Back in early April Bandai Japan filed a trademark for Tamagotchi m!x (pronounced "mix"), which was picked up on by an automated trademark bot on Twitter, and quickly spread among hardcore Tamagotchi fans. Official announcements of the new toyline followed in May and June. The Tamagotchi m!x virtual pet will launch on July 16th, 2016, in three colors and two variations, "Melody m!x" and "Spacy m!x."
The main feature of the m!x is that when two Tamagotchi get
married, the resulting offspring now inherits the visual traits of its
parents. The offspring resembles a fusion of its parents, not unlike the latest Digimon's App Fusions. Tamagotchi characters on the m!x can inherit traits from their parents from as far back as 20 generations, resulting in many unique combinations of characters with different visual traits. Unlike in the case of Digimon, the overall reception to "combining" characters by fans has been positive--but this feature is also not old hat to them.
A m!x family tree. The Papa and Mama characters on top and bottom m!x to create the next character in the sequence.
According to a Bandai press release
on the m!x, it incorporates a 128x128 color dot matrix screen, 32 bit
RISC microcomputer for its CPU, and is targeted at elementary school
girls. (Like Digimon's Appli Drive, the toy is listed as suitable for ages 6 and up.) Mysteriously, Bandai opted not to assign an MSRP
to the new product. The m!x is instead being sold at an "open price,"
meaning the price is being left up to the individual retailers. This may be in
reaction to the lukewarm reception of the Tamagotchi 4U and 4U+, which
had an MSRP of 5980 yen at launch.
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On eBay, web shops have listed listed the Melody m!x and the Spacy m!x at no lower than $69.66, with some going as high as $83.46. Accounting for the increased shipping cost and proxy markup, the Tamas are probably being acquired from retailers for 4500~6000 yen depending on the location.
Bandai is promoting the m!x via a crossover with the LINE messaging app, making Tamagotchi-themed stickers available to LINE users. (Eagle-eyed Digimon fans will note two Oyajitchi stickers--the Tamagotchi secret character who's the basis for our own Nanimon.)
Traditionally Digimon and Tamagotchi have made up a brother-and-sister pair for Bandai, targeting different genders within the same demographic group since 1997. While Tamagotchi sparked the initial boom, from '98 until 2003 Digimon was the more table of the two properties--until a string of Digimon-related financial crises forced Bandai and Toei to downscale operations, restricting Digimon to just its trading card and virtual pet properties. In 2004 Tamagotchi revitalized under the Connection brand, and has remained one of Bandai's most consistent properties ever since, while Digimon has been something of a problem child for the company up to the present day.
Recent problems with the Tamagotchi 4U and 4U+ toys underperforming compared to projected sales may have reversed this relationship once more, as the six-years-running Tamagotchi anime was abruptly canceled in 2015. The 4U was poorly received by the public due to its over-reliance on NFC, and lack of past models' features--among them infrared communication and built-in content, as the device needed to be used with real-world download points for its NFC features. The m!x is designed as a return to form, reintroducing the infrared popularized by the Connection.
The m!x will have its own set of dedicated Tamagotchi stations in toy stores, like the 4U before it. However, the NFC support seems to have been dropped. The first commercial for the m!x is currently available on Twitter.
On March 1st, 2016, D-Pet developer Jorge "JoMdz" Mendez made his first announcement on the development of the project after a long hiatus. In order to fund the completion of D-Pet's iOS and Android versions, JoMdz opened up crowdfunding for the game in order to purchase the developers' licenses required to create the official .ipa and .apk files. Users were incentivized to donate by being given rewards in-app for providing their financial support.
As of March 7th, the project is believed to have met its funding goal, with JoMdz having begun development of the mobile version. Those that donated $1 were promised credit in the final app, and a spot as beta testers for future versions. Those that donated $5 or more will receive the final version a week ahead of the general public, and those that gave $10 or more will get a limited edition character. For donors that gave $20, a limited edition War Greymon X with inflated stats and battle animations is being provided on top of all previous rewards.
On March 9th, JoMdz uploaded a photo of an Android test for the app, and on the 14th began publishing an up-to-date list of donors. This was accompanied by a report on the first build of the mobile game. On the 17th JoMdz clarified that he was continuing to work on redesigning several of the game's objects and developing its networking system. On the 22nd, he announced that the game would have a Pendulum feature, increasing the Digimon's power by shaking the smartphone.
D-Pet, formerly known as Digimon Ver. PC, was originally developed by Malaysian programmer Hong Ming (alias "nrg890110" or "hosc") during Digimon's dark age in mid 2009. In part due to Digimon's long official hiatus--Savers had ended two years prior and Xros Wars did
not air until a year after DMPC came out--the game experienced a brief
surge in popularity when it first launched. After hosc disappeared in
2010, DMPC was revised by JoMdz into 2.0, working with a small team of
designers and individuals that acted as public relations contacts,
managing its various communities. DMPC 2.0 introduced color graphics,
additional evolutionary levels, and new Digimon. The game had been
especially notable throughout 2009 and 2010 for having online battles
through Hamachi, and an ever-growing count of available Digimon.
Eventually, the difficulty of managing community fanpages for the game, design conflicts over the direction of Ver. PC,
and a lack of enthusiasm on the part of fans lead to a slowdown in
development and its user base shrinking considerably. In 2013, JoMdz
resumed work on Ver. PC, and began developing D-Pet in 2014 as a continuation of the program. The rechristening to D-Pet was chosen in order to reflect the fact that the new program will be playable not just on PCs, but also on Apple computers, iOS, and Android devices. D-Pet is planned to eventually have Facebook connectivity in order to make finding a battle easier once the online functions are completed.
February 17th, 2016. The War Greymon that fans had so diligently raised on the Digimon World -next 0rder- title site underwent a sudden mutation, becoming a Mugendramon. Jijimon is calling this unexpected change a "different system" (異構築) rather than an "evolution," stating that it's due to some incident beginning in his world. At this time, there is nothing fans can do to revert Mugendramon to his previous stage; Jijimon simply asks them to investigate what's going on in his world.
The mutation is likely related to the mass transformation into Mugendramon previously revealed to be going on in -next 0rder-'s Digital World. The phenomenon originates from "Analogman's curse," a postgame quest from the original Digimon World in which a Digimon would turn into Mugendramon once every in-game year.
Digimon World -next 0rder- will launch in Japan March 17th, 2016, on the PlayStation Vita for 6,980 yen (7,539 JPY after tax). It is the latest entry in the World series, succeeding directly from Re:Digitize Decode on the 3DS, Re:Digitize on the PSP, and World on the PSX.
February 1st, 2016. Bandai's online virtual pet, hosted on the official Digimon World -next 0rder- title site, evolved to Perfect-level today. The Greymon that fans had raised over Twitter became Metal Greymon once it passed the 15,000 care mark, unlocking an additional Chain Melon
and ten Digistones as in-game rewards for fans in -next 0rder- and
Linkz. In order to reach Ultimate, Metal Greymon requires 25,000 cumulative care
actions; at that point fans will unlock one more Chain Melon, 15
Digistones, and a Digimon World -next 0rder- smartphone wallpaper.
The Melons extend a Digimon's lifespan, while
Digistones restore stamina. Previously, the online Digimon had evolved to Agumon on the 26th, and Koromon on the 25th.Fans can participate in the campaign by going to the page and clicking on エサをあげる ("Give food") which will create a premade tweet for them to share.
