Counterpart

Appearance counterparts

Early sets (especially from Vol.1 to Booster 7) recycled monster designs very frequently. The monsters were typically identical in design, different only in colors, names and stats. They are otherwise considered unrelated entities given their dissimilar names and the lore stated in their respective flavor text, with few exceptions.

Original counterpart	Derivative counterpart
"Ancient Tool"	"Patrol Robo"
"Armored Rat"	"Prevent Rat"
"Archfiend Marmot of Nefariousness"	"Obese Marmot of Nefariousness"
"Basic Insect"	"Invader from Another Dimension"
"Beautiful Headhuntress"	"Warrior of Tradition"
"Change Slime"	"Gruesome Goo"
"Crawling Dragon ^#2"	"B. Dragon Jungle King"
"Cyber Soldier of Darkworld"	"Machine Attacker"
"Dark Gray"	"Ancient One of the Deep Forest"
"Dark Plant"	"Abyss Flower"
"LaMoon"	"Dark Witch"
"Dig Beak"	"Beaked Snake"
"Dissolverock"	"The Thing That Hides in the Mud"
"Doriado"	"Lady of Faith"
"Dorover"	"Liquid Beast"
"Dragon Piper"	"Pot the Trick"
"Droll Bird"	"Great Bill"
"Electric Lizard"	"Thunder Kid"
"Enchanting Mermaid"	"Amazon of the Seas"
"Fairywitch"	"Witch's Apprentice"
"Fiend Reflection ^#2"	"Fiend Reflection ^#1"
"Firegrass"	"Living Vase"
"Fusionist"	"Little Chimera"
"Gate Deeg"	"Ghoul with an Appetite"
"Gatekeeper"	"Royal Guard"
"Grappler"	"Drooling Lizard"
"Great White"	"Man-eating Black Shark"
"Green Phantom King"	"Queen of Autumn Leaves"
"Ground Attacker Bugroth"	"Amphibious Bugroth"
"Gyakutenno Megami"	"Empress Judge"
"Haniwa"	"Rock Spirit"
"Happy Lover"	"Tenderness"
"Hitodenchak"	"Armored Starfish"
"Holograh"	"Disk Magician"
"Hourglass of Life"	"Hourglass of Courage"
"Hunter Spider"	"Kumootoko"
"Hyosube"	"Psychic Kappa"
"Kairyu-Shin"	"Yormungarde"
"Key Mace"	"Key Mace ^#2"
"Krokodilus"	"Anthrosaurus"
"Kuriboh"	"Wretched Ghost of the Attic"
"Larvae Moth"	"Needle Worm"
"Larvas"	"Mon Larvas"
"Lesser Dragon"	"Armored Lizard"
"Lunar Queen Elzaim"	"Maiden of the Moonlight"
"Mammoth Graveyard"	"Great Mammoth of Goldfine"
"Man-Eating Plant"	"Darkworld Thorns"
"Mavelus"	"Blue-Winged Crown"
"Meotoko"	"Hiro's Shadow Scout"
"Monsturtle"	"Giant Turtle Who Feeds on Flames"
"Morphing Jar"	"Ancient Jar"
"Mushroom Man"	"Mushroom Man ^#2"
"Mystical Capture Chain"	"Binding Chain"
"Mystical Sheep ^#2"	"Mystical Sheep ^#1"
"Nekogal ^#1"	"Nekogal ^#2"
"Nightmare Scorpion"	"Giant Scorpion of the Tundra"
"Penguin Knight"	"Penguin Soldier"
"Petit Angel"	"Shining Friendship"
"Petit Dragon"	"Fairy Dragon"
"Petit Moth"	"Acid Crawler"
"Protector of the Throne"	"Invader of the Throne"
"Queen's Double"	"Princess of Tsurugi"
"Rock Ogre Grotto ^#1"	"Steel Ogre Grotto ^#1"
"Rock Ogre Grotto ^#2"	"Stone Ogre Grotto"
"Root Water"	"High Tide Gyojin"
"Rose Spectre of Dunn"	"Arlownay"
"Serpent Marauder"	"Flame Viper"
"Silver Fang"	"Wolf"
"Skull Servant"	"The Wandering Doomed"
"Sleeping Lion"	"Leo Wizard"
"Sonic Maid"	"Hibikime"
"Spiked Snail"	"Mechanical Snail"
"Spirit of the Books"	"Crow Goblin"
"Spirit of the Harp"	"Muse-A"
"Stone Armadiller"	"Ancient Lizard Warrior"
"Synchar"	"Pale Beast"
"Takuhee"	"Faith Bird"
"Tentacle Plant"	"Man Eater"
"The Furious Sea King"	"Night Lizard"
"The Melting Red Shadow"	"Greenkappa"
"Tomozaurus"	"Little D"
"Trent"	"Ancient Tree of Enlightenment"
"Twin Long Rods ^#1"	"Twin Long Rods ^#2"
"Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon"	"Two-Mouth Darkruler"
"Tyhone"	"Tyhone ^#2"
"Uraby"	"Trakodon"
"Vishwar Randi"	"Succubus Knight"
"Water Element"	"Ill Witch"
"Water Omotics"	"Fairy of the Fountain"
"Wattkid"	"Oscillo Hero"
"Weather Control"	"Weather Report"
"Whiptail Crow"	"Kurama"
"White Magical Hat"	"The Bewitching Phantom Thief"
"Winged Cleaver"	"Bladefly"
"Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress ^#1"	"Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress ^#2"
"Winged Egg of New Life"	"Wing Egg Elf"
"Witch of the Black Forest"	"Goddess with the Third Eye"
"Yashinoki"	"Snakeyashi"

Effect counterparts

"Barrel Dragon" and "Blowback Dragon" are considered counterparts since the latter's effect was based on the former's. However, counterparts in effect are sometimes less obvious or even unintentional.

Some counterparts are upgraded versions of Normal Monsters given effects, e.g. "Obnoxious Celtic Guard" is this to "Celtic Guardian". These are referred to as retrained cards.

There are enhanced counterparts, such as "Muka Muka" to "Enraged Muka Muka", "Man-Eater Bug" to "Nobleman-Eater Bug", "Hane-Hane" to "Hade-Hane", "Levia-Dragon - Daedalus" to "Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus", "Milus Radiant" to "Missus Radiant", etc.

Another kind of counterparts are the Dark counterparts, released in Phantom Darkness. These cards are dark versions of several popular monsters, such as "The Dark Creator" or "Dark Armed Dragon". All of them resemble older monsters in appearance, name, ATK and DEF, etc, with the exception that they are all DARK.

The majority of "Malefic" monsters are counterparts of older cards, e.g. "Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon".