Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters Discover the Forgotten History on Its 25th Anniversary!
Preface: In this research official media such as Shueisha Shonen Jump, Konami, and Bandai Magazines, websites, books, Trademarks, etc. were used. Links to outside websites are to provide examples or to help reference back to original source information, and in no way are meant to endorse any such website, nor that they or people associated with them carry any expertise on the subject matter, such as wiki sites. Websites and such use the same source materials I used for my research. The root sources are from the makers/owners of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the manga, video games, and the card game. This is over 2 years of research.
CGC guarantees card authenticity. So don’t listen to people if they try to say otherwise. If anyone claims to be an expert, quiz them on their knowledge. If they claim to work for someone, get proof. Above all, always do your own research and other due diligence.
Yu-Gi-Oh! in Japanese means Game King, or King of Games. King of Games — Yugipedia — Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki
Originally, the name Yu Gi Oh 遊戯王 was first applied for trademark by Capcom LTD. on July 15, 1991. *1 Of which Kazuki Takahashi worked at the time designing panels for slot machines. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Volume 10 was released in October 1998 where we see the following.
It was then registered to Shuei Inc. until 1994. Then in 1998, it was applied for by Shueisha Corporation on Jan 28, 1998. Shueisha is also the producer of Jump Magazine. This information is found on the Japanese Patent and Trademark website https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/
Kazuo Takahashi, professionally known as Kazuki Takahashi, embarked on his journey with Yu-Gi-Oh by serializing the manga in Weekly Shonen Jump. In 1996, he changed his pen name from Kazumasa Takahashi to Kazuki Takahashi. The original idea behind Yu-Gi-Oh was to create a story that embodied the concept of Shonen manga, where battles were fought through games instead of physical combat.
http://taretare.s56.xrea.com/sugoroku/interview/mainichi_20080406.html
http://taretare.s56.xrea.com/sugoroku/interview/ajump_nl_20070910.html
Yu-Gi-Oh news was often referred to as Yu-Gi-Oh Koku 遊戯王国 in the early days of Shonen Jump, which means “Game Kingdom”. Yu-Gi-Oh was the name of the manga. Yu-Gi-Oh was not originally meant to have a card game, but the chapters with the card game concept became so popular people began calling and writing in asking where they could get the cards. Although imaged in the Manga in 1996, actual card design did not start until 1997 according to Mr. Takahashi. He said, “I started the Yu-Gi-Oh series in 1996, but it was in 1997 that I first took up card games. Originally, the card game was supposed to appear in only two chapters (Weekly Jump 50 and 51 1996), but the reaction from the readers was good, so we decided to continue.”
Jump No. 51 1996 — Cards with Fangs (Part 2) This story is based on MTG (Magic the Gathering), which is originally a demonic CG (card game), but the rules have been changed.
By 1998 the Bandai card set which was an earlier iteration of Magic & Wizards cards, stickers, and other card-like merchandise began to be released with various companies, and other non-OCG merchandise. We see some basic card ideas in the early manga and later in the anime intro and Episode 3 of the Yu-Gi-Oh Toei Anime, often referred to as Season 0. *2 The Bandai cards were known as Carddass 100 because they sold for 100 Yen per pack. Generation 1 & 2 appear to have both been reprinted with boxes existing with a 1998 and 1999 copyright. From the data available it seems Bandai Generation 1 released Apr. 04, 1998, Generation 2 magazines say late Nov. 1998, but other sources mention July. So, it may be possible that November was the period of the reprint with the 1999 copyright. Generation 3 was most likely released in October 1998, but some seem to also think Mar. 1999, but it’s possible that March was just a reprint.
There was also a 4th version that seems to have been made for Hong Kong or Taiwan. This version appears to have originally been planned to be in Chinese, but instead was released in Japanese. This was likely because of the licensing change to Konami and the decision to stop making Bandai cards. Bandai cards seemed to have little advertising. That combined with the hard-to-understand rules is likely what led to its poor sales and eventually Konami taking over the licensing.
Below I will exhibit an example of Bandai style card design from a 50th Anniversary Jump T-Shirt showing early Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards that exhibit they originally planned to design a Japanese, Chinese, and English version. Bandai had Japanese in Gen. 1, English in Gen. 3. This is also exhibited with the OCG Jump Lottery promos of Blue-Eyes and Dark Magician in those languages. Then also in the later Kaiba deck. There was also Japanese & Chinese Manga made by Tong Li Comics in Taiwan.
When the card game was created in the Manga it needed a name and became Magic & Wizards. Later it was also referred to as Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters which we see on the early prototype cards.
Kazuki Takahashi talks about how he designed Magic & Wizards cards, how they were created and then added to the Manga, Anime, and Movie later on. Theater & TV Anime “Yu-Gi-Oh” Super Complete Book Weekly
Shonen Jump Editorial Department, ed.: Published on May 30, 1999.
However, eventually, they decided to drop Magic & Wizards and chose to move forward with the name Duel Monsters. This was likely due to worry about being sued by Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) and Magic: The Gathering (MTG) as the name Magic & Wizards ( マジック & ウィザーズの )was a play on the words of those two. Early concept images in the manga and remarks show it was based on MTG, but it has since become its own thing. Here we see a response to the question of a fan in 2014. They ask: Why did Magic & Wizards become Duel Monsters? and the person responds with: “The name Magic & Wizards comes from the original TCG “MAGIC The Gathering” and its distributor “Wizards of the Coast”.” The game itself was allowed to be released because, unlike MTG, it had no substance at all. As expected, the name was a bad idea, so I had to change it.” Why did Magic & Wizards become Duel Monsters? … — Yahoo! Chiebukuro
WOTC ended up trying to sue them 25+ times anyway. One such case was over the name Blue-Eyes White Dragon. USPTO TTABVUE. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System They later sued them in 2002 over cards being called Magic cards and over the Magic Ruler set. Magic cards became Spell cards and Magic Ruler was renamed to Spell Ruler. USPTO TTABVUE. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System
Konami helped Shueisha develop the card game by recruiting Studio Hard (Nobuyuki Takahashi and his team) to develop its concept and mechanics. Konami held the trademark for Magic & Wizards *3 and both Shueisha and Konami hold Trademarks for Duel Monsters, with Shueisha owning the trademark for what we see on card backs as seen below, which they did not file for until Dec. 19, 2000, for that specific design. This is why the early cards have two different TM markings, for the separate trademarks.
The Magic & Wizards Trademark was filled for by Kiyoshi Miyauchi 宮内 清 on behalf of Konami on Dec. 03, 1998. Registration No. 4356030 マジック ＆ ウィザーズ or マジックアンドウイザーズ
Likewise, we see the same with the early games. In early Jump magazines, we see announcements for some of the games up to 14 months before their eventual release date.
The image above mentions Monster Capsule World, which I believe was what came to later be called Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule Breed & Battle since it mentions Play Station, which was released on the PlayStation One on July 23, 1998, Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule: Breed and Battle — Yugipedia — Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki. There was, however, a long-forgotten arcade game as seen below by the name of Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule, but it appears to have been released in 1999.
The first Duel Monsters game for Gameboy was released for sale on December 16, 1998, possibly a midnight release as early media mentions Dec. 17 as the release date. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (video game) — Yugipedia — Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki It seems that Duel Monsters for Gameboy was released twice. Most people know about the December 16, 1998, release, but before that, they had already been having tournaments and trial events. Konami’s SEC filing also says it was first released in July 1998. The release date had also changed a time or two. One early Magazine originally showed a Dec. 23, 1998, release date.
Jump 42 and 43 1998 both advertise for the Duel Monsters GB trial events with the image seen below. Jump 50 November 1998 Takahashi says: I was surprised at the scale of this year’s GB Soft “Duel Monsters” national tournament held at 100 locations nationwide!!
There was also an early contest in 1998 to design a card. The image below depicts the contest results with the winning submission [center]. This later became the card known in English as “Genin”, which translates from Japanese as “Juggler”. Genin became a card in the second mass-produced starter set in Japan that was released in March 1999 and was also included in the third starter box with Version 2 on it. It was then never printed again as a Japanese card.