Digimon World -next 0rder- will launch in Japan March 17th, 2016, on the PlayStation Vita. Digimon Linkz will launch in 2016, on Android and iOS.
January 29th, 2016. Bandai's online virtual pet evolved to Adult-level today, unlocking another tier of rewards in Digimon World -next 0rder- and Digimon Linkz. The social media campaign depends on fan tweets to progress, with each tweet representing a "Care" function like on the original Digital Monster pets. At the 12,000 mark fans unlocked an additional Chain Melon for -next 0rder- on top of previous rewards, and eight Digistones for Linkz.
At the 15,000 mark Greymon will evolve to Perfect-level, earning fans
one more Chain Melon and ten additional Digistones (a total of five
Melons and 25 Digistones). The Melons extend a Digimon's lifespan, while
Digistones restore stamina. Previously, the Digimon had evolved to Agumon on the 26th, and Koromon on the 25th.Fans can participate in the campaign by going to the page and clicking on エサをあげる ("Give food") which will create a premade tweet for them to share.
Digimon World -next 0rder- will launch in Japan March 17th, 2016, on the PlayStation Vita. Digimon Linkz will launch in 2016, on Android and iOS.
January 25th, 2016. Early this morning Bandai's online virtual pet evolved to the Baby II stage, having well exceeded the 3500 care milestone needed for evolution. This unlocked the next tier of rewards for Digimon World -next 0rder- and Linkz, an additional Chain Melon and two Digistones.The Digimon was put up online on the 21st as a Digitama, and hatched into Botamon within 24 hours of going up. Fans around the world are caring for the Digimon using the page's "care" command, which creates a premade tweet for them to share on Twitter.
Currently the counter is at 7314; at 8000 Koromon will evolve to his Child stage. The next tier of rewards is one more Chain Melon and three more Digistones, items which are used to respectively extend a Digimon's lifespan in -next 0rder- and replenish its stamina in Linkz.
Digimon World -next 0rder- will launch in Japan March 17th, 2016, on the PlayStation Vita. Digimon Linkz will launch in 2016, on Android and iOS.
January 14th, 2016. Over the 8th, developer Jorge "JoMdz" Mendez made an announcement that the successor to Digimon Ver. PC, D-Pet, will begin its second beta in the coming week. JoMdz had previously stated that the second beta would be available through the dedicated D-Pet Facebook page. At this time, the second beta has still not been launched.
Although the D-Pet name was coined to reflect that it will be available across platforms other than just Windows computers, JoMdz has stated that the Android and iOS versions are not being tested as of yet. Currently it's known that the second beta will implement variable window sizes in its settings.
The first beta for the game went out late last December, during which time several bugs were uncovered in early testing. Most prominent was the "sleep glitch," which caused a Baby II stage Digimon's training count to drop to 0 while it was asleep, making evolution to Child and above impossible.
Digimon Ver. PC was originally developed by Malaysian programmer Hong Ming (alias "nrg890110" or "hosc") during Digimon's dark age in mid 2009. In part due to Digimon's long official hiatus--Savers had ended two years prior and Xros Wars did
not air until a year after DMPC came out--the game experienced a brief
surge in popularity when it first launched. After hosc disappeared in
2010, DMPC was revised by JoMdz into 2.0, working with a small team of
designers and individuals that acted as public relations contacts,
managing its various communities. DMPC 2.0 introduced color graphics,
additional evolutionary levels, and new Digimon. The game had been
especially notable throughout 2009 and 2010 for having online battles
through Hamachi.
Right to left: Tyrannomon in Digimon Ver. PC, and in D-Pet.
Eventually, the difficulty of managing community fanpages for the game, design conflicts over the direction of Ver. PC,
and a lack of enthusiasm on the part of fans lead to a slowdown in
development and its user base shrinking considerably. In 2013, JoMdz
resumed work on Ver. PC, and began developing D-Pet in 2014 as a continuation of the program. The rechristening to D-Pet was chosen in order to reflect the fact that the new program will be playable not just on PCs, but also on Apple computers, iOS, and Android devices. D-Pet is planned to eventually have Facebook connectivity in order to make finding a battle easier once the online functions are completed, and will use redrawn sprites rather than basing its graphics on the original Digimon virtual pets.
Over December 19th, Digimon Ver. PC developer Jorge "JoMdz" Mendez launched an open beta for a revamped version of the game, D-Pet.DMPC has been on a development hiatus for several years now, having not had a new version since the launch of 3.1.3 in September 2011. The test version of D-Pet is not fully functional, but is intended as a public test to catch bugs prior to the final launch of the game. As such, the beta does not have online battle or minigame functionality enabled, and tamers are locked into the Nature Spirits family of Digimon. (The final release will have nine available families.) JoMdz is asking tamers to download the game and test it, then report any bugs on the game's main page or Facebook group. Tamers can download D-Pet at its development blog.
D-Pet features a revamped menu with an expanded resolution and improved sprites over past versions, and basic implementation of higher quality music files. The stat system has been expanded so that Digimon receive different bonuses for specializing in a particular stat. If Attack is the highest stat, the Digimon deals additional damage on top of their base, while if Defense is the highest stat, then it reduces additional damage proportionally and deals damage to the opponent if it is higher than their Attack. If Dexterity is the highest stat, it causes additional damage regardless of the opponent's Defense. This creates an effective triangle where Attack beats Dexterity, Dexterity beats Defense, and Defense beats Attack.
D-Pet is also planned to introduce an X-Antibody system that has a low probability to give some tamers X-Antibody Digimon at random.
Some elements of D-Pet are more familiar than others. The game still runs in an always-on-top mode that gives it priority over other windows, and training is relatively unchanged from how it ran in 2009-2013, right down to using Paper Mario sprites in the dodging minigame. The training system inherits the original music from past incarnations of Ver. PC; a "demade" The Biggest Dreamer, and an original theme that's been present from the beginning.
Meeting evolution criteria is still challenging; this game uses the Pendulum system of training, where tamers are allotted a maximum of 10 DP (Digimon Power) which is decreased during by one for every training session. DP recovers by one point for about every five minutes that passes, is not recovered during evolution, and it can take several hours for a Digimon to evolve (about an hour and a half for Baby I to Baby II, and six hours for Baby II to Child; this is based on the original Digital Monster pets). This means tamers are encouraged to consume as much of their DP as possible as quickly as possible in order to maximize the efficiency of their training across their Digimon's lifespan, particularly as their Digimon progresses, and evolutions start depending on which stats are highest to determine their path.
Baby I and II Digimon can't engage in even offline battles, so tamers will be spending seven to eight hours just training and feeding their partners before they can see how the stat system is implemented. But these Digimon are talkative, and will periodically send messages, like welcoming their tamer back when they turn the game on again. Given the application's unintrusive nature and ability to run in the background while other tasks are taking place, it may be the perfect match to a generation that's spending an ever-increasing amount of their time at the computer.
Digimon Ver. PC was originally developed by Malaysian programmer Hong Ming (alias "nrg890110" or "hosc") during Digimon's dark age in mid 2009. In part due to Digimon's long official hiatus--Savers had ended two years prior and Xros Wars did not air until a year after DMPC came out--the game experienced a brief surge in popularity when it first launched. After hosc disappeared in 2010, DMPC was revised by JoMdz into 2.0, working with a small team of designers and individuals that acted as public relations contacts, managing its various communities. DMPC 2.0 introduced color graphics, additional evolutionary levels, and new Digimon. The game had been especially notable throughout 2009 and 2010 for having online battles through Hamachi, and an ever-growing count of available Digimon.
