summon it. Kaiba ends his turn, then Yugi sets one card and ends his turn. Kaiba then summons Y Dragon Head, then fuses it with X Head Cannon to summon XY Dragon Cannon, which attacks and destroys Alpha. Kaiba then plays Mandate Of A Heavenly Voice, allowing him to s
#7 - Clash In The Coliseum (Part 6 of 6)
Season 3 - Episode 37 - Aired 11/19/2002
As Joey wakes up in the hospital bed, the duel continues. Kaiba plays his Final Attack Orders trap card, meaning that all of Yugi's and Kaiba's monsters must be in attack mode for the rest of the duel, and that they must take 3 cards out of their deck to play with and throw the rest into the graveyard. And after that, Kaiba plays Monster Reborn to revive the Blue Eyes white Dragon and plays Polymerization to fuse them all together into the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Yugi mimics this move, by playing Double Spell. He revives Buster Blader and fuses it with Dark Magician to form the Dark Paladin. Kaiba attacks, but Yugi plays Diffusion, forcing Kaiba's Ultimate Dragon to split into the 3 separate Blue Eyes. Using this, Yugi can power up the Dark Paladin to 4900 attack points. Yugi follows by playing Diffusion Wave Motion, which allows him to attack all the monsters on his opponents field with one monster. The Dark Paladin destroys the 3 Blue Eyes White Dragons and Kaiba's Life Points dro
#8 - Battle For The Bronze (Part 2 of 3)
Season 3 - Episode 39 - Aired 12/10/2002
The duel between Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba continues. Kaiba takes out a significant number of Joey's life points, but suffice it to say, Joey doesn't give up. He rallies back in a big way, managing to not only destroy Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon, but also to use Monster Reborn to bring it to his side. However, Kaiba summons another dragon, making it a showdown of Blue Eyes vs. Blue Eyes. While all of this is happening, Tea, still possessed by Marik, goes to the top of the Duel Tower, to reclaim his body. Yami-Marik is still wondering why the Millennium Rod won't always work for him, just as she arrives and takes the Rod back. A brief struggle ensues, but Yami Yugi senses what's happening and goes to investigate. Yami-Marik decides not to attack Yami, wanting to wait until it's time for them to duel.
#9 - The Final Face Off (Part 3 of 5)
Season 3 - Episode 43 - Aired 1/14/2003
As the concluding duel to Battle City rages on, things are looking good for Yami Yugi. His newly summoned Egyptian God card, Obelisk the Tormentor (4000/4000), has taken a big chunk of Yami Marik's Life Points; 4000 to be exact. Despite the major blow, Yami Marik isn't too worried, reminding Yami Yugi that it's Marik who suffers as a result. Marik, with whatever power he's got left, goes to a still-unconscious Odion. He apologizes for everything he's done, but remembers why Odion stood by Marik to begin with, to control the evil within. Odion knew what Marik was doing was evil, but Odion has protected Marik since he was born, even undertaking his own painful ritual to prove his loyalty. Marik could never repay him for all he's done, and he realizes his time is up. He says goodbye to Odion. Back in the Shadow Game, Yami Marik activates a trap card, Metal Reflect Slime, which creates a copy of Obelisk, with a DEF of 3000. Yami Yugi sets a card and ends his turn. Yami Marik brings out Rev
#10 - The Final Face Off (Part 4 of 5)
Season 3 - Episode 44 - Aired 1/21/2003
Yami Marik could very well be on the verge on defeating Yami Yugi. On his next turn, he will activate Monster Reborn, allowing him to once again revive The Winged Dragon of Ra from the Graveyard. However, Yami Yugi won't give up, as he is convinced he can win the duel and save Marik from the Shadow Realm. He also has the Egyptian God Slime to worry about. Yami Marik lays a card face-down and summons Swallowtail Spike Lizard (1900/700) in defense mode. The card will grant Yami Marik 1000 Life Points each time his turn begins. Joey realizes that Yami Yugi is in a dilemma. If he attacked, Marik's good side would further disappear into the shadows. Joey then remembers it's Marik's fault this is happening to begin with. Marik, still in possession of Téa's body, tells him he was trying to help Yami defeat Yami Marik, but Joey is still angry and demands Marik leave Téa's body so the duel can continue. Marik apologizes for what's happened. He returns control to Téa. Marik knows that Yami won't
#11 - The Final Face Off (Part 5 of 5)
Season 3 - Episode 45 - Aired 1/28/2003
