Digital Monster – the Amazing Original Digimon Tamagotchi Device

Bandai rocketed the Digimon franchise to fame in the late 1990s after its toy tycoons identified a gap in the market for a battle-ready, player-vs-player digital pet. Unlike the Tamagotchi, one Digimon needed to battle another to evolve.

While it may not have the same cultural influence as Pokémon, the Digimon virtual pet – and the media surrounding them – have enjoyed plenty of success in their own right.

When Did Digimon Come Out?

The “Digital Monster” or original Digimon pet was released in virtual pet form sometime in 1997 by Bandai Japan – the same toy company behind the Tamagotchi-craze. Since the Tamagotchis were passive and primarily marketed at young girls, Bandai saw an opportunity to create virtual pets that would appeal to a male audience – which, of course, has to involve fighting and competition.

And thus, Digimon was created.

Much like its predecessor, Digimon was a massive hit with over 14 million units sold worldwide to date. From caring for these tiny digital monsters to preparing them for battle, players were immersed in a franchise that would eventually lead to an anime, toy line, comic, and trading card game.

Bandai basically took on Pokémon on all fronts, however futile that ended up being for them.

The Digimon Lifecycle

The original Digimon virtual pet is often called a ‘Digimon Tamagotchi’ because it functioned very similarly. At least, it did at first.

Original Digimon devices all begin with a baby Digimon encased within an egg (sound familiar?). Once hatched, it was time to train, care for, and evolve the fantasy creature to prepare it for battle with other players to see who was better. 

Throughout Digimon’s life, the virtual pets would develop into more powerful creatures as they aged. When a Digimon dies, it respawns as a Digi-Egg, and once the egg hatches, a new Digimon goes through the life cycle again.

The concept was marketing gold in the late 90s.

Players were hooked on the gameplay loop of seeing their Digimon evolve into stronger, more powerful creatures they could battle their friends with, and who could blame them? There was just something so much more tangible, more interactive, and more enjoyable in battling Digimon than playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Best Starting Digimon Virtual Pets

Like Tamagotchi, Digimon Toys had multiple releases that featured different characters, but shared the same mechanics. There were initially five Digimon devices with their own starting character and tree of possible evolutions.

With the original Digimon handheld, everyone wanted to start with special characters like Teddymon, the famous puppeteer, Darkmon the Evil Digimon, Devimon clad in the jet-black cloth, Meramon the Flame Digimon, and Monzaemon – which is an Ultimate Level Digimon. The higher up in the ranking, the more vital the Digimon. 

You can get these unique entities based on how you trained and fought with your Digimon. For example, to get your Digimon to its Ultimate Level, you need to participate in 15 battles and win at least 60% of them.

However, some special characters like Teddymon could be achieved by inserting and removing the tab that came with the Digimon device. There were other “cheat” methods to trick the device into giving you your desired Digimon, but many risked damaging the toy.

Gameplay Basics

If you can’t remember how to tend to your Digimon virtual pet, here’s a mini-guide on keeping your little fighter happy and healthy.

The original product has three buttons: the A button scrolls, the B button activates the selected function, and the C button cancels out whatever is on the screen. Similar to Tamagotchi, the Digmon device’s reset button can be reached with a pen or other sharp object. It’s a good idea to keep a paperclip on hand if you can.

Check out the gameplay categories below. Any Tamagotchi veteran will tell you it’s all about avoiding an early grave with these tiny creatures. Naturally, you have to make sure your Digimon is in tip-top shape to give it the best chance in battle.

Status Checks – The game always begins by checking the pet’s age, weight, strength, hunger, and energy on the status screen. That’s how you determine what the pet needs to prepare for battle.

Feeding – Of course, you have to feed your Digimon – they can’t fight on an empty stomach! Keeping your Digimon full and happy is just as important as it is with Tamagotchi.

Training – Unsurprisingly, the training function is used to lose weight and increase strength. If only it was as easy as hitting a button in real life!

