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Marking Digimon’s first step into the world of videogames, Digimon World got the ball rolling for a franchise that still makes waves to this day. Fans of Pokemon, as well as the later entries in the Digimon World series will find a lot to enjoy in this late 90s Playstation game that has slowly earned a reputation as a cult classic.
Charming, Yet Difficult
The aesthetic of Digimon World is incredibly well realized, especially for a game that was released on the original Playstation. The graphics, while definitely old, are very well designed and manage to shine through the console’s limited hardware. Characters pop off the screen with a distinctive manga art style, and the Digimon creatures themselves are designed and animated in a way that the transition to 3D seems like a natural step.
But behind the visual pleasure, Digimon World is a tough grind that may surprise players, especially younger ones. First off, the evolution process is much different to the one featured in Pokemon, meaning that newcomers might find themselves lost at how the evolution actually works. Digimon have very short lifespans and reincarnate as eggs, meaning that players will be evolving and re-evolving their Digimon dozens of times over a playthrough. Digimon can only reach higher levels of evolution unless the player meets certain requirements, which are different for each and every Digimon.
Save File Island
Released before the Digimon Adventure anime first aired, Digimon World has its own unique story that sees players take the quest of saving File Island. As told by the leader of File City, Jijimon, the world once allowed Digimon to live in harmony, but now they live in segregation and their memories have been wiped. It’s up to you as the player, with one of the four available starter Digimon, to go forth and find Digimon to rebuild File City.
While seeing File City slowly get better and better infrastructure with more Digimon running around is incredibly satisfying, traversing the island is not. Fast travel is an option, but to do so costs significant amounts of currency and is only a one way trip. This means players can expect a lot of back and forth to various corners of the island ad nauseum.
Pet Simulator
Heavily inspired by the franchise’s origins as an unabashed Tamagotchi rip-off, Digimon World features pet management that is missing in other franchises like Pokemon. For example, each Digimon needs to eat, sleep, defecate, manage its weight and be treated for illness. Food types can satisfy your Digimon for different lengths of time, but certain foods like meat can increase their weight, while others like mushrooms can decrease their weight.
If left unwatched, these attributes can negatively affect Digimons’ evolution. In a style similar to Animal Crossing, this creates an atmosphere where the player is expected to repeatedly and regularly check up and maintain their relationship with their Digimon, at the risk that their performance will be severely impacted.
Like a mixture of Pokemon and a virtual pet simulator, Digimon World holds up surprisingly well. Missing the shackles of later installments that would rely heavily on the brand recognition of the Digimon Anime, Digimon World is a solid, stand-alone adventure that takes some of the best parts of pocket monsters and throws in an interesting mix of new ideas.
PROS:
- Graphics and art style are fantastic for their age
- Classic entry in the Digimon series of games
- Fun, inventive monster designs and multiple evolutions
CONS:
- Can be surprisingly difficult, especially for children
- Lots of pet management and pet simulation
- Traversing File Island is long, cumbersome and time-consuming
Digimon may not have won the pop culture battle against Pokemon, but the series has managed to maintain a popularity and sizable fanbase over the years. And with that popularity came many different video game iterations of the series’ focus on pocket monster battles, such as Digimon Rumble Arena 2 for the PS2.
Smash Clone
Continuing to follow in the footsteps of Nintendo, Bandai’s Digimon Rumble Arena games are very similar to the Smash Bros series of fighting games, where a collection of video game characters battle in zany and often bombastic arenas.
And while Rumble Arena 2 doesn’t offer the same recognisable characters seen in Nintendo’s Smash games, fans of the Digimon series will get a real kick out of seeing their favourite monsters fighting in 3D. What’s more is that Digimon Rumble Arena 2 also adds a few new features to the mix to make it stand out against other Smash clones, as well as Nintendo’s iconic series.
Rumble On
As the name illustrates, Digimon Rumble Arena 2 is a sequel to the Playstation 1’s Digimon Rumble Arena. There’s not a huge amount of difference between the two versions, other than the fact each runs on a different Playstation console.
The game has just two modes to play with: singleplayer and multiplayer. Unlike in Smash, there’s no story to be found anywhere, and the game focuses solely on the gameplay of the fights to keep you entertained. The fights while focusing primarily on eliminating your opponent by knocking them off screen, do not always go this way. Some fights have you participate in quasi-minigames where the goal might be to avoid your opponent whilst racking up enough points before the match is over.
That said, the basic fighting is where the action is. Fans of Smash Brothers will feel right at home with the sidescrolling fight mechanics that involve combos in order to blast your foe off the side of the screen. Unlike Smash, Digimon Rumble Arena features a health bar for each character, so you know exactly how much health each person on the field has. This is a lot more accessible for most players, and you’ll never be left wondering just how close you are to losing at any given moment of a fight.
As you play through fights, little orbs will drop on the battlefield. By collecting these orbs, the basic digimon characters can evolve during matches. When digi-evolved, characters’ movesets are a lot more interesting and fun to play around with. It also keeps matches from getting stagnant, and adds a layer of complexity not found in other Smash clones.
Multiplayer is the Way to Go
The single player mode doesn’t offer much in terms of replayability, except to unlock certain characters as well as modes for multiplayer. The true fun of Digimon Rumble Arena 2 comes from the multiplayer mode, which is just as chaotic and exciting as you’d hope. It comes highly recommended to tweak the battle settings before you play, and you should switch the battle speed to fast for the best high-speed fighting experience possible. Unfortunately, if you’re playing with friends, players will need to agree not to use overpowered characters, since some are very clearly more effective than others.
For those who aren’t huge fans of Digimon, better stick to Smash.
PROS
- Adds some new elements to the Smash formula
- Creative and interesting set of characters
- Customizable control scheme
CONS
- Basic battle speed feels odd and slow
- Not much appeal for anyone who doesn’t like Digimon
- Some characters are very overpowered