Eventually, the difficulty of managing community fanpages for the game, design conflicts over the direction of Ver. PC, and a lack of enthusiasm on the part of fans lead to a slowdown in development and its user base shrinking considerably. In 2013, JoMdz resumed work on Ver. PC, and began developing D-Pet in 2014 as a continuation of the program. The rechristening to D-Pet was chosen in order to reflect the fact that the new program will be playable not just on PCs, but also on Apple computers, iOS, and Android devices. D-Pet is planned to eventually have Facebook connectivity in order to make finding a battle easier once the online functions are completed.
The program immediately invites comparison to Digital Monster Ver. S, which simulated the idea of caring for a Digimon virtual pet on a PC and battling online more than a decade before it would become practical.
December 19th, 2015. The official -next 0rder- title site updated with information on the game's preorder DLC, revealing thatthe special pair of Digitama that tamers will be able to download contains a talking Agumon and Gabumon voiced by Sakamoto Chika and Yamaguchi Mayumi, the original Japanese voices of those Digimon from the 1999-2000 Digimon Adventure.
The DLC Digitama follow a special fixed evolution path, rather than evolving differently depending on how the player raises them. Agumon's path proceeds through the traditional Botamon > Koromon >Agumon > Greymon > Wargreymon line, with the Agumon-up stages voiced by Sakamoto. Gabumon evolves through Botamon > Tsunomon > Gabumon > Were Garurumon > Metal Garurumon, likewise being voiced from Child level and above. However, these versions of the characters are not fully evolved when they reach War Greymon and Metal Garurumon; they can be further Jogressed into an Ultimate-level Omegamon, which is jointly voiced by Sakamoto and Yamaguchi simultaneously. (This is why the Metal Greymon and standard Garurumon stages are absent from their lines.) Omegamon can also be made to appear through ExE-volution using the special War Greymon & Metal Garurumon.
In addition to a copy of the 1999 Digimon World soundtrack, those that preorder the game will get two original themes, "ver. Nostalgic" and "ver. Dot." Theme ver. Dot features a montage of original Digimon LCD sprites, while theme ver. Nostalgic turns the screen into the layout of a Digital Monster virtual pet. Each theme comes in two variants, black and blue for ver. Dot, and blue and red for ver. Nostalgic.
The preorder DLC also includes an item set, the "training Start Dash
set," containing items used to enhance the effects of training on a
Digimon's stats, as well as to 30 pieces of Big Meat to feed one's
Digimon. Each item lasts for 6 in-game hours, and increases the impact of training on a stat by 1.2x. There are three items; the Challenge Carrot buffs increases to MP and Offense, Sakura Bird Radish to HP and Speed, and the Hidden Onion to Defense and Brains.
Finally, those that preorder will also receive evolution items that will unlock Susanoomon, Omegamon, Imperialdramon Fighter Mode, Dukemon, and Shine Greymon in the game. By speaking with the Poyomon in Jijimon's house responsible for the Different Dimension Box, the player can receive specific Core items for each Digimon;
These are consumable items which disappear on use. While it hasn't been explained whether their effects are immediate or if they only make it possible to evolve with that Digimon, their description is very similar to the classic evolutions items in Digimon World that would instantly evolve one's partner into a different Digimon. These various announcements and the most recent trailer have already garnered strong reactions in Japan, with some fans prematurely labeling it a "god-tier game" (神ゲー kami gē) in the same ranks as Final Fantasy VII, Super Smash Bros., and the original Digimon World. The inclusion of both Frontier and Xros Wars Digimon has sparked a massive positive response on the Japanese side; speculative numbers put -next 0rder- at including more than 300 unique Digimon, potentially 400, while Cyber Sleuth only sported 240 in its roster.
December 18th, 2015. Fan event organizer Digimon World Tour updated the Pittsburgh Digimon Celebration event page today, encouraging tamers to bring their Digimon virtual pets and Digivices to the event. The Celebration will take place on February 6th, 2016, just four days after the North American launch of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth on the PlayStation 4 and Vita. Fans will be able to play a collection of Digimon games on-site, including the Rumble series, and demos of Cyber Sleuth. World Tour is setting up several giveaways at the event and asking fans of all types to attend, whether they're cosplayers, gamers, or anime fans. Structured over Facebook, currently just over 40 persons have committed to going, while 90 have expressed "interest," and 268 others have been invited.
Although not originally planned as part of the event, fans began discussing the possibility of organizing an impromptu Digivice and/or virtual pet tournament soon after the page went up, as well as a separate competition for those that will have already bought Cyber Sleuth. Thus far, World Tour has been unable to make any absolute promises. More details about the Celebration can be viewed here.
Those looking to purchase a virtual pet or Digivice prior to the event should consult File Island's connectivity charts to see which are compatible beforehand, and our recent price guide. At present the Digivice iC, Xros Wars Mini, and Digimon Neo are the least expensive toys on the market, ranging for between $18 and $30.
In light of the rapidly escalating prices of Digivice and virtual pet toys worldwide, a lot of fans are concerned with how they can experience Digimon in its original form without having to rob a bank. There are two general ways to judge if a price is reasonable; in absolute terms, is it a price someone is willing to pay for a mid-to-high-end children's toy? In relative terms, how closely does its current price on the secondary market match its original price? This guide will direct you to what kinds of prices you should expect in the Digimon market, and what prices you definitely shouldn't agree to. Below is a listing of the least expensive toys, as well as links to the lowest prices I could dig up for them.
Digimon toys are generally broken down into virtual pets (Digital Monster, Pendulum) and quest-based toys (D3 Digivice, D-Scanner). The Digivices as a whole are what most international readers will remember--you shake or walk with the toy to reduce a step counter until you encounter a battle, during which your Digimon evolves, then reverts back to its Child stage afterwards. The virtual pets are highly developed Tamagotchis, which permanently evolve to new stages, battle in colosseums, and eventually go into a death and rebirth cycle.
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Virtual Pets Xros Wars Mini ~$20
Japanese Greymon Xros Wars Mini at left, compared with Asian Fusion Mini packaging at right.
The cheapest virtual pets you'll find are the Xros Wars Mini and Digivice iC (eBay affiliate links). The XW Mini originally retailed for 1550 JPY in 2010, about $14 at the time, and is currently available for $21~25 with shipping included. Some scalpers are attempting to mark them up to $30, but the truth is that the market is both flooded with Xros Minis, in part because they were reprinted in 2012 for Asia, as the Fusion Mini. (There's no difference between the Japanese and Asian Xros Minis; they all connect the same, and even say "Xros" in the Asian Minis.) Some of these can still be found for $20 or less.
For the Xros Wars Mini, there are three colors;
Shoutmon Red ($16.88 eBay affiliate) features Digimon primarily from Team Xros Heart, and is recommended for fans of Digimon Xros Wars. Its starter Digimon is Shoutmon, and its final evolution is Shoutmon X5. (Alternative $18.99 affiliate if the previous one sells out.)
Greymon Blue ($18.99 eBay affiliate) focuses on dragon Digimon, with several being sampled from Team Blue Flare. It also includes a lot of nostalgic Digimon seen in past seasons like Tyranomon, Imperaldramon Fighter Mode, and War Greymon, so the Blue model is recommended for fans of older Digimon seasons. Its starter is Greymon, and its final evolution is the 2010 redesign of Metal Greymon.
