First Digimon TCG promo pack teased, card effects revealed in livestream & Memory Gauge explained

An older and younger brother play the 2020 Digimon card game in Bandai's concept trailer.

In a livestream aired at 3 AM Pacific Standard Time, Bandai Namco revealed several upcoming promotional cards for the 2020 Digimon Card Game, and also showed a 2020 concept trailer for the entire Digimon franchise that revealed two more Digimon effects from the upcoming TCG. Bandai also opened an official Digimon Card Game Twitter account shortly before the livestream aired, where it gave us our first look at the product packaging for the Starter Decks "Gaia Red," "Cocytus Blue," and "Heaven's Yellow." The header for the Twitter account--which also appears as the illustration for the game's first promo pack--suggests V-mon, Liollmon, Kokuwamon, Betamon, Tentomon, Dracomon, Plotmon, Goblimon, Pico Devimon, Patamon, and Guilmon, are all coming to the card game.

The header for the official Twitter account.

The Starter Decks are on-schedule to launch in April at 500 yen per deck. The packaging states that the game is for ages 9-and-up, which is noticeably higher than the current standard for TCGs: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon, Buddyfight, and Cardfight!! Vanguard are all recommended for children 6-and-up.

New card reveals

Metal Garurumon
Level 6/Data/Cyborg
11000 DP
Entry Cost 12, Evolution Cost 4 (From Level 5)
Effect unknown.

Angemon
Level 4/Vaccine/Angel
4000 DP
Entry Cost 5, Evolution Cost 2 (From Level 3)
Effect unknown.

Gabumon
Level 3/Data/Reptile
Entry Cost 3 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
2000 DP
[Attacking] When it attacks a Digimon, [illegible] 1 of that Digimon's Evolution Sources.

Leomon
Level 4/Data/Beast Man
Entry Cost 5 Evolution Cost 3 (From Level 3)
5000 DP
[When destroyed] Summon 1 Child-level Digimon from this Digimon's Evolution Sources without paying the Cost.

Note that this is the first instance of "Summon" (召喚 shoukan) appearing in effect text.
Promotion Pack ver. 0.0 cards

These cards will appear in promotional pack ver 0.0, which are not for sale and will be distributed to "various places." Fans are encouraged to check the official site and Twitter account for more information at a later date.

The promo packs will most likely be given out as participation prizes at hobby shops that host 2020 Digimon Card Game tournaments, as an incentive for players to participate; this is how Bandai and other manufacturers have done similar promo packs in the past. Several of these cards are partially obscured or at too low a resolution to make out distinct kanji, thus the effects below are incomplete.

Piyomon
Level 3/Vaccine
Entry Cost 3 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
2000 DP
[illegible] ...destroys your opponent's Digimon... [illegible] ...draw a card).

Gomamon
Level 3/Vaccine
Entry Cost 4 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
2000 DP
[When it attacks] (Once per turn) Your opponent's Digimon's Evolution Source... [illegible] ...gets Memory +1

Tailmon
Level 4
Entry Cost 4 Evolution Cost 2 (From Level 3)
4000 DP
[illegible] Look at 3 cards from the top of your Security, return (?) as many cards as you like to the top of your Security in any order, and put the rest on the bottom.

The Security mechanic is also mentioned in War Greymon's effect text.

Agumon
Level 3
Entry Cost 5 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
3000 DP
[When it Enters] Destroy 1 of your opponent's 3000 DP or less Digimon.

Gabumon
Level 3/Data
Entry Cost 4 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
3000 DP
[On-Entry] 1 of your opponent's Digimon's Evolution Sources, [illegible] from the bottom.

Patamon
Level 3/Vaccine/Mammal
Entry Cost 4 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
2000 DP
[illegible] When... [illegible] 1 or less of your Security, [Recovery 1... [illegible] ...1 card from the top of your deck to the top of your Security.)

Livestream content

During the official Digimon livestream Bandai representative Goto-san described the TCG as "a game where both kids and adults can enjoy battling and collecting," and presented several slides clarifying elements of the game. Digimon begin as a "Baby" level card that features a Digitama, Baby I, and Baby II Digimon in a single illustration, which is considered Level 2. They then evolve to Child, Adult, Perfect, and Ultimate, with cards being overlayed on top of one another so that the colored text of each card is visible beneath it. Level 2 Digimon can also have inheritable effects like higher-level ones, but the example card was not legible.

