Digimon video games have been in an awkward and stagnant state for the past few years. Since 2018, the only major game that Digimon fans have been looking forward to is Digimon Survive. Only mobile games that have all terminated their services and region-specific spin-offs have come out during that time. The last major game to come out was 2019’s Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition, which is a collection of two prior games made available on all platforms.
Things have begun to look up recently, however. Digimon Con 2022 is expected to offer new information on all facets of the Digimon franchise. Of particular interest is the Digimon Games Ultimate Information and Q&A Session running from 5:10 p.m. PT to 6:00 p.m. PT, which is expected to reveal the release date of Digimon Survive. Fans are also hopeful for other games to make an appearance, such as the new Digimon Story RPG teased back in 2018. These new games will revitalize the franchise’s game side, but it would also be nice to get some updated versions of some of the franchise's first games as well.
The History of The Digimon World Series
There have been a lot of Digimon games released over the past couple of decades, but two main series have emerged from them: Digimon World and Digimon Story. The Digimon World series consists of six main installments, the Pocket Digimon World trilogy, and a couple of upgraded re-releases for the most recent World titles. The Story franchise started with Digimon World DS in 2006, which is titled Digimon Story in Japan. These two franchises have diverged in their approach to Digimon; Digimon World emphasizes the pet simulator elements of the series, while Digimon Story plays out more like a traditional monster-collecting JRPG.
The first Digimon World was a PS1 title that came out for Japan in 1999. It featured a child traveling to the digital world to make friends and fight evil. While the game was ostensibly a JRPG, it allowed for fine control over a partner Digimon’s growth and expected players to take care of their monsters. Many games in the Digimon World series are informed by this setup, though the specifics can vary. There is not a single unifying gameplay style that holds all Digimon World games together like there is for Digimon Story, as the second and third World games were designed like other PS1 JRPGs and the fourth was a hack-and-slash title. Digimon World Re:Digitize and Digimon World: Next Order in the 2010s serve as a return to the first game’s pet simulator formula, with some extra JRPG mechanics worked in.
Why The Digimon World Series Needs To Make a Comeback
These titles are a diverse bunch, and they all have their fans. Digimon World 1 and Digimon World: Next Order International Edition are arguably the most popular, but Digimon World 2 and 3 represent predecessors to the modern Story titles, and Digimon World 4 is a fun arcade-style romp with friends. Digimon World Re:Digitize and Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode haven’t been localized, leaving them as a blank spot in most English fans’ knowledge. It would be great if most or all of these titles could be remastered and released on more recent hardware, especially considering only Next Order International is available on anything modern.
At least the first four Digimon World games should be remastered and released on all current consoles and PC. As the first three are PS1 games and the fourth was a fairly cheap PS2 title, they could all benefit from higher resolutions and possibly better frame rates. Digimon World 4 is also ripe for online multiplayer, which could improve fan reception of the divisive title. Translating Re:Digitize to English and porting it to consoles like Next Order International doesn’t feel necessary given that the latter exists, but it could be a major selling point if lumped into a collection. These old games still represent a lot of what makes Digimon unique and charming, and it would be great if a new generation of fans could experience them.