In reality, the original Duel Monsters game was simply Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters with the Magic & Wizards portion removed, and the game mechanics were slightly changed. Below we see the early rule set for Magic & Wizards which only included Monster and Magic cards. In the first Duel Monsters GB game the life points had been changed from 2000 to 8000 during production and included more cards. In the game existed Monster, Magic, and Fusion cards, but it also had evolution cards. Evolution ended up not being used in the OCG and the Fusion was basic with two cards being combined without Polymerization, even though Polymerization had already been created and was featured in the Toei Poker cards and Bandai cards. Polymerization for Fusion in the OCG was released in the Theater Released Starter Box on March 06, 1999. The first two sets Vol. 1 (Feb 04, 1999) and Booster 1 (March 01, 1999) did not include Fusion monsters. Vol. 1 was released without any standardized OCG rule set, instead, the rules were to be those used for the DM GB game. Jump 11 1999 says “GB Duel Monsters is Konami’s official rules.” Booster 1 included some rule cards and was sold in Gachapon vending machines. We didn’t see the first Official Rulebook until the Theater Released Starter Box on March 06, 1999. By the first OCG Rulebook, there were 4 card types and by the second rulebook, there were 7 card types.
A lot of the early cards had multiple artworks done for them. Ones such as Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Dark Magician, and Flame Swordsman for example used for the same name, but as different versions. Takahashi mentions this was his standard method of creating Magic & Wizards cards. He would draw a variety of pictures of a monster and pick which one he liked. He mentions this in the “Theater & TV anime “Yu-Gi-Oh” Super Complete Book” published in May 1999.
Others, however, use the different art of the same creature, but sometimes slightly modified by color and given a different name. Some people refer to them as a recolored counterpart. This is also evident by some cards having in their name #1 or #2. Some of them had a counterpart, but then some of them never had a counterpart using the other number.
The above image is from Manga chapter 62 “Countdown!!" showing that by Dec. 1997 they were already creating the basic idea for attributes, although in the card games, it wasn’t used in the same manner, as the concept of the game evolved over time.
The work on Duel Monsters 2 for Gameboy Color and Shin Duel Monsters for PlayStation One appears to have overlapped quite heavily. They have almost the same card pools. Shin Duel Monsters has only two extra cards. DM2 (Dark Duel Stories) they were able to finish first because they’d already developed a similar Gameboy game to use as a starting point. For Shin Duel Monsters they had to create a lot of 3D graphics. Similarly, we see that they started work on DM2 almost immediately after DM1. Konami Magazine Vol. 11 Mar. 1999, as seen below, says work for DM2 had already begun and shows some images from the game. Since Vol. 10 had a cover date of Dec. 1998 this means work on DM2 had likely begun in 1998. Normally these magazines were released every month, but between Vol. 10 & 11 we see a 3-month gap. This gap was likely due to the name change for the card game, producing the changed cards, the tournament for DM1, etc.
Above on the right in Weekly Jump №36 1998 we see that the cards featured in Akamaru Summer Jump 1998 were a catalog of Magic & Wizards cards. Showing some of the cards being created. On the left, it shows more evidence of Monster Capsule Breed & Battle and Duel Monsters being designed at the same time. It also says that Duel Monsters is a Gameboy version of Magic & Wizards.
The front of Akamaru Summer 1998 says Introductory Project Magic & Wizards, full of rare cards. Below we see the mention of Electro Whip in the Sept. 26, 1998, Akamaru Jump #6 Summer WANTED! Magazine. *4 Electro Whip however was not used until Vol. 3 of the OCG which was released on May 27, 1999, and was never used as a Bandai card. The article itself is called, Magic & Wizards Duel Tactics: How to Win a Duel!! It also lists Dragon Capture Jar under Trap Cards, but in the Bandai Cards, it was a Monster card.
Below, we see that Akamaru Jump #6 Sept. 26, 1998, Summer WANTED!. also shows evidence that Capsule Breed & Battle for Play Station and Duel Monsters for Gameboy were being produced during overlapping time.
Above we see in Jump 37/38 combined issue and also in Jump 41 that Akamaru Jump Summer 1998 was Magic & Wizards cards which shows they began working on M&W cards around June/July 1998.
Above we see further evidence from Weekly Jump №40 1998 with an in-store date of Aug. 31, 1998, that Bandai Carddass and Magic & Wizards cards were being made at the same time. It says Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters what is it? The game is a perfect recreation of Magic & Wizards from the manga which is hugely popular.
Cards seen in Akamaru Jump #6 Sept. 26, 1998, Summer WANTED!. could not have been referencing the Bandai Carddass cards at all since they had been released already a month prior and the fact that we see some cards changed from Monsters to Traps, cards never used in Bandai, etc.
Below, we see an earlier mention of a game in Jump 18, 1998 that alludes to what later became this game as it mentions the characters in a new story and a completely new game in the purple area with a person and pen. The bottom left of the page also mentions a behind-the-scenes scoop of the game. Although this Magazine came before the Monster Capsule Breed & Battle release, it had to be referring to the GB Duel Monsters game, because it says, “new game”, and the other game was already in production by Konami as we see in Weekly Jump №24 1998. From other sources as well, we know the first game MCBB started creation in 1997.
Fourth image above, we see a Dragon Capture Jar monster from the Bandai cards. The first Duel Monsters game was a rebranded Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters. M&W used only Monster and Magic cards, but it evolved over time. The Bandai cards 2nd Generation introduces Trap cards, Magic cards, and Fusion. This also evidences the overall changes we see with the earliest test prints and helps evidence them being created at the same time as the Bandai cards. Along with the fact that the first OCG rulebook only had those 4 card types. Dragon Capture Jar was a monster in the Bandai cards and Amada stickers, then a Trap card in the earliest M&W test prints. In the Magazine it’s under Trap Cards and not a Monster in September 1998. Along with the black border on the cards which we see on the earliest test prints and later production cards, instead of the grey/silver border we see on the Bandai cards.
We see below an idea for Reaper of the Cards in Akamaru Jump #6 Sept. 26, 1998, Summer WANTED! which was not used until Vol. 3 of the OCG and was also an effect monster. Effect Monsters ended up not being added to the Rulebook until the 2nd OCG rulebook. This again shows the advanced development of cards before any sets or products were ever decided, which is also evident with the randomness of the earliest test prints.
With a cover date of Sept. 26, 1998, the magazine was available for sale on Aug. 18, 1998, which we see in the Jump 37–38 combined issue 1998 and would have also required a lead time of a month or two for its design and to get it out for printing. Thus, its creation started in June or July 1998 which lines up with everything else.
Below we also see Spellbinding Circle in Akamaru Jump #6 Sept. 26, 1998, Summer WANTED! Which was a Magic card in the Bandai cards, but the Magazine lists it under Trap Cards. Showing that in 1998 they changed it to a Trap Card. It then did not get used in the OCG until Magic Ruler in the year 2000. This also lines up with everything else and cards in the early video games sometimes not being used until a couple of years later.
This is also evidenced by the quick changes to the rulebook. The first rulebook only had 4 card types and was included with the Theatrical Release Starter Box with only 5000 available which was released March 6, 1999.
The mass-produced retail version (2nd Starter Box) came on March 18, 1999, and also included the first rulebook https://youtu.be/osImOJxVL1c?si=f1URoGyRSoFKKBqs. Sometime after the introduction of the Official Guide Starter Book in May 1999, the Starter Box was reprinted as Starter Box Version 2 (3rd Starter Box). The major difference was the introduction of the “Official Rulebook, 2nd Edition” which introduced 3 new card types and the newly introduced Expert Rules. Since they all used the 1999 logo on the rulebooks and boxes it means they likely would have been designed in late 1998 and shows how the card game concept continued to evolve over time and that things were planned out ahead of time. Cards and card types were designed in advance and later added to the game and rules once they were decided to be used in a set, as a promo, prize card, etc. A good example of this is Ritual Monsters. We know from the Manga that Black Luster Soldier was designed as a Ritual Monster and that due to time for Magazine creation, its concept creation as a Ritual Monster predates its release as a Normal Monster prize card.
Above, we see in Weekly Jump №24 1998 that Kazuki Takahashi mentions visiting Konami and seeing the production work on Monster Capsule Breed & Battle that released two months later. Below we see an example that the game had already been under production for quite a while.
Weekly Jump №45 1998 mentions the future release of the GB Duel Monsters game. This also happens to be the 2nd Anniversary celebration issue of Yu-Gi-Oh in the magazine.
Above we see that Weekly Jump №47 1998 with an in-store date of Oct. 19, 1998, mentions a Tournament for the GB Duel Monsters game that did not release until Dec. 1998. This means that they had planned the tournament out by at least Sept. 1998, if not before, if we factor in time to plan out the magazine, print, and distribute it.