Metal Greymon
Level 5/Vaccine/Cyborg
Entry Cost 7 Evolution Cost 3 (From Level 4)
[When it attacks] [Once per turn] When this Digimon destroys your opponent's Digimon by battle, put this Digimon in the Active state.

Greymon
Level 4/Vaccine/Dinosaur
Entry Cost 5 Evolution Cost 2 (From Level 3)
4000 DP
[Security Attack +1] (When this Digimon attacks Security, increase the number of cards it flips over by +1)

"You can send out your favorite Digimon right from the first turn!?
Your opponent's marker moves proportionate to the cost paid.
Exceed 1 and it's your opponent's turn.
Enjoy simple, innovative & dynamic battles."

Goto also gave a brief explanation clarifying the Memory Gauge system. Players can actually play Digimon of any level right from the first turn of the game, but this will move the Memory Gauge toward the opponent equal to the Digimon's Entry Cost, and if it surpasses the "1" mark it ends the current turn. This means that you could theoretically play a Level 6 Digimon like War Greymon right on the first turn of the game--but you would be giving the opponent a massive amount of Memory to spend, so they would be able to play even more Digimon than you without their turn ending.

The stream also partially revealed the Starter Deck print of Gabumon, which has a different effect from both the promotional card and the version seen in the trailer. Agumon is unchanged from the website version, and Patamon's text is illegible save for the fact that it happens when it attacks and modifies the opponent's DP. The cards are illustrated by Watanabe Kenji and As'maria, two of the franchise's longest-serving artists.

Gabumon
Level 3
Entry Cost 3 Evolution Cost 0 (From Level 2)
2000 DP
[During your turn] (Once per turn): When your opponent's Digimon's Evolution Source is [illegible] until end of turn, this Digimon's DP gets +1000.

At this point, it appears Digimon cards can have two kinds of effects: those written in the colored effect boxes at the bottom of a card, and those in transparent boxes imposed over the artwork. Only colored effects appear to be inherited by evolutions, which is how Metal Greymon and War Greymon were portrayed on the official site, as well as Leomon and Gabumon in the new trailer.

For example, the promo print of Agumon has a transparent box effect that destroys an opponent's 3000 or less DP Digimon when it enters play, while the standard Agumon's colored effect gives it +1000 DP during its owner's turn. The former is the kind of effect a game designer wouldn't want players getting to recycle all the time, while the latter is much more balanced as an inheritable ability. Some of the effects already allow powerful combinations; combining the entire Starter Deck War Greymon line together creates a Digimon with 13000 DP that can break 4 Security in one attack while also destroying an opponent's Digimon by battle.

Maicoomon Uses Darkness Techs in -next 0rder-

March 24th, 2016. The official Digimon World -next 0rder- title site updated with a video of the game's upcoming DLC, featuring Maicoomon of Digimon Adventure tri. as a downloadable Digimon. Maicoomon will become available after tamers complete her corresponding quest. She can then be accessed by feeding their partner Digimon a Maicoomon-specific evolution item. The video presented is identical to the one shown in a stream early in February, but uncompressed.

Although her level was not shown Maicoomon was stated to be Adult-level like Tailmon in the second tri. film, Ketsui. -next 0rder- does have occasional deviations from other canonical level designations; for example, Agnimon is classified as a Perfect in the game where the trading card game treated him as an Adult. Maicoomon is seen using the Battle tech Mach Jab and the Darkness techs Dark Spirit and Chaos Cloud, in contrast to Tailmon's Battle/Light.

The soundtrack download section of the site also went live, allowing both physical and digital users to download the remastered Digimon World OST by entering in their product code.

New Key Art for Digimon Linkz's Kurihara Hina Shown in AppliSoft

A spread from the December 28th issue of AppliSoft magazine uncovered by Japanese Digimon fan @morimoriurf over January 9th revealed new key art of Digimon Linkz navigator Kurihara Hina hatching a Botamon. The upcoming smartphone game will be focus on raising Digimon to have 3-on-3 battles, and will be available both in the App Store and on Google Play.

The issue confirms that Botamon, Koromon, Agumon, Gabumon, Gomamon, Tailmon, Gaomon, V-mon, Guilmon, Kuwagamon, Scumon, Diablomon, Monzaemon, and Hackmon will all be available in the game, but no concrete launch date has been set as of yet.

Linkz was originally announced for a 2015 launch, but was delayed due to production issues. More than fifty thousand people have preregistered for the game, and as part of its promotional campaign Bandai has set up a special LINE messaging account for it that sends information about the game to users' phones.

