The nineties is remembered for many things, one of those being the sudden popularization of anime in the west. There was Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball Z, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Sailor Moon. But out of all these shows, two would forever be locked together in bitter rivalry, leading 🐲to many heated debates and arguments on the playground, at comic book shops a🍌nd arcades.
First there was Pokémon, which started out as pair of video games releas🐟ed for the original Game Boy in 1996. A year later it was adapted as an anime series focusing on novice Pokémon trainer Ash and his faithful Pikachu as he sets on a quest to catch as many Pokémon as he can, defeat as many gym leaders as he can find, and become a Pokémon Master. The franchise quickly took off with trading cards, games, toys and a bunch more merchandise.
Then came Digimon, and they made no hesitation to challenge Pokemon's dominance. Based on a series of Tamagotchi-like virtual pets, the franchise took off in 1999 with the release of the anime Digimon Adventure, which focused on Tai, his partner Agumon, and his friends from summer camp as they try to escape the Digital World. A video game was also released at this time called Digimon World, and the franchise eventually saw mor𝓰e animes, video games and even some movies.
Fans have been debating which series is better since 1999, and they continue to argue it even to♊day. So in the grand tradition of "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Ali vs. Norton," and "Kasparov vs. Karpov," we bring you "Digimon vs. Pokémon" with some helpful fan made comics ♔and memes as visual aids.
20 ও 𒐪 Before It Was Cool
When Pokémon X and Y introduced the c😼oncept of Mega Evolutions, fans were ecstatic. Pokémon that were already awesome before like Blaziken, Gardevoir and Charizard could momentarily go Super Saiyan, become more powerful and look even cooler than they already were, and then go back to the way they were once the battle has ended. That's awesome! Why didn't anyone think of this before?
Actually, someone did think about that before, and they did it long before Pokémon ever thought their idea up. The concept of Mega Evolving dates back to Digimon Adventure 02, and it referred to a rank that was somehow even more powerful than the Ultimate forms of the previous generation. Though Palidramon was initially the only one who could do it, by the time Digimon Adventure tri rolls around, all the original Digimon can reach this🐓 rank.
19 Someone Call 𒁏PETA
The DigiDestined have a very special bond with their partnered Digimon. They feed them, talk to them, live with them. They help solve each other's problems and encourage each other, sometimes evಌen t꧂raining together to become stronger. Often times, the Digimon will become one of the DigiDestined's closest friends.
Ash and Pikachu have a special bond in Pokémon as well, but given the evidence seen in the anime as well as the video games, this friendship seems to be an exception, and not the norm. Every trainer seems obsessed with catching every single Pokémon they find, and they are not🙈 above beating that Pokémon into submission until they join their team. Sure, trainers may have one or two favorite 𝔉Pokémon, but if they're trying to catch 'em all, they're not going to bother making friends with each and every one of them.
18 Much🧸 Power. So Deaden.
It very much make sense this on. I dont know wat the confu🥀se about.
In all seriousness, this one makes sense. It's really clear. MetalGreymon is made of 🐟metal, and Pikachu is an electric mouse. When he uses the thunderbolt, MetalGreymon gets zapped.♚ You can tell this by looking at his eyes. In the cartoons, we've seen that Pikachu can often go up against Pokémon that it's much smaller than, and will often win against them despite his size. This big guy might seem intimidating with his claws and teeth, but he's just no match for Pikachu. He's not even a ground type... so really, how could he hurt Pikachu?
17 🌜 Which Has The Better Anime?
Many Digimon fans remember the original Digimon Adventure anime fondly. Despite some corny jokes from the dub, it was actually pretty dramatic for a kid's cartoon. Each one of the DigiDestined experience quite a bit of character growth. The show was also pretty suspenseful and ev🎶en dark, with the kids frequently being put in danger, and eve🍃n some close allies were killed off in some truly heartbreaking moments.
Pokémon, on the other hand, was on the completely different end of the spectrum. Outside of the movies, no one's life was ever really in danger, and the show's villains (Team Rocket) quickly became comic relief. And outside of the first few episodes of Ash learning to become a proper Pokémon trainer, he never really experiences any growth, in his characte🧔r or physically, leaving character arcs for any new companions he picks up on his journey.
16 Digimon Vs. Pokémon: The Next Generatio🦹n
Everyone remembers how great the first generation of Digimon and Pokémon were. That's an indisputable fact. They were perfect. Our childhoods say so. Even so, the true test for a franchise's longevity lies in whether or not they can come up with great new characters. Digimon seems to have nailed it with this one, as they have a Gundam-inspired warrior of shinin🥂ess in their newest generation that would make any mecha fan jealous.
