I was reading an old article about Digimon World being released in the U.S. in 2000 and I realized that the game didn't get a great rep back in the day. Sure, it's obtuse, but I think it suffered from the fact it was released so long after the original Pokemon titles and, in the west, after the anime that folks probably wrote it off as either a clone of the former or a cheap anime tie-in.
Of course, Digimon World is actually a MAJOR cornerstone of the franchise. When it was released originally in Japan, the franchise was pretty tiny...you had the first series of Virtual Pets (which make up the raisable roster of Digimon World), the Sega Saturn game which was basically a port of the Virtual Pets more or less with slight more interaction, and the second series or Virtual Pets, the Pendulum Series, had just released alongside the V-Tamer manga.
Digimon World began development I believe in 97, and looking back it's actually a pretty solid game that belies the expectation it was a quick cash grab on the show or Pokemon---I remember as a kid being weirded out because of how it came before the anime in Japan, and thus you had the branched evolutions that Digimon is known for outside of the linear evolutions known in the anime. At the same time, World actually introduces some of the canon lines we'd see in the show...Patamon and Angemon as well as Biyomon and Birdramon weren't in the same Virtual Pets initially, with World being the first time the Child forms were linked with those Adult forms.
But it was our first glimpse alongside V-Tamer of what I consider the best idea of the Digital World...a bizarre mixmash of nature and technology, with World's pre-rendered backgrounds still looking pretty good. It also brought the idea of the duality of Digimon as both animal like creatures who could also act like humans as well, which would feel weird in any other series but kind of works with Digimon's loose world building and, well, being "data" I feel they can get away with breaks in their world building easier than other franchises.
As for Digimon, at the time of release only two of the Pendulum V-Pets were released, with a couple of Digimon from those later versions appearing...Hercules Kabuterimon and Mega Seadramon appeared as playable, as did Phoenixmon which popped up in a V-Pet released shortly after. You also had Otamon and that line appearing...
But there were a lot of Digimon that debuted in Digimon World as far as I can tell. This includes some major Digimon that would go on to become extremely important such as Machinedramon and Myotismon, as well as lesser known but unique Digimon like Guardromon and Cherrymon. Of note was Penguinmon, a unique raisable Child created just for the game perhaps to be a more natural evolution to the ice Digimon Frigimon and Monjyamon from the original V-Pet, and the enigmatic Ninjamon, a raisable Champion debuting in the title.
Of course I can't end this without mentioning the palette swap Digimon they introduced...and years later, some of them became fixtures in the anime such as the Gabumon look-alike Psychemon which is, well, in my opinion amazing.
Of course, Digimon World is actually a MAJOR cornerstone of the franchise. When it was released originally in Japan, the franchise was pretty tiny...you had the first series of Virtual Pets (which make up the raisable roster of Digimon World), the Sega Saturn game which was basically a port of the Virtual Pets more or less with slight more interaction, and the second series or Virtual Pets, the Pendulum Series, had just released alongside the V-Tamer manga.
Digimon World began development I believe in 97, and looking back it's actually a pretty solid game that belies the expectation it was a quick cash grab on the show or Pokemon---I remember as a kid being weirded out because of how it came before the anime in Japan, and thus you had the branched evolutions that Digimon is known for outside of the linear evolutions known in the anime. At the same time, World actually introduces some of the canon lines we'd see in the show...Patamon and Angemon as well as Biyomon and Birdramon weren't in the same Virtual Pets initially, with World being the first time the Child forms were linked with those Adult forms.
But it was our first glimpse alongside V-Tamer of what I consider the best idea of the Digital World...a bizarre mixmash of nature and technology, with World's pre-rendered backgrounds still looking pretty good. It also brought the idea of the duality of Digimon as both animal like creatures who could also act like humans as well, which would feel weird in any other series but kind of works with Digimon's loose world building and, well, being "data" I feel they can get away with breaks in their world building easier than other franchises.
As for Digimon, at the time of release only two of the Pendulum V-Pets were released, with a couple of Digimon from those later versions appearing...Hercules Kabuterimon and Mega Seadramon appeared as playable, as did Phoenixmon which popped up in a V-Pet released shortly after. You also had Otamon and that line appearing...
But there were a lot of Digimon that debuted in Digimon World as far as I can tell. This includes some major Digimon that would go on to become extremely important such as Machinedramon and Myotismon, as well as lesser known but unique Digimon like Guardromon and Cherrymon. Of note was Penguinmon, a unique raisable Child created just for the game perhaps to be a more natural evolution to the ice Digimon Frigimon and Monjyamon from the original V-Pet, and the enigmatic Ninjamon, a raisable Champion debuting in the title.
Of course I can't end this without mentioning the palette swap Digimon they introduced...and years later, some of them became fixtures in the anime such as the Gabumon look-alike Psychemon which is, well, in my opinion amazing.
