1999 Metal Etemon Giveaway Flyer Scans

On February 23rd, 1999, Shueisha published its official Digimon World guide, the pages of which contained the only known method of raising Metal Etemon. Earlier this year we took apart many of the rumors surrounding Metal Etemon, a Digimon programmed into the game but which can't be obtained without the use of cheat codes. The truth of the matter is that Metal Etemon's evolution item, the Metal Banana, was only obtainable through a giveaway on page 134 of this Digital World Guide, published under Shueisha's V Jump Books imprint.

According to the flyer, 50 participants were selected to be mailed a memory card containing the Metal Banana data. Fans participated by mailing in a "Metal Etemon Present Application Ticket" (seen in the top left corner of the page) along with their answer to a quiz from the page written on their postcard. The quiz question is as follows;

Metal Etemon Data Present Quiz
On the surface of book's outside cover binding is a "Digimon Life Theater," how many Digimon are there in all? From among the following 3 answers, choose 1 and write it on your postcard!
A. 30 kinds
B. 40 kinds
C. 57 kinds

(First, look closely at the cover's "Digimon Life Theater." Then, count the number of Digimon in the "Digimon Life Theater." There are small Digimon too, so don't overlook any. Once you know the answer, write either A, B, or C on your postcard. After that mail your postcard along with your application coupon to the below address. [Hint: The number of Digimon is "Bigger than 50 but smaller than 58!"]

The quiz is referring to a set of monochrome stickers beneath the book's jacket, attached to the binding. Metal Etemon himself appears on the giveaway page, inviting tamers to "Run wild with me through Digimon World!" and saying further down that he'll be waiting for fans' many submissions. The contest ran for just one month, ending on March 31st, 1999. Metal Etemon does not appear in the guide's list of Digimon or their stats, but the strategy guide did include a brief profile of him;

Metal Etemon Profile
A cyborg-type Digimon which debuted in Digimon Pendulum Nature Spirits. They are a powered-up version of Metal Etemon called the "King of Digimon." On a journey of rigorous battle, they acquired combat data, new finishing moves, and weapons to face formidable opponents.
The powered-up "King of Digimon" appears in your own Digimon World!

Digimon Pendulum 3.5 & 5.5 Guides (V Jump) Review

In the past few weeks Digimon fan Tuhka has graciously taken the time to scan the official Digimon Pendulum 3.5: Nightmare Soldiers and 5.5: Metal Empire guides for the community. Published by V Jump's publishing house Shueisha from 1999 to 2000 and endorsed by Bandai, the Pendulum guides are some of the most engaging pieces of media in the franchise's virtual pet chapter. At the time of their release, they were the closest Pendulum fans had to a world bible, informing tamers about the geography and inhabitants of the digital world. The only other media to address the virtual pets in this way were Digimon Web, Digimon World (PSX), and the pets themselves.

Hence the Shueisha guides are an important supporting source for canon in the Digimon fandom, and the amusing illustrations help too. The structure of each Pendulum guide is generally similar. At the beginning they introduce three principle characters based on the attributes of Vaccine, Data, and Virus. In 3.5 these are Wakuji, Dayta, and Vire, derived from wakuchin (vaccine) and shitsuji (butler), deeta (data) and 太 ta (grand), and from wairusu (virus). In 5.5 these are Wakuta, Data X, and Virchi. These characters serve as the player's narrators for the different sections of the guidebooks.

The guides then introduce the world of Digimon, framing the setting of Folder Continent, and the specific area that the particular guide deals with. (Savers Bay for the Deep Savers guide, Metal Empire for the Metal Empire guide, etc.) The V Jump guides frame the world of Digimon in a way that Keibunsha's utterly fail to. Having access to the official sources and sanction of Bandai works in Shueisha's favor; nowhere else will you find Folder Continent broken down by field in this level of detail. For the Japanese literate the Shueisha guides are a really fun read, though I personally find Metal Empire to have a better handle on the lore than Nightmare Soldiers. ME actually lays out the entire Folder Continent and where each field originates from.

Each monster's profile also provides original artwork of its superhit attack and the name of it, and a full overview of that Digimon's various sprites. But in spite of giving the exact superhit ranges of each Digimon, details on their branching evolution paths, and a considerable information on what each function of the Pendulum devices do, the guides aren't complete. They're missing lists of the optimal evolution routes that produce stronger superhits.

It's particularly disappointing coming from 5.5 guide because it was launched at the end of the Pendulum's life. I guess that'll just have to wait for when my Perfect Training guide arrives!


The books are quite small, measuring just 6.1 x 4.2 x 0.3 inches. But the amount of detail crammed in is impressive. Unfortunately, these guides have acquired something of a collector's value over time, and the prices have been artificially driven up by secondhand sellers in Japan. At this moment the Digimon Pendulum 1.5: Nature Spirits guide is available for a rare $15 low through Amazon, but be aware that depending on your location shipping could climb up as high as to double the price.

Digimon Pendulum 1.0 Guide (Keibunsha) Review & Scans

In 1998 now-defunct Japanese children's publishing house Keibunsha (勁文社 not to be confused with the two other Keibunshas 啓文社 and 慧文社) published a guide to the then-new Digimon Pendulum 1.0: Nature Spirits. While the guide includes illustrations and some general strategies for raising Pendulum series Digimon, Keibunsha's information was in no way competitive to what V Jump later offered in their own Pendulum guides. The statistics, unique character art, scenery, and superhit graphs are all absent from these guides. Instead Keibunsha substituted in character profiles ripped from Digimon Channel, stock art, and incredibly generic tips on raising that can be found in practically any magazine flyer.

In fact, the newest information the Keibunsha guides brought to the table was a chart of D-1 Grand Prix tournaments from the end of November '98 to the end of January '99. Looking back, it's no surprise that Keibunsha eventually went out of business. Their guides are redundant, uninformative, and mostly fluff. Probably the most galling moment in the Nature Spirits guide is the "battle" between File Island and Folder Continent Digimon on pages 62~66. In order to promote the Pendulum series, Keibunsha created imaginary battles between Digital Monster series Digimon and their Pendulum counterparts; naturally the Nature Spirits trump their Ver. 1~5 opponents in every battle.

The original Keibunsha guide sold for 550 yen plus tax, the currency equivalent of about $6. I paid $11.64 for my copy, and that was a sale. The original price was $38.80--after shipping the original total would have been $48.20, and I got away with just over $21. Part of my incentive to scan and review this guide is so that no one else will throw their money away on these overpriced books. If you're in the market for collecting Japanese Pendulum guides, V-Jump's trump all else. You can download a mostly-finished scan of the entire book here. Pages 76~83, and 94 up to the guide contact information are duplicates of pages 74~75 and 86~87, and so have been omitted.

Guide Index

Front: Nature Spirits introduction

Pages 6~45: Digimon list, illustrations

Pages 46~49: Character size chart

Pages 50~57: Digimon Pendulum raising guide

Pages 58~61: Pendulum FAQ

Pages 62~66: Digimon battle (Folder Continent vs File Island)

Page 67: D-1 Grand Prix schedule

Page 68: Digimon Pendulum 1.5 advertisement

Page 70~93: Digimon data recording chart (for personal use)

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