@@Lord_Sirec why the fuck it Japan exclusive if they want to compete with Pokémon they should release their games worldwide Pokémon always releases their games worldwide
Cyberslueth, survive, and world games to add this help you decide which one play first Cyberslueth gameplay is closer to Pokémon which appeal to a lot people which what I recommend first especially since it best looking game out for series and it has interesting premise imo Survive is a visual novel that focus more on story than gameplay but it has best digimon story by far Digimon world games are cool each one unique and has different gameplay styles even though they just end up being rpgs most of time and they tend be most fond games especially digimon worlds 1-3
To list some of the reasons: - Marketing - Different main focuses (video games vs toys) - Video games being more accessible than the V-Pets (the mainline Digimon product) - The drop in quality of the Digimon Anime. And the most important one imo: - Bandai not having faith in Digimon’s success outside of Japan.
Bandai definitely should have had more faith in Digimons' success outside of Japan. They also should have picked a better market8ng team for international content
Well, that's business model and they always focus on their region only. BTW, Digimon Franchise should be bought by Sega, Capcom, or Nintendo, so it can get more popularity and can compete with Pokemon. PLUS, Bandai should not be existed and get bankrupt, because they are poor management to handle online games like Gundam Evolution, Blue Protocol, etc.
@@yujieleong8821 "BTW, Digimon Franchise should be bought by Sega, Capcom, or Nintendo," no...just no. I never want any of those hacks anywhere near Digimon. They will ruin everything that is loved about Digimon.
The answer is simple, MARKETING. The pokemon and Nintendo have pokemon EVERYWHERE. Bandai has great IPs, but is much more conservative with their marketing and the western audience.
That is not true; during it's hey-day BOTH franchises had a TON of marketing... But Digimon was always behind Pokemon. While it's true that the marketing for Pokemon always stayed while Digimon dropped off... But there were other factors. For one, Ash felt like more of a protagonist while the Digidestined, while someone for everyone also made following fractured. And Pokemon just felt like it had a more fun world... and the Pokemon were cuter and more natural...
@@TheDeathmail I liked how Digimon had multiple protagonists. You were bound to find one to indentify with. Personally, I see part of both Izzy and Takato in myself.
I feel the protagonist of their respective franchise says a lot. Pokemon is just now leaving Ash behind after twenty plus years of just him. Meanwhile Digimon has had multiple different protagonist so it's always fresh.
Yeh there was nothing wrong with Digimon changing the protagonist. Changing their anime universe so drastically without explanation was more likely what weakened their audience growth.
@@TheOFCMediaI personally think it's good that they do that. Digimon being a different universe from different anime seasons, games, manga, etc. makes it so they have more freedom on what digimon are, how things work, what the digital world looks like, etc. In one digimon universe, they are simply beings from another world that can be reborn when they die, on another universe, they are created based on a popular monster franchise of the same name, but they can die permanently. Even more examples, they are beings from another world, but are used as tools by hackers in a virtual reality world, and my favorite interpretation is digimons being ancient spirits that became known by humans thanks to the rapidly developing technology, and their lives are bound to the human they are partnered with.
@@whowantstotalkaboutmurders4177 To be fair, Digimon kinda needed too... it was losing popularity while Pokemon, while also losing popularity stayed kinda strong.... It was only by Gen 5 that Pokemon was starting to fall (and Gen 6 fixed that by giving Charizard 2 extra forms, saving the franchise).
Before watching, I theorize it mainly comes down to three things: 1. Timing: Pokemon started first and Digimon came shortly after, making people think Digimon was just a rip off of Pokemon. 2. Marketing: I remember seeing Pokemon stuff EVERYWHERE when I was younger. Digimon was kinda there, but not nearly as much. I think Pokemon was just marketed way better and more aggressively. 3. Character Designs: Pokemon designs were made to appeal to the broadest audience possible, like even non-gamers/casuals know and love Pikachu for instance. It's not the same with Digimon. Pokemon are made simpler and more cute, generally speaking.
Monster Rancher was super unique and fascinating at the start. The 3rd season of their anime became a very Pokemon Flavored Tournament Arc, tho 😢 Monster designs turned more pokemon-like as games progressed, too It's hard to fault them for having a crisis of identity as Digimon did, both living in Pokémon's shadow
@@me2552 only thing Pokemon ripped off from Digimon was Mega Evolution being compared to Digivolving, I even made that same joke, but I still know Pokemon came first.
I think the main reason is because pokemon was more accessible to the more casual audience. They saw it as just cute little animals with a story so basic that a 5 year old could understand. Digimon got deeper into storyline and you had to pay attention to know whats going on.
Digimon was also aimed more at 10-13yr olds originally. The Americanized version was brought down to 7-9yr old range. So like in the 90s American fashion, heavily edited, cartoon obviously different direction but audio says otherwise, and just sometimes wtf is going on in the episodes.
I was about 5 years old when digimon came out, I was already heavily into the pokemon anime and it was really easy for 5yo me to watch an episode and understand what was going on without being able to catch it every week. Digimon on the other hand was far too confusing for me to be able to watch without being able to catch every episode every week. It was much more complex with the designs, evolutions, and story telling. It wasn't until I was well into my 20s that I could appreciate what Digimon was trying to do.
I'm a lifelong fan of the Digimon franchise. 42. What is in high school when Digimon came I am a fan of the Pokemon franchise. I can honestly say that Digimon from multitude of reasons appeal to me more because of the deeper characters. Being a character writer that I am and I'm in a writing group with a group of friends. Storytelling and characters are my top priorities when I watch something.. Digimon I can understand that if you're trying to get a Pokemon fan into it that they're not going to quite get it.. but it's really not that hard to wrap your head around it that one creature has multiple evolution lines because their data, the digital world itself has a deep lore to it. and every iteration of the Digimon anime has dropped some kind of lore about the digital world. They have established a very good multiverse. But those have stuck around, have been rewarded with things like Digimon adventure tri and trying to finish the stories or make them deeper. The animes kept the evolution lines simple for very good reason why the games fully dive into the fact that you as long as you know what you're doing can get any Digimon you want so long you meet the requirements. the games have been hit or miss it but the games according to what I've been told them and coming out in the last couple years have really took an advantage of the technology and they feel Digimon games. It comes down to the fact that what do you want? Pokemon at its core is a monster collecting franchise centered around a sport. Where the anime establishes the importance of why the legendaries play such a vital role in the Pokemon universe. I like to say I haven't watched the anime in years but it expanded on the games. The game is really on for me anymore because it's the same triad and true format. where is the Digimon animes regardless of its variations focuses on the delicate balance of the digital world in the real world and how humans and Digimon can Bond do something absolutely magical. You can also have a deeper relationship with a digimon because they can actually talk. Not saying you can't do the same thing with Pokemon but the language barrier does matter. When it comes down to it I like the deeper stories..that grip you
Being a digimon channel myself, my loyalty is where it is, I think digimon are cooler, but my eyes are open. It's like when you see two people about to race, and one of them is a friend, and the other is whatever. You like your friend and you want the best for him... but you see the superior athleticism of the other guy from a mile away. Good luck, friend.
This is an amazingly wholesome response. I definitely get what you mean. There are some franchises that I love that are no longer mainstream. This is not to imply that Digimon is not mainstream, I understand that it is.
@@TheOFCMedia W interaction for sure. I think digimon is fine the way it is. Definitely more niche than Pokemon, I think that was from the start, but still huge, successful and cool af their own way.
You said Agumon isn’t as cute as Pikachu and my almost 6 year old daughter heard it from across the room and wants me to defend his cuteness. I have the first 2 Adventure series and she has seen Last Evolution Kizuna. She wants everyone to know Agumon is cute.
@@TheOFCMedia She actually prefers Agumon even though she likes Pikachu too. She cried during Last Evolution Kizuna and is looking forward to the dub of the upcoming 02 movie.
A lot of it boils down to inconsistency. With Pokemon, you generally know what you're going to get regardless of which angle you're coming at it from (the show, the games, the TCG, etc). Digimon is a lot more all over the place. This can be a double edge sword. They were less afraid to be a lot more experimental with the Digimon franchise which sometimes worked but a lot of the times completely flopped. But I think Digimon is getting better about having a cohesive brand identity now though which is why it's having a gradual rise in popularity the past couple years
I just thought Digimon just came out after Pokémon and couldn’t be the first to introduce the concept of mons in the entertainment industry. But as you said in the video, there are other reasons besides the bad timing the developers made. The more I think about it, the more I realized that I was (and still am to some extent) more interested in Pokémon than Digimon, because of those 9 other reasons.
@@TheOFCMedia Yes, these 9 other reasons that hold Digimon back, or 10 if counting the bonus reason. Veemon should have been the poster boy of this franchise as it is more adorable and marketable.
My friend tried to get me into Pokemon, I tried it for awhile, but it felt like that it was for a different demographic. Plus I hated that all the Pokemon only said their names, which got annoying to me. Then I found Digimon and it was more up my alley. Yeah at times it was goofy, but damn I really enjoyed the first two seasons, and the third was ok, but that's where I left the Digimon world. Only ever played the original PSone game. Really enjoyed this video and learned some interesting facts. Thanks.
The Pokémon anime's early concepts actually included the idea of having them talk, but it was ultimately restricted to just a few specific individuals, most notably Meowth. As for Pokémon saying their names, that's mainly a concept popularized by the anime more than anything else in the franchise. It hasn't really been a thing elsewhere. My suspicion is that they made Pokémon say their names to make it easier for children to learn their names, and it just ended up becoming a thing that they had to stick with because they had already used it.
As a child i couldnt get into digimon because pokemon felt weirdly MORE personal since they're like the actual wildlife of their universe while digimon are alive but they're also like a computer code program tho?
Digimon are sapient beings made of data from another dimension. It's kinda just how both franchises do something different. Pokemon is meant to be more down to earth with fantastical elements, Digimon contrasts something more realistic with something less realistic. Not to mention that a lot of Digimon aren't merely "wildlife".
I'd argue another reason Pokemon has mantained it's popularity is, because it has alwaus remained in the public eye, since the anime is has never really had long hiatuses, unlike Digimon where it doesn't always get yearly anime releases, or have other things to help sustian itself in the public's eyes
My mom had called Digimon a pokemon ripoff and banned watching it. After becoming an adult and watching it. Im surprised that she thought that. Digimon was so good.
I think you missed a small detail here. I think pokemon names are much more marketable than digimon names. Digimon names could be kinda hard to remember sometimes. Pokemon on the other hand always went with "punny" names like "Torchic" for a fire type bird pokemon which made it easier to remember.
Besides the naming scheme being simply less fun, theyre much harder to remember, especially with how busy digimon designs can get. That and the style itself is less interesting to western audiences. After a while it becomes very samey when everything is a "random fantasy nonsense"-mon
As both a Digimon and Pokemon lover, I really do wish Digimon got a lot more love. The anime compared to the Pokemon one had always stuck with me more seeing the crazy stuff the Digital World is for these creatures. Also, nothing will compare to just how insane Digivolutions are and how hard they go too. Digimon is the only thing that can get away with a hamster with freakish teeth, a flying hamster with wings for ears, a man angel with luscious hair and then that same man getting cooler hair and an outfit. If no one guessed, im talking about the Patamon line. Also it can become a pegasus sometimes ig you give it the right DigiEgg.
100% rewatching both pokemon and Digimon now as an adult the digimon show is by far more interesting than the pokemon show. I think the digimon TCG flopping here in the west also didn't help it (they took out the best parts of the japanese version of the card game). And then yes, their video game scene has been a mess. That being said Digimon is seeing a bit of a resurgence with new shows that are pretty good, a few decent video game entries, and a new TCG that is fun to play, fairly inexpensive, and has great cards/art. Will it ever pass pokemon? Probably not but that doesn't mean it can't also become a lot more popular than it currently is
@@brianp6859 I hope Digimon gets the love and appreciation it deserves in the future. If it gets more love in the west, it could really help it out or get like a big break with a video game. On the bright side, Digimon has like a cult following of really dedicated fans. I may not know much as I've only watched the first and second animes and only paid the mobile games, but I still love it. I've kind of been drained out of Pokemon because of how releases are either broken on release with horrific bugs or painstakingly easy games. Might pick up a Digimon switch game in the future.
Reason 9 I think is probably the most valid reason for most people I think. I love digimon, but the lack of canonical evolutionary lines is kind of killing itself. It fine to have some branching evolutions but not every single mon. Reason 10 isn't helping the situation either. Games are suppose to help simplify the concept by having the player preform the task. Digimon Dawn and Dusk I feel did this really well and even cybersleuth to some extent did it well too, cause it had canonical evolutionary lines that were easy for new players to grasp. But that's going to be short lived unfortunately
It’s also worth noting that Pokémon has the literal Pokémon Company. Which is dedicated to organizing and marketing Pokémon as a brand on a global level. Digimon is owned by Namco Bandai and has never pushed the series anywhere near as hard on any front.