Dark Knightmon Black($18.99 Amazon affiliate) features the Digimon of Team Twilight, as well as Digimon from the Nightmare Soldiers and Metal Empire fields of Digimon's lore. Metal Etemon, Belphemon, and Lucemon Satan Mode are all found here. Its starter is Skull Knightmon, and its final evolution is Dark Knightmon. (Alternative $21.55 Amazon link if the previous one sells out.)
One should be aware that the Xros Wars Minis are virtual pets only at the most basic level. They require care every two or so hours, needing to be fed Diginoir, have their droppings cleaned, and have the lights turned on and off when they wake up and go to sleep. But there is no traditional system of evolution, care mistakes, or even death. You only care for your Digimon because if you don't, you're unable to play the game. (Having poop on the screen, getting sick, or becoming hungry prevents your Digimon from battling until those needs are addressed.) Progression is effectively linear in the Xros Wars Mini, with only one strongest Digimon on each. You progress your Digimon by defeating the corresponding other Digimon necessary to DigiXros it into a higher stage, until eventually you reach the pinnacle.
The Xros Mini also has the disadvantage of being a technological island; despite using the original Mini's mold and having a three-pronged connector, it can only connect with other Xros Wars Minis. It's not compatible with the original Minis, iC, Accel, or Pendulum X pets. Its primary battle mode is a single player mode, with multiplayer as an afterthought. The XMini is also tiny, smaller than a roll of scotch tape, and needs to have a screen protector on it at all times.
On the bright side, the Xros Mini's battle system is lifted directly from the original. Like many of the post-Pendulum virtual pets, there's a pre-battle "count" where the game measures your ability to reach a particular number that will power up your Digimon. Instead of shaking the toy, you rapidly press the B button for several seconds, and the game estimates your rate-per-minute based on the number of times you input the command, ranging from 0 to 31. This introduces an element of skill to the Xros Mini, even though it's not as kinetically pleasing as rapidly shaking a toy back and forth. Digimon in the XMini system have six hit points each, and take turns firing five shots in four sizes that deal 1, 2, 3, and 6 damage respectively. The size of the shots depends on the count; at 31 all five will deal 6 damage, though this doesn't guarantee a win, since the opponent can evade the attack as well. If after five rounds neither Digimon has been KO'd, this results in a tie. (If both Digimon have been KO'd this also results in a tie. Both of them get to attack before the round ends, and the game checks to see who's fallen between rounds.)
Digivice iC ~$30
The iC using its three-pronged connector to battle an original Digimon Mini.
The next option up in price is the Digivice iC (eBay affiliate), which has the advantage of being able to connect to a huge variety of Digimon virtual pets and Digivices; it can battle the Pendulum X, Accel, original Mini, and iC Burst. The iC has both a pronged connector and an infrared connector, the latter being used for battling other iCs and Bursts. It originally retailed for 3200 JPY in 2006, at the time about $27, and currently is selling for around $30 depending on which version you're looking at. The Digivice iC implements the Vaccine/Virus/Data attribute triangle first introduced by the Pendulum pets, and has at least one evolution line for each.
The 101 Orange ($67+ Amazon affiliate) and 102 Blue ($29.74 eBay affiliate) models all have the three primary lines from Digimon Savers, ending in Shine Greymon (Vaccine), Mirage Gaogamon (Data), and Rosemon (Data), along with a Numemon/Demon Virus line and miscellaneous alternate evolution for each level. There are also several hidden evolutions accessed by using special evolution items. The 101 model is easily the most expensive of the iCs because of its mascot value--it's used by Daimon Masaru in Savers, and the orange color is associated with Agumon. In general, the 101 and 102 are intended for fans of Savers' core trio, Masaru, Tohma, and Yoshino.
The 102 Black/Blue($28.95 eBay affiliate) and 202 Black/Red (Currently unavailable) are based on Ikuto's and Satsuma's Digivices from Savers, and have their Digimon lines, Ravemon (Vaccine) and Sleipmon (Vaccine). It also has the Jumbo Gamemon (Data) line, based on Yushima's partner Kamemon, and the Demon Lord Barbamon as its Virus line.
The iC has much more diversity compared to the XW Mini due to incorporating the attribute triangle, and more connectivity options as well. It's more of a true virtual pet, though it is extremely easy to care for. It also has a built-in option to show you the silhouette of whatever Digimon your partner is currently set to evolve to, so you can see what you're on track for and change your methods of raising the Digimon if it's about to evolve into a Digimon you don't want.
On the iC, Digimon met their evolution requirements by being fed different types of Digisoul, obtained by doing a "Digisoul charge" by touching the connectors on top of the device to your hand. (You're supposed to need different types of plates to press down different parts of the connectors, but it's fairly easy to get different kinds of Digisoul by pressing down different connectors with your fingers.) You're in total control of your evolutions.
Like the Xros Wars Mini, the iC uses a button input "count" system to measure player skill, but this one is much more variable and runs from 0 to 90. Instead of needing to hit 31, the iC has a different value it looks for for each Digimon; i.e. you may need to hit 85 RPM for Jumbo Gamemon to score five terahits in a row, but to do the same with Chapmon need to hit 51 RPM, or 70 RPM for Shawujinmon. Some Digimon require rhythm to command, others require speed. The iC also has a built-in item system that allows you to further power up your Digimon prior to a battle by giving it an item. For single player gameplay, there's a sequence of three colosseums plus one hidden arena that all cost a certain amount of in-game points to enter, and which give out prizes after each round. The points that you win can then be spent on items in the shop.
One disadvantage to the iC is that there's much more Japanese in the menus. The XMini only has a single Japanese word in it (コノママ "This is enough," used to decline DigiXros, officially translated as "Maintain the status quo") with the rest of the menus being in English or using visual icons, but the iC has Japanese in its Digisoul, status, item, weapon, money, food, minigame, shop, battle, and colosseum menus. It's fairly easy to memorize where the icons are, but I would recommend at least learning to read the 46 katakana characters; there's a lot of English words on the iC that are written in phonetic Japanese, like "Digisoul," (デジソウル Dejisouru) or "Battle" (バトル Batoru). This device is also less portable than the XMini, being about the length of an adult's index finger, but some prefer the larger size because it's easier to press the buttons for the count system.
Quest-based Digivices
Digimon Neo $25~30
TheDigimon Neo(eBay affiliate) is a Bandai Asia product based partially on the software of the original Digivice, though the battle system and several Digimon are new. It was first launched in 2006, and the price has stayed generally around $20 because of production continuing until at least 2009. Like the iC, the price of the Neo has been steadily climbing for some time now.
To progress through the single player mode, you shake the device up and down to reduce the step counter, gradually moving through seven areas with different random encounters in each. As you pick up Digivolve items, your Digimon gradually evolves to higher stages, which are time-limited and will eventually expire. Digimon have Life and Attack stats, which determine how many hits they can take, how much damage their shots do. There's also a Speed stat, but how it functions has not been documented. Each Digimon has five stages, beginning with Child, and unlike on most devices all of them have a seventh level evolution, which is either a Super Ultimate or Burst Mode for that Digimon. Each Digimon's semifinal and final stages are given in parentheses below.