Pokémon fans, meanwhile, get Trubbish, a Pokémon that's literally garbage. Don't get me wrong, they've had some pretty cool newer Pokémon as well, but after more than 500 creatures, it seems they're starting to run out of ideas. I'm sure with the next generation of Pokémon we'll see a computer Pokémon, a lamp Pokémon, a cup of ramen one, and some more based on whatever was lying around the offices of Pokémon's creative department at the time.
15 ⛄ 🐻Just The Tip Of The Diglett
Here we have Ash running into what appears to be a run of the mill Diglett, only to presumably get rekt by what appears to be a very powerful Digimon. As ridiculous as this is, it does bring up one of the greater mysteries of the Pokémon universe: what does th𓂃e rest of Diglett look like? In all the cartoons and video games, all we ever see of the Pokémon is their head poking out of the ground.
What secrets lie beneath the ground? Maybe the rest of Diglett really is much larger than we anticipated. What if all the Diglett's re☂ally are powerful💮 Digimons from another world, just hiding beneath the earth, biding their time, waiting for the perfect time to strike?
Better train even harder, Ash.
14 So Many Forms 🎃
When it comes to Poké𒉰mon evolution, things are pretty simple and straightforward. Most Pokémon ge🧸t two or three evolutionary stages, with the possibility of another stage being added in future generations. The addition of Mega Evolutions was another interesting touch, but it's still straightforward. The Pokémon with the most dynamically diverse evolutions, though, is Eevee, who can currently evolve to seven different Pokémon depending on what kind of rock it's touching.
Digimon, however, have much more complicated evolutions, with some of their stages not looking so much like a line, but a tree. Here we see Veemon, one of the Rookie Digimon from Digimon Adventure 02. Like most Digimon, he has the standard evolutionary stages of Champion, Ultimate and Mega, but he's also one of the few Digimon who can use Digi-Eggs to "Armor Digivolve" into various other forms, as well as fuse with ot🌸her Digimon into even more powerful creatures.
13 🐽 Redesigning Your Old Favorites
It's been about twenty years since Digimon and Pokémon were at the height of their popularity, so what's the best way to get all those grown 90s kids as well as newer generations interested in these old properties again? How about we redesign all their favorite monsters, so they have something familiar but still new to experience? That seems to be the idea behind Digimon Adventure tri and Pokémon Sun and Moon.
But while Digimon went for a more subtle, realistic look for their creatures, Pokémon seemed to go in the completely opposite direction with their Alolan forms of original Pokémon. From rainbow-colored Muks to palm tree-sized Exeggutors to Dugtrios with Matthew McConaughey hair, the Alolan variants can be kinda weird. Fans seemed to be into them, though, as Sun and Moon quickly became one of the best-selling games of 2016 and the Pokémon franchise as a whole.
12 Fight Someone Your Own Size 𒉰
If you think about it, Ash really is kind of a jerk. He goes from town to town, looking for the next gym leader or strong opponent to fight. When he finally does find a Pokémon trainer who can p🃏ut up a decent fight, he almost immediately challenges them. Then he defeatౠs them with just one thunderbolt from his super powered Pikachu, laughs in their face, takes the badge, and leaves for the next town to do it all over again.
Sora, on the other hand, is a very nice and polite girl who only fights when she needs to, or in this case, when some punk kid challenges her. Pikachu is admittedly pretty strong, but even he'd have trouble taking on a giant bird monster the size of a house. A🎐sh might be better off just apologizing for once.
11 ꦦ Digivolve Into Weapon-Of-Mass-Destruction-Mon
Pokémon vary depending on type and generation, but most of them seem to follow the same central design. You take a real world animal or plant, change the color scheme and give it some elements to associate it with whate♒ver type it🗹's supposed to be (plant on Bulbasaur's back, flame on Charmander's tail, etc.), and make it look cute and adorable (or cool and intimidating, if it's an evolved Pokémon).
Rookie Digimon seem to fol𓆏low those same rules, but once they go into Champion or beyond, things get a little more extreme. Metal variations of Digimon seem to be particularly popular, and these often have them wearing armor plating, equipped with large knives or claws and huge cannons and missile launchers. Apart from Blastoise's shoulder-mounted water cannons, I don't recall any Pokémon that looked like they just walked out of an NRA meeting.