And in general it feels like like Toei (who own half the brand) and Bandai just LOVE screwing up when digimon starts to get some success, it's like they are having a competition on who makes the worst decisions.
Popular doesn't mean better though. Pokémon is entirely focused on being popular and marketable to its target audience and digimon is more focused on doing its own thing. While this misses sometimes the end result is a more engaged fanbase
The only reason I can remember is that not enough kids liked the idea of digital monsters when we had pocket monsters. I was a total computer nerd like my dad and loved digimon more than pokemon and would often argue with friends who tried to say it was a rip-off of pokemon. I will always love digimon and it has been a core part of how I grew up, I personally felt that once they came out with frontier it just wasn't worth trying to figure out how the story connected (because I was young and didn't understand that after season two it was a new story) so I think that played a part in its over all downfall when pokemon felt like one continuous journey with no end
4:44 unfortunately veemon doesn't exist when the first digimon tamagotchi launch, if you want a alternative mascot to agumon, either will be tyrannomon or betamon(or any vpet version 1 digimon), because these three appeared in the same time.
I always thought digimon was better than pokemon cause of its connection to friendship and bonds more so than Going Out and capturing small critters and making them fight
@@mrchapin94 Ummm... No? You sound like a Team Plasma member. They are partners: a Trainer helps their partner grow and feel good, and the Pokémon fights hard for their sake. We also have multiple cases in many canons where a Pokémon voluntarily joins a Trainer's team instead of being forcibly caught.
I think another big aspect too, is that Pokemon in all its media, is about collecting. You collect the monsters in the game, Ash collects them in the show and you collect the cards. In Digimon you only collect the cards, but the characters are bound to the digimon they get, which has its own merit of course. But the "Gotta Catch em All!" really creates a cycle where introducing new guys pulls you back in. Any Pokemon can be yours, and the same is not true for Digimon in the games or anime. Collecting things is fun.
Any Digimon can be yours in the games for the most part. That said, something could be said about the fact that Pokemon is more popular because the partners are more disposable and interchangable.
I grew up loving both. Indigo League & Adventure 1 had a lot of heart and humor. They were the main reasons I got up early on Saturday mornings. Digimon World and Cyber Sleuth were the only digimon games I've played though, as opposed to Pokemon, which I've played every gen.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Pokémon and Digimon. Digimon being more of my favorite as I generally like the stories and designs more, the battles, the names/designs that come from cool words or mythological figures (as they’re straight up educational and taught me the Roman name of gods, the Four Symbols, what Omega and Alpha meant, and etc.), and personally for me, has my all time 3 favorite things in it: knights, dragons, and giant robots. Sometimes even having a fusion of two of the three! XD I’ve always been a huge fan and excited to tell others that I’m such a big fan and still watching Digimon. Only to get hurt when the other person says “Wow Digimon is still going?!” Physically hurts my gut everytime! TuT
Apples to oranges is what it is. I really liked both, but I never thought of them as being that comparable. It's like comparing Mega Man or Castlevania to Animal Crossing. Pokemon and Digimon are completely different beyond a few superficial commonalities. You do bring up a good point though how Pokemon had a better sense of identity and direction. Pokemon cards had a better aesthetic and variation, the anime catered towards a broader audience, and I don't need to mention how Pokemon dominates with video games. Anyone into Digimon was most likely already into Pokemon, but most Pokemon fans had no interest in Digimon, and many of them never even branched out into other anime. Digimon never had the right ingredients and opportunity to grow bigger, whereas Pokemon was backed by the might of Nintendo. While on Sega and PlayStation, Digimon also had to complete against Monster Rancher, Final Fantasy, and a dozen other monster games and RPGs. Season 2 concluding all of the character stories, which made season 3 something of an awkward reset for many Digimon fans to get into, further pushed Digimon into the shadows. Any remaining hope for Digimon was probably stolen by Yu-Gi-Oh more than Pokemon.
Wow. Interesting. I liked both franchises as a kid. Now I am just a hardcore Pokemon fan. The main reason is that the Pokemon creatures themselves looked better. This is especially true for the first two generations. That would make it even harder for Digimon to gain popularity. I like Pokemon better than all other monster collection franchises for this reasons. Other examples are things like Yu-Gi-Oh, Monster Rancher and Bakugan. Pokemon stand out to me mainly because the designs are so cute, especially the lower stages. Stuff like Pikachu, Eevee, Jigglypuff and the three Kanto starters are absolute gold. Heck I even like Seel and Sunflora for being so cute and appealing. They are so underrated. This video gets into that issue as well as others. There even some things in Pokemon that I gained new appreciation for. Pokemon is very consistent through time, and it is very repetitious. It does get criticized a lot. However maybe that is a good thing. Digimon changed a lot, and it ended up alienating a lot of fans. At least Pokemon doesn't have this problem. It also doesn't suffer from huge divisions in the fan base. The one noteworthy division is between Genwunners and everybody else. Ugh Genwunners. Screw those guys. They are the Pokemon version of the conservative uncle that is such a killjoy. Nobody would like them. I have been a fan since the later part of gen 1. I have a lot nostalgia for the first two generations. However I can still enjoy the new generations just fine. I am especially fond of gen 6 and Legends Arceus. I even enjoyed the notorious gen 8 games. They are fun games for a regular casual player. I especially like the innovations in the wild area and the dynamax gimmick. Pokemon is very formulaic true. However to its credit, each new generation has new creatures, new regions and new game mechanics. That is something. Maybe Pokemon lasts so long because it strikes a good balance between consistency and innovation. There is the evolution thing. I think it is cool that Digimon has multiple forms. I didn't know that would be too confusing. The Digimon changes can be a bit out there. When I was a kid, I was confused by two Digimon that were in the Digidestined group. I don't remember the names. I just remembered the wolf rookie evolved into the walrus champion, while the walrus rookie evolved into the wolf champion. That was weird. It is sort of explained that the walrus rookie has a wolf pelt. I don't know. Pokemon is a lot more consistent. Pokemon normally look like they came from the previous form. Some can be easily explained with metamorphosis, like the Caterpie and Poliwag lines. Eevee is the Pokemon with the weirdest evolution. Yet even that is understandable since all forms look vaguely like foxes. Granted Espeon is more cat-like, but overall it is still close enough. It is psychic. A cat form would make sense, since cats are associated with witchcraft and the supernatural. There are hardly any Pokemon lines that stand out as irrational evolutions. The Magikarp and Dratini lines are really weird. However they are based on folklore, so drastic changes make sense. I have become quite fond of the imugi of Korean folklore. That is what the Dratini line is based on. Another weird one is the Remoraid line. However that is consistent with being sea creatures based on weapons. The connection is more apparent in the beta designs. I didn't know that understandable evolutions would be so helpful.
I want to say that the story changing wasn't so much of a negative so much that the fandom just didn't feel the need to follow it. For Pokemon, it was still with Ash during the period that the main fandom were starting to out grow cartoons... so some still stayed because it was still Ash. But for Digimon, since they were feeling like they were outgrowing cartoons... Of course, once we had the internet, we could watch cartoons at our own time. But back then, cartoons were at specific times and us older kids just couldn't always make time for all of them... so we had to choose between the Ash we loved or some new randos we didn't care about....
@@TheOFCMediaAs a kid, I feel we often didn't always notice as much... plus, Digimon had recaps... I think instead, the disadvantage was that Digimon changed main characters... so we felt more comfortable leaving it while Pokemon was still Ash's story.
From having had involvement with both, Pokemon is the "safe" end of things. It doesn't really mess with things too much. Even most evolutions are things like a bird that turns into a bigger bird, which also turns into an even bigger bird. Digimon, on the other hand for me, is the concept of possibility in a franchise. The non-static evolution lines made me feel more open to playing around to try out new monsters. It even showed in the TCGs for both franchises. Pokemon went out of its way to segregate sets of cards. As an example, you couldn't evolve to Dark Charizard (Rocket set) from Charmeleon (Base set). You needed to have the specific named "Dark Charmeleon" to use the Team Rocket set Dark Charizard. Meanwhile, Digimon was out there going "You want Meramon? Cool. Do you have Agumon? No? How about Biyomon?" it felt more fun to play for that reason. The only reason I could think of where it had issues was that it was on Fox's kid's programming block in the afternoon at the same time Pokemon was on KidsWB (Sure it changed later, and they weren't in competition by the time the anime hit Adventures 02, but it did happen).
Digimon had better designs. Pokemon was more kid friendly while Digimon was darker. The anime had better songs for Pokemon. Nintendo did a good marketing with the games since Pokemon games were better. Digimon just needed an extra push it was on FOX kids, never saw it on cartoon network or local television. Bandai Digimon figures were better but Pokemon had too much of a variety in products.
A television push would have made the gap between them smaller but it would not have been enough for them to become more popular than Pokemon based on the reasons mentioned in the video.
I wouldn't say Digimon has better designs than pokemon. It's always down to the tastes of different people. Some will prefer pokemon designs, other will prefer digimon.
I think the core issue with Digimon is there is no brand consistency, which Pokemon was able to achieve. Say what you will about the main series of Pokemon (I certainly do), but each game has a similar feel to one another, that "Pokemon" feel. This extends to the merchandising, TCG, spin-off games, manga, anime, etc. Pokemon has maintained this relevance because of how consistent the brand is. Digimon does not have this. Every game feels wildly different, the quality of each game and anime release has insanely differing levels of quality (to the point where even the fanbase can't agree on which ones are good), and Bandai just never seems to know what they wanted out of Digimon and every attempt at nostalgia bait has failed or went relatively unknown. I say this not to hate on Digimon, as I did appreciate my time as fan of the franchise, but it just hasn't kept me hooked like Pokemon has. I want better for Digimon, but I'm not entirely sure where Bandai or Digimon goes from here.
Honestly, Digimon was my thing growing up. I actually agree with these reasons. It's a shame a lot of people quickly saw Digimon as a Pokemon rip off. Especially when there's proof it never was one in the first place.
Pokemon is more consistent with anime, movies, cards and games. Digimon has several different anime, movies and games that are extremely divisive with the fandom
Here's a friendly reminder that Digimon has much more in common with the Cthulhu Mythos and Shin Megami Tensei than Pokemon. No, I am not kidding. In fact, Digimon Tamers' writer, Chiaki J. Konaka, _is_ a Cthulhu Mythos writer.
I personally like that Digmon's evolution lines aren't 'fixed' since the games have an emphasis on the way you raise them, giving each experience a bit more of a unique feel to it (e.g., raising a Greymon with high discipline gives you MetalGreymon, but SkullGreymon otherwise). I do agree, though, that some evolutions are way too farfetched thematically, Gatomon into Angewomon being the prime example, and might be a turn off for some.
When I was a kid I always thought that Gatomon should have been rookie level. Gatomon, then Nefertimon and then Angewomon. A better evolution line in my opinion.
I am playing Next Order, and love seeing my what my Digimon will evolve to next. I had my SnowAgumon go to Sorcemon to BlueMeremon and my Tsukaimon go to BlackGarurumon to Etemon.
Digimon is more experimental with the entire franchise whether it be shows games or the tcg. It hits deeper psychological themes and even in its earliest more simple renditions it's more mature. Obviously not for everyone. Pokémon is easier to digest because it's softer. I respect Pokémon but Digimon is superior for that.
I'd disagree with that. Digimon was the guy version of the Tamagotchi. Agumon works because he's a dinosaur and most kids around that age would most likely like that. Veemon doesn't look right for the part and wasn't even invented by that point. So, the bonus one doesn't even make scenes.
Personally, I find Digimon more intriguing. From the concept(who wouldn’t want a digital companion) to world building and lore to the story, characters, monster designs and branching evolutions is so much better to me.
Other reasons: Nintendo & Pokemon has a solid footing in the female demographic, never underestimate the God tier power of Plushies. Both are struggling as monster battling franchise, but Pokemon is also going the Hello Kitty route
The issue is that there was multiple creature based video games and animated movies/series at the time when Digimon came around and instead of finding it's own place they decided to ditch the western market and become Japan exclusive for nearly 2 decades with only occasional releases for the west (EU and US), You can't blame people in the west for moving on, there is a whole generation that never properly experinced Digimon and the more recent games and animated movies/series are living of nostalgia that people back during the late 90's early 2000's experinced.
Its funny, as i was growing up i always played the pokemon games but for the past ones i felt a bit dissapointed and got into digimon and now is my favorite of the two
Bandai did poor management of the Digimon franchise. They hurt their own product's growth potential. This is also why Pokemon got away with being too predictable and giving users games that lacked innovation.
It doesn't help that Digimon never had a consistent series of games as a backbone. The game side of the franchise has always been wildly varied in rules, roster, and tone to the point where knowing one or two of them would give you no useful information for the next one.
