

Yami Yugi's most noted skill is his talent at playing duel monsters. He also became somewhat hasty, as he attacked Weevil, despite Téa telling him not to, due to Weevil's two facedown cards. Evidence of this is when Yugi's soul was taken after Yami's loss to Rafael, Yami was devastated and started reverting to his old self before Yugi helped change him.

They become best friends but also developed a bond similar to that of brothers or a father and son. The only time Yami Yugi focuses on anything other than victory or his past is when Yugi Muto's soul or life is endangered specifically over his, at which points Yami will drop all previously rekindled compassion for the sole purpose of protecting or avenging his young friend. Yugi Muto himself goes through great length to help Yami in his mission pursuing leads and allowing the spirit to possess him for lengthy periods of time even when not in battle. Even with the mystery of his past and the fate of the Millennium items to worry about Yami Yugi tends to focus on victory one battle at a time and worrying about the future only in-between battles. Confrontation with Ryou Bakura, a friend of Yugi's who himself was possessed by a similar spirit revealed that there were in-fact several Millennium items and collection of them would unleash great power and completely restore memories of the past to Yami. One of the earliest establishing factors was that Yami Yugi was from one of the earliest dynasties of ancient Egypt. Since Yami Yugi has few to no memories of his past a bulk of the manga and show focused on the reveals of bits and pieces of it as a driving motivation for both Yugi and Yami Yugi. Crawford, another owner of a Millennium Artifact, the game reawakens base instincts in Yami Yugi that make him a natural at it. As the card game is a based on ancient summon rites from Yami's past specifically packaged as a card game by Pegasus J. Yami Yugi usually manifests when playing the popular card game Duel Monsters. Yami Yugi begins his reintroduction to the modern-era by tormenting those who victimized Yugi however Yugi Muto's compassion makes such periods last only briefly before his original judgment is restored, over time this begins to soften Yami Yugi, who grows fond and extremely protective of his reincarnated-self. Once assembled the puzzle reactivated Yugi's past life's overarching personality though not all of his memories and the sharp contrast between who he was and is causes Yami Yugi to exist as a secondary soul inhabiting Yugi Muto's body. Yami Yugi came into being in his modern incarnation when the boy Yugi Muto assembled an ancient puzzle his grandfather brought him as an archaeology curio, the meeting of Yami Yugi's reincarnation and his ancient keep sake is played-off as a whim of fate rather than coincidence or chance. 5 Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: The Dark Side of Dimensions.
