Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters II (Japanese Game Boy Color, 1999) - Not the US Dark Duel Stories - Authentic Konami Cartridge

A million-seller that shaped the series

Konami’s own records put Duel Monsters II (July 1999) at 1.10 million copies in Japan. It doubled the first game’s card pool from 365 to 720 cards, and it was the first in the series with Trap and Ritual cards.

It also started something every Yu-Gi-Oh! player knows: the 8-digit password printed on real cards. Type in the code from a physical card and you get it in the game. Trade certain cards with the first game over a link cable and they transform on arrival, and on a Game Boy Color there is an infrared trade option too.

Not the US Dark Duel Stories

The label says “Dark duel Stories”, but the US game Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories is a translation of the third Japanese game. The English words on this label are how the Japanese subtitle 闇界決闘記 is read aloud. If you want the US game, this is not it; if you want the original second game, it is.

About the Japanese

Card names and effects are Japanese, so building a deck takes reading or a lot of experimenting; dueling runs on attack and defense numbers you can follow. Konami released it in English for the first time in 2025, inside the Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection on Switch and Steam. This is the original cart, a black dual-mode one that plays on an original Game Boy too, with a border on a Super Game Boy. The battery save is tested and replaced below 3.0 V.

Its sibling, Yu-Gi-Oh! Monster Capsule GB, is Yu-Gi-Oh! before the card game took over, and Pokémon Card GB is the other great card game of the era.