4 reasons. 1. only 1 digimon per tamer. Sure the games vary greatly on how many digimon a person trains with, but popular belief based on the shows tells people they can't catch them all, and in fact can only pick 1. 2. Dumb names for digivolutions. Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, & Mega? They're data! Obviously should have been Byte, Kilo, Mega, Giga, & Tera. Even Digivolution itself should be called Upgrading, while temporary boosts should be called Patches or Mods. 3. Not enough emphasis on type advantages. There is a rock, paper, scissors function to most of the games, either with elements or types (Vaccine, Data, Virus) But this concept could be expanded on a little bit and given more relevance in the shows. 4. Too many variations of the same digimon and inconsistent branches of variation. slap Shadow, Black, Skull, or Dark to the name of anything to make it evil, or give them a power up complete with full transformation that somehow is not a digivolution.
Back when they showed Digimon adventure and adventure 2 here in the Netherlands I enjoyed both animes, by the time I even learned there were other seasons of digimon America was up to Digimon frontier
Don't forget that some seasons were inconsistent like Adventure 2,Frontier(it's sad that it spawned my favorite Digmon opening song) a,Adventure Tri and I think the Digmon Adventure reboot.
Definitely agree with all the points given Marketability is a pretty good point, because pikachu has a very cute and simplistic design while agumon, while he has his charm, is a little more rough around the edges. Like, imagine a kid trying to draw these two and think of which one would be easier Veemon definitely would’ve been better, or perhaps patamon since he’s basically like the togepi of the group, and like pikachu he has a very cute and simplistic design that’s sure to be appealing towards kids (until he evolves anyways. Veemon works more like a starter mon in that regard, starting out cool then becoming *awesomeness*)
Timing didnt help either. When pokemon and Digimon first aired in the west the major mentality was Cartoon=small kids. Digimon had much darker stories and delt with serious issues where as pokemon had none of that (first movie is an exeption). The people the digimon anime was aimed towards were not watching cartoons anymore. Had the two been released nowadays I think Digimon would have done a whole lot better.
That's a really good point if Digimon was released later when people in the west had a better understanding of anime content and how they can at times be more mature then I do believe it would have helped significantly in the anime category for Digimon
I prefer the digimon franchise when it comes to story and the digimons digivolution and lifecycle and all. pokemon on the other hand had the gaming part down way better but is fumbling pretty hard in the last couple generations while digimon games seem to get a little better lol
I don't think that Digimon is less popular than Pokemon when we know Digimon is very popular in Japan like Pokemon and that we even get a new Digimon movie this years with the fact that Digimon World: Next Order Steam and Switch port was received very positively by the community. However I think it's more inverted about Digimon be more popular than Pokemon in those modern time unlike the past and, if someone ask me why, I invite those people to check an eye into the Pokemon community reaction about those last Pokemon game like Sword / Shield, Legend of Arceus, Scarlet and Return of Detective Pikachu. I'm not sure how people react about it in others country but, in my own country, I never see so much Pokemon fanboys be so much upset about those last Pokemon games that it even have create 2 clans inside the Pokemon community: From one of them there is the clan of "The graphics are ugly, there are somes lags and glitch issue, the story is too short and the difficult is too easy, we need to spend money into DLC for get others missing Pokemon unlike the past when we get all the Pokemon creature already in the game without need DLC" and in the other side we have the clan of "The game is perfect, the graphics are so good and it deserve a good review of 20/20 without have any kind of issue and it must be the GOTY in the Game Awards for each years at coast" so, of course, when those 2 clans meet each others and not agreed each others, it end up with a lot of rage with a lot of insult more and less vulgar like someone who ask to check an eye again on the grass texture due to be ugly and ask that the guy who think it's perfect must get somes eyes for his face while others think the water texture are beautifull and that, those who think it's ugly, they need to buy somes glasses for their eyes. Also sometimes I meet up somes people who roasts the Pokemon new game by troll and say it's a good to see a GCN/PS2 reissue on the Switch because the graphics itself. However, when there was Scarlet released the last years, I see more people than before throw so much hate and that I even see somes of them who swear with anger that between Pokemon and them it's over for good and tey think that the Pokemon serie is dead for them. I even have a friend in USA who like so much the Pokemon serie since a long time ago and Scarlet didn't really interest it due to a lot of issue that he hear about it. However when I advice him to buy Digimon Cyber Sleuth on the Switch, he give a try and he wasn't disappoint and even told me he admit that it's a bit more better than Pokemon so I feel like he stab back the Pokemon serie by say that but I admit he doesn't have wrong since the story, graphics and gameplay seem more better while I see so much people be upset about story, gameplay and graphics in those last Pokemon game. Also, to be honnest, I don't care about the Pokemon serie but, since the Pokemon community in my own country enjoy act like a clown in public, I always click on the new Pokemon video released by Nintendo on UA-cam but I pause the video just for be focus and enjoy the wars in the comment section of Pokemon who is more fun than the Pokemon trailer video itself and I'm never disapoint about how they are so upset between each others about who gonna have the best argue and who gonna have the best roasts. So I guess it's a sort of consolation prize due to Nintendo who don't care by still don't do anything for a new Star Fox and Kid Icarus game on the Switch since 6 years just like Metroid Prime 4 who have been announced there was 6 years ago and no more official news about it like the content inside the game if a side online mode is planned or no or about a short gameplay teaser trailer since it feel like, in a jokes way without be serious, that Nintendo is about to be bankrupt due to mainly care about the same grab money game very popular in Japan with more than 10 Pokemon games, 6 Kirby games and 5 Fire Emblem games and a lot of old Mario game port from previous console who get a lot of success like Paper Mario TTYD from GCN, Luigi's Mansion 2 from 3DS and somes Wii U games port to the Switch and be sold to a expensive price like of those games never exist before despite we know the story like Peach is possessed at the end of TTYD and Mario is captured in a paint by the King Boo that the Mario paint is fully reveal in the final mansion (yeah free spoiler for somes old game who gonna be release next years on the Switch so no need to thank me😁) on the Switch than take care about their other serie who don't have much or nothing on the Switch like no new Star Fox and Kid Icarus games and just 2 Metroid games since 6 years on the Switch. However the Pokemon community always made me laught so much when they complaint about the new Pokemon game that they just got by not be happy about it and want asap a new Pokemon game for forget the one they just have and when they get a new Pokemon game, they complaint about the same things again and want again asap a new game. Like say Shockwave it's illogical. So, for concluate, maybe the Pokemon serie is still popular but, in my own country, the serie start to lose his popularity and be less liked unlike the past so seem like that too much grab money game kill the grab money game so, if it was for do this, I would definitively prefer see somes true Nintendo video game on the Switch like a new Star Fox, Kid Icarus, Metroid, F-Zero and somes others Nintendo games who appear rarely than another Pokemon game being released every years in a Call of Duty style just for the money with a Pokemon community who doesn't stop crying like a cry baby on each new game because the game isn't perfect enough for them.
@@TheOFCMedia Maybe but it don't avoid to know that the Pokemon popularity is going down and start to be more disliked. More the time pass and more the people in the Pokemon community start to wake up and have enough to see there are somes problem in those new Pokemon games and have enough that Pokemon Compagnies/Gamefreak don't do anything for fix all the issue since they mainly complaint about the graphics are ugly and say even Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda Breath of the Wild released on Switch in 2017 are more beautifull than those last Pokemon new games, they complaint about how the story is too short instead be long and that the gameplay is too easy instead made it more hard and complaint as well for the glitch and lags issue despite it's not the first time they complaint about it. So who want bet with me that the next years that the Pokemon community gonna complaint for the next Pokemon game who gonna be release arround summer 2024 - November 2024? Because when I see how they become so upset toward the Pokemon serie, I dont think they gonna have any mercy toward the next game with a lot of negative critics and I think it's gonna be fun to see them fight each other between those who don't like the Pokemon new games and have a lot of argues to say why they don't like it against those who defend the new game but don't have much argues for protect the game. However the funny part is that I have know the Pokemon community there was a long time ago and I remember they was always happy when they get a new game by say good positive things toward the Pokemon games and wasn't upset about it but, since the Switch era, I notice since Shield / Sword there is a lot of hate toward the new game and not only in my country because I notice the USA people are upset, the frenchy are upset and the italian are upset as well when I translate what they say and everyone seem to complaint about the same similar problem. So, nope, it's not just 2 country because it's more than 2 country. I should give a try to the deutsch Pokemon community as well but, if they react pretty badly in the others country, I think I should not be surprise to see the same thing again with the deutsch people ;) Edit: I just did a search and even the deutsch hate those new Pokemon game as well so it seem like there is more people arround the world who start to hate those new Pokemon game. I'm curious if Japan people don't care at all or if they complaint as well but, its official, I think Digimon is less hated than Pokemon if we do a comparison when I see those UA-cam review on those new Pokemon game who aren't very nice toward those new Pokemon games so I feel like Digimon is more popular and liked by the people than Pokemon who start to be more hated by the people ;)
I grew up with VHS of Pokemon and their games but I did have a cd of data squad. I really miss data squad despite crying a few times since it was scary for young me haha. I do agree that the games, for me, personally I had no interest in but on the other hand I really enjoyed the anime. It was really emotional from the clarity of deaths and such. Pokemon saying their names is what reminds me of their names. I still don't know the Dino's name or his evolution despite watching the whole series when I was young. The Digimon anime didn't really relate to the games and the most desirable took a long time to be made into English. If only they had playground rumors about some cool Digimon I'm sure the game would have skyrocketed.
Yes, a lot of people agree on the games not having the same impact as Pokemon. Most of the Digimon games were also very different from the anime like you mentioned, this is also true.
Here's my two cents. first; one think I preferred about pokemon was that they only evolved once, in game and show. Digimon go back and forth in there stages, and the anime just used that as filler. Second; I don't know where the hate for Digimon Fronter comes from. I liked this one because the kids fought there own battles. They didn't just send there pets into a fight and watch from the sidelines.
I agree with the first point about Digimon evolutions being used as filler in the anime. One of the reasons why Digimon Frontier got hate is because it was a dramatic change in how the concept of Digimon worked, but everyone has their own reasons. I've learned that the Digimon fan base has several different viewpoints that are not all aligned with each other.
I used to like Digimon much more than Pokemon. I always felt that Digimon was aimed at slightly older viewers in the 10-12 age range while Pokemon could reach 3-10 ages which is a bit wider. But what made me drop off Digimon was when the first season ended. I felt that it ended too soon considering that it took nearly the whole series to really get attached to the characters. I felt that there was a lot more story to explore. When season two started, I didn't like it all that much because it didn't feel like the original Digimon series and they introduced too many new characters too fast. I tried to give the series a chance but by the time season three came around it might as well have been a different anime series if you took out the Digimon name and brand. I think that Digimon changed its identity too fast and too frequently to sustain an audience compared to Pokemon. Pokemon changed at a slower pace while keeping the fundamental elements of what made it work present. I feel that the producers of the Digimon series didn't have the patience to establish a larger audience and take them on a longer journey with the original characters.
Maybe the fact that digimon had so few seasons while pokemon never stopped airing, i enjoyed digimon (season 3 was too dark for my tasting) as well as pokemon, but Pokémon was repetitive
I think one of my favorite Digimon is Wizardmon. Because one: he reminded me of one of my favorite Naruto characters: Yota. He's not a wizard but they look similar. Two: I love wizards.
The two main reasons are that the games weren’t as consistent and accessible as Pokemon, and the anime constantly changing the main cast every season and resetting the continuity makes it difficult for the fan to remain invested
We have to all collectively stop saying Pokemon clones they're all monster games/ franchises. Pokemon needs competition and havimg a variety of monster catching games is always a good thing.
Easy: Because Bandai gives a sh... about Digimon. And they give a shit about the fans. On the last Digimon Convention they said: "We have fans in europe?" More than you think pal. -.- Here in germany we don´t get any and with that I mean absolutely NONE advertisement for Digimon since Adventure ended.
I am somebody who didn't grow up with any of these franchises per-se but did gravitate to Pokemon in the end. And when I saw one of their mobile games on the app store I was like "Let's give em' a try!" I believe it was something with Link in it? Back in 2021 ish maybe? I joined the game and the tutorial was barely there, still remained confused, didn't know what I was really supposed to do, trying to navigate the super stacked menus. Barely getting some noob understanding in. Then a few days later the game was announced as shutting down. I genuinely want to give Digimon a real shot here but I have literally no idea where to start! At least with Yokai Watch I can be like, look for a game recommendation. With Digimon? Not a shadow of an idea. And we got the TCG now too and donno if I should try it since I already am into the Pokemon TCG and afraid to run 2 TCGs at once due to cost and already having many hobbies.
As a fan of both Digimon and Pokemon, what annoys me most was: both make their respective titular species only superpowered beings that exist, when Digimon are adventure sequels/reboots and Pokemon anime shoehorns Ash and Team Rocket trio
@@TheOFCMedia that's why digifans that enters Digimon from seasons 3-onwards can difficult to like first 2 seasons of Digimon, not only digimon universes other than ones where first 2 seasons of Digimon can have any Superpowered Beings that aren't Digimon
Way I see it is that Digimon has the better show, but Pokémon has the better games. Granted, I REALLY liked the last couple games Digimon had WAY more than Pokémon Gen 6 onwards.