The second rulebook included Ritual monsters. The earliest test prints include Black Luster Soldier and Black Luster Ritual as the first designed ritual card. This makes sense as it was first released as a Stainless-Steel Card for the winner of the Duel Monsters Gameboy National Tournament from Feb. 01 to Feb. 21, 1999, but Jump 47 1998 shows what appears to be the ritual version art with a bluer background. On the metal prize card, it appears to have had a more grayish background as we see on the early Konami calendar below, but this may also appear that way from it being metal.
We also see that Konami planned the Ritual version of the card early on. In the GET campaign in 2022 (Japan) we see the Ritual version, followed by the normal monster version in 2023 (Japan), and then the normal version again (US and Europe) with the Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards Sweepstakes in 2024 with a TCG back, all in Japanese. This appears to be a homage to the early cards. Konami would know their creation order better than anyone else, but both concepts were first created in 1998 based on available information. Both were also then released in 1999 as cards. We see time and time again this advance planning.
It first appeared in the Manga in Yu-Gi-Oh! Chapter 117 Jump № 12 1999 with a cover date of March 1, 1999. The magazine would have been for sale in Feb. 1999 with creation starting in Dec. 1998 or Jan. 1999, most likely.
We know the creation of the card predates even this, based on Takahashi’s default method of designing M&W cards because we know he would create the cards and art even before the manga. This means its design as a Ritual Monster would predate the release of the Metal Normal Monster Prize card for the first DM tournament in Feb. 1999. When it first appeared in the Manga and Anime it was also a Ritual monster and not a normal monster. It appears to have only been created, as of writing this, as a normal monster only 3 times as a physical card, but never with English text. It was also in some games, but most games from 2001 onward made it a Ritual monster, but there were a few exceptions.
All of the first Metal Prize cards were Ritual Monsters even though on the Metal Prize cards they were depicted as Normal. It’s unknown to me why Konami decided to create them as Normal monster cards for the Prizes because even their database shows them all as Ritual monsters. Perhaps it was due to ease of creation, to represent the cards from the DM GB game, or because of different teams being in charge of different products, but we may never know the answer for sure.
Konami first started making cards in 1997 with their first release around Sept. 1997, likely for their Konami Card Collection. Some of their first cards being metal cards for Tokimeki Memorial Vol. 1. This is most likely why the first Prize cards for Yu-Gi-Oh ended up being metal cards.
Above, we see Weekly Jump #47 from 1998 details the structure of the first tournament and its prizes. It also mentions that the winner will get a rare metal card being the only one in the world. This being Black Luster Soldier. This shows that the metal prize cards which used the same layout as the earliest Magic & Wizards test prints were being designed in or before October 1998 since Jump #47 1998 had an in-store date of October 19, 1998, and also took time to create, produce, and distribute.
This was also the tournament that Kanan the Swordmistress was given out to 400 attendees. This was a normal card with cardstock and not metal.
Black Luster Soldier ended up not being released as an OCG production card until Premium Pack 2 as a promo on Dec. 18, 1999, with the word replica on it as we also see on the earliest test print. These early test prints and magazines time and time again exhibit the design and creation of cards before cards were ever picked to be in a set, as a promo, prize card, etc. often up to 2 years or more in advance before their use as a card.
Above we see the two mass-produced Starter Box versions. The first is on the left (2nd Starter Box) and the second one is on the right (3rd Starter Box). The second one (3rd Starter Box) includes the 2nd rulebook, and it also says Version 2 on the box. The first two Starter Boxes included the first rulebook. The first Theater Released Starter Box had 5 cards that ended up not being included in the second and third starter boxes. The two later starter boxes likewise had 5 cards that were not in the first Theater starter box. They all included Blue-Eyes White Dragon and various other cards.
Weekly Jump №19 1998 Mentions for the 3rd episode in the Toei Anime, also known as Season 0 that the game will now be called Duel Monsters in the Anime and is exclusive to the anime and different from Magic & Wizards seen in the Manga. This is likely what later led to the changes from Magic & Wizards (Bandai cards) to Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters (M&W test prints) to finally just Duel Monsters (OCG production cards).
Jump No. 26 from June 8, 1998, with an in-store date of May 25, 1998, also mentions that Magic & Wizards is being changed to Duel Monsters in the anime. As we see in the videos available, they call the game Duel Monsters, but the back of the cards clearly show MW for Magic & Wizards and the Toei anime had already been released earlier in April of 1998. We also see in Bandai Carddass News 77 from 1998 a MW card back, but then in Konami LOOK Magazine 98 winter issue we see a card back more similar to the Capsule Breed & Battle and Duel Monsters promo card backs.
Below, we see that they were already working on the Gameboy game that was not released until December of that year but they had already decided to call it Duel Monsters. Eventually, they also changed the name on the cards to only Duel Monsters instead of using Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters.
In the graphic below we see that Konami LOOK Magazine (’98 Winter Issue) shows that the Magic & Wizards card game from the manga had been made into a Gameboy game called Duel Monsters. It also shows that they had already planned out the first tournament for it. *5
Konami LOOK Magazine (’98 Winter Issue) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
The second anime that was later released in 2000, which production had started on much earlier, also evidences the early prototype cards which were decided by CGC to be labeled as test prints. Below we see Solomon Muto from the second anime holding a square corner Blue-Eyes White Dragon with black name text, but notably with no card numbers or copyright. *6 We also see the use of black name text on later production common cards and even some later Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards in Structure Deck: Kaiba which was released in 2002 with card numbers KA-03, KA-04, and KA-05. We also see the black name text used on the 20th Anniversary Gold Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Below we see an announcement from Bandai Carddass News from November 1998 showing the latest cards that were available, 2nd Generation, with a large number of original illustrations only available in Carddass. It notes though that the ones imaged are from the first generation. It also mentions Capsule Breed & Battle on sale by Konami and a competition that was held on August 03, 1998, and mentions that a Gameboy software is also scheduled to be released, which we know now as Duel Monsters. It also mentions that they were planning a giveaway for cards that were not included in the carddass 100 product.
*It’s important to remember that in Japan a volume planned for the month M is usually put on sale 1 month before. So, in July you can buy the magazines of August. But older and larger Magazines may have taken more time. Smaller ones such as Carddass News likely required less time. They then also required a month or two to create and distribute before they could be bought.
A documented history from 鬼瓶・編集部日記 (xrea.com) speaking about an early editorial diary page from Jump’s website. Date of the original image is unknown.
“This is a diary edited by Yoshihisa Binko that was serialized in the early days of Jump’s official website.
Even though I say it was “published,” it was only a photo of the editorial diary page that was published in the magazine, so the bottom half is cut off.
Quoted from Weekly Shonen Jump: Issue 31, 1999”
“PWP (Popup Jump) Limited Editor’s Actual Status”
“I’m so passionate that today I’m having a meeting about the commercialization of “Yu-Gi-Oh!”!!
My opponent is the hottest man in the game industry, Satoshi “Simon Muran” Shimomura, Vice President of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (Japanese)!!!
The discussion between the two is heated!!
Today we’ll be checking out new card illustrations for Yu-Gi-Oh!’s official card game “Duel Monsters” and discussing the next card to be released!!
In place of the busy manga artist, the editors check the drawings of the products that will be commercialized and discuss product concepts.
On the contrary, for works that have been made into anime, even the scenario and storyboards are checked…”
Below we see that Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters cards were to be released Jan. 23, 1999, in Jump #6 dated Jan 28, 1999, but had an in-store date of Jan 04, 1999. Thus, putting its design back into 1998. These would be the later production cut Magic & Wizards cards. It also mentions that there are cards that were featured in the Duel Monsters Gameboy game. It also mentions that Booster Boxes are available at stores and that cards would also be available in Carddass vending machines from the end of February. It goes on to say that a Starter Box will be coming in March. Notably on the bottom right of the page it says, The cards are currently in production. This means Magic & Wizards cards were being made and designed before this. Likely as far back as May 1998 or as late as October 1998.
The Jump Magazines continued to show Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters cards along with a mix of later OCG Duel Monsters cards with a shorter copyright up until June 1999. Below I will share a few examples I came across. The March 1999 issue shows Magic & Wizards cards and a M&W Booster Box although they mostly covered up the Magic & Wizards logo with the black box of text, we still see the top of the M from it and the M&W second copyright of 1999 Konami on the cards.
Below is another product image, but I found this one online and am not sure exactly which magazine it’s in, but it appears to show where they had started to change things as it seems they changed the Konami logo possibly to the non-italicized one which started use in October 1998, but can’t be sure without a better image.
Now that we have established that the Magic & Wizards cards existed, let’s get into the details of the test print/prototype cards and how they were authenticated.
First, I will detail the different versions, how they are different, and include example images of each.