Version 1 features classic Digimon from Adventure, including Agumon (War Greymon & Omegamon), Gabumon (Metal Garurumon & Omegamon), Patamon (Valkyrimon & Seraphimon), Tentomon (Heracle Kabuterimon & Raidenmon), and Gomamon (Vikemon & Plesiomon). The cover features Savers Agumon & Geo Greymon, though they aren't actually found in this version. The Neo Version 1 is geared towards tamers that prefer Digimon Adventure, and comes in blue + blue, ($23.31 eBay affiliate) blue + black, ($23.31 eBay affiliate) orange + black, ($25.30 eBay affiliate) and black + red. ($31.29 eBay affiliate)
Version 2 features Digimon from Savers, the 2006 Agumon (Shine Greymon & Burst Mode), Gaomon (Mirage Gaogamon & Burst Mode), Lalamon (Rosemon & Burst Mode), Kudamon (Sleipmon & Burst Mode), and Falcomon (Ravemon & Burst Mode). (Interestingly, this is the only product that actually features a Burst Mode for Sleipmon.) The Version 2 is instead directed at fans of Savers, and features somewhat reduced difficulty, requiring less steps to reach each boss. Version 2 comes in orange + red ($19.99 eBay affiliate, $20.98 eBay alternative if it sells out, next lowest on eBay are $23.99, and $29.40), dark blue + white ($33.88 eBay affiliate, $37.90 alternative), and gray + black ($33.88 eBay affiliate, next lowest on eBay are $35.99, or $37.90). There is also a red + black model that is not currently available anywhere.
The battle system on the Neo is mostly skill based; a bar rapidly fills up during your Digimon's turn, and you press the A button to stop it. The closer the bar is to the end when it stops, the larger the shot size you turn out, but if you press it too late the bar will have rolled over back to the beginning, weakening your shot. Neither Digimon can hit until the other one fails to make an equal to or stronger shot. The Neo uses a two-pronged connector, but which devices it's compatible with is poorly documented; Bandai Asia products are not guaranteed to connect with Japanese or American toys, but it is known that the Neo can connect to the D-Cyber and D-Spirit devices. If it has the Digital Monster ruleset programmed in, it should be compatible with all original Digital Monster pets, as well as Japanese and American Digivices, and the Pendulum series.
Fusion Loader ~$25
Your second cheapest option for a quest-based toy is the Asian Fusion Loader (eBay affiliate). This is not the Fusion Loader released in the United States, which is just a soundboard; this is its own product. This Fusion Loader has a pedometer function like the Neo, progressing through a series of areas and defeating bosses, but has the player build a virtual "deck" of Digimon recorded from accompanying cards and sounds, with each Digimon having its own summoning costs. The sprites are grayscale shaded versions of past Digivice sprites, rather than the color sprites used on the Japanese Xros Loader. However, because the Fusion Loader uses infrared to communicate, it is not compatible with any other devices.
For buying options, the red Fusion Loader (eBay affiliate) is available at $25.95, the blue Fusion Loader (eBay affiliate) at $25.95 (alternatively $26.24 eBay listing if the previous one sells out), and you can buy both of them together at $45.50 (or $46.49), slightly less than you'd pay to get them separately.
Why Do Digivices Cost so Much?
Since 2009, the secondary market for Digimon toys has been struggling with price inflation and unstable markups. In 2008, original Digital Monster pets ran for $35; by 2011 these toys had escalated to $60. Initially these out of control prices ran both directions--a new Pendulum Progress 2.0 ran for $100 new-in-box around '08, under $40 in '11, and now $120 in 2015. Meanwhile Pendulums that ran for $50 in '08 began selling for $130+ in 2011, and in 2015 run for $100. As a result of the inflation and fluctuation of prices, at one time several veteran collectors on the With the Will trading forums expressed that they simply didn't know what anything should be priced at anymore. Currently the most noticeable development in the market is that Digivice Ver. 15ths, originally sold for just under $100 through the Premium Bandai web shop, jumped from $150 on web shops in March 2015 to $200/$250/$320(eBay affiliates) by December. Why and how?
The root of the problem as it pertains to the entire franchise lies in Asia. Logistically, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and to a lesser degree Singapore are all able to effectively dictate these prices to outside consumers. Since 1996, these countries have been in extremely close proximity to Bandai's toy production factories in China, enabling them to easily access wholesale electronics from the company at very low prices compared to Japanese or western stores. In the long term this made the domestic acquisition of stock for web listings low effort and low cost, and by cooperatively saturating online shopping sites like eBay and Amazon with overpriced electronics, these sellers have been able to collectively persuade consumers around the world that these are the actual values of the items being sold. (This has had its own aftereffects in Japan, where prices on Yahoo Auctions have steadily ascended into the 7,000 yen range for loose Pendulums, and 10,000 for mint-in-box.) Moreover, almost none of these toys are actually rare. The Pendulum series had a mass reprint as the Pendulum Returns series in 2002, yet the virtual pets are priced indiscriminately regardless of whether they're part of the original 1999-2000 Pendulum run, or the '02 reprint. Sellers in Hong Kong aren't acquiring these products for hundreds of dollars, they're paying close to the original prices, buying up old stock at less than or equal to its original price range.
These drastic markups all derive from a single seller in 2009 listing original Deep Savers, Wind Guardians, Metal Empire, and Virus Busters Pendulums at between $90 and $200. Prior to this, most mint-in-box Digital Monster or Pendulum pets commonly sold for $30 to $50, and the number of sellers pricing these products at those points meant that no one could break the market for several years. In 2007 a Pendulum X 1.5 cost just $15.99, and until '09 these prices were on the decline, with PenXs going for $9.99. The markup trend that was set in '09 lead the Pendulum X series to rise to $150 by June 2011. As Japanese collectibles dealers have gotten into the Digivice market and observed the prices coming out of other Asian countries, they've jumped onto the same values, resulting in universal price inflation even in Japan, where PenXs now sell for as much as 65,000 yen (about $530 presently). $150 used to be a doomsday price, but tamers today laugh at that idea; the Pendulum X series presently ranks as one of the most expensive virtual pets ever internationally, listed by a handful of sellers at $280~$380 (eBay affiliates), second only to the likes of Magical Witches and some more limited Tamagotchi variants. The globalization of the secondary market means there is no easy fix for this.
The markup on the Ver. 15th is a direct consequence of this, but also of its limited print run, as Bandai only produced exactly as many Ver. 15ths as were preordered, making it a genuinely rare item. The major question facing the market right now is if the Digivice iC's price will inflate. The iC has stayed at around $20 to $25 for the better part of five years; but in 2014-15 only a handful of sellers control the sale of Digivice iCs , with prices climbing by $1 per every three-month period, into the $28-30 range. At the time of this writing there are just 29 of these $30 range iCs available on eBay, and once these stocks dry up, the next lowest available prices are on Amazon for just below $37 (Amazon affiliate, 102), $40 (Amazon affiliate, 201), and $68 (Amazon affiliate, 101). When those stocks are exhausted, a small host of Japanese sellers are waiting in the wings to take over the market with $60, $80, and $145 iCs, all from eBay.
It's something of a miracle that the iC has managed to stay so low for so long. In Japan the average price for an out-of-box iC is currently around 5,600 yen, and has been so for a few years now. The mint-in-box iCs that we've been paying $30 for run for around 10,000 yen on their side, approximately $80. But if the global market catches up to this trend, how far out of control will it spiral?