I grew up with both pokemon and digimon and I love both equally al yeah that's true,if digimon's mascot was gatomon since she's just as cute as pikachu,I think they would've helped the digimon francise,people love cute things,pikachu is cute,gatomon is cute,soooo yeah XD that just made sense in my head,I wouldn't know a better digimon mascot than an adorable cat with a tail ring,plus it can also be considered a counterpart thing,pokemon mascot mouse,digmon mascot cat,also I like your digimon mascot idea,veemon is also cute,and smarter than davis,I did not like davis XD veemon though he was cute and not annoying like davis was,I probably also hated davis cause he took the leadership from tai (I'm sorry for rambling,my mind likes to do that when I have things on my mind)
Gatomon should have definitely been the mascot since it is a cat, it was from season 1, and it turns into the famous angewomon. I also remember preferring Tai over Davis.
Franchises like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are easier to market because of the collecting aspect of it and how easy it is to turn it into a game. You cant do much with Digimon.
The actual reason its not qs popular qs pokemon is this main factor Pokemon allows you to bring your pokemon from the first gen to the 9th gen somewhat Digimon doesn't let you bring your digimon over to the next game
That game feature would definitely have helped but Bandai has not done a good job handling the Digimon franchise as a whole for many of the reasons listed.
I think because after Yo-Kai Watch was introduced Digimon started to now face tougher competition after all, they tried mixing things up, but it ends up failing at the end
I love Digimon as a concept and am one of those people that was enamored by the first 3 seasons, but at present I think the franchise as a whole is hot garbage. The people in charge of it have no idea what they want, end up writing mediocre nonsense (ghost game), and in general drove what I consider to be the best concept for an isekai into the ground. I was deeply moved by the first two (and to a lesser extent three) seasons, but now I'm just sad at what this property has become.
I always thought that digimon had amazing potential but I wanted to play what would be a pokemon style game in the digimon universe I want to train my digimon, hopefully more than one but they won’t give me what I want Digimon world was such a GRIND and it was so complex I couldn’t figure out how to train the ONE digimon you are given I get it’s a different franchise so it’s going to be different but I still want what I want
Digimon could be bigger than bandai thinks i mean its lasted this long. My 7 year old boy started off with pokemon until i told him tobwatch digimon one day and he loved it. Weve played the x digivices and collect the new cards and next order on switch and for his bday i got him the vital hero. He loves both franchises but really likes digimon alot more. Of they marketed more in the us it would be bigger. The new anime dub on hulu is great but no toys or anything to coincide with ot being realsed its crazy
Philippines: Poor ratings and Legislative franchise lapsed (Digimon sa ABS-CBN) Italy: Poor ratings and budget reasons plus the intense competition with Mediaset. (Digimon su Rai 2)
You know what just because a series isn't as popular as one franchise doesn't mean its inferior or trash Digimon to me are the underdogs of the entertainment and you always root for the underdog because the underdog can beat a powerful foe if they put effort into it.
The protagonist goal for Digimon is clearly better. The reasons listed in the video hindered its popularity, as well as how Bandai handled the marketing.
You just pointed out the deepest reason why Pokemon was lightyears more successful than Digimon. Both are very out there premises, but being the best at something is way more relatable and grounded than saving the world. Being the best means impressing your friends, and all that kids care about is impressing their parents and their friends. They don't necessarily understand the notion of a world that needs to be saved, their world is their family and their school. Pokemon was very clear on the premise: in this world all that matters is catching every Pokemon and beating other trainers with them. For Digimon I didn't even get the sense they were trying to save the world or even what kind of world that was as a kid. Simplicity works best, especially since the target audience were kids. Another huge thing that wasn't mentioned in the video: Pokemon appeals to the deep rooted human desire to collect stuff. Especially for boys. And just like Digimon you could still bond with a Pokemon.
Also the collecting aspect woven into the core of the whole premise made for much more marketable merchandising, as kids we collected Pokemon on our gameboys, pogs at recess, stickers and cards whatever, there was always the motivation to collect them all.
@@pepincuatro2865 Very good take. And most likely the exact reason. I have had a hero complex for as long as I can remember. I think that's why Digimon appealed more to me.
I think a main reason why Digimon is not as popular is that it is a traditional style anime with a plot with twists, turns, a dark side and resolution. Pokemon is a fun anime with a very simple plot to follow with not much development or growth in most the characters. As a franchise Pokemon is massive and the marketibility speaks for itself. Digimon no doubt the more indepth and edgey story isn't something that would be accepted universally.
For the longes time, I though Digimon was just a show, and a card game non of us understod how to play, so it was just droping cards and guess what side it wuld land on. Then again, non of us had started our english education yet, and unlike the show, cards and games werent localized.
I watched both. But Digimon was the plotted one so I liked watching that one a bit more. The formula for Pokemon was great when I was 10 but Ash never felt like he progressed anywhere. The only thing to change were maybe his clothes and his friends. To me I was happy to see the cast grow and or change. Pokemon felt stagnate. With that being said Bandai and Nintendo are two different countries. Pokemon literally is one of Nintendo's to IPs so it is guranteed to have some content come out. I just wish Digimon got quality merch. I was looking for a Gabumon plush and they aren't that great.
Betsumon is one of my favorite Digimon designs because he encapsulates why I prefer Digimon designs over Pokemon's. Generally, I would state these as my reasons. 1) Timing 2) Marketing. Pokemon has a marketing powerhouse backing them up, and Nintendo was a household name. Meanwhile, for most of Digimon's existence like... maybe almost half the games Digimon had actually left Japan. Maybe if the Wonderswan did better it would have helped a bit. And, yes, Pokemon is more marketable. It is the most profitable multimedia franchise ever and most money it makes is off merch and PGo. A broken game or 3 is not enough to harm such a strong brand. 3) Not as formulaic. Obviously, due to Digimon's various changes I can get that it wouldn't hold an audience. I've heard people say they dropped off when Tamers came out because it was different. That said, at this point I've seen people say Digimon has had trouble finding an identity when I think the variety *is* the identity. It is both a boon and issue for both; that Digimon maintained variety, basically becoming something similar to Final Fantasy while Pokemon remained consistent. 4) The games being less consistent. That being said, I've seen some people say Digimon should have a main, consistent series despite already having two, the Story and World series. If this was 15 years ago, sure, I would understand, but Story has been fairly consistent since inception, only having major changes once Cyber Sleuth came along, while World returned to its roots with ReDigitize. But the fact that a lot of Digimon games never came outside Japan does not do them any favors. Fun fact: last I checked, if you googled "When did Digimon come out?", Google will not give you when the franchise came out, it will give you when the anime came out.
I feel like because only season two seemed to be an expansion of season one while future seasons were just a new beginning each while each of the Pokémon series expanded within itself by a few seasons each, like as I've seen people say as I always felt like Johto at the time seemed to be an expansion of Kanto and each new region since Hoenn has been completely new setting both in the games and the anime
My introduction to the Digimon is like most of the people is the anime I like the anime but when I look to the other Digimon design have no consistent between the evolution and no connection
@@TheOFCMedia I love Digimon specifically the three first animal I try to other media like video game I'm biggest to Obstacle to me is the design and lack of consistency in the genre of game
The connection are the fields, which basically describe the environments in which a digimon can be found or/and it's physical relations. Natural evos happen due to a digimon surving longer in an environment. Aside from that there are variants of digimon that adapted to a new environment, like SnowAgumon.
Digimon typically has connections between evolutions. A lot of what people think are random forms are merely just not understanding the connecting tissue between the forms. Gatomon is the usual example. Many say her line is completely random, but all her forms are of the theme of "holy creatures".
Please recommend me the best Digimon games.
Digimon Adventure PSP. Its a Japanese exclusive.
@@Lord_Sirec why the fuck it Japan exclusive if they want to compete with Pokémon they should release their games worldwide Pokémon always releases their games worldwide
@@Lord_Sirec having your games being exclusive in one country is a stupid business decision
@@Lord_Sirec Pokémon quest is a china release after that their gonna release it worldwide
Cyberslueth, survive, and world games to add this help you decide which one play first
Cyberslueth gameplay is closer to Pokémon which appeal to a lot people which what I recommend first especially since it best looking game out for series and it has interesting premise imo
Survive is a visual novel that focus more on story than gameplay but it has best digimon story by far
Digimon world games are cool each one unique and has different gameplay styles even though they just end up being rpgs most of time and they tend be most fond games especially digimon worlds 1-3
when they finally made a digimon game based on the anime plotline they made it japan exclusive, bravo bandai
Wow that is an epic fail. I'm surprised I haven't come across a video talking about it.
The video game system absolutely killed any hope for it.
Continuous getting the poop digimon in digimon world then when you got a good one, they died
What’s the name of the game?
Which game are you referring to?
@@DougFantasy the one that continues the anime story but is a Japan exclusive
To list some of the reasons:
- Marketing
- Different main focuses (video games vs toys)
- Video games being more accessible than the V-Pets (the mainline Digimon product)
- The drop in quality of the Digimon Anime.
And the most important one imo:
- Bandai not having faith in Digimon’s success outside of Japan.
Bandai definitely should have had more faith in Digimons' success outside of Japan. They also should have picked a better market8ng team for international content
Well, that's business model and they always focus on their region only.
BTW, Digimon Franchise should be bought by Sega, Capcom, or Nintendo, so it can get more popularity and can compete with Pokemon.
PLUS, Bandai should not be existed and get bankrupt, because they are poor management to handle online games like Gundam Evolution, Blue Protocol, etc.
Of cos the most important reason sounds legit. Cos the Western ruined Digimon in the 1st place
@@yujieleong8821 "BTW, Digimon Franchise should be bought by Sega, Capcom, or Nintendo,"
no...just no. I never want any of those hacks anywhere near Digimon. They will ruin everything that is loved about Digimon.
@@masterlinktmThey're not hacks.
The answer is simple, MARKETING. The pokemon and Nintendo have pokemon EVERYWHERE. Bandai has great IPs, but is much more conservative with their marketing and the western audience.
How people react to the product is also important. Think about some recent marketing campaigns that made people really angry and lead to boycotts.
That is not true; during it's hey-day BOTH franchises had a TON of marketing...
But Digimon was always behind Pokemon.
While it's true that the marketing for Pokemon always stayed while Digimon dropped off...
But there were other factors.
For one, Ash felt like more of a protagonist while the Digidestined, while someone for everyone also made following fractured.
And Pokemon just felt like it had a more fun world... and the Pokemon were cuter and more natural...
Cos they knew the western would mess things up
@@TheDeathmail I liked how Digimon had multiple protagonists. You were bound to find one to indentify with. Personally, I see part of both Izzy and Takato in myself.
I feel the protagonist of their respective franchise says a lot. Pokemon is just now leaving Ash behind after twenty plus years of just him. Meanwhile Digimon has had multiple different protagonist so it's always fresh.
Yeh there was nothing wrong with Digimon changing the protagonist. Changing their anime universe so drastically without explanation was more likely what weakened their audience growth.
@@TheOFCMediaI personally think it's good that they do that. Digimon being a different universe from different anime seasons, games, manga, etc. makes it so they have more freedom on what digimon are, how things work, what the digital world looks like, etc. In one digimon universe, they are simply beings from another world that can be reborn when they die, on another universe, they are created based on a popular monster franchise of the same name, but they can die permanently. Even more examples, they are beings from another world, but are used as tools by hackers in a virtual reality world, and my favorite interpretation is digimons being ancient spirits that became known by humans thanks to the rapidly developing technology, and their lives are bound to the human they are partnered with.
@whowantstotalkaboutmurders4177 and that's why digimon isn't on par with pokemon
It sure did. Pokemon went for a wider appeal, while Digimon likes to experiment and be somewhat niche.
@@whowantstotalkaboutmurders4177 To be fair, Digimon kinda needed too... it was losing popularity while Pokemon, while also losing popularity stayed kinda strong....
It was only by Gen 5 that Pokemon was starting to fall (and Gen 6 fixed that by giving Charizard 2 extra forms, saving the franchise).
Before watching, I theorize it mainly comes down to three things:
1. Timing: Pokemon started first and Digimon came shortly after, making people think Digimon was just a rip off of Pokemon.
2. Marketing: I remember seeing Pokemon stuff EVERYWHERE when I was younger. Digimon was kinda there, but not nearly as much. I think Pokemon was just marketed way better and more aggressively.
3. Character Designs: Pokemon designs were made to appeal to the broadest audience possible, like even non-gamers/casuals know and love Pikachu for instance. It's not the same with Digimon. Pokemon are made simpler and more cute, generally speaking.
You got 3 reasons mentioned accurately
Patamon and Terriermon are more adorable then Pikachu in my opinion.
If you think Digimon being accused of being a Pokemon rip-off was bad, it was even worse for Monster Rancher. Lmao😆😆😆
I remember Monster Rancher got harsher criticism.
