Yu-Gi-Oh!'s anime almost exclusively focused on Duel Monsters, but that game's first spinoff could have represented a perfect chance for the series to change direction and return to its roots. Of course, it never took this opportunity and instead focused on the much more profitable exploration of the trading card game, but it is interesting to imagine what the series would have been like if it had also embraced this new activity. It certainly would have given more credence to Yugi's famous "King of Games" title.
This title made a lot more sense based on the initial chapters of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. Creator Kazuki Takahashi first focused the series around the spirit of an ancient Pharaoh who possesses a young boy named Yugi and punishes the wicked by challenging them to a variety of shadow games. Unlike the hero he would become, this version of Yami Yugi was an absolute monster. In one instance, he challenges Kaiba to a game called Duel Monsters, which was more of a Magic the Gathering pastiche than a fully fleshed-out game. However, this proved popular with readers, and so Takahashi based the rest of the series on it, dropping the other types of games entirely.
Dungeon Dice Monsters Could Have Brought Yu-Gi-Oh! Back to Its Roots
However, after the Duelist Kingdom arc concluded, some episodes teased that the series would be moving in a direction that didn't feature Duel Monsters as its full focus. In those episodes, Yugi battles a cruel game designer named Duke Devlin in a game known as Dungeon Dice Monsters, which is quite different from anything featured before. The game does share similar monsters to the Duel Monsters card game, but it also features a completely different life and combat system as well as a complex path-building mechanic that gives the game a fair amount of depth. This seemed poised to become a new focus of the show.
Despite how interesting Dungeon Dice Monsters seemed, it unfortunately was only ever featured in those initial episodes with Duke Devlin. This is a shame, as winning at this game allowed Yugi to truly show that he was a King of all Games and not just Duel Monsters. If Dungeon Dice Monsters was popular it could have perhaps transformed the series into one where each season the game that Yugi and his friends played changed, introducing brand-new challenges as they had to continually learn the latest rules and strategies. Unfortunately, this idea was never realized and so instead of living up to the potential of his title, Yugi just became the King of Duel Monsters.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Missed A Big Opportunity With Dungeon Dice Monsters
Of course, this outcome isn't necessarily a bad thing given how fun the rest of the series is despite focusing largely on only one game. However, this did cause the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series as a whole to shift away from its more varied roots to become a vessel to show off the growing trading card game. If Yu-Gi-Oh! had embraced Dungeon Dice Monsters and shifted the focus of its plot to other games, it could have been a much more interesting series that tied back more to its original premise.