The earliest test prints have a 1999/Konami copyright. They are non-holo, non-glossy, and square cut. Some cards have versions with the black name text with small black text as well above the name on the cards, some also have a version with no name and small white text above where the name would appear, or no name at all. On later production cards, we see the small white text above the foil name that was added to the cards, or the cards with no small text with only a gold foiled name. The 1999/Konami copyright is also evidenced in the Tokyo Dome invitation letter as seen below. The images aren’t the best, but clearly show 1999/Konami at the top. The other Tokyo Dome items evidence the change to the later 1999 Konami copyright. The sticker page shows 1999Konami where the / was removed on the bottom, individual stickers and other items show 1999 Konami with the / removed and a space added.
Now I will show an example of the different versions of this test print version. The backs are the same on all of these as seen at the beginning of the article.
These earliest test prints have two pointy font TM’s on the back. Later versions have one pointy and one blocky TM fonts and I will also later include images of those respectively.
The pointy TM is present on many early products. First on the two different M&W test print versions, Shin Duel Monsters and various other packs (Tokyo Dome, etc.), structure decks, and products, but we first see that font used on Monster Capsule Breed & Battle which uses the earlier italicized Konami logo. Breed & Battle also exhibits the different font used on the earliest test prints for Yu-Gi-Oh! with a blocky ! We see the use of the blocky TM and pointy TM on different products out to at least 2005. With the pointy TM out to at least Duelist Legacy Vol. 5 and the blocky TM on other packs as early as 1999 such as on OCG Vol. 1 packs. The Tokyo Dome Premium Packs from 1999 exhibit both TM fonts and both 1998 and 1999 Yu-Gi-Oh! Japanese character logos. 1998 no gradient and not filled in, and 1999 filled in and with the gradient. The first Duel Monsters GB game cartridge and box exhibit the blocky TM font. The cartridge uses the 1998 logo and the box/manual the later filled-in logo with no gradient, showing that the cards were in development during the game’s creation and that they changed the font during that time. This is also evident from the second M&W test prints with the use of one pointy TM font and one blocky TM font. Then after M&W was removed from the cards we were only left with the blocky TM font on the cards.
Here’s a link to the only current known seller with these authentic cards, from which I purchased my cards. Yahoo Japan
These earliest test print versions are printed at nearly twice the resolution of the later test print versions and later production versions. They are all clearly printed using high-quality offset printers using CMYK and I will include images and videos showing that they all were printed using multiple color layers and include a video about the printing process.
Modern play test/test print cards exhibited towards the end of this article, also exhibit the same features. A higher print resolution (even higher than the earliest test prints), the same style of black text, etc. Cards over time also exhibit different print profiles as they seem to change quite often. This is something determined each time a card is designed, and printing plates are made. It seems they basically never reused printing plates. Some print profile changes line up with the different layout changes from different card “generations”. Cards also exhibit that things were not always the same size. Some cards have different-sized Attribute symbols, etc.
Rich Black was used on the Breed & Battle, Duel Monsters promos, and earliest test prints. The participation cards from the first Duel Monsters National Tournament exhibit both Rich Black and Standard Black showing where they were deciding on print changes in 1998. Some areas of these cards notably only have a layer of blue under the black, while other areas have all colors. Later test print and production cards appear to use Standard Black (also called Plain Black) for fine detail and text but use a second pass of black to make sure they are filled in more. But larger areas and attribute symbols mostly use Rich Black. This is why under a microscope we see what is known as “Ghosting” on early card attribute symbols and also because of alignment issues between the printing plates.
The use of Rich Black on the Capsule Breed & Battle promos and Duel Monsters GB promos further evidence the earliest test prints, as they also use Rich Black, but the Calendar card (made nearer to the Duel Monsters GB games release and was included with the game) and participation cards from the first Duel Monsters National Tournament from Feb. 1999 used both. All of which use a 1998 copyright. This evidences that the change occurred in 1998.
This is also why cards, such as we see below, appear to have much less shading on the later production card, although it appears that way, in reality, they just switched from Rich Black to Standard Black in a lot of areas and removed a lot of the black from the cards in areas it wasn’t needed. Other cards such as Flame Swordsman they later made darker in appearance.
Capsule Breed & Battle and Duel Monsters Promo cards do not have white dots in the blue lettering on the cards, as some seem to have thought. Rather it is cyan dots and the black showing on top of the blue is indicative of multilayer printing with Rich Black, which then helped me understand that was also what I was seeing on the earliest test prints.
Next, we have the uncut production version of the Magic & Wizards cards. These are larger uncut cards with the 1999 Konami copyright, and they have a UV protectant layer.
Then lastly, we have the production cut Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters cards. These cards have the UV protectant layer as well, or as some refer to it the gloss layer. They also have the normal production cut corners.
Please watch the following video for how Offset Lithographic printing works. CGC informed me that none of these cards could have been made without the original equipment, printing plates, image source files, ink, program, etc. especially considering some of the earliest test prints art have slightly different positioning compared to later cards, but some are also the same as later cards.
Below we compare an EX-R Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and a square cut 1999/Konami Magic & Wizards test print. Blue-Eyes at a 2400 DPI scan and the test print at a 3200 DPI scan since it’s printed at a higher resolution.
In the images above under microscope examination, we see that the cards are both indeed multi-layer printed. Both show that black is on top and was printed last, but we can also clearly see bleed-through of the other colors under the black. We also see under the same magnification of 4X that the test prints have a higher print resolution. We also see the black pops more on the earliest test prints compared to later test prints and production cards, which are duller although they appear filled in better. This is indicative of Rich Black vs Standard Black.
The rosette pattern and color layer alignments match up. Thus, showing that out to at least EX-R, they were still using the same angles of alignment for the color layers. This can be seen in further detail below in the videos using a microscope.
Below are a few examples of the earliest test prints on the right, next to their later production counterpart on the left, showing how on some cards the art differs slightly in the positioning of the art.
The above cards are specifically from the Magic & Wizards storyline in the Manga. The production versions were sent to players to invite them to participate in the 1999 Tokyo Dome tournament and were required to be brought with them along with their invitation letter to participate. The Tournament itself also aligned with the Magic & Wizards story, as did most of the early games.
I was informed by CGC that these different Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters cards all passed their XRF spectral scans meaning that the ink composition 100% matched chemically to later production cards. With the use of different wavelengths of UV fluorescent light to analyze each color layer, each color ink layer matched exactly with production examples of the cards I took to them for testing, regarding angles of alignment for the color layers.
If you want to learn more about CGC’s testing methods, see their articles. Counterfeit Card Alert: Test Print Blastoise | CGC (cgccards.com)
All versions share the same card stock and possess the same tactile feel. The earliest test prints lack the UV protective layer found on later Magic & Wizards production prototypes and production cards. Thus weighing 0.05–0.09 of a gram less. Uncut cards weigh more but weigh the same when their uncut size is factored in. They all line up as well for card thickness 0.11mm for non-holo (same as Bandai cards) with holo cards being 0.03mm thicker. English cards use an even thicker card stock than early Japanese cards. They were also consistent in the thickness of the card stock, tactile feel, and flexibility. Later Japanese cards some use a thicker card stock, but I have not yet determined the period of the card stock change.
See below to learn how XRF scans work.
Next, I will include some images/videos under the microscope of a Duel Monsters promo Dark Magician showing the printing dots and do my best to explain how the multi-layer color printing works. I will then show examples of each of these cards and also later OCG Duel Monsters production test prints.
The Dark Magician Duel Monsters promo printed by Konami below and its analysis video shows multi-layer CMYK color printing with black being last as it’s on top of all other colors. The ink is offset at specific angles for each color layer of dots. The compound microscope I used gives an inverted image. Standard Black is more suited for small text and fine detail, but Rich Black is better on black backgrounds or large and bold fonts. Rich Blacks have a deep tone that pops from the page, while regular black can appear flat, muddy, or dull. The areas of text and such on production cards that use Standard Black appear to use a first pass of Rich Black and then a 2nd pass of Standard Black so it appears more filled in. This second pass though is not used on test prints which is evidenced on the first M&W test prints and even modern play test/test print cards. However, I have not yet had a chance to analyze the other test print version with the foil which seems to be a final test print before production which is seen later in this article.
Next, we have the CGC 10 test print Blue-Eyes White Dragon and its video below.
Early products such as this Not For Sale Shitajiki seen below, exhibit the same print style. Multiple of these early 1998 items are printed this way.
Below is an example of a later OCG production test print, Left Arm of the Forbidden One, otherwise known as Exodia, this one had to be done sideways because of the case size hindering my view with the microscope.