As this starts, Odion continues to try to go to the duel tower, but Yami Marik laughs and says that even if Odion is awake, he won't change places with his other self. As Odion reaches the duel tower, he talks about how the Ishtar family has suffered a lot and that how Yami Marik sent his father to the Shadow Realm. Yami Marik tells Odion to be quiet, and then uses the Millennium Rod to throw his back. But then Odion gets up again, telling Marik that he is trying to seal him self in darkness. Again, Yami Marik throws Odion back with the Millennium Rod. Ishizu runs to Odion, and then Marik raises the Millennium Rod again, but then regular Marik combines with Yami Marik and makes the Rod fall. The two Mariks fight within the same body. Yami Marik screams. Marik tells Yugi to attack him quickly and says that he committed an unforgivable crime. So, using the effect of Ragnarok, Yami Yugi removes all the monsters from his hand, graveyard, and deck from play to destroy all opponents' monster
#12 - One For The Road
Season 3 - Episode 46 - Aired 2/4/2003
Determined to destroy the final remaining symbol of their foster-father's evil, Kaiba and Mokuba activate KaibaCorp Island's self-destruct system. However as KaibaCraft 3 prepares for take off the duellists are shocked to hear that the engine is still damaged from the escape from Noah's Virtual Fortress. With only a few minutes remaining until the island explodes, a desperate search for another means of escape begins.
#13 - My Freaky Valentine (Part 3 of 3)
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 5/6/2003
Although everyone is confused about Joey getting Hermos, he still wants to play it, hoping to somehow get his and Mai's Life Points down to 0 at the same time. Meanwhile, Duke arrives at main computer for Industrial Illusions and tries to hack into the security program. Back at the duel, Joey plays Hermos in combination with Time Wizard to create a small hammer thingy. Joey uses it, and succeeds in getting all of Mai's monsters off the field, then directly attacks her, sending her LPs down to 1400. Mai is afraid that she's going to lose, but suddenly Harpy's Pet Dragon reappars because of the hammer thingy's effect. Mai tries to attack, but Joey activates Skull Dice to prevent her attack. Mai panics, but suddenly Valon jumps down from the balcony and uses his Orichalcos shard to break the seal and stop the duel. Rafael scolds him, and then vows to make up for it by taking the Pharaoh's soul. He then uses his Orichalcos shard to make Mai, Valon, and himself disappear. At that moment, Du
#14 - Fate Of The Pharaoh (Part 1 of 3)
Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/20/2003
As Duke, Joey, and Tristan search for Yugi, Yugi arrives at his destination on Death Valley, ready to duel Rafael. As he walks onto the small plateau where Rafael is waiting, Rafael destroys the bridge behind them, meaning that both of them are trapped on the plateau. Rafael states that he's been looking forward to this duel so he can save the world from mankind. Yugi is shocked by Rafael's views on life, but decides to duel. The duel starts out bad for Yugi as Rafael's magic card allows him to draw two cards every turn, while his life points are already down to 3900 because of Rafael's powerful Guardian monsters. Rafael proceeds to tell Yugi about his past, and about how when he was a child, Rafael was stranded on an island for 3 years due to a cruise ship accident. His family survived, but they abandoned any hopes of finding him alive, meaning he was trapped. Rafael was alone on that island for 3 long years with no one except for his cards: Guardian Grarl, Guardian Kay'est, and Guard
#15 - Fate Of The Pharaoh (Part 3 of 3)
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 6/3/2003
Because Yami Yugi activated The Seal of Orichalcos, his Timaeus card disappears because it can't mix with the power of Orichalcos. Angry, Yami Yugi summons many monsters to the field and is able to destroy Rafael's Guardian Grarl, meaning his Purity of the Cemetary card is destroyed. But Rafael plays Monster Rebirth, sending his Grarl card into the deck, proving that Rafael still doesn't want any of his monsters in the graveyard. Meanwhile, from some dark place, Yugi wakes up to see that his other self really did activate the Seal and started becoming evil. When Joey, Tristan, and Duke arrive outside the duel arena, Rex explains to them that Yugi got the Orichalcos card and played it, which Joey can't believe. Back to the duel, Rafael activates Swords of Revealing Light, stopping Yami Yugi's monsters from attacking for 3 turns. Yami Yugi shrugs it off and plays Catapult Turtle, which he uses to catapult his monsters at Rafael's life points. Although Rafael still has 100 life points lef
#16 - On The Wrong Track (Part 3 of 3)
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 7/1/2003