The 15th Anniversary D-3 Will Include 5 Times as Many Digimon as the Original

Original image uploaded by @kimi_463

December 18th, 2015. This month's issue of V Jump magazine contains several new pieces of information about the upcoming D-3 Ver. 15th Digivice, which will go up for preorder on the Premium Bandai web shop in less than seven days' time. According to V Jump, the D-3 will contain more than 150 Digimon, over 80 of which can be trained by the player. Tamers will not be locked to just V-mon and Wormmon; they will have their choice out of six Digimon partners, including Armadimon, Tailmon, Patamon, and Hawkmon.

For the first time ever, the D-3 will include Imperialdramon Paladin Mode from Diablomon's Counterattack, who was previously only available on the D-Arc Digivice. Moreover, the D-3 Ver. 15th will be able to connect and battle with original Digivice Ver. 15ths, maintaining connectivity between last year's and this year's models. Those that purchase the new D-3s will also receive a set of 5 illustrations featuring Yagami Taichi, Ishida Yamato, Motomiya Daisuke, and Ichijouji Ken. Only six thousand D-3s will be produced in total between the black and blue D-3s, each of which will be priced at 9990 yen (approx. $81 at present exchange rates) and the devices will ship in June 2016.

Although not overtly stated, the presence of four additional Digimon lines suggests that there will not be any additional versions of the D-3 Ver. 15th, as there were for the Digivice Ver. 15th. The original D-3 released in 2000 had just two base Digimon per device, but with thirteen evolutions for each Digimon.

The magazine also makes mention of the Omegamon NXEDGE Style figure launching this April, and of MegaHouse's upcoming G.E.M. Series Ishida Yamato & Garurumon figure.

Tailmon's Final Evolution Leaked in CSA Digivice

December 13th, 2015. Japanese YouTuber Hackichannel uploaded a video showing off the recently-launched Complete Selection Animation Digivice today, an official anime cosplay toy that reproduces the evolution sequences and famous quotes of various Digimon Adventure Digimon. The CSA Digivice uses lines newly recorded for the movie series Digimon Adventure tri., and confirms Tailmon's final evolution sequence in it. Tailmon's evolution is found at 12:54 in the video above.

For background on the Tailmon controversy, see below. Spoilers for Tailmon's last stage follow.

The great religious debate of the 21st century.

Her Ultimate evolution has been a subject of controversy since at least 2002. When Tailmon first debuted prior to the anime series, in Digital Monster Ver. S (September 1998), Angewomon's only evolution was Holydramon. This was also the case in the 1999 Digimon Pendulum 1.5: Nature Spirits virtual pet, where Angewomon could only evolve to Holydramon (and only by Jogressing with Atlur Kabuterimon). At this time evolution was much more limited, with there generally only being one Vaccine, Data, and Virus Ultimate for each field (Tailmon & Angewomon's being Nature Spirits). During Digimon Adventure's original run, it was generally presumed that Holydramon would be Angewomon's Ultimate based on this limited evolution model. The first time that this could even be reasonably disputed was with the debut of Digimon Pendulum ZERO: Virus Busters in March 2000, just as the anime series was ending. Holydramon was not present in Pendulum ZERO, and instead Angewomon evolved into Omegamon by Jogressing with Holy Angemon or another Vaccine.

The Hyper Colosseum trading card game introduced a number of other possible evolutions for Angewomon; Crossmon (April 2000), Valkyrimon (October 2000), Babamon and Seraphimon (December 2000), and Marine Angemon (May 2001). At least for the Adventure universe, Holydramon seemed to certainly be her final stage when she appeared as such in the theatrical film Digimon Adventure 02: The Golden Digimentals!! The first strong argument against Holydramon came in September 2001, when the Three Archangels group was introduced to the trading card game and general Digimon lore. Ophanimon appeared as a new possible evolution of Angewomon. Designed as an obvious counterpart to Seraphimon, Ophanimon's mass exposure in the 2002 anime Digimon Frontier lead more fans to become aware of her, and gradually an argument in favor of Ophanimon as Tailmon's final evolution in Adventure emerged.

