Yugi initially only appears in the fifth main story arch of Yu-Gi-Oh! DF; Kaiba Corp Invitational Tournament. He is one of the competitors in the second Kaiba Corporation Grand Championship tournament. Yugi makes it to the finals to duel DF main character John. Yugi is defeated, though the circumstances were less than ordinary. He later reappears in a short story by the author, where he fights a rematch with John using a deck inspired by his "Toy Deck" from Yu-Gi-Oh! R. While this story is written to fit into the canon of Yu-Gi-Oh! DF, it is unclear if it actually does.