Next, we have another of the earliest test print examples to show they all exhibit the same detail and share the same rosette pattern and angles of color alignment of the other cards.
Next, we have an example of an Uncut Production Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters test print.
Next, we have an example of a Production cut Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters test print.
Below we see images comparing the 3 different Magic & Wizards test print types to the known counterfeit Dark Magician Girl. In this particular example, we are comparing the logos on the back of the card.
Above we see a fake Dark Magician Girl example with a blurry rosette pattern on the left. The color of the logo is wrong, the Yu-Gi-Oh Japanese logo is too small and again the wrong color, the Duel Monsters Japanese logo is also the wrong color. On the right we have an example of one of the earliest square cut test prints that is printed at a higher resolution and two pointy font TM’s. We also see the earliest test prints are printed at a higher resolution than the later version test prints.
Above we have an example of a fake DMG card on the left and a real Uncut Production Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters card on the right. We again see with the fake DMG girl the rosette is blurry compared to the real card. The logo on DMG is too small and again the wrong colors. On this version and the production cut version we also see that they changed the bottom TM for Duel Monsters from a pointy font to a blocky font. Later when Magic & Wizards was removed from the cards the pointy TM font was lost to the cards, but was still used on things such as the Tokyo Dome Premium pack (which evidences both TM fonts and both logos, the 1998 and 1999 logo) and also games such as Duel Monsters II: Dark Duel Stories which released July 8, 1999.
*It should be noted that I just call it the 1999 logo, but it began use sometime in 1998 and likewise the 1998 logo is seen some up into 1999 and even into 2000 for products that likely started production in 1998, especially with video games.
Above we have an example of a fake Dark Magician Girl on the left and a real Production Cut Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters card on the right. Again, we see the logo is too small, the colors are wrong, and the rosette is blurry. Dark Magician Girl also lacks the greenish colored shading in the light-yellow areas on the back, but it is present on the real test prints and later production cards.
Below is an example of the Tokyo Dome Premium pack.
Above we see the Tokyo Dome Premium Pack that evidences the 1998 logo in the middle front which doesn’t have a gradient, isn’t filled in on the right side and is smaller than the later 1999 logo. We also see the pointy TM font evidenced. At the top front and back front we see the 1999 logo and on the back and bottom front we also see the blocky TM font evidenced.
Above we see the Duel Monsters 2: Dark Duel Stories promo cards which exhibit a much more rounded corner like we also see was considered for the cards in some of the early magazines. We also see the pointy TM font evidenced on the back and the 1999 Konami copyright on the front. However, on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Japanese logo we see they filled it in, but still had not yet added the gradient. This appears to have been done in late 1998. The box for the game however still used the earlier 1998 logo that was not filled in. Meaning the box was likely designed earlier in 1998, prior to these cards. The box logo appears to have been updated though before release. But it may be possible that boxes with both logos could exist. The game cartridge itself uses the earlier not filled in logo. Below we see examples of the two boxes.
Above we see a 1998 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters postcard with the blocky TM font. This evidences that the earliest test prints would have been made in 1998 before the use of the blocky TM font and it also evidences the 1998 logo in use after Magic & Wizards was removed showing evidence that the uncut and cut production Yu-Gi-Oh! Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters test prints were also likely made in 1998 even though they all have a 1999 copyright. The use of the 1999 copyright on the cards made in 1998 was likely due to the planned release date. We see the same thing in other TCGs such as Pokémon, etc. with cards sometimes having the next year’s copyright on them at release.
Below is a lineup of a few different Flame Swordsman examples. A production version, production No Name test print, and an earliest Magic & Wizards No Name test print.
Above we see an example that even when they started making the Duel Monsters production cards that they still ended up making design changes which would require new printing plates. Font thickness and color changes.
Here’s a couple more examples of the earliest test prints next to their production counterparts.
Jump Magazine #5 1999 also evidences the difference in the early test prints copyright fonts as seen below, showing that in 1998 the font looked slightly thicker and used a smaller C in the copyright which is also evidenced on the Duel Monsters promo calendar card imaged above. It also shows the 1998 logo and blocky TM font again evidencing that the earliest test prints would have been created in 1998 since they do not use the blocky TM font, but the 2nd M&W Duel Monsters test prints do.
The first PlayStation game Shin Duel Monsters (known as Forbidden Memories in English) also evidences that the Gameboy Duel Monsters game was Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters. Because Shin means True, so the name translates as True Duel Monsters and we see the first cards in a game like we ended up with in the OCG. Shin Duel Monsters was released in Dec 1999 and would have been in production in 1998 as we see they had not yet added name text to the attribute symbols. The case of the game though when the game was released the card Yugi is holding does have it.
Above we see in Shin Duel Monsters in the background there is a sign that says Kaiba Corporation Duel Monsters Tournament in Tokyo Dome, but the game didn’t release until Dec 1999. That also shows that they had planned the Tokyo Dome August 1999 tournament in advance during the early stages before this game began production and the game ended up not being released until after the Tournament had already happened.
Shin Duel Monsters also evidences that they had designed/created cards before deciding what sets they would be included in. We can tell this from the included cards in the game. For example, Catapult Turtle which was not released until Vol. 7 of the OCG in Jan. 2000, Maha Vailo came in Magic Ruler in April 2000, Megamorph came in Pharaoh’s Servant in July 2000, Jinzo #7 came in Revival of Black Demons Dragon in October 2000, and King of Yamimakai came in Metal Raiders in Feb. 2001.
When it comes to Metal Raiders it only included two unique cards. King of Yamimakai and Blue-Winged Crown were both included as cards in Shin Duel Monsters. Every other card from Metal Raiders was a reprint from previous sets or promo cards.
This further goes to show evidence of the earliest test prints and goes out far enough date-wise of card design, before use as a production card meant for general release, to include the Jump Magazine promos of Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician Chinese versions that came in 2000 and the English Jump promo versions that released in 2001. We see the same thing with the earliest M&W Duel Monsters test prints later becoming cards that ended up in various early sets and promos, but at the time of creation of the earliest square cut test prints it appears no determination was yet made as to what they would be included in as far as future products and the cards are also fairly random with no entire set existing in the test prints seen so far.
This is more strongly implied by Tokyo Dome appearing in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters II: Dark duel Stories — Yugipedia — Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki which was released before Shin Duel Monsters on July 8, 1999, before the Tokyo Dome tournament and played at the tournament. This also shows that the tournament was planned out when the game was being created which based on the available information spans back to 1998.
Above we see the case for Shin Duel Monsters which also shows the early concept of cards with much more rounded corners. It also evidences the earlier 1998 logo, pointy TM font, and 1999 Konami copyright.
There’s also examples of later uncut sheets with no names for cards that would later receive a foil name such as an EX and EX-R Starter Box sheets. Below we see an example of an uncut EX Starter Box holo sheet with no names.
The EX Starter Box was also reprinted with different copyrights around the same time Vol. 4 to 7 was reprinted with the new copyright right before the eye of Anubis was added. This was done to cards designed/released after Apr. 20, 2000. So, the reprint was sometime between Jan. and April 2000.People often refer to the changed copyright as the “Studio Dice” copyright.
This however is not the case for cards designed/planned out prior to this period such as the Weekly Shonen Jump Asian-English Blue Eyes White Dragon & Dark Magician, the Chinese Jump promo Blue Eyes White Dragon & Dark Magician, or the Japanese Jump Festa 2000 Blue Eyes White Dragon. Some of which didn’t release until 2001 such as the Asian-English promos, but never got the Eye of Anubis hologram.
Below is an example of an uncut error sheet with Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 printed together from Uncut Sheet Vol.1 & Vol.2 Double Printing Error — [Yu-Gi-Oh Error Card Mania Blog] (hatenablog.com)
Errors seem to be fairly common for the early Volume cards. They seem to have been rushing to get product out after they decided to change the name from Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters to just Duel Monsters. Above we see an example of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 printed together which again evidences the rushed nature of the early production after the name change.
Above we see that the Toei Anime Fair Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie Pamphlet also exhibits that Bandai and OCG cards were being designed at the same time. It mentions that the OCG cards are an evolution of the Bandai card game.