Detractors of Holydramon made the case that The Golden Digimentals!! was an extracanonical film, not fitting in Adventure 02's chronology and contradicting established canon by portraying Tailmon as being able to evolve to Ultimate when her partner Hikari had given up her crest powers (necessary for both Perfect and Ultimate evolution) between the film Our War Game and 02. Advocates for Holydramon countered that the film gave a plausible explanation for her debut, as the film's antagonist was attempting to rewind time during Holydramon's appearance, enabling Hikari and Takeru to evolve their Digimon. (Interestingly, the anti-Golden Digimentals argument has never been used to argue that Seraphimon is not Patamon's canon Ultimate.) Pro-Holydramon fans have pointed out that while Ophanimon is consistent with Angewomon specifically, the same can't be said of Ophanimon and Tailmon, Plotmon, or Nyaromon, all of which are animal-based rather than humanoid, and which share catlike traits. Holydramon on the other hand has feline traits more appropriate for Tailmon's line as a whole.

Proponents of Ophanimon also argued that Holydramon fit better as a final evolution for an Airdramon line, even though this has never been portrayed in any canon. Bandai and Toei as a whole left the debate untouched until 2013, when the Digimon Adventure RPG for the PlayStation Portable reignited fan discussion by portraying Ophanimon as the warp evolution of Tailmon. Many fans took this as a sign that Ophanimon was her new canon Ultimate, though the game also included several elements decidedly not canon to the anime, like having Gankoomon of the Royal Knights and his apprentice Hackmon appear in the game. Some years later fan hacking efforts uncovered that incomplete data for Holydramon was found in the game, and left unimplemented for what were likely game balance issues. (Not having access to the healing skills that Angewomon and Ophanimon share in the final game would make players more likely to use Angewomon than they would Holydramon.)

The debut of the Digivice Ver. 15th in 2014 and 2015 seemingly solidified Holydramon as Tailmon's canon Ultimate, but fans have continued to debate the issue up to this moment. The Complete Selection Animation Digivice has laid to rest the argument, at least as it pertains to Digimon Adventure's canon; Holydramon is Tailmon's final stage.

Ironically, the reverse situation has recently happened to Gomamon. In 1999 Gomamon's original Ultimate was Plesiomon, while in July 2000 (after Adventure had ended) the debut of Vikemon incited debate over whether Plesiomon was more appropriate for Gomamon's Adventure evolutions, or Vikemon as directly succeeding Zudomon. Vikemon had originally appeared as an Ultimate evolution for Angemon & Ankylomon's Jogress, Shakkoumon. Digimon Adventure PSP portrayed Vikemon as Gomamon's Ultimate, which the Digivice Ver. 15th agreed with, and the CSA Digivice has reconfirmed. As a result, Shakkoumon is currently without an established Ultimate form in the Adventure universe.

Ishida Yamato & Garurumon Figure Announced at Mega Hobby 2015 Expo

Original image uploaded by @figsoku_b

November 28th, 2015. At today's Mega Hobby 2015 Autumn Expo, anime figure production studio MegaHouse unveiled a new official Digimon figure, featuring Digimon Adventure's Ishida Yamato and Garurumon, his partner's Adult-level evolution. Yamato & Garurumon are the next entry in the G.E.M. Series, a line of high quality figures aimed at young adult women, featuring characters from popular anime and manga series.

The G.E.M. Series has most recently featured Wizarmon and Tailmon from Digimon Adventure, which has been one of MegaHouse's most popular G.E.M. Series franchises since it became a part of the line in January 2014. Past Adventure G.E.M. figures include multiple versions of Takaishi Takeru and Yagami Hikari with the various forms of their Digimon partners, repeated reissues of Yamato and Taichi, and other members of the Chosen Children. Of the entire G.E.M. Series figures, Ichijouji Ken is the only Digimon character to hail from Adventure 02 rather than the first season.

An exact date and price for the Garurumon figure has not yet been given, but past Digimon figures were priced at between 4,800 yen and 11,000 yen (approx. $40~$90).

Original image uploaded by @mega_girlshobby

Adventure tri. Movie 1 "Reunion" Opens at Almost 60 Million Yen

November 25th, 2015. Japanese anime news outlet AnimeAnime reported that the first chapter in the Digimon Adventure tri. theatrical films, Reunion, opened at over 59,000,000 yen during this preceding weekend. Reunion made the currency equivalent of approximately $480,000, but was shown at a relatively small number of theaters compared to other films. Only ten theaters nationwide screened tri., with total attendance at 36,000 viewers. The film's overall budget and the amount spent on marketing is unclear, but official Tweets from Toei and related companies have described it as a "big hit."

The second film, Decision, will premiere on March 12th, 2016.