Cleaning Up – Yes, just like a Tamagotchi, your Digimon poops. All that food has to go somewhere, and you’re going to have to clean it up. Otherwise, they’ll get sick, and won’t be strong enough to fight.

Healing – If a Digimon gets injured during battle, you must nurse them back to health before they fight again.

Battle Mode – This is where you can link to another owner’s device and have your two Digimon engage in battle. But be careful, battling too many times without letting your Digimon rest can kill it!

Toggling – When a Digimon pet sleeps, and the lights remain on, the virtual monster can’t get enough energy for a high-power evolution. It turns out this pet needs a dark space to get some rest to reach its new form. That’s why whenever one of our Digimon fell asleep, it went straight under the bed!

Digimon Device Versions

Bandai released several upgrades, updates, and new Digimon devices throughout the late 90s to the early 2000s to keep fans interested.

Among the new releases were various versions like the Digimon Pendulum, which is the second in the series.

The Digimon Pendulum series generated other Digimon series, including the Pendulum 3.0, Nightmare Soldiers Pendulum, Wind Guardians Pendulum, and more. Bandai also created the Pendulum X series, Digimon iC, Digimon Mini, and WonderSwan (WonderSwan is a handheld entertainment console by Bandai). 

On top of all that, we had the Digimon Digivice – an interactive device that looked like an egg. It was a smaller version based on the Digimon Adventure anime, and also had a companion device called the Digimon Analyzer. Did we need to carry around two Digimon devices at all times?

No, but you better believe that Digimon owners were more than happy to do just that!

Digimon 20th Anniversary Edition

Bandai came out with a 20th-anniversary edition in 2017. This special edition Digimon pet toy was only released in Japan, and allowed players to choose an egg type from the first five original versions – plus a few new ones you can unlock. The rest of the world got their hands on the gadget when Bandai released the Digimon 20th anniversary virtual pet worldwide in 2019.

If you’re in the market to buy a Digimon, you’ll be glad to hear that the original pets are relatively easy to come by! You can still find them online, like this fantastic yellow Digimon unit sold by our affiliate partner, Entertainment Earth.

While you rediscover the digital world with all the other Digimon owners from back in the day, you can also Rediscover 90s Toys by following our Instagram, Pinterest and other social media pages! We share all the latest updates there as well as other bite-sized, heartwarming bits of nostalgic trivia on a regular basis. Whether you’re a 90s kid or not, we’d love to have you as part of the community!

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Peeps Asked!

Who created Digimon?

Akiyoshi Hongo is cited as the creator of the original Digimon device, but this is actually an alias composed of three separate people: Aki Maita (co-creator of the original Tamagotchi), Hiroshi Izawa (author of the first Digimon Manga), and Takeichi Hongo (Bandai’s marketing director).

How many Digimon are there?

There are currently over 1400 Digimon characters.

Is Digimon a rip-off of Pokémon?

This is a touchy one. There are a few comparisons to Pokémon, but Digimon is not a complete rip-off. Nintendo and Bandai were battling to reach the top of the marketing world. Bandai focused on creating a handheld for boys with similar superficial elements to Pokémon, but the resemblance was never enough for a lawsuit.

Is Digimon a Tamagotchi?

Not exactly. Although the two are similar, Digimon devices can battle each other, whereas Tamagotchi was more focused on caring for the digital pet and creating that quintessential bond or Tamagotchi connection. The original Digimon device was never officially a Tamagotchi, but its concept and gameplay were very similar.

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Lee Davey

Lee is curator of nostalgia and a long-time collector of loveable junk. An 80s baby, 90s kid, he knows he had it good when it came to Saturday morning cartoons. Spends his life trying to recapture the dopamine hit of playing Game Boy for the first time and believes Beanie Babies will make a fortuitous comeback. Obsessed with everything (and anything) retro, he is your trusted guide to a world of 90s toys, games and collectables.

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