Monster Rancher was super unique and fascinating at the start.
The 3rd season of their anime became a very Pokemon Flavored Tournament Arc, tho 😢
Monster designs turned more pokemon-like as games progressed, too
It's hard to fault them for having a crisis of identity as Digimon did, both living in Pokémon's shadow
@@smileywarhead5178 at least digimon were at one point, equal to pokemon's fame status
monster rancher didn't even reach that place XD
Some accuse pokemon for being a Digimon rip-off
@@me2552 only thing Pokemon ripped off from Digimon was Mega Evolution being compared to Digivolving, I even made that same joke, but I still know Pokemon came first.
I think the main reason is because pokemon was more accessible to the more casual audience. They saw it as just cute little animals with a story so basic that a 5 year old could understand. Digimon got deeper into storyline and you had to pay attention to know whats going on.
That is a valid point, if a person missed an important episode before the time of on demand media they would likely get frustrated pretty fast.
Digimon was also aimed more at 10-13yr olds originally. The Americanized version was brought down to 7-9yr old range. So like in the 90s American fashion, heavily edited, cartoon obviously different direction but audio says otherwise, and just sometimes wtf is going on in the episodes.
I was about 5 years old when digimon came out, I was already heavily into the pokemon anime and it was really easy for 5yo me to watch an episode and understand what was going on without being able to catch it every week. Digimon on the other hand was far too confusing for me to be able to watch without being able to catch every episode every week. It was much more complex with the designs, evolutions, and story telling. It wasn't until I was well into my 20s that I could appreciate what Digimon was trying to do.
But that is why I like Digimon. Even Daisuke(Davis)’s sister Jun is better developed and she is just boy crazy.
I'm a lifelong fan of the Digimon franchise. 42. What is in high school when Digimon came I am a fan of the Pokemon franchise. I can honestly say that Digimon from multitude of reasons appeal to me more because of the deeper characters. Being a character writer that I am and I'm in a writing group with a group of friends. Storytelling and characters are my top priorities when I watch something.. Digimon I can understand that if you're trying to get a Pokemon fan into it that they're not going to quite get it.. but it's really not that hard to wrap your head around it that one creature has multiple evolution lines because their data, the digital world itself has a deep lore to it. and every iteration of the Digimon anime has dropped some kind of lore about the digital world. They have established a very good multiverse. But those have stuck around, have been rewarded with things like Digimon adventure tri and trying to finish the stories or make them deeper. The animes kept the evolution lines simple for very good reason why the games fully dive into the fact that you as long as you know what you're doing can get any Digimon you want so long you meet the requirements. the games have been hit or miss it but the games according to what I've been told them and coming out in the last couple years have really took an advantage of the technology and they feel Digimon games. It comes down to the fact that what do you want? Pokemon at its core is a monster collecting franchise centered around a sport. Where the anime establishes the importance of why the legendaries play such a vital role in the Pokemon universe. I like to say I haven't watched the anime in years but it expanded on the games. The game is really on for me anymore because it's the same triad and true format. where is the Digimon animes regardless of its variations focuses on the delicate balance of the digital world in the real world and how humans and Digimon can Bond do something absolutely magical. You can also have a deeper relationship with a digimon because they can actually talk. Not saying you can't do the same thing with Pokemon but the language barrier does matter. When it comes down to it I like the deeper stories..that grip you
Being a digimon channel myself, my loyalty is where it is, I think digimon are cooler, but my eyes are open.
It's like when you see two people about to race, and one of them is a friend, and the other is whatever. You like your friend and you want the best for him... but you see the superior athleticism of the other guy from a mile away. Good luck, friend.
This is an amazingly wholesome response. I definitely get what you mean. There are some franchises that I love that are no longer mainstream. This is not to imply that Digimon is not mainstream, I understand that it is.
@@TheOFCMedia W interaction for sure.
I think digimon is fine the way it is. Definitely more niche than Pokemon, I think that was from the start, but still huge, successful and cool af their own way.
You said Agumon isn’t as cute as Pikachu and my almost 6 year old daughter heard it from across the room and wants me to defend his cuteness. I have the first 2 Adventure series and she has seen Last Evolution Kizuna. She wants everyone to know Agumon is cute.
That sounds adorable, maybe some children do find Agumon to be more cute than I expected.
@@TheOFCMedia She actually prefers Agumon even though she likes Pikachu too. She cried during Last Evolution Kizuna and is looking forward to the dub of the upcoming 02 movie.
LoL! I’m in total agreement with your daughter!😂😂😂
@princesspikachu3915 okay but who shows digimon to kids when you have ordinemon
@@dwightdeisenhower53 There’s worse things a kid could see. Elfin Lied comes to mind.
A lot of it boils down to inconsistency. With Pokemon, you generally know what you're going to get regardless of which angle you're coming at it from (the show, the games, the TCG, etc). Digimon is a lot more all over the place. This can be a double edge sword. They were less afraid to be a lot more experimental with the Digimon franchise which sometimes worked but a lot of the times completely flopped.
But I think Digimon is getting better about having a cohesive brand identity now though which is why it's having a gradual rise in popularity the past couple years
Yeh, I definitely think consistency and communication with the audience is good for any franchise
Yeah I know
I just thought Digimon just came out after Pokémon and couldn’t be the first to introduce the concept of mons in the entertainment industry. But as you said in the video, there are other reasons besides the bad timing the developers made. The more I think about it, the more I realized that I was (and still am to some extent) more interested in Pokémon than Digimon, because of those 9 other reasons.
I'm glad you are able to see that there are multiple reasons that limited the digimon franchise global popularity.
@@TheOFCMedia Yes, these 9 other reasons that hold Digimon back, or 10 if counting the bonus reason. Veemon should have been the poster boy of this franchise as it is more adorable and marketable.
Pokémon wasn't the first to do that.
@warrenbradford2597 A cartoon dinosaur is way more cool. Only people with shallow views would love pikachu, the overrated electric mouse
Me over here appreciating both worlds despite the good and the bad. 😎
There are plenty of people who like both. The purpose of this video was to explain why Digimon did not gain as much popularity.
My friend tried to get me into Pokemon, I tried it for awhile, but it felt like that it was for a different demographic. Plus I hated that all the Pokemon only said their names, which got annoying to me.
Then I found Digimon and it was more up my alley. Yeah at times it was goofy, but damn I really enjoyed the first two seasons, and the third was ok, but that's where I left the Digimon world. Only ever played the original PSone game.
Really enjoyed this video and learned some interesting facts.
Thanks.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, I try to make videos that are informative and hopefully entertaining.
The Pokémon anime's early concepts actually included the idea of having them talk, but it was ultimately restricted to just a few specific individuals, most notably Meowth.
As for Pokémon saying their names, that's mainly a concept popularized by the anime more than anything else in the franchise. It hasn't really been a thing elsewhere. My suspicion is that they made Pokémon say their names to make it easier for children to learn their names, and it just ended up becoming a thing that they had to stick with because they had already used it.
You missed one of the best Digimon anime season (Savers).
As a child i couldnt get into digimon because pokemon felt weirdly MORE personal since they're like the actual wildlife of their universe while digimon are alive but they're also like a computer code program tho?
That point of view makes sense. The internet was not any level close to what it is now back then.
Digimon are sapient beings made of data from another dimension. It's kinda just how both franchises do something different. Pokemon is meant to be more down to earth with fantastical elements, Digimon contrasts something more realistic with something less realistic. Not to mention that a lot of Digimon aren't merely "wildlife".
I'd argue another reason Pokemon has mantained it's popularity is, because it has alwaus remained in the public eye, since the anime is has never really had long hiatuses, unlike Digimon where it doesn't always get yearly anime releases, or have other things to help sustian itself in the public's eyes
That is a very good point too
My mom had called Digimon a pokemon ripoff and banned watching it. After becoming an adult and watching it. Im surprised that she thought that. Digimon was so good.
Yes, parents had more problems with Digimon than the kids.
I think you missed a small detail here. I think pokemon names are much more marketable than digimon names. Digimon names could be kinda hard to remember sometimes. Pokemon on the other hand always went with "punny" names like "Torchic" for a fire type bird pokemon which made it easier to remember.
The difference in names are a good point
Besides the naming scheme being simply less fun, theyre much harder to remember, especially with how busy digimon designs can get. That and the style itself is less interesting to western audiences. After a while it becomes very samey when everything is a "random fantasy nonsense"-mon
As both a Digimon and Pokemon lover, I really do wish Digimon got a lot more love. The anime compared to the Pokemon one had always stuck with me more seeing the crazy stuff the Digital World is for these creatures.
Also, nothing will compare to just how insane Digivolutions are and how hard they go too. Digimon is the only thing that can get away with a hamster with freakish teeth, a flying hamster with wings for ears, a man angel with luscious hair and then that same man getting cooler hair and an outfit. If no one guessed, im talking about the Patamon line. Also it can become a pegasus sometimes ig you give it the right DigiEgg.
I remember Patamon had a very popular evolution line.
I Love both Digimon and Pokemon too.
100% rewatching both pokemon and Digimon now as an adult the digimon show is by far more interesting than the pokemon show. I think the digimon TCG flopping here in the west also didn't help it (they took out the best parts of the japanese version of the card game). And then yes, their video game scene has been a mess. That being said Digimon is seeing a bit of a resurgence with new shows that are pretty good, a few decent video game entries, and a new TCG that is fun to play, fairly inexpensive, and has great cards/art. Will it ever pass pokemon? Probably not but that doesn't mean it can't also become a lot more popular than it currently is
@@brianp6859 I hope Digimon gets the love and appreciation it deserves in the future. If it gets more love in the west, it could really help it out or get like a big break with a video game. On the bright side, Digimon has like a cult following of really dedicated fans. I may not know much as I've only watched the first and second animes and only paid the mobile games, but I still love it. I've kind of been drained out of Pokemon because of how releases are either broken on release with horrific bugs or painstakingly easy games. Might pick up a Digimon switch game in the future.
You Know who i want to have more love for digimon? BANDAI !!
Reason 9 I think is probably the most valid reason for most people I think. I love digimon, but the lack of canonical evolutionary lines is kind of killing itself. It fine to have some branching evolutions but not every single mon. Reason 10 isn't helping the situation either. Games are suppose to help simplify the concept by having the player preform the task. Digimon Dawn and Dusk I feel did this really well and even cybersleuth to some extent did it well too, cause it had canonical evolutionary lines that were easy for new players to grasp. But that's going to be short lived unfortunately
I'm glad something I said seemed to make sense.
It’s also worth noting that Pokémon has the literal Pokémon Company. Which is dedicated to organizing and marketing Pokémon as a brand on a global level.
Digimon is owned by Namco Bandai and has never pushed the series anywhere near as hard on any front.
This was indeed a major factor. The way the parent company treated the franchise had a big impact.
And in general it feels like like Toei (who own half the brand) and Bandai just LOVE screwing up when digimon starts to get some success, it's like they are having a competition on who makes the worst decisions.
Digimon is owned by Bandai and WiZ (the company making the v-pets). Toei is responsible for the Anime, but has no partial ownership.
Popular doesn't mean better though. Pokémon is entirely focused on being popular and marketable to its target audience and digimon is more focused on doing its own thing. While this misses sometimes the end result is a more engaged fanbase
I'm glad you understand that I wasn't saying which franchise was better, I was only speaking on the popularity difference.
Irrelevant as digimon is barely kno
@@angelvillegas9604digimon fanbase there compared to Pokémon I think yugioh is more popular than digimon
The only reason I can remember is that not enough kids liked the idea of digital monsters when we had pocket monsters. I was a total computer nerd like my dad and loved digimon more than pokemon and would often argue with friends who tried to say it was a rip-off of pokemon. I will always love digimon and it has been a core part of how I grew up, I personally felt that once they came out with frontier it just wasn't worth trying to figure out how the story connected (because I was young and didn't understand that after season two it was a new story) so I think that played a part in its over all downfall when pokemon felt like one continuous journey with no end
Yes, many kids were confused when they decided to just change up the anime story in a new season. They changed up their videogames even more often.
4:44 unfortunately veemon doesn't exist when the first digimon tamagotchi launch, if you want a alternative mascot to agumon, either will be tyrannomon or betamon(or any vpet version 1 digimon), because these three appeared in the same time.
Did they decide on a mascot during the first Digimon tamagotchi launch? I did not know that.
@@TheOFCMedia The first four v-pet related booklets/mangas featured Tyrannomon on the cover, which was the first Digimon that was created by WiZ.
I always thought digimon was better than pokemon cause of its connection to friendship and bonds more so than Going Out and capturing small critters and making them fight
Many Digimon fans prefer Digimon for this reason.
Pokémon is also about friendship. Pokémon battles are a type of sport, like boxing or wrestling: sure it can hurt, but it's all in good fun.
