Ever since 1999, Digimon has been releasing video games at a steady rate. Swapping genres like they are going out of fashion and known for fluctuating hugely in quality from release to release, the monster-catching franchise has struggled to build any sustainable momentum over the last two decades. For every good Digimon t🌳itle, there exists a misguided one that presents the license 🔯as directionless.
Digimon has an identity crisis, at least when it comes to its games. Here are five titles that helped make the series a favorite among many players, along with five releases that only served to set Digimon back.
10 On The Map: Digimon World DS ℱ 𝔍
Digimon World DS is a competent turn-based JRPG that spawned a string of generally decent sequels. Although quite a formulaic expe🦋rience, the title benefitted from focusing on the monster-taming and training aspect of the franchise. The story is serviceable but a bit basic.
With over 200 Digimon waiting to be caught and Digivolved, Digimon World DS proved that sometimes it is best to not overcomplicate a formula and stick to the fundamentals. After years of mostly disappointing titles, Digimon World DS brought back some prestige to the series.
9 ൩ Set It Back: Digimon World 3 🐼
Rather than fine-tuning what came before, the PlayStation 1's Digimon World trilogy had a habit of hitting the reset button for every new release. Released in 2002 on a console that had been out of date for more than two years, Digimon World 3 was a bland turn-based JRPG that fail🐎ed to justify 🔜its existence.
After Digimon World 2 abandoned many of the unique aspects of the original Digimon World, the third entry further stripped the franchise of🐬🃏 anything resembling a personality.
8 🃏 On The Map: Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Originally released on the PlayStation Vita before being ported to the PS4, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth marked a return to prominence for the series on home consoles, especially outside of Japan. Reminiscent of Digimon World 2, Cyber Sleuth told an unevenly paced but sporadically impressive story that leaned heavily into Digimon's anime legacy.
While the dungeons lacked much in the way of defining features, a huge roster of Digimon and a convoluted but engaging Digivolution system more than made u𓃲p 𒅌for the game's shortcomings.
7 Set It Back: Digimon Story: Cyber💧 Sleuth – Hacker's Memory ꦿ
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hacker's Memory i𓂃s not a bad game. In fact, it is about as good as its predecessor, which is hardly surprising considering how much overlap there is between the two.
While a unique story and roughly 90 new Digimon help somewhat, Hacker's Memory reuses too much of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyber Sleuth's locations and dungeons to stand on its own. The end result is a fully priced game that, despite offering easily 50 hours of content, feels like an expansion of Cyber Sleuth.
6 On The Map: Digimon Masters 🌸 ⛎
Digimon Masters is THE Digimon MMO. Debuting in 2009 and released as Digimon Masters Online on Steam in 2016, Digimon Masters lets fans play out their fantasies of acting as Tamers in a constantly evolving world, with the focus being primarily on the cast from Digimon Data Squad.
In 2020, Digimon Masters definitely shows its age; however, the fact it managed to🎶 last for more than a decade in a highly competitive and unforgiving genre serves as a testament to the fran🌌chise's fanbase.
5 Set It Back: Digimon World Data Sꦬquad
While not the worst Digimon game on the PlayStation 2, Digimon World Data Squad might have been the most damning. A traditional turn-based JRPG that incorporated a relationship-based Digivolution system reminiscent of Digimon World, Data Squad moved at a glacial pace, a flaw common among many of the franchise's games, and told a meandering storyline that poorly connected to the anime it w🧸as based on.
It tried and failed to incorporate the best elements of previous Digimon games, making the series seem like it had completely run out of steam. After this abysmal title, Digimon would go through a period when many of its games would not be released outside of Japan. It is a shame too, as 2012's Digimon World Re:Digitize and 2013's Digimon Adventure are pretty decent.
4 𝓰 On The Map: Digimon Rumble Arena 2 ♏
Released across multiple consoles, something that was not all that common for the franchise in 2004, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Digimon Rumble Arena 2 was a much better game than 👍it had any right to be.
Taking a page from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Smash Bros' playbook, Digimon Rumble Arena 2 was one of the better clones on the market at the time, and it did a good job of incorporating elements from the monster-taming series into a brawler. The sixth console generation marked a low point for the franchise, but Digimon Rumble Arena 2 showed the series could still🔯 put together ꧃a solid game.
3 ෴ Set It Back: Digimon All-Star Ru𒉰mble
A decade after Digimon Rumble Arena 2, Bandai Namco returned to the fighting game well for Digimon All-Star Rumble. Unfortunately, this game felt antiquated the second it w🤪as released.
With Cyber Sleuth and Next Order yet to debut and some of the better recent Digimon titles stuck in Japan, the western-only All-Star Rumble painted a portrait of a license that had refused to grow with the times. Digimon's games have a history of playing catch-up, but no other title felt🐷 quite as behind the times as this disappointing brawle🔜r.
2 💮 On The Map: Digimon World
Digimon World might not have been a critical darling, but it did introduce many Play꧋Station 1 owners to the wonderful world of Digital Monsters. In the game, players are sucked into the Digital World, given a Digimon to train, and asked to recruit NPCs to File City. There are many bosses to defeat and a respectable array of available Digivolutions, even if Mega forms did not make the cut.
As rough around the edges as it was, Digimon World set itself apart from the competition. It was its own beast, and the early games would have been better off expanding on the first game's foundations rather than trying to copy Pokémon or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Persona.
1 Set 🎐It Back: Digimon World 4
To its credit, Digimon World 4 did try to shake things up by giving Digimon weapons. It was not a change that paid off. A complete departure from the previous Digimon World, theᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ fourth entry barely felt like it was part of the same🧸 series.
Released close to the end of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation 2's lifespan, Digimon World 4 looked and played like a title that should have been on the PlayStation 1. More importantly, its inorganic gameplay shift highlighted the franchise♚'s directionless progression, as Bandai threw everything at the wall in the hope that something might stick.