Note that there is at least one example of a device that is reasonably priced but has always been expensive. The Japanese Xros Loader is both a full color self-contained RPG-quest game and a functional MP3 player, and originally retailed for 7140 yen in 2010-12, about $71 (note that this was prior to the huge devaluing of the yen in 2013). For overseas buyers, after shipping this would be about $85. Stories of $45 Xros Loaders come from the aftershock of Xros Wars tanking in 2012, and the general unpopularity of the toy on web listings. International sellers were losing money on stocking the Xros Loader, and trying to get it out of their warehouses as quickly as possible, even at a potential 50% loss. At this time you can order a Japanese Xros Loader for $89.99 (eBay affiliate), which isn't a massive markup. But even the Xros Loader is seeing some attempts at pushing it further, with $110 threatening to become the new standard.
Auction Bait
So far we've only addressed Digivices that money "can" buy--so what are the ones it can't? You will almost never see the following Digimon toys for sale, and if you do it will be as part of a very expensive auction;
The gold Digimon Pendulum X is
a special edition model of PenX that was distributed to the first and
second place winners of the Jump Festa 2004 tournament, as well as to the winners of some smaller tournaments at Bandai's headquarters. Between ten and twenty of
these exist, and the internal game architecture is identical to the
version 1.0. Their value is hard to pin down--especially since a regular 1.0 sells for between $100 and $300.
The black Xros Loader
is an either one-of-a-kind or two-of-a-kind special edition Xros
Loader, distributed to the winner of the JF2011 D-Slinger tournament. It
currently resides with its original owner, Makibishi (pseudonym), the
organizer of the DIGIMADO tournament series.
Both the Tamagotchi and Digimon product packages were redesigned for the US by Bob Nenninger.
As we reach this point in the franchise's history, I find there are significant gaps in the record not addressed by the Japanese sources that would normally be regarded as authoritative. V-Tamer's Residence is precariously unaware of any LCD games not released in Japan, and NHOKO is similarly uninformed. We have our own story to tell.
From the onset, Bandai was invested in expanding its brand to a global scale. Digimon quickly found a foothold in Asia and the United States, and even when American markets would eventually contract, Bandai's audiences in China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and other countries, would continue to be a reliable consumer base for the company to cater to. In the years to come, Bandai would go so far as to cater directly to the Asian market even when Japanese sales were down, tailoring products specifically to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea.
Originally uploaded by Sarah Colledge, used with permission.
The original Digital Monster pets were exported to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and some parts of Asia in 1997, accompanied by promotional materials that tried to capitalize on the Tamagotchi craze by tethering the Digimon brand to it. The press brochure Zen and the Art of Digimon: The Trainer's Spiritual Guide significantly orientalized the franchise in spite of numerous cultural and name changes made to the pets, promoting the Digital Monster series with humor parodying the works of Zen masters in a chopstick-letters font. The brochure was also sprinkled with hiragana and 5-6-4 haiku poetry ("DigiMon are pure... As snow in a country... Which has no dogs") to cement its "Zen" elements, using the nonsense words おなお onao and おなもお onamoo in place of actual calligraphy to give the appearance of being authentically Zen.
Produced by public relations company The Wright Partnership Ltd., Zen and the Art of Digimon played up the pets' connection to Tamagotchi with a literal family tree. The brochure set up Digital Monster as partitioning directly off the first generation of Tamagotchi, with no production relation to Tamagotchi Angel or successive products. (Accordingly, this chart graphed Digimon as an offshoot rather than as part of Tamagotchi's development history.)
This tree lists Tamagotchi Garden as due for a UK release; Garden was ultimately canceled in the west in favor of Ocean.
How true this was is questionable; the meter used to track a Digimon's level of training has similarities to the second-gen Tamagotchi Mothra's (July 1997) Justice Meter, and Angel's (August '97) Angel Point meter. The two-pronged conductors used for Digimon's battle communications are also almost identical to those found on the Mesutchi/Osutchi generation of Tamagotchi toys, which were the first Tamagotchis to connect to one another. Considering that Digital Monster launched six months prior to Mesutchi/Osutchi, a more likely diagram is that Digimon was based on the hardware and software written for Mothra/Angel, and Mesutchi/Osutchi evolved directly from the Digital Monster pets. (No other Tamagotchi would have connector prongs throughout the brand's life, presumably due to Digimon taking over as Bandai & WiZ's multiplayer pet of choice.)
Originally uploaded by Sarah Colledge, used with permission.
Zen and the Art of Digimon is a very questionable work in terms of its relationship to the greater franchise. On one hand, it contained the first accurate translations of Digimon virtual pet profiles, the same Japanese texts that would later be used as the basis for the Digimon Reference Book. Just compare the Airdramon profile above to its Reference Book profile from 2014. But on the other hand, it also went to great lengths to censor elements of Digimon and introduce ideas not found in Japanese language materials. That same profile omitted a line in the virtual pet profile about Airdramon being close to god, and these first materials also referred to Devimon as Darkmon, and Monzaemon as Teddymon. Zen also introduced new locations and setpieces of dubious canonocity, some of which would be adopted into the packaging for the exported pets.
"The traditional method of training DigiMon was developed by the legendary DigiMonks, a group of mysterious hooded figures who inhabit a hidden monastery deep within the Far East End where they dedicate their lives to contemplation, meditation and teaching DigiMon how to beat seven shades of snot out of an opponent. The DigiMonks divide the nurturing of virtual-fighting-machines into three areas: diet, coaching and spiritual well-being."
The international pets were first advertised as DigiMon, a form of CamelCase found on several early English Digimon materials prior to the debut of Saban's anime dub. Unlike
the blister packaging used for Japan, in Asia and the United States a
box that concealed the interior pet's shape was used to contain it. Like theTamagotchi series preceding it, this was a result of the packaging artwork being redesigned by marketing illustrator Bob Nenninger.
Bandai's aim when redesigning the Tamagotchi packaging was allegedly to alleviate consumer confusion about the product, but I would approach this idea with a degree of skepticism. Bandai of Japan never tried to redesign Tamagotchi's packaging for the Angel, Garden, or Ocean products, yet the toy's era was ultimately cut short not by a lack of consumer awareness of what they were buying, but a concentrated move away from the toys as a fad.
Regardless of the redesigned packaging's origin, Digimon emulated Tamagotchi's international packaging to maintain a visible connection between the two pets. Like with the Tamagotchi pets, the front cover of the international Digital Monster packaging swung open to both show what the toy looked like and provide a description of what Digimon were. The pet's connectors were a novelty for the time, advertised as "Dock 'n Rock action," a term which may originate from Japanese promotional materials. (The first known reference to the pets as "Docks" was in the C'Mon Digimon manga, but the Japanese pets used "Battle Connect" as their slogan.)
"DIGIMON™ is the unique Digital MONSTER™ from cyberspace. Accessed from the Megalithic Mainframe, DigiMon comes to you to be hatched, raised and trained for the ultimate MONSTER MATCH--a cyber showdown between one DigiMon and another. With the exclusive Dock 'n Rock action, you link up your DigiMon with your friend's DigiMon--only one will win! Who will reign victorious? It depends on how well you raised and trained your DigiMon. Feed him well; train him thoroughly. For when the time comes for DigiMon to return to the Megalithic Mainframe, his ultimate honor is to be the strongest!"
The "Megalithic" idea was just one among several ways in which Digimon tried to capitalize on the 90's dinosaur craze. The initial western commercials for the Digital Monster pets played on the hype surrounding The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which had debuted in theaters only a few months earlier. The side effect of this was that the outside world was exposed to a divergently different version of Digimon than what was being presented back home in Japan, and the description of Digimon given above deliberately contradicted the Japanese language materials from that time. The Megalithic Mainframe itself was invented as an explanation for Digimon not dying, as the tombstone graphic normally displayed upon a Digimon's death was removed for the US, European, and Asian Digital Monsters, replaced by an image of a computer (the eponymous Mainframe).