@@wikiuser92 But aren't Pokémon and Pokémon trainer basically master and slave unlike the digimon where they actually got to choose their chosen
@@mrchapin94 Ummm... No? You sound like a Team Plasma member. They are partners: a Trainer helps their partner grow and feel good, and the Pokémon fights hard for their sake. We also have multiple cases in many canons where a Pokémon voluntarily joins a Trainer's team instead of being forcibly caught.
I kinda like the fact that Digimon became a niche market and it's kind of a cult classic now imo
I see what you are saying. That's true, it is still regarded highly by many people.
Same here.
When I was a kid, what definitely turned off my interest was when the Digimon took on human-like characteristics. It would annoy me so much lol
Yeh, some people are not a fan of humanoid monsters in the genre
I think another big aspect too, is that Pokemon in all its media, is about collecting. You collect the monsters in the game, Ash collects them in the show and you collect the cards. In Digimon you only collect the cards, but the characters are bound to the digimon they get, which has its own merit of course. But the "Gotta Catch em All!" really creates a cycle where introducing new guys pulls you back in. Any Pokemon can be yours, and the same is not true for Digimon in the games or anime. Collecting things is fun.
Yes, collection was an advantage for marketing Pokémon.
Any Digimon can be yours in the games for the most part.
That said, something could be said about the fact that Pokemon is more popular because the partners are more disposable and interchangable.
I grew up loving both. Indigo League & Adventure 1 had a lot of heart and humor. They were the main reasons I got up early on Saturday mornings. Digimon World and Cyber Sleuth were the only digimon games I've played though, as opposed to Pokemon, which I've played every gen.
Good memories
I’ve always been a huge fan of Pokémon and Digimon. Digimon being more of my favorite as I generally like the stories and designs more, the battles, the names/designs that come from cool words or mythological figures (as they’re straight up educational and taught me the Roman name of gods, the Four Symbols, what Omega and Alpha meant, and etc.), and personally for me, has my all time 3 favorite things in it: knights, dragons, and giant robots. Sometimes even having a fusion of two of the three! XD
I’ve always been a huge fan and excited to tell others that I’m such a big fan and still watching Digimon. Only to get hurt when the other person says “Wow Digimon is still going?!” Physically hurts my gut everytime! TuT
Yeh, Bandai could have easily done a better job taking care of the Digimon franchise, but they didn't, which is surprising to everyone.
@@TheOFCMedia Well they did do better for Digimon………..only in Japan where it has way more awareness! TuT
Apples to oranges is what it is. I really liked both, but I never thought of them as being that comparable. It's like comparing Mega Man or Castlevania to Animal Crossing. Pokemon and Digimon are completely different beyond a few superficial commonalities. You do bring up a good point though how Pokemon had a better sense of identity and direction. Pokemon cards had a better aesthetic and variation, the anime catered towards a broader audience, and I don't need to mention how Pokemon dominates with video games. Anyone into Digimon was most likely already into Pokemon, but most Pokemon fans had no interest in Digimon, and many of them never even branched out into other anime. Digimon never had the right ingredients and opportunity to grow bigger, whereas Pokemon was backed by the might of Nintendo. While on Sega and PlayStation, Digimon also had to complete against Monster Rancher, Final Fantasy, and a dozen other monster games and RPGs. Season 2 concluding all of the character stories, which made season 3 something of an awkward reset for many Digimon fans to get into, further pushed Digimon into the shadows. Any remaining hope for Digimon was probably stolen by Yu-Gi-Oh more than Pokemon.
This is a pretty good analysis. The comparison part mainly comes from a human having a pet/partner relationship with a monster
Both are good. In my opinion.
Yeh, the goal is not to bash. Just explaining marketing appeal difference.
this was really well done and as unbiased an opinion as it gets
Thank you, I enjoyed both franchises growing up.
@@TheOFCMediaI can see
The mascot should've been Patamon
Patamon would have been a good choice too
Digimon is kind of like the midway point between Megami Tensei and Pokémon
I haven't thought of that comparison but I see it now that you mentioned it.
Wow. Interesting. I liked both franchises as a kid. Now I am just a hardcore Pokemon fan. The main reason is that the Pokemon creatures themselves looked better. This is especially true for the first two generations. That would make it even harder for Digimon to gain popularity. I like Pokemon better than all other monster collection franchises for this reasons. Other examples are things like Yu-Gi-Oh, Monster Rancher and Bakugan. Pokemon stand out to me mainly because the designs are so cute, especially the lower stages. Stuff like Pikachu, Eevee, Jigglypuff and the three Kanto starters are absolute gold. Heck I even like Seel and Sunflora for being so cute and appealing. They are so underrated. This video gets into that issue as well as others.
There even some things in Pokemon that I gained new appreciation for. Pokemon is very consistent through time, and it is very repetitious. It does get criticized a lot. However maybe that is a good thing. Digimon changed a lot, and it ended up alienating a lot of fans. At least Pokemon doesn't have this problem. It also doesn't suffer from huge divisions in the fan base. The one noteworthy division is between Genwunners and everybody else. Ugh Genwunners. Screw those guys. They are the Pokemon version of the conservative uncle that is such a killjoy. Nobody would like them. I have been a fan since the later part of gen 1. I have a lot nostalgia for the first two generations. However I can still enjoy the new generations just fine. I am especially fond of gen 6 and Legends Arceus. I even enjoyed the notorious gen 8 games. They are fun games for a regular casual player. I especially like the innovations in the wild area and the dynamax gimmick. Pokemon is very formulaic true. However to its credit, each new generation has new creatures, new regions and new game mechanics. That is something. Maybe Pokemon lasts so long because it strikes a good balance between consistency and innovation.
There is the evolution thing. I think it is cool that Digimon has multiple forms. I didn't know that would be too confusing. The Digimon changes can be a bit out there. When I was a kid, I was confused by two Digimon that were in the Digidestined group. I don't remember the names. I just remembered the wolf rookie evolved into the walrus champion, while the walrus rookie evolved into the wolf champion. That was weird. It is sort of explained that the walrus rookie has a wolf pelt. I don't know. Pokemon is a lot more consistent. Pokemon normally look like they came from the previous form. Some can be easily explained with metamorphosis, like the Caterpie and Poliwag lines. Eevee is the Pokemon with the weirdest evolution. Yet even that is understandable since all forms look vaguely like foxes. Granted Espeon is more cat-like, but overall it is still close enough. It is psychic. A cat form would make sense, since cats are associated with witchcraft and the supernatural. There are hardly any Pokemon lines that stand out as irrational evolutions. The Magikarp and Dratini lines are really weird. However they are based on folklore, so drastic changes make sense. I have become quite fond of the imugi of Korean folklore. That is what the Dratini line is based on. Another weird one is the Remoraid line. However that is consistent with being sea creatures based on weapons. The connection is more apparent in the beta designs. I didn't know that understandable evolutions would be so helpful.
This was a well thought out explanation.
I want to say that the story changing wasn't so much of a negative so much that the fandom just didn't feel the need to follow it.
For Pokemon, it was still with Ash during the period that the main fandom were starting to out grow cartoons... so some still stayed because it was still Ash.
But for Digimon, since they were feeling like they were outgrowing cartoons...
Of course, once we had the internet, we could watch cartoons at our own time. But back then, cartoons were at specific times and us older kids just couldn't always make time for all of them... so we had to choose between the Ash we loved or some new randos we didn't care about....
I thought you were going to mention missing an episode of Digimon could get people out of the loop easily.
@@TheOFCMediaAs a kid, I feel we often didn't always notice as much... plus, Digimon had recaps...
I think instead, the disadvantage was that Digimon changed main characters... so we felt more comfortable leaving it while Pokemon was still Ash's story.
From having had involvement with both, Pokemon is the "safe" end of things. It doesn't really mess with things too much. Even most evolutions are things like a bird that turns into a bigger bird, which also turns into an even bigger bird. Digimon, on the other hand for me, is the concept of possibility in a franchise. The non-static evolution lines made me feel more open to playing around to try out new monsters.
It even showed in the TCGs for both franchises. Pokemon went out of its way to segregate sets of cards. As an example, you couldn't evolve to Dark Charizard (Rocket set) from Charmeleon (Base set). You needed to have the specific named "Dark Charmeleon" to use the Team Rocket set Dark Charizard. Meanwhile, Digimon was out there going "You want Meramon? Cool. Do you have Agumon? No? How about Biyomon?" it felt more fun to play for that reason.
The only reason I could think of where it had issues was that it was on Fox's kid's programming block in the afternoon at the same time Pokemon was on KidsWB (Sure it changed later, and they weren't in competition by the time the anime hit Adventures 02, but it did happen).
Yes, having options in evolution was superior in Digimon. It is also a good point you mentioned about TV channels and time slots.
Digimon had better designs. Pokemon was more kid friendly while Digimon was darker. The anime had better songs for Pokemon. Nintendo did a good marketing with the games since Pokemon games were better. Digimon just needed an extra push it was on FOX kids, never saw it on cartoon network or local television. Bandai Digimon figures were better but Pokemon had too much of a variety in products.
A television push would have made the gap between them smaller but it would not have been enough for them to become more popular than Pokemon based on the reasons mentioned in the video.
Digimon songs are better
@@r-t7121 I disagree Pokémon had the best music
@R -T depends on which version you're referring to. The English or Spanish? Japanese songs were better with the exception of Frontier lol
I wouldn't say Digimon has better designs than pokemon.
It's always down to the tastes of different people. Some will prefer pokemon designs, other will prefer digimon.
I think the core issue with Digimon is there is no brand consistency, which Pokemon was able to achieve. Say what you will about the main series of Pokemon (I certainly do), but each game has a similar feel to one another, that "Pokemon" feel. This extends to the merchandising, TCG, spin-off games, manga, anime, etc. Pokemon has maintained this relevance because of how consistent the brand is.
Digimon does not have this. Every game feels wildly different, the quality of each game and anime release has insanely differing levels of quality (to the point where even the fanbase can't agree on which ones are good), and Bandai just never seems to know what they wanted out of Digimon and every attempt at nostalgia bait has failed or went relatively unknown.
I say this not to hate on Digimon, as I did appreciate my time as fan of the franchise, but it just hasn't kept me hooked like Pokemon has. I want better for Digimon, but I'm not entirely sure where Bandai or Digimon goes from here.
Yes, the brand consistency is a major part of the difference between the two franchises
You confuse marketing and storytelling, digimon is god tier storytelling and trash marketing, pokemon is shit tier storytelling and godly marketing.
Honestly, Digimon was my thing growing up. I actually agree with these reasons. It's a shame a lot of people quickly saw Digimon as a Pokemon rip off. Especially when there's proof it never was one in the first place.
I just wish Bandai had done a better job with marketing and game design.
It’s sadly it is how it is
Pokemon is more consistent with anime, movies, cards and games.
Digimon has several different anime, movies and games that are extremely divisive with the fandom
Yeh the inconsistency in Digimon was a major factor
Here's a friendly reminder that Digimon has much more in common with the Cthulhu Mythos and Shin Megami Tensei than Pokemon.
No, I am not kidding. In fact, Digimon Tamers' writer, Chiaki J. Konaka, _is_ a Cthulhu Mythos writer.
Wow I did not know this.
I personally like that Digmon's evolution lines aren't 'fixed' since the games have an emphasis on the way you raise them, giving each experience a bit more of a unique feel to it (e.g., raising a Greymon with high discipline gives you MetalGreymon, but SkullGreymon otherwise). I do agree, though, that some evolutions are way too farfetched thematically, Gatomon into Angewomon being the prime example, and might be a turn off for some.
Being able to digivolve down makes sense because of branched evolution. The random thematically changes in evolution was the main problem.
When I was a kid I always thought that Gatomon should have been rookie level. Gatomon, then Nefertimon and then Angewomon. A better evolution line in my opinion.
I am playing Next Order, and love seeing my what my Digimon will evolve to next.
I had my SnowAgumon go to Sorcemon to BlueMeremon and my Tsukaimon go to BlackGarurumon to Etemon.
Look at pikachu design you immediately look that Mickey Mouse
Yeah
Digimon is more experimental with the entire franchise whether it be shows games or the tcg. It hits deeper psychological themes and even in its earliest more simple renditions it's more mature. Obviously not for everyone. Pokémon is easier to digest because it's softer. I respect Pokémon but Digimon is superior for that.
Yeh, I think most people agree that the Digimon anime was usually more mentally stimulating and entertaining.
Yeah
I love Digimon. 😂
My favorite season is Digimon S3: Tamers.
The Digimon movie is GOATED🎉
S2 is my favorite. I didn't get to finish S3 back when it was popular.
@@TheOFCMedia I got the whole original 1-5 seasons on DVD!
Your Bonus Reason may be more key than most people realize. I do not see Agumon becoming endearing to female demographics like Pikachu.
Thanks, I'm glad you like my bonus reason
I'd disagree with that. Digimon was the guy version of the Tamagotchi. Agumon works because he's a dinosaur and most kids around that age would most likely like that. Veemon doesn't look right for the part and wasn't even invented by that point. So, the bonus one doesn't even make scenes.