With their duels still unresolved, both Yami Yugi and Joey draw their Legendary Dragon cards at similar times and both summon them to the field. However while Joey successfully combines Hermos with his Red-Eyes Black Dragon, Timaeus vanishes as Yami Yugi summons it leaving him stranded with his main hope for victory gone. Nonetheless, Yami Yugi is determined to defeat Weevil and find out where Yugi's soul is being kept, but the pressure of the guilt residing within him seems to be growing stronger by the minute. Joey is able to defeat Rex easily with Hermos's power, but things look bad for Yami Yugi. He eventually wins using his Berzerker Soul magic card, but he's still no closer to finding Yugi's soul. At that moment, the train derails, and Yami Yugi, Tea, and Weevil's souless body go plummeting into a ravine.
#17 - Reliving the Past
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 7/22/2003
After his confrontation with Yugi, Yami Yugi is given little time to recover as Rafael arrives and informs Dartz. Dartz uses Rafael's Orichalcos shard to unseal an Orichalcos Soldier from its resting place. As a vicious battle begins, Yami Yugi gets a vision of the past, in which hundreds of Orichalcos Soldiers are fighting against an army of Duel Monsters, with Ironheart, Crhis, and Skye at its front. Back in the current time, the Orichalcos Soldier summons an Orichalcos Gigas to attack the Pharaoh. But the spirits of the Duel Monsters who fought there surround Yami Yugi and protect him. Yami Yugi uses his cards to fight the Orichalcos Gigas off, but it simply revives each time it's destroyed, and it gains strength each time it revives. As things begin to look hopeless for the Pharaoh, Ironheart decides that it's time to return Timaeus to him and runs down into the battlefield. Yami Yugi has another vision of the past, in which Timeaus appears and destroyes the entire army of Orichalc
#18 - Flight Of Fear (Part 2 of 2)
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 8/19/2003
The duel between Kaiba and Alister continues, and Alister summons the powerful Air Fortress Ziggurat, a card based of his brother Mikey's Dynadude action figure and resistant to both magic and trap cards. At the same time, Mokuba manages to navigate the plane above the mountain with some help from Roland and sets the auto pilot back on. Backed into a corner, Kaiba manages to summon his Blue Eyes White Dragon and destroy Alister's Ziggurat. Alister's still confident, because the plane will crash soon, causing the Orichalcos to absorb the souls of Kaiba, Alister, and Mokuba at the same time. Kaiba convinces Alister to give him one more turn to save his brother, and draws the Fang of Critias card, and creates the Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon with it, wiping out Alister's life points. Before he loses his soul, Alister is able to see the wrong in what he was doing. With some help from the Three Legendary Dragons, Kaiba manages to land the plane safely, right in front of Yami Yugi, Tea, Joey, and
#19 - Paradise Found
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 8/19/2003
As everyone flies off in Kaiba's chopper, they discuss Kaiba Corperation's takeover. However, Kaiba was able to get a group to Florida early, and has all of the information on the ruins of Atlantis on his computer. After sending the images to Professor Hawkins, the professor says that the images are too low-quality to view properly. So after meeting up with Rebecca, Duke, and the professor, Yami Yugi and Kaiba head to Kaiba Corp's main HQ to analize the data. Meanwhile, Dartz begins the second phase of his plan, and summons Orichalcos Soldiers all over the world. As Yami Yugi and Kaiba enter the KC building, they're greeted by an army of monsters. They eventually make it to the central computer and clean up the images of the ruins. Professor Hawkins is able to translate the data, and Kaiba recognizes the marks on the images as the symbol of Paradius, a huge corperation led by Dartz. Suddenly, the computer explodes and Dartz appears to taunt the Pharaoh and Kaiba. Meanwhile, Rebecca is
#20 - Fighting For A Friend (Part 1 of 5)
Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 9/2/2003
With Orichalcos Soldiers appearing all over the world, Yami Yugi and the others become more determined to defeat Dartz before he can destroy the world. But Joey was separated from the group when he followed Valon off to duel with him, and with Mai also hot on their trails. When their duel begins, Joey is surprised that Valon plays nothing but Armor monsters with 0 attack strength, but is also surprised when Valon uses his Big Bang Blow's special ability to destroy his monsters. Valon explains that he only attacks during his duels, and he's been that way all his life. They continue their duel.