I also learned during my research that Konami subcontracted out the printing of the cards to Studio Hardware (also called Studio Hard) until 2001. Publishing producer Nobuyuki Takahashi said in his book that the production of “Yu-Gi-Oh OCG” until 2001 was done by Studio Hardware at the request of Konami. This is written in his book. Nobuyuki Takahashi, “Otaku Earning Secret Biography Nosho,” Yamanaka Kikaku, June 2017, pp. 53–55, 64–69. ISBN 978–4–434–23364–7
Nobuyuki Takahashi has also done work for some of these other companies: Bandai, Bandai Publishing, Tokyo International Anime Fair, Enix Publishing, Shueisha, Konami Publishing, Shogakukan, etc. Multiple of which were also associated with Yu-Gi-Oh! in the past and Shueisha being the owners of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Currently he runs Deluxe Co., Ltd. as a publishing editing and visual design team, Cyberdyne Inc. as a character product and rights management company, and Transmedia Inc. as a content and human resource development company. Deluxe Co., Ltd. (formerly Studio Hard Deluxe Co., Ltd.) has transferred all content rights of intellectual property IP produced between 1978~2018 to Transmedia Co., Ltd. and the goodwill rights to Studio Hard Co., Ltd. (newly established in 2018).
Studio Hard also produced some of the early Valuable Books and media for many companies.
Studio hard imported the card game system of Yu-Gi-Oh from the Magic: The Gathering. When Yu-Gi-Oh became a TCG in America, packs had the patent number from Richard Garfield/ WOTC printed on them until 2014.
The second anime “Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters” produced by NAS Gyaroppu began to feature scanned versions of actual products in the work, and the program itself became meaningful as a sales promotion for Yu-Gi-Oh OCG. This is according to the Japanese wiki. Meaning the cards in the Anime were scans of real cards with the card number, set number if they had one, and copyright edited to not show on the cards in the anime. The cards in the anime showed the latest release version. So, while some cards may feature a later series layout, others may feature an older series layout if they had not yet been printed in the new layout.
Nobuyuki Takahashi said “the staff and operations were later taken over independently by BrainNavi Co., Ltd.” which became Brain Navi Japan ブレインナビジャパン事業部. It was brought under Wedge Holdings CO., LTD. 株式会社ウェッジホールディングス.
In modern times Wedge - Unicorn Division and Hobby Division | Wedge Holdings Co., Ltd. (wedge-hd.com) do design and editing. Printing is now done by Japan Card Products Co., Ltd. (JCP) a subsidiary of Konami and Cartamundi. They have a business relationship where Cartamundi manufactures Yu-Gi-Oh! cards under license from Konami. Japan Card Products Co., Ltd. (JCP) was established on October 15, 2001. It was formed as a subsidiary of Konami Holdings Corporation, with a focus on the production of trading cards, including Yu-Gi-Oh! and other card-based products. Since its inception, JCP has played a significant role in manufacturing high-quality trading cards for various markets, including the domestic Japanese market and international markets. Konami subcontracted out the printing of the cards to Studio Hardware (also called Studio Hard) until 2001. Publishing producer Nobuyuki Takahashi said in his book that the production of “Yu-Gi-Oh OCG” until 2001 was done by Studio Hardware at the request of Konami. This is written in his book. Nobuyuki Takahashi, “Otaku Earning Secret Biography Nosho,” Yamanaka Kikaku, June 2017, pp. 53–55, 64–69. ISBN 978–4–434–23364–7. When the design/printing portion of Studio Hard was purchased from Nobuyuki Takahashi it eventually became separate entities in modern times Wedge Hobby & Unicorn divisions and JCP.
***This means that cards from the earliest M&W test prints from 1998 to now have all been produced by the same company even though the structure and ownership changed somewhat over the years. This means there is no way anyone could have ever gotten any printing plates, original image files, printing equipment, etc. and created any “fake cards” that pass knowledgeable scrutiny. Much less created cards like the earliest M&W test prints which are printed at a higher resolution than later M&W production test prints and later Duel Monsters production test prints and production cards. Especially with a clear rosette pattern. This is why actual fake cards always have a normal sized, but blurry rosette because they try to scan cards.***
“Because of our strong reputation in the industry, we are able to acquire licenses to use popular characters and images such as those contained in Yu-Gi-Oh!. Most sports-related licenses, which give us the right to use team or organization logos and trademarks, are non-exclusive. In other cases, we typically obtain exclusive rights. Although each product is different, in most cases, we produce, develop and design the product around popular content and subcontract the manufacturing to a third party.” Konami SEC Filling
This is further confirmed in the Manga in V-Jump Magazine August 2019 issue. Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures was drawn by Masashi Sato, who was in charge of drawing the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s, which was previously serialized. The duel concept is by Wedge Holdings Co., Ltd., a company that plans and produces card games. Structures features real cards instead of a Manga version, although they do use an older style card back.
Earlier history appears to be present as well in the Manga and Anime as references. Such as in Season 0 Episode 17 a character mentions Konami. A later episode seems to be a business meeting of executives, possibly referencing their meeting with Konami to further develop the card game. Other references may seem more obvious, but perhaps overlooked over the years. Such as Konami Corporation and Kaiba Corporation. Some of these references were perhaps Kazuki Takahashi’s way of incorporating a puzzle of his own creation into his works.
An interesting note: Nobuyuki Takahashi was also one of the people that helped create and popularize the term cosplay. When he attended the 1984 Los Angeles Science Fiction Worldcon. He also helped launch V-Jump magazine as he revealed in an interview.
Other early products made by other companies exhibit how the card game concept evolved over time. Such as Toei stickers, Sticker Retsuden by Amada, Top Seika gum, Bandai Carddass, Bandai Sealdass, Marusho, Konami’s 1998 Monster Capsule Breed & Battle promos and Duel Monsters promos.
***Based on all of this evidence I believe the earliest M&W test prints with the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999/Konami copyright were created sometime in July/August 1998, but more likely July than August. If we factor in time for the magazines creation and such. Especially if we factor for the new Konami logo they began using for products released October 1998 and onward, that was not italicized. We see the earlier Konami logo on Monster Capsule Breed & Battle promos, game, and game manual. The later Duel Monsters promo cards use the later non italicized logo. The Konami copyright text on the Breed & Battle cards were never italicized and used a thinner font for Konami. The Duel Monsters promos use a half bolded font for the Konami copyright and is also not italicized.
We can further confirm this through the print change of black in the Konami logo used on the Konami Magazines. They used the earlier style print on the Konami logo on Konami Magazine Vol. 9 and prior, but with the Konami logo change in Oct. 1998 they also changed the print style for the Konami logo on Vol. 10 1998.
From this we can clearly see the earliest M&W test prints used the same print style as the Konami logo on their Magazines prior to Oct. 1998. This was a clear design decision which they then changed for products released Oct. 1998 onward. The Magazine and cards also have a very specific printer Hicky with a specific shape that match. Given lead time for the Magazine this means the change was most likely made in Sept. 1998 to the new print style. Thus, the first M&W test prints likely began creation in July/August 1998, but more likely July as had been determined previously from other evidence, and the 2nd M&W uncut and cut production test prints started being made in Sept. 1998 right after the print style change, but may span into Oct.
This seems very likely based on Konami's presence at the Spring 1998 Tokyo Game Show with Monster Capsule Breed & Battle. Their participation in the Jump Summer Anime Tour ’98 screenings with Yugioh products alongside One Piece, Hunter X Hunter, and Seikimatsu Leader Gaiden Takeshi!
They were also present at the Japan 1998 Summer Wonder Festival (not to be confused with the US Wonderfest) on August 9th and later the Autumn 1998 Tokyo Game Show with Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters for GB. Kazuki Takahashi’s presence at the 1998 Tokyo Toy Show and Autumn 1999 Tokyo Game Show (documented, but he likely attended others) and Konami’s presence at the Spring and Autumn 1999 Tokyo Game show, and also at the 1999 Tokyo Toy Show. They had a kid's corner at these events for them to be able to touch and try products. They also had a mobile merchandise center for people to buy things called こなみるく Konami Miruku at these events. Konami would regularly show off items in advance and have trial sessions 試演会 or experience events. They would also refer to it as a display of prerelease goods. This has been a staple of their marketing since early on prior to 1998 and continues to this day with products. Modern Yu-gi-oh they have these trial deck events (deck experience session) 体験会 and the cards provided are supposed to be returned, but that doesn’t always happen, and some end up on the open market for sale. They lack the eye of Anubis, have a blank back, and exhibit the single layer black text just like the earliest test prints. There’s also a 2nd modern version that I was told was a color test (basically a final test run before production) these have full holo, foil name, eye of anubis and have a white rectangle on the back with yellow words that say SAMPLE.
Konami was also a sponsor for the 1998 Yu-Gi-Oh! Toei Anime as seen below.
The M&W packs in the Magazines having pricing on them. The timing of everything lining up, the Konami logo change, etc.