Personally, I find Digimon more intriguing. From the concept(who wouldn’t want a digital companion) to world building and lore to the story, characters, monster designs and branching evolutions is so much better to me.
I think most of us prefer the Digimon anime. This video mainly points out the difference in marketability when compared to Pokemon.
Other reasons: Nintendo & Pokemon has a solid footing in the female demographic, never underestimate the God tier power of Plushies.
Both are struggling as monster battling franchise, but Pokemon is also going the Hello Kitty route
That is a very good point. Pokemon has a significantly larger female audience.
Sorry I just re read my first statement & I hate how I worded it. I meant it has Nintendo & also the female demographic......
The issue is that there was multiple creature based video games and animated movies/series at the time when Digimon came around and instead of finding it's own place they decided to ditch the western market and become Japan exclusive for nearly 2 decades with only occasional releases for the west (EU and US), You can't blame people in the west for moving on, there is a whole generation that never properly experinced Digimon and the more recent games and animated movies/series are living of nostalgia that people back during the late 90's early 2000's experinced.
This did play a big role in its popularity in America
Its funny, as i was growing up i always played the pokemon games but for the past ones i felt a bit dissapointed and got into digimon and now is my favorite of the two
That's understandable
basically pokemon's main strength was maintaining consistency.
Bandai did poor management of the Digimon franchise. They hurt their own product's growth potential. This is also why Pokemon got away with being too predictable and giving users games that lacked innovation.
I know visual design is subjective but I feel like it’s almost an objectively correct statement to just say pokemon looks better
Do you mean Pokemon designs are more marketable?
It doesn't help that Digimon never had a consistent series of games as a backbone. The game side of the franchise has always been wildly varied in rules, roster, and tone to the point where knowing one or two of them would give you no useful information for the next one.
This played a large role in the problem. A franchise fan base needs a common connection in order to grow well.
4 reasons.
1. only 1 digimon per tamer. Sure the games vary greatly on how many digimon a person trains with, but popular belief based on the shows tells people they can't catch them all, and in fact can only pick 1.
2. Dumb names for digivolutions. Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, & Mega? They're data! Obviously should have been Byte, Kilo, Mega, Giga, & Tera. Even Digivolution itself should be called Upgrading, while temporary boosts should be called Patches or Mods.
3. Not enough emphasis on type advantages. There is a rock, paper, scissors function to most of the games, either with elements or types (Vaccine, Data, Virus) But this concept could be expanded on a little bit and given more relevance in the shows.
4. Too many variations of the same digimon and inconsistent branches of variation. slap Shadow, Black, Skull, or Dark to the name of anything to make it evil, or give them a power up complete with full transformation that somehow is not a digivolution.
These are 4 good reasons.
Back when they showed Digimon adventure and adventure 2 here in the Netherlands I enjoyed both animes, by the time I even learned there were other seasons of digimon America was up to Digimon frontier
Yes, glad the internet has helped with situations like this now.
Don't forget that some seasons were inconsistent like Adventure 2,Frontier(it's sad that it spawned my favorite Digmon opening song) a,Adventure Tri and I think the Digmon Adventure reboot.
It's crazy cause I love Digimon more than Pokemon.
A lot of people enjoyed Digimon more because the anime series was more entertaining to them compared to Pokemon anime.
Definitely agree with all the points given
Marketability is a pretty good point, because pikachu has a very cute and simplistic design while agumon, while he has his charm, is a little more rough around the edges. Like, imagine a kid trying to draw these two and think of which one would be easier
Veemon definitely would’ve been better, or perhaps patamon since he’s basically like the togepi of the group, and like pikachu he has a very cute and simplistic design that’s sure to be appealing towards kids (until he evolves anyways. Veemon works more like a starter mon in that regard, starting out cool then becoming *awesomeness*)
Thanks, I'm glad you could see the points I was making
the funny thing is. Sonic actually not popular in Japan but in US sonic is everywhere
Thanks, I learned something new
Bandai give close to no fucks about Digimon, and thus, barely markets it.
Facts
Beyblade exist
Timing didnt help either. When pokemon and Digimon first aired in the west the major mentality was Cartoon=small kids. Digimon had much darker stories and delt with serious issues where as pokemon had none of that (first movie is an exeption). The people the digimon anime was aimed towards were not watching cartoons anymore. Had the two been released nowadays I think Digimon would have done a whole lot better.
That's a really good point if Digimon was released later when people in the west had a better understanding of anime content and how they can at times be more mature then I do believe it would have helped significantly in the anime category for Digimon
I prefer the digimon franchise when it comes to story and the digimons digivolution and lifecycle and all. pokemon on the other hand had the gaming part down way better but is fumbling pretty hard in the last couple generations while digimon games seem to get a little better lol
The lifecycles always bothered me, but I understand that it started from Tamagotchi
I don't think that Digimon is less popular than Pokemon when we know Digimon is very popular in Japan like Pokemon and that we even get a new Digimon movie this years with the fact that Digimon World: Next Order Steam and Switch port was received very positively by the community. However I think it's more inverted about Digimon be more popular than Pokemon in those modern time unlike the past and, if someone ask me why, I invite those people to check an eye into the Pokemon community reaction about those last Pokemon game like Sword / Shield, Legend of Arceus, Scarlet and Return of Detective Pikachu.
I'm not sure how people react about it in others country but, in my own country, I never see so much Pokemon fanboys be so much upset about those last Pokemon games that it even have create 2 clans inside the Pokemon community: From one of them there is the clan of "The graphics are ugly, there are somes lags and glitch issue, the story is too short and the difficult is too easy, we need to spend money into DLC for get others missing Pokemon unlike the past when we get all the Pokemon creature already in the game without need DLC" and in the other side we have the clan of "The game is perfect, the graphics are so good and it deserve a good review of 20/20 without have any kind of issue and it must be the GOTY in the Game Awards for each years at coast" so, of course, when those 2 clans meet each others and not agreed each others, it end up with a lot of rage with a lot of insult more and less vulgar like someone who ask to check an eye again on the grass texture due to be ugly and ask that the guy who think it's perfect must get somes eyes for his face while others think the water texture are beautifull and that, those who think it's ugly, they need to buy somes glasses for their eyes.
Also sometimes I meet up somes people who roasts the Pokemon new game by troll and say it's a good to see a GCN/PS2 reissue on the Switch because the graphics itself. However, when there was Scarlet released the last years, I see more people than before throw so much hate and that I even see somes of them who swear with anger that between Pokemon and them it's over for good and tey think that the Pokemon serie is dead for them. I even have a friend in USA who like so much the Pokemon serie since a long time ago and Scarlet didn't really interest it due to a lot of issue that he hear about it. However when I advice him to buy Digimon Cyber Sleuth on the Switch, he give a try and he wasn't disappoint and even told me he admit that it's a bit more better than Pokemon so I feel like he stab back the Pokemon serie by say that but I admit he doesn't have wrong since the story, graphics and gameplay seem more better while I see so much people be upset about story, gameplay and graphics in those last Pokemon game.
Also, to be honnest, I don't care about the Pokemon serie but, since the Pokemon community in my own country enjoy act like a clown in public, I always click on the new Pokemon video released by Nintendo on UA-cam but I pause the video just for be focus and enjoy the wars in the comment section of Pokemon who is more fun than the Pokemon trailer video itself and I'm never disapoint about how they are so upset between each others about who gonna have the best argue and who gonna have the best roasts. So I guess it's a sort of consolation prize due to Nintendo who don't care by still don't do anything for a new Star Fox and Kid Icarus game on the Switch since 6 years just like Metroid Prime 4 who have been announced there was 6 years ago and no more official news about it like the content inside the game if a side online mode is planned or no or about a short gameplay teaser trailer since it feel like, in a jokes way without be serious, that Nintendo is about to be bankrupt due to mainly care about the same grab money game very popular in Japan with more than 10 Pokemon games, 6 Kirby games and 5 Fire Emblem games and a lot of old Mario game port from previous console who get a lot of success like Paper Mario TTYD from GCN, Luigi's Mansion 2 from 3DS and somes Wii U games port to the Switch and be sold to a expensive price like of those games never exist before despite we know the story like Peach is possessed at the end of TTYD and Mario is captured in a paint by the King Boo that the Mario paint is fully reveal in the final mansion (yeah free spoiler for somes old game who gonna be release next years on the Switch so no need to thank me😁) on the Switch than take care about their other serie who don't have much or nothing on the Switch like no new Star Fox and Kid Icarus games and just 2 Metroid games since 6 years on the Switch.
However the Pokemon community always made me laught so much when they complaint about the new Pokemon game that they just got by not be happy about it and want asap a new Pokemon game for forget the one they just have and when they get a new Pokemon game, they complaint about the same things again and want again asap a new game. Like say Shockwave it's illogical.
So, for concluate, maybe the Pokemon serie is still popular but, in my own country, the serie start to lose his popularity and be less liked unlike the past so seem like that too much grab money game kill the grab money game so, if it was for do this, I would definitively prefer see somes true Nintendo video game on the Switch like a new Star Fox, Kid Icarus, Metroid, F-Zero and somes others Nintendo games who appear rarely than another Pokemon game being released every years in a Call of Duty style just for the money with a Pokemon community who doesn't stop crying like a cry baby on each new game because the game isn't perfect enough for them.
The topic is concerning international popularity. Not to only 1 or 2 countries.
@@TheOFCMedia Maybe but it don't avoid to know that the Pokemon popularity is going down and start to be more disliked. More the time pass and more the people in the Pokemon community start to wake up and have enough to see there are somes problem in those new Pokemon games and have enough that Pokemon Compagnies/Gamefreak don't do anything for fix all the issue since they mainly complaint about the graphics are ugly and say even Super Mario Odyssey and Zelda Breath of the Wild released on Switch in 2017 are more beautifull than those last Pokemon new games, they complaint about how the story is too short instead be long and that the gameplay is too easy instead made it more hard and complaint as well for the glitch and lags issue despite it's not the first time they complaint about it.
So who want bet with me that the next years that the Pokemon community gonna complaint for the next Pokemon game who gonna be release arround summer 2024 - November 2024? Because when I see how they become so upset toward the Pokemon serie, I dont think they gonna have any mercy toward the next game with a lot of negative critics and I think it's gonna be fun to see them fight each other between those who don't like the Pokemon new games and have a lot of argues to say why they don't like it against those who defend the new game but don't have much argues for protect the game.
However the funny part is that I have know the Pokemon community there was a long time ago and I remember they was always happy when they get a new game by say good positive things toward the Pokemon games and wasn't upset about it but, since the Switch era, I notice since Shield / Sword there is a lot of hate toward the new game and not only in my country because I notice the USA people are upset, the frenchy are upset and the italian are upset as well when I translate what they say and everyone seem to complaint about the same similar problem. So, nope, it's not just 2 country because it's more than 2 country. I should give a try to the deutsch Pokemon community as well but, if they react pretty badly in the others country, I think I should not be surprise to see the same thing again with the deutsch people ;)
Edit: I just did a search and even the deutsch hate those new Pokemon game as well so it seem like there is more people arround the world who start to hate those new Pokemon game. I'm curious if Japan people don't care at all or if they complaint as well but, its official, I think Digimon is less hated than Pokemon if we do a comparison when I see those UA-cam review on those new Pokemon game who aren't very nice toward those new Pokemon games so I feel like Digimon is more popular and liked by the people than Pokemon who start to be more hated by the people ;)
I watch Digimon for the plot
Yes, most people like the Digimon storytelling aspect of the franchise
I grew up with VHS of Pokemon and their games but I did have a cd of data squad. I really miss data squad despite crying a few times since it was scary for young me haha. I do agree that the games, for me, personally I had no interest in but on the other hand I really enjoyed the anime. It was really emotional from the clarity of deaths and such. Pokemon saying their names is what reminds me of their names. I still don't know the Dino's name or his evolution despite watching the whole series when I was young. The Digimon anime didn't really relate to the games and the most desirable took a long time to be made into English. If only they had playground rumors about some cool Digimon I'm sure the game would have skyrocketed.
Yes, a lot of people agree on the games not having the same impact as Pokemon. Most of the Digimon games were also very different from the anime like you mentioned, this is also true.
Here's my two cents. first; one think I preferred about pokemon was that they only evolved once, in game and show. Digimon go back and forth in there stages, and the anime just used that as filler.
Second; I don't know where the hate for Digimon Fronter comes from. I liked this one because the kids fought there own battles. They didn't just send there pets into a fight and watch from the sidelines.
I agree with the first point about Digimon evolutions being used as filler in the anime. One of the reasons why Digimon Frontier got hate is because it was a dramatic change in how the concept of Digimon worked, but everyone has their own reasons. I've learned that the Digimon fan base has several different viewpoints that are not all aligned with each other.