This euphemistic return to the mainframe may have been created to prevent any so-called "Tamagotchi suicides," rumored suicides by virtual pet owners over the deaths of their pets that supposedly took place in Japan or South Korea in 1996. I've never seen any source to the rumors, but they were referred to in reputable tech publications like Next Generation magazine's October '97 issue.
The Nenninger packaging was used in Asia as well, while in Europe a mix of boxed and blister packaging (featuring the western-original
illustrations on its illustration board) was used. Even at this early stage of its development, FOX was taking a strong interest in the Digimon brand. The Monster Match-Up sweepstakes were conducted through a Fox17 news station in Tennessee, and TV commercials for the pets were produced and aired through the Fox Broadcasting Company.
The international pets changed the patterns found on each Digitama, as well as the colors of the devices themselves. Rumors from the early in the franchise's western launch found their way onto Tamagotchi fansites, pointing to several alternative names
for Digimon--"Digital Demon," "Digi Demon," and "Tama-Hawk" among them. While the
veracity of this is difficult to confirm, it's interesting that these
rumors surfaced in the first place. What kind of image were westerners
trying to impress onto the franchise? "Digital Demon" rings of late 90s Christian paranoia about demonic forces lurking in Pokémon cartridges, and invites comparison with the "Webkinz Killer" rumors of 2007.
One can only speculate on this topic, but I've noticed that the general tone of early Tamagotchi sites was ambivalent with regards to "DigiMon." Perhaps such tensions are to be expected; Digimon was an inherently masculine counterpart to Tamagotchi at the outset. One one level, it was threatening to the Tamagotchi fandom that Bandai saw a need to create a toy for a market they weren't already reaching out to. On another, there's always an underlying fear that one brand may replace another when its predecessor underperforms. (Just compare the case of Cardfight!! Vanguard and its child series Future Card Buddyfight. The early animosity from cardfighters was in part motivated by Bushiroad seemingly putting more into marketing Buddyfight than Vanguard.)
While Digimon never reached the same overwhelming popularity as Tamagotchi, the pets proved popular enough in Australia to lead to the creation of a sixth version by Bandai Asia, in clear
purple (what the Japanese would think of as a "skeleton" plastic) and
grey. Even today, almost no one in Japan is aware of V6. The fukei used for the Ver. 6 was identical to that used for Pendulum 1.0: Nature Spirits,
and the game architecture similar to the Ver. 5 Digital Monster, while the actual Digimon present were based on Nature Spirits sans the Ultimate/Mega (US) level. Its Group L/S Rank
Perfect was Tonosama Gekomon ("Shogun" Gekomon due to the western
release) with Gekomon as its Numemon equivalent. Being exclusive to one country, the Version 6 has become highly prized by collectors, auctioning for $300 to $350 where most Digital Monster pets in 2015 only sell for $60~80 out of box.
Success came with its own challenges. Bootleg Digital Monster pets began to emerge, reverse-engineered from the original models put out to the public. These bootlegs would often have buggy pixels, poorly configured contrast settings, and manufacturing errors, which also served as identifiers for connoisseurs. The most noticeable mistake was found in the corners of the screen's "lock" frame, which were sharp in bootlegs but rounded in official pets.
A more real threat to Bandai's copyright was Digital Monster 6 on the Game Boy Color, an unlicensed and unofficial game created by Hong Kong developer Best Rich. DM6 was a direct translation of the virtual pets to the GameBoy, using a specially-designed cartridge with its own set of two-pronged edge connectors capable of communicating with Digital Monster and Pendulum pets as if it were any other device. In adapting the virtual pets for the Game Boy, the developers of Digital Monster 6 seemed to follow the same trains of thought as Bandai's staff.
Just like in Ver. S and WS, tamers could purchase, hatch, nickname, and raise several Digimon at once from a central shop system, up to eight Digimon simultaneously. And like in those games, the player could also move the clock forward manually to speed up the raising process, and adjust the speed at which time passed generally. One giveaway to its unlicensed status was the use of meat and sweets as meal items rather than meat and protein, and that the Digimon resided in a house rather than a cage. The other features of training, flushing poop, and evolution were spot-on.
It's little wonder that nothing of this sort ever manifested officially, as Bandai was actively competing against the Game Boy during the time frame when an official product of this kind could flourish. Any remnants of DM6 are lost to time. No ROM image of the bootleg has emerged on the web. In light of specific prohibition policies against allowing the sale of bootlegs on popular e-shopping services like eBay and Amazon, the only way to buy it would be through a flea market or a seller from Hong Kong. Even then, the question remains of being able to actually bring an item that violates international copyright back into the borders of one's own country. The world has been put under many more locks and keys since these bootlegs were first created.
Unlike in Japan, no D-1 tournaments would ever be organized in the United States. South Korea, China, and Hong Kong were all incorporated into the Grand Prix at least by 2002, but any earlier tournaments are undocumented. Digimon was instead marketed as the next Tamagotchi fad, something played between friends but being deliberately short-lived, and certainly seemed to meet Bandai's short-term goals.
The Pendulum series was also never brought over to English-speaking countries. Instead a two-year gap followed until the launch of the Digimon: Digital Monsters anime dub on the Fox Kids network. Aside from future handheld and console games, another proper virtual pet would never again be distributed in the west. The presence of the anime dub made Digivice toys explosively popular, completely supplanting the pets in the popular imagination. Asia was on the opposite end of the spectrum, with Hong Kong and Singapore enjoying early releases of Japanese pets, and even their own Asia-original pets through 2002, though these did come among Asian Digivice releases.
Left: American poster for Digimon: Digital Monsters. Right: Japanese poster for Digimon Adventure.
As to the quality of the Saban dub, modern fans coming into Digimon now are likely confused by the claims that it was extremely accurate to the original. This is a somewhat complicated situation. For years, Digital Monsters was held up as one of the most accurate anime dubs of all time, and one of the series least ashamed of its Japanese origins. This was true for 1999, but the Saban dub is better remembered in the same way that we remember Don't Ask Don't Tell--"fair for its day." I've seen the differences between Toei's Digimon Adventure and Saban's Digimon: Digital Monsters expressed using their series' respective posters (seen above), an analogy I'm inclined to agree with. The characters, core plot, and scenes are generally similar, but the American dub was saturated with exaggerated portrayals that changed the chosen children from complex personalities caught up in difficult circumstance to a Looney Toons DigiDestined focused more on cracking jokes than growing as individuals.
This isn't the place for an exhaustive rundown, but try comparing just one character. In Adventure, Kido Jo is struggling not to crack under the pressures of living up to his father's expectations to become a doctor (and how much of those expectations are actually his own), being the eldest child responsible for protecting the rest of the group, and keeping his promises to the various friends he makes in the series. His partner Gomamon always speaks what's on Jo's mind, teaching him to be forthright with his feelings and follow his heart. In Saban's Digital Monsters, Joe Kido is a chronically-ill complainer with hyperactive asthma, allergies to every new thing he encounters, and is a general Hall Monitor-type. His partner Gomamon constantly clashes with him, making him lighten up and learn to not worry about everything. Kido Jo's crest is Sincerity, Joe Kido's crest is Reliability.