The Tokyo Toy Show (Mar. 18–22 1998) was held once a year so the dates of it would likely not line up with the M&W cards for 1998. So that points to it being likely they would have been exhibited at the Autumn 1998 Tokyo Game Show. Konami also attended a show in 1998 called Tokyo Character Show in August 1998, but I’ve yet to find any mention of this show having any Yu-Gi-Oh! related items. Very little information is available about this event since it stopped being held in 2005.
After further research I was able to confirm MCBB was exhibited at the Spring and Autumn 1998 TGS events. The Duel Monsters GB game and also likely the 2nd version Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters cards were present at the Autumn 1998 TGS.
The PlayStation magazine from Oct. 1998 shows that the Duel Monsters GB game was present at the Autumn 1998 TGS event and could also be played in the kids corner. It also shows they had events planned on the stage for Duel Monsters, but as it’s on the same page and does not mention being the GB game (for the stage events) it’s very likely they were referring to the cards, but at the time would have been the 2nd Magic & Wizards Duel Monsters cards. The various magazines about the Autumn 1998 TGS also mention prerelease items being there, trial version items, etc. On top of Konami also having a booth with items for sale, the 2nd M&W Duel Monsters packs having a price on them, etc.
We can also determine this time period by the matching C in the copyright exhibited in Konami Magazine Vol. 8 1998 that matches the earliest M&W test prints font as seen below. In the Magazine, we see it became bolded in the second part of the copyright, which points towards these earliest M&W test prints being from July over August 1998 given the lead time for the creation of the magazine.
The next issue before this one with a mention of Yu-Gi-Oh! was Konami Magazine is Vol. 6 1998. It shows both parts of the copyright being the same thickness, as seen below.
From this we can tell the change to half the copyright being bolded occurred between Vol. 6 and Vol. 8 1998 Konami Magazines or May and July 1998 when factoring lead time for the magazines. They also changed the font for the Japanese text in the copyright from Vol. 6 to Vol. 8 with the first Japanese character in Vol. 6 having a more rounded hook on the bottom right that we see is not present in Vol. 8 or the earliest M&W test prints and that Vol. 8 font and the M&W earliest test prints fonts are the same, just a smaller font size used on the cards. We also see more about this below with the Konami MCBB and DM promos.
We can further narrow down the timeline with the help of the Duel Monsters GB game questionnaire promo. This Seiyaryu promo uses the earlier italicized logo and the bolded copyright font. Weekly Shōnen Jump 1998 #42, released on September 14, 1998, announced that trial versions of the game would be playable at six stores in Japan on the weekend of September 26 and 27, 1998. It explained that attendees who answered a questionnaire would be presented with a “Seiyaryu” promotional card, “Seiyaryu” being a card Kazuki Takahashi designed for the game. Factoring in the lead time for the magazine this would place that cards creation in July/August 1998. Likewise, this lines up with the M&W cards being featured in Akamaru Summer Jump 1998 from Sept. 26, 1998. Factoring in lead time for this magazine as well places the earliest M&W test prints as most likely starting creation in July/August 1998. This also lines up with Konami’s SEC filing stating that the DM GB game released in July 1998.
Jump 50 November 1998 Takahashi says: “I was surprised at the scale of this year’s GB Soft “Duel Monsters” national tournament held at 100 locations nationwide!!” This provides more insight into the earlier trial release of the game that occurred prior to the retail sale release in December 1998.
Above we see in Akamaru Jump Winter 1999 another giveaway for some Seiyaryu Duel Monsters promo cards. More importantly though, we see artwork that was done for cards prior to their public sale release as cards. Which further evidence that art and cards were designed before it was decided what they would be used for. Be it in a set, as a promo, prize card, lottery cards, etc. Kairyu-Shin for example even had its color changed before production for public sale as seen below. Kairyu-Shin was not used until Booster 6, Thousand Dragon was not used until Vol. 6, Illusionist Faceless Mage was not used until Vol. 7 in 2000, Giant Soldier of Stone came in Vol. 3, etc. It also shows their attributes which was not included in the Duel Monsters GB game but was on cards.
Above we see items from a Duel Monsters GB trial event. With images of monsters from Capsule Breed & Battle, images of monsters from Duel Monsters, and both with the Duel Monsters and Gameboy logos. This shows that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon promo without Not For Sale on it and Monster Capsule Breed & Battle on the back, was actually given out for a Duel Monsters trial event. It also appears they gave attendees a copy of the Duel Monsters GB game. This would have made it so that people could have participated in the tournament events, that we know occurred prior to the public sale release in Dec. 1998.
***The second M&W uncut and cut production test prints with the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999 Konami copyright also began creation prior to October 1998 since the pack art features the italicized Konami logo which was replaced on products released October 1998 and onward. These particular cards were likely sold at the Autumn 1998 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) which occurred October 9–11 1998 at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Japan.
Jump №17 1998 with an in-store date of March 23, 1998, says “Soon, my game mentor, Game Master I, will be coming to Tokyo!! We’re going to play tabletop games!!”
Jump № 46 1998 with an in-store date of October 12, 1998, says: “The 2nd Strongest Battle Master Championship was a lot of fun!! The showdown at Tokyo GS (game show) is going to be exciting. Looks like it’s going to happen!!”
When we factor in lead times for these issues it places them both right before the Spring and Autumn 1998 TGS events. Spring TGS was March 20–22 1998 and Autumn TGS was October 9–11 1998. This also coincides with the ending of the first Yu-Gi-Oh Toei Anime known as Season 0 by many which aired its last episode on October 10, 1998. We know from people that attended the TGS events in 1998 that limited edition trading cards were available for sale.
“There was also a large area for the sale of goods. There were many limited edition goods for sale, and there were huge lines. The popular items sold out very early. The only thing I bought was the limited edition trading cards for Sentimental Journey.”
These events also coincide with the first two video games happening only months before their release and were likely exhibited at these events. With Monster Capsule Breed & Battle which released in July 1998 for Play Station and Duel Monsters which released for public sale in December 1998.
We also see in Perfect Master Book Vol. 2 that over 100 card types of cards had already been created in 1998 and on Jan. 22, 1999, when the book released it says they will soon be released. Which shows by this point they had decided to remove Magic & Wizards from the cards. The cards imaged use the 2nd M&W copyright, but notably they only call it Duel Monsters. We know this because the initial release was to be Jan. 23, 1999, as we learned previously.
Video exists from the Autumn 1999 TGS showing Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters Booster boxes and Starter Boxes for sale as seen below and a booth for Shin Duel Monsters. However, even in 1999 Yu-Gi-Oh seems to have been highly overlooked compared to other things at the event such as Metal Gear Solid, Dance Dance Revolution, etc. that were highly popular.
They then decided to change the name to just Duel Monsters, but because the Magazine for January had already been sent out for publishing, we see the Jan. 23, 1999, release date for Magic & Wizards. We know this because of the images of the Magic & Wizards pack seen below and also the image from Jump 6 1999 that we had seen earlier, that use the italicized Konami logo. The design on Jump 7 1999 also shows an earlier design on the pack than Jump 6 1999 with the earlier card back they used in the manga and for Konami Breed & Battle and Duel Monsters promo cards.
This firmly places all of the Magic & Wizards test prints as having started creation between July and September 1998, but production of the 2nd version Uncut & cut production M&W cards would have continued until they decided to change the name by removing Magic & Wizards, editing the logo to add the color gradient, changed the logo size, etc. This is also evidenced by their continued use of the Magic & Wizards cards in the magazines up into at least June 1999 which was 4 months after they had already released the changed Duel Monsters OCG cards without M&W on them. With the sudden and abrupt decision to change the name they clearly did not have time to create new images for use with the new copyright and logos right away. This is also evident with the use of the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999/Konami copyright on the Tokyo Dome invitation letter which was sent out to players around July/August 1999 and other Tokyo Dome materials using the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999 Konami copyright.
Below we see in Jump 33 1998 with an in-store date of July 13, 1998, that Takahashi speaks about Screen Tones which would have been used in the production of the Manga and cards. This 4-section articles which were in this Magazine and the 3-prior called Takahashi’s Trump Cards tells readers how to design Manga and Cards.
Above we see further evidence from Perfect Master Book Vol. 2 which would have been in production in 1998 with a release date of Jan 22, 1999. It shows more examples of cards with the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999 Konami copyright Magic & Wizards cards as well as stating that in 1998 more than 100 types of cards had already been created. Including rare cards and not just commons. In other magazines we see examples of Trap Hole which was a Super Rare, Gaia the Fierce Knight and Dark Magician which were Ultra Rares. This shows they had not decided what would be included in Vol. 1 until after they had already created the earliest M&W test prints which were fairly random and ended up being used in various sets, as promo cards, prize cards, lottery cards, etc.
