There's nothing quite as cool as when advanced technology is used to make gaming even more exciting, as proven by a French streamer who blended AR technology with Yu-Gi-Oh! to make its creatures appear on stream. That’s right, you can watch the streamer participate in an epic card battle just like you would see in the anime.
This real-life Yu-Gi-Oh board comes from streamer SuperZouloux (thanks GamesRadar). In a YouTube video, the French gamer shares that the idea for this AR board came from watching the Yu-Gi-Oh anime as a child. After watching the cards come to life in the show, they would spend time throwing their own cards on the table and shouting, hoping to see something happen. Of course, nothing ever did.
While a young SuperZouloux never got to see his Blue-Eyes White Dragon come to life, that idea never fully went away. Fast-forward many years later and the streamer has clearly become inspired by emerging AR tech. Specifically, they take note of another designer and Yu-Gi-Oh player who had the card’s creatures come to life through AR glasses. Then, a live show from French rapper Orelsan got the gears turning once more.
After several months of research and design, SuperZouloux had created a Yu-Gi-Oh connected mat that recognized all the cards placed on it. The mat works in tandem with several applications that are linked to the stream, allowing the card’s subject to appear when played and even respond to basic voice commands.
Of course, the holographic models are not quite the same size as the hulking creatures from the anime. Still, they are impressively detailed. You can easily discern the Dark Magician from The Winged Dragon of Ra. Plus, when played on stream, a new camera angle captures the creature to give the audience a good look at the 3D model. This goes to show that anything is possible with enough determination…and the technological know-how to rig an entire AR system.