#21 - Fighting For A Friend (Part 3 of 5)
Season 4 - Episode 27 - Aired 9/16/2003
Rebecca finally pinpoints Joey's location, and Yami Yugi, Tea, and Tristan run off to find him. At the duel, Joey is able to destroy Valon's entire suit of armor by combining his Claw of Hermos and his Rocket Warrior into Rocket Hermos Cannon. But Valon turns the tide again by cloning the Rocket Hermos Cannon with his Data Brain card and using it on Joey. Valon attacks Joey again, only to activate his trap card and summon the trap monster Aura Armor to Joey's field. Joey then activates Red Eyes Transmigration to turn his Aura Armor into a Lord of the Red armor card. With Valon shaking and amazed of Joey's strength, Mai finally arrives. Joey uses his Lord of the Red's special ability to destroy all of Valon's armor monsters again, which Valon counters by breaking up Joey's Lord of the Red into Red Eyes Black Dragon and Aura Armor. It's all going to come down to one last turn...
#22 - Fighting For A Friend (Part 4 of 5)
Season 4 - Episode 28 - Aired 9/23/2003
Valon activates Pheonix Gravitation, allowing him to revive 4 armor monsters to the field and equip them. Valon's victory seems ensured, but Joey turns the tables again and brings back Hermos and combines it with Valon's Big Bang Blow to form Big Bang Dragon Blow. The two armored duelists attack each other, and the outcome looks like a draw. But because of Big Bang Dragon Blow's special ability, Joey destroys all of Valon's armor monsters and reduces his LPs down to 0. Content with his defeat, Valon accepts his punishment. His last words are telling Joey to save Mai. With that, his soul is taken. Mai kneels next to his body and cries, but eventually returns to her evil self again and says he deserved it. Joey denies it and says Valon dueled like a true duelist. He challenges Mai to a duel, saying that's the only way he'll be able to understand her. Meanwhile, Yami Yugi, Tea, and Tristan are still having no luck finding Joey, and Kaiba and Mokuba get ambushed by Orichalcos Soldiers agai
#23 - The Master Of Magicians (Part 3 of 3)
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 7/3/2001
As the duel between Arkana and Yugi continues, both sides struggle to beat the other, pitting Dark Magician against Dark Magician. However, Yugi has a secret weapon in Dark Magician Girl. Meanwhile, Joey and the other's continue the search for the secret duelling arena.
#24 - Legendary Heroes (Part 1 of 3)
Season 1 - Episode 43 - Aired 2/20/2001
The traitorous board of directors of Kaiba Corporation trap Seto Kaiba inside his own virtual reality game. Mokuba recruits Yugi and Joey to free him from this ultimate game, where the cost of losing is death.
#25 - The Gauntlet is Thrown
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/25/2000
After watching Yugi's skill in his duel against Seto Kaiba, Joey becomes determined that he will also make it as a duellist and asks Yugi's grandpa to train him. As the rigorous training regime begins to pay off, Joey learns a lot about strategy when he sees how Weevil Underwood crushed his opponent Rex Raptor's more powerful monsters with the help of a few Magic and Trap cards. However the real tactics begin when Yugi is forced into a timed duel against the mysterious Maximillion Pegasus who seems able to predict his every move before he has even made it.