***The uncut production test prints with the ©高橋和希／集英社 copyright would have came from various periods, but we know from the magazines that ones such as Flame Swordsman were being created at the end of 1998. Below is an example of one where they were testing the machine to apply the gold foil name.
This is important as it explains why we had earlier versions with and without names for cards with the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999/Konami copyright. The named version would have been used to scan and edit for the anime, the no name version as they were making production decisions and chose what cards would get foil names. We also see the transition of the small text from black to white, with cards that ended up using the white small text on production versions above the foil name. The cards were also used to check color and layout. From the magazines we also see they tossed around the idea of using white for the copyright on some cards, but ultimately stuck with black.
The uncut and cut M&W production cards with the ©高橋和希／集英社 ©1999 Konami copyright were likely used for playtesting and ramping up for production. Common and Rare cards exist. Super rare and Ultra rare cards also likely exist as they are evidenced in the Magazines.
A few things I noticed about the test prints:
— Gaia and Black Font Blue Eyes cards exhibit test print features, such as text color variations. The small font ended up being white on the production cards.
— Flame Swordsman test prints and production versions show color changes and differences in font thickness. The thick font version I believe to have come from the Theater Released Starter Box and the thin font version from the later mass-produced starter boxes.
— Some of the earliest test prints demonstrate the art being different. Showing slightly less of the art on some cards, Gaia the art is slightly moved down towards the bottom boarder and shows slightly more of the art at the top, Skull Servant they removed a lot of shading from the test print. While others such as Kanan the Swordmistress is exactly the same art and location as the later production card.
— The earliest test prints exhibit a higher print resolution (DPI) compared to later production test prints and later production cards, which could not be done without the original image files. The cards later used a lower print resolution for production to likely save on ink costs as it would use less ink.
— The earliest test prints use two pointy TM fonts, while the later ones use one pointy TM font and a blocky TM font next to Duel Monsters. This could not have been done without first creating new printing plates for the new font and the different copyright on the cards.
— The earliest test prints exhibit attribute symbols with different positioning, slightly larger size, and without as much errors (which is exhibited in early Magazines), or design changes that appear to have occurred when moving towards production and are present on the later uncut and cut production M&W test prints and later production cards. Especially noticeable on Earth, Water, Dark, Wind, and Fire attribute symbols when compared to the earliest test prints. The uncut and cut test prints exhibit the change on most cards and were likely caused due to a slip in image editing of the symbol but may have been by design. However, trap card symbols seem pretty consistent from the first test prints to today. As do Magic cards, which are now called Spell Cards. The change on Light attributes is the font was moved higher on uncut and cut test prints, later production cards, and shifted left.
2nd version M&W test prints Earth attribute cards though on some they forgot to change the location of the attribute symbol text, such as on Meotoko. This helps evidence the earlier M&W test prints.
Above we see an example from the 2nd Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime showing that Earth Attribute symbols were not designed to have errors and also appears to be the positioning we see on the first M&W test prints. We also see this in some of the early magazines. Rather it was originally meant to be solid black with white text. These errors or splotches in the black seem to have been caused from print issues and overtime was eventually incorporated into the design. These splotches also changed over time and were not always exactly the same. We also see slight variations on some other attribute symbols as well such as Dark for example.
— Stars on the cards exhibit proper shadowing.
— The font spacing of the card number in the lower left corner is uniform compared to production cards, with some cards having slightly wider or narrower spacing next to the numbers 0,1, 3, and 7. This seems to have been fixed later on with production cards at some point but is present on early sets. Other texts and designs align consistently.
— The first two rulebooks show the use of the double backslash in the copyright like the test print cards. The envelope and materials from Tokyo Dome also show this. As do many early products. 1999/Konami copyright present on the Tokyo Dome invitation letter. Eventually, with modern cards, they brought back the Konami in the copyright after the passing of Takahashi. Today we see ©スタジオ・ダイス／集英社・テレビ東京・ＫＯＮＡＭＩ
— The earliest test prints measure the same size as production cards, minus the trimmed corners for the earliest versions. Also, the uncut M&W production test prints measure basically the same uniform size, meaning they were machine-cut.
— The earliest test prints use a similar font for Yu-Gi-Oh on the back in English as the video game Yu-Gi-Oh Capsule Breed and Battle for PS1 which was released in July 1998 about 6 months before the planned January release of Magic & Wizards, which lines up with the timeline. The font uses a rounded U instead of the later used pointy U and the exclamation point is blockier. The words Magic and Wizards are lower on the earliest test prints but later moved up to align with the & symbol. Which would have required creating new printing plates alone, but they also changed the bottom TM to the blockier font.
— The earliest test prints are random. Like they were just creating cards and testing layout and such. Because none of the cards make up anything that became an entire set. Rather they span sets and promo cards that ended up being made later from 1999 to 2001 and we see the same thing from the early video games and magazines, with cards being created for the games and art featured in magazines, but some not used until out to 2001. The idea of them testing layout and such is also evidenced by some cards having multiple versions. The various styles we see across the different cards are Black name with small black font which we see in the Anime. Then ones with No Name and a small white font, or no name at all, ones with black name only and no small font, white name only and no small font, or white name and small white font.
— In the first rulebook we see a different concept Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a different version of Japanese used. It appears to have been a concept using Kanji for 竜族 ( Dragon Tribe) for a young audience and again shows it being square cut. This shows even after the copyright change from the earlier Magic & Wizards cards, they were still making test print/concept cards. It is mentioned on jisho.org that the first Character for Dragon is taught in Junior High and that the second for Tribe is taught in 3rd grade.
Above, we see that the first rulebook also evidences the Light Attribute symbol as seen on the earliest test prints with the symbol and small text being lower than it ended up being on later production cards. But we can also see that it was shifted up and left slightly like later production cards instead of being better centered like the earliest test prints. On production cards, it ended up being moved up even further.
Above we see the initial English page for Shonen Jump from 2002 and calls the card game Magic & Wizards. Shueisha also owns Viz Media that produced the Manga in America.
In the future they still made test print cards. Either for playtesting or checking layout, etc. below are examples.
These modern Trial Deck/Test Print cards use the same print method as the earliest M&W test prints, but use the slightly thicker modern card stock, have trimmed corners, lack the eye of anubis, have SAMPLE across the art, and a blank back. The fact that they still make cards this way provides more provenance for the earliest M&W test prints on top of all the historical documentation. Along with the XRF and Spectral Fluorescence testing, authentication, and grading of the cards by CGC using modern authentication methods and also by verifying my research of the historical documentation.
Some of the early items made for Toei were printed by Showa Printing Co., Ltd. but was called SHOWA NOTE back then. Such as this Shitajiki made for the second Yu-Gi-Oh! anime movie seen below. Showa Note also owns animetopia that printed some other early Shitajiki. Showa is a subsidiary of Dentsu Group Inc. Dentsu Group owns a controlling stake in Showa Note.
Through BANDAI SPIRITS Inc., Bandai CORPORATION owns Banpresto who also made some early items such as Shitajiki. Bandai CORPORATION also owns Bandai who made the early Bandai Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Bandai also contracted with Studio Hard. Although it is not known to me for sure if Studio Hard also printed the Bandai cards for them, but from unique printer hickey’s on the early cards it does appear that Studio Hard printed most early items as these hickey’s are unique to the print environment, air quality machinery used, etc. The Bandai cards and OCG cards also share the exact same card size, thickness, and cut shape. The hickey’s appear as 8 small dots sometimes around a 9th center dot. Bandai Spirits Inc. is owned by Bandai Namco Holdings Inc.
My hope in sharing all of this is that perhaps in time others will find more information.
**This seller is creating fake listings. The account appears to have been hacked and had no activity for 6 months before creating these fake listings. The card’s color is off, and they tried to change the background from the original listings from the seller with the real cards. The cards also do not show the proper shadowing on the back like the real cards. Do not purchase from them as there is only one seller that I linked previously known to have authentic copies of the earliest test prints. Yahoo! Auction — Yu-Gi-Oh MAGIC&WIZARDS version Magic & Wizards version… They are also located in different geographic areas. This seller with fake card listings is in Hyogo, but the seller with the real cards is in Kagawa.
I may update this if more information is found over time.
If anyone is interested in collecting Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG cards feel free to join us on Discord. We have a dedicated channel set up for Japanese chat and hope to become a worldwide community of OCG collectors in time.