The Saban dub did less cuts than other anime for the time (it did do cuts; things like the end of episode 42 being moved to the beginning of 43, removing chopsticks, bath scenes being deleted, etc.) and its character name changes were nowhere near the level of contemporary Pokémon. To its benefit the dub--while quite shy of the fact at first--eventually admitted that the series was set in Japan, and conceded to naming the major landmarks of Odaiba. There are Adventure fans that grew up watching the dub, then later traveled to Japan as adults and visited the real-world sites of its most famous scenes. Even so, American viewers should be aware that the outside world gives very strange looks to our dub apologists. Of all the international dubs of Digimon Adventure, the American dub was the least faithful, and the changes made come off as both hypocritical and at odds with our alleged American values. Name changes are the most glaring; while Tai, Matt, T.K., and Kari, are all presented in the dub as nicknames for Taichi, Yamato, Takeru, and Hikari, functionally these names are treated as if the originals never existed. The United States is supposed to be the most culturally diverse and accepting nation in the world, yet while xenophobic Japan wouldn't shy away from portraying Li Xiaochun and her primarily Chinese family in Tamers, we're still driven to turn Izumi Koushirou into Izzy and replace the soundtrack with Kim Wilde's Kids in America. It seems no one on the dubbing staff realized there were children in the US with Japanese names. The fact that this practice has continued well into 2015 is both frustrating and shameful.
The original soundtrack, as well as the now-iconic opening and ending themes Butter-fly and I Wish were all cut for the American release in favor an approximately four-track original OST, later adding Hey Digimon as an insert. The dub opening theme has infamously become the one of the only things popular American culture remembers about Digimon, the other being the incomprehensible March 2000 film. Note that making such dramatic changes was not the uniform practice globally, as the Portuguese edition of Adventure dubbed both Butter-fly and I Wish (though the lyrics had no real relation to the original), and other international dubs were more faithful to the original script. The European Spanish dub was based on the Japanese Adventure script, as were the German, Portuguese, Arabic, and Latin American dubs, whereas the French, Swedish, Hungarian, and Polish dubs were based on Saban's dub script. Most of the international dubs, with the exception the Arabic dub, changed the names of the children to match the American ones, a decision which was mandated by Toei. Ironically, it seems American names were more acceptable than Japanese ones in countries where one would never otherwise encounter a Matt or a Joe.
The US Digivice hit across a string of unknown dates in 1999, in three waves: 1.0, 2.0, and 2.5. On 1.0 all partners except Agumon and Gabumon were capped at Perfect/Ultimate (US) level, while 2.0 and on added Ultimate/Mega level evolutions for all partners. Like with their Japanese counterparts, these were pedometer devices which progressed through a series of areas (seven in total) by counting the steps made through either walking, or shaking the device. The sprites on these toys were greatly truncated from their Japanese counterparts, reverting to 16x16 but using completely original designs rather than simply lifting their sprites from the Digital Monster series.
Battle was somewhat different. Digimon had Life and Attack stats, and
every round the Digimon would evolve if it was able to do so,
increasing its stats. Area bosses were invulnerable to
Child/Rookie-level Digimon, and were encountered by clearing the number
of steps needed to progress. The player could only revisit preceding
areas after clearing the entire game. In battle, successful evolution
depended on a count feature just like in the Pendulum series' attack
system, but using actual attacks depended on rapidly mashing the A
button rather than on shaking the toy. When connecting to other devices,
the Digivice would use either its own American Digivice rules (only versus other
US Digivices) or Digital Monster rules (for everything else). The Vaccine/Virus/Data triangle did not exist on American
toys, and all Asian-American Digivices could connect with the Digital Monster series, Pendulum, and Japanese Digivice (and later the Japanese D-3). Its compatibility with the Analyzer remains undocumented.
Unlike the Japanese Digivice, the Asian-American
variants did not have Tailmon/Gatomon (US) included. The AA devices
also didn't have any of the vestigial meal items. Both graphically and in gameplay terms the US/Asia Digivice was a downgrade from the Japanese Digivice and Pendulum series, as it removed the strategic in-game battle system of the Japanese toys, and didn't have any of the careful management aspects of the Pendulum series. Rather than the meticulously balanced count system found in Pendulum, on the US Digivice there was no measure of rhythm, only speed and button mashing. On the other hand, this Digivice at the very least didn't revert to Digital Monster rules when connecting to other Digivices.
Regardless of how we couch it, the question of gameplay will always be subjective. When the two are compared in a vacuum, both the Pendulum count system and the Digivice count system require a level of kinetic skill to play well, the Digivice just asks every tamer to have a uniform ability to hit the same RPM while the Pendulum demands something different depending on which version and Digimon you're using.
The Asian territories this Digivice was distributed in include Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan. (Whether or not it was distributed in mainland China is unclear.) Although the various versions came in a myriad number of colors, there were no gameplay differences between them except by version. The Ver. 1 came in orange, dark blue, red, green, and light blue, while the 2.0 came a clear plastic version, black, purple, yellow, and a glow-in-the-dark white. The 2.5 came in clear purple and metallic grey. The lack of product information and clear version identification outside of the Digivice's internal menus makes tracking down all of the colors difficult, so this list may not be exhaustive.
One of the small marvels of Digimon's history is that it somehow survived while Tamagotchi died off. 36 million Tamas were sold in from 1996 to 1997, nearly half of the franchise's 80 million
life-to-date sales from 1996 to 2013. By 1998 the Tamagotchi craze had
gone the way of the pet rock, with the holiday-themed Santaclautchi as the eleventh and final Tama in the original series. Yet at this time Digimon was a gold mine
for Bandai, and for a period through 2000 the company was unable to end
its international toyline because of the strong public demand. The sudden failure of Tamagotchi in March 1998 severely hurt Bandai, as they overproduced for a market that no one quite realized was disenchanted with the Tama fad, and made the company cautious about future investments. In 1998 another recently launched joint Bandai-WiZ franchise, Magical Witches, failed to penetrate. Having come at the tail end of the virtual pet craze when the world was finally forgetting about Dogz, Galapagos, Fin Fin, and Tamagotchi itself, Witches ultimately only survived through its setting Witchelny, a parallel Digital World from which Wizarmon, Piccolomon, and some later Digimon like Witchmon were all said to originate. Tamagotchi was consigned to a similar fate until the mid 2000s, living on through Nanimon, but the mystery is that Digimon managed to persevere for so much longer.
Given the global success of the various Digimon anime series--even if short-lived--and the Digivice toys, it seems clear that Digimon outliving its parent franchise is partially owed to it moving away from the very elements of nurturing and raising that longtime fans lament the loss of. This isn't uniformly true, as later years demonstrate the series thriving as a virtual pet even when other products perform poorly, but building up an audience through the anime series and quest-based Digivice toys made it possible for Digimon to acquire a consumer base that wouldn't otherwise be interested in it. The franchise was at its strongest when it appealed to multiple intersecting interests that gave it a strongly diversified audience.
After it first took off internationally, Digimon could no longer remain a strictly Japanese franchise. The future would see increasingly close product launches in multiple countries annually, and over time Bandai of Japan would come to absorb some of Asia's Digimon terminology into the main franchise. With Bandai and Toei fully aware of the international power Digimon was beginning to muster, the year 2000's Digimon Adventure 02 would see the franchise presenting itself as a globalized space for children of all nationalities.
Next: The 2000 Grand Prix and the Year of the Digivice
and the Spacy m!x