It's simple. Bandai is giving Digimon the Mega Man treatment. lol
This comment made me laugh when I thought about it. So true
I used to like Digimon much more than Pokemon. I always felt that Digimon was aimed at slightly older viewers in the 10-12 age range while Pokemon could reach 3-10 ages which is a bit wider. But what made me drop off Digimon was when the first season ended. I felt that it ended too soon considering that it took nearly the whole series to really get attached to the characters. I felt that there was a lot more story to explore. When season two started, I didn't like it all that much because it didn't feel like the original Digimon series and they introduced too many new characters too fast. I tried to give the series a chance but by the time season three came around it might as well have been a different anime series if you took out the Digimon name and brand. I think that Digimon changed its identity too fast and too frequently to sustain an audience compared to Pokemon. Pokemon changed at a slower pace while keeping the fundamental elements of what made it work present. I feel that the producers of the Digimon series didn't have the patience to establish a larger audience and take them on a longer journey with the original characters.
Solid point. Some people did like season 3, and many don't like season 2. The constant changes were very off-putting.
Sounds like digimon never had an identity
The constant change is a genuine problem
Maybe the fact that digimon had so few seasons while pokemon never stopped airing, i enjoyed digimon (season 3 was too dark for my tasting) as well as pokemon, but Pokémon was repetitive
Yes, Pokemon is indeed repetitive. Many people stopped watching after Johto anime.
@@TheOFCMedia wow... You still replying to that video, respect!
Ok I agree with some of this stuff but we can all agree that a digemon can beat up almost any pokemon depending one what digemon and pokemon
That's probably true
I think one of my favorite Digimon is Wizardmon. Because one: he reminded me of one of my favorite Naruto characters: Yota. He's not a wizard but they look similar. Two: I love wizards.
The two main reasons are that the games weren’t as consistent and accessible as Pokemon, and the anime constantly changing the main cast every season and resetting the continuity makes it difficult for the fan to remain invested
Yeh, we both agree on those things.
We have to all collectively stop saying Pokemon clones they're all monster games/ franchises. Pokemon needs competition and havimg a variety of monster catching games is always a good thing.
This is one of the main purposes of this UA-cam channel, to show the world that there are several other monster tamer games besides Pokemon.
An added to that most of the Digimon look like just straight up human
Valid point, I have heard people complain that Digimon had too many humanoid designs.
Never saw a video like this before
Glad you enjoyed
Digimon is cool and my parents are fine with me watching it as they watched when they were. Young
Most people who have only seen this video don't realize that I'm actually a fan of both franchises.
Easy: Because Bandai gives a sh... about Digimon. And they give a shit about the fans. On the last Digimon Convention they said: "We have fans in europe?" More than you think pal. -.- Here in germany we don´t get any and with that I mean absolutely NONE advertisement for Digimon since Adventure ended.
Yes, I've definitely noticed that Bandai has missed and ruined opportunities for the Digimon franchise over and over.
"It just works!"
Todd Howard in a nutshell
Though Digimon is not famous as Pokemon, both of them are still parts of my childhood.
Agreed
I am somebody who didn't grow up with any of these franchises per-se but did gravitate to Pokemon in the end.
And when I saw one of their mobile games on the app store I was like "Let's give em' a try!"
I believe it was something with Link in it? Back in 2021 ish maybe?
I joined the game and the tutorial was barely there, still remained confused, didn't know what I was really supposed to do, trying to navigate the super stacked menus. Barely getting some noob understanding in.
Then a few days later the game was announced as shutting down.
I genuinely want to give Digimon a real shot here but I have literally no idea where to start! At least with Yokai Watch I can be like, look for a game recommendation.
With Digimon? Not a shadow of an idea. And we got the TCG now too and donno if I should try it since I already am into the Pokemon TCG and afraid to run 2 TCGs at once due to cost and already having many hobbies.
I have a separate video that covers Digimon game recommendations. That may help
As a fan of both Digimon and Pokemon, what annoys me most was: both make their respective titular species only superpowered beings that exist, when Digimon are adventure sequels/reboots and Pokemon anime shoehorns Ash and Team Rocket trio
Yeh, both franchises have their own problems
@@TheOFCMedia that's why digifans that enters Digimon from seasons 3-onwards can difficult to like first 2 seasons of Digimon, not only digimon universes other than ones where first 2 seasons of Digimon can have any Superpowered Beings that aren't Digimon
Way I see it is that Digimon has the better show, but Pokémon has the better games.
Granted, I REALLY liked the last couple games Digimon had WAY more than Pokémon Gen 6 onwards.
A lot of people agree with this
I grew up with both pokemon and digimon and I love both equally
al yeah that's true,if digimon's mascot was gatomon since she's just as cute as pikachu,I think they would've helped the digimon francise,people love cute things,pikachu is cute,gatomon is cute,soooo yeah XD that just made sense in my head,I wouldn't know a better digimon mascot than an adorable cat with a tail ring,plus it can also be considered a counterpart thing,pokemon mascot mouse,digmon mascot cat,also I like your digimon mascot idea,veemon is also cute,and smarter than davis,I did not like davis XD veemon though he was cute and not annoying like davis was,I probably also hated davis cause he took the leadership from tai (I'm sorry for rambling,my mind likes to do that when I have things on my mind)
Gatomon should have definitely been the mascot since it is a cat, it was from season 1, and it turns into the famous angewomon. I also remember preferring Tai over Davis.
Franchises like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh are easier to market because of the collecting aspect of it and how easy it is to turn it into a game.
You cant do much with Digimon.
Interesting opinion.
The actual reason its not qs popular qs pokemon is this main factor
Pokemon allows you to bring your pokemon from the first gen to the 9th gen somewhat
Digimon doesn't let you bring your digimon over to the next game
That game feature would definitely have helped but Bandai has not done a good job handling the Digimon franchise as a whole for many of the reasons listed.
I think because after Yo-Kai Watch was introduced Digimon started to now face tougher competition after all, they tried mixing things up, but it ends up failing at the end
Digimon has been mixing things up and testing out random stuff since season 3. 12 years before Yokai Watch. Bandai has failed a lot
@@TheOFCMedia I'd go as far as to say as far back as the first season of the anime and World 2, they've been mixing things up.
I love Digimon as a concept and am one of those people that was enamored by the first 3 seasons, but at present I think the franchise as a whole is hot garbage. The people in charge of it have no idea what they want, end up writing mediocre nonsense (ghost game), and in general drove what I consider to be the best concept for an isekai into the ground. I was deeply moved by the first two (and to a lesser extent three) seasons, but now I'm just sad at what this property has become.
I agree that the concept for Digimon is great. Bandai failed to make the idea shine over time.
I always thought that digimon had amazing potential but I wanted to play what would be a pokemon style game in the digimon universe
I want to train my digimon, hopefully more than one but they won’t give me what I want
Digimon world was such a GRIND and it was so complex I couldn’t figure out how to train the ONE digimon you are given
I get it’s a different franchise so it’s going to be different but I still want what I want
I did a video covering recommended Digimon games. I believe one of the games may fit what you are looking for.
@@TheOFCMedia I will check it out then thanks
Digimon could be bigger than bandai thinks i mean its lasted this long. My 7 year old boy started off with pokemon until i told him tobwatch digimon one day and he loved it. Weve played the x digivices and collect the new cards and next order on switch and for his bday i got him the vital hero. He loves both franchises but really likes digimon alot more. Of they marketed more in the us it would be bigger. The new anime dub on hulu is great but no toys or anything to coincide with ot being realsed its crazy
Most people agree that the way Bandai is handling Digimon is the main problem.
Philippines: Poor ratings and Legislative franchise lapsed (Digimon sa ABS-CBN)
Italy: Poor ratings and budget reasons plus the intense competition with Mediaset. (Digimon su Rai 2)
You know what just because a series isn't as popular as one franchise doesn't mean its inferior or trash Digimon to me are the underdogs of the entertainment and you always root for the underdog because the underdog can beat a powerful foe if they put effort into it.
I never said Pokemon was better. I was only pointing out reasons that likely played a role in the difference in popularity.
Digimon was about saving the world with your friends, Pokemon was about being the best. Never understood why it was more popular.
The protagonist goal for Digimon is clearly better. The reasons listed in the video hindered its popularity, as well as how Bandai handled the marketing.
You just pointed out the deepest reason why Pokemon was lightyears more successful than Digimon.
Both are very out there premises, but being the best at something is way more relatable and grounded than saving the world.
Being the best means impressing your friends, and all that kids care about is impressing their parents and their friends. They don't necessarily understand the notion of a world that needs to be saved, their world is their family and their school.
Pokemon was very clear on the premise: in this world all that matters is catching every Pokemon and beating other trainers with them. For Digimon I didn't even get the sense they were trying to save the world or even what kind of world that was as a kid. Simplicity works best, especially since the target audience were kids.
Another huge thing that wasn't mentioned in the video: Pokemon appeals to the deep rooted human desire to collect stuff. Especially for boys. And just like Digimon you could still bond with a Pokemon.
Also the collecting aspect woven into the core of the whole premise made for much more marketable merchandising, as kids we collected Pokemon on our gameboys, pogs at recess, stickers and cards whatever, there was always the motivation to collect them all.
@@pepincuatro2865 Very good take. And most likely the exact reason. I have had a hero complex for as long as I can remember. I think that's why Digimon appealed more to me.
I think a main reason why Digimon is not as popular is that it is a traditional style anime with a plot with twists, turns, a dark side and resolution. Pokemon is a fun anime with a very simple plot to follow with not much development or growth in most the characters. As a franchise Pokemon is massive and the marketibility speaks for itself. Digimon no doubt the more indepth and edgey story isn't something that would be accepted universally.
The games both frachises released had a significant impact on the overall popularity and growth. Bandai also handled their IP poorly.
For the longes time, I though Digimon was just a show, and a card game non of us understod how to play, so it was just droping cards and guess what side it wuld land on.
Then again, non of us had started our english education yet, and unlike the show, cards and games werent localized.
I do remember seeing the card game but never seeing any videos on how to play it back then.
I watched both. But Digimon was the plotted one so I liked watching that one a bit more. The formula for Pokemon was great when I was 10 but Ash never felt like he progressed anywhere. The only thing to change were maybe his clothes and his friends. To me I was happy to see the cast grow and or change. Pokemon felt stagnate.
With that being said Bandai and Nintendo are two different countries. Pokemon literally is one of Nintendo's to IPs so it is guranteed to have some content come out. I just wish Digimon got quality merch. I was looking for a Gabumon plush and they aren't that great.
Yeh, the Digimon anime was more entertaining.
Ash changed a ton over the course of the series though?
Betsumon is one of my favorite Digimon designs because he encapsulates why I prefer Digimon designs over Pokemon's.
Generally, I would state these as my reasons.
1) Timing
2) Marketing. Pokemon has a marketing powerhouse backing them up, and Nintendo was a household name. Meanwhile, for most of Digimon's existence like... maybe almost half the games Digimon had actually left Japan. Maybe if the Wonderswan did better it would have helped a bit. And, yes, Pokemon is more marketable. It is the most profitable multimedia franchise ever and most money it makes is off merch and PGo. A broken game or 3 is not enough to harm such a strong brand.
3) Not as formulaic. Obviously, due to Digimon's various changes I can get that it wouldn't hold an audience. I've heard people say they dropped off when Tamers came out because it was different. That said, at this point I've seen people say Digimon has had trouble finding an identity when I think the variety *is* the identity. It is both a boon and issue for both; that Digimon maintained variety, basically becoming something similar to Final Fantasy while Pokemon remained consistent.
4) The games being less consistent. That being said, I've seen some people say Digimon should have a main, consistent series despite already having two, the Story and World series. If this was 15 years ago, sure, I would understand, but Story has been fairly consistent since inception, only having major changes once Cyber Sleuth came along, while World returned to its roots with ReDigitize. But the fact that a lot of Digimon games never came outside Japan does not do them any favors.
Fun fact: last I checked, if you googled "When did Digimon come out?", Google will not give you when the franchise came out, it will give you when the anime came out.
I appreciate your detailed breakdown.
I feel like because only season two seemed to be an expansion of season one while future seasons were just a new beginning each while each of the Pokémon series expanded within itself by a few seasons each, like as I've seen people say as I always felt like Johto at the time seemed to be an expansion of Kanto and each new region since Hoenn has been completely new setting both in the games and the anime
So that would be consistency in storytelling style
My introduction to the Digimon is like most of the people is the anime I like the anime but when I look to the other Digimon design have no consistent between the evolution and no connection
Yes, we definitely agree on the lack of consistency and relevant connection for the evolutions.
@@TheOFCMedia I love Digimon specifically the three first animal I try to other media like video game I'm biggest to Obstacle to me is the design and lack of consistency in the genre of game
The connection are the fields, which basically describe the environments in which a digimon can be found or/and it's physical relations. Natural evos happen due to a digimon surving longer in an environment. Aside from that there are variants of digimon that adapted to a new environment, like SnowAgumon.
Digimon typically has connections between evolutions. A lot of what people think are random forms are merely just not understanding the connecting tissue between the forms.
Gatomon is the usual example. Many say her line is completely random, but all her forms are of the theme of "holy creatures".