I still remember watching the first commercial for Digimon World, a game about digital monsters duking it out, and I was floored when I saw MetalGreymon and MetalMamemon battling. I was so enamored by it since I was a fan of the show that I wanted it badly but never asked my parents to get it considering you needed the first PlayStation for it and I only had a Sega Genesis. As lucky as I was my sister convinced my mother to get a PlayStation and Digimon World (she wanted the game, too) and that started our long and powerful struggle in the tough gameplay of the world.
Digimon World involves the player, who’s the trainer, to raise and nurture their newly hatched Digimon to higher and higher levels. As Digimon have the unique ability to digivolve, the way you train and raise them will dictate exactly what they turn into. Train and feed them right and they just may turn into a Greymon for you or better, but if you allow them to defecate (yes, they can poop in-game), train them consistently without rest, and not feed them when they wish then they may just transform into a Numemon for you (a Digimon that looks like green slime).
You can battle your Digimon across the Digital World against enemies of all shapes and sizes, and they were your companion as they followed you around. It was one of the most unique gameplay elements that I have ever seen at the time and didn’t even realize that the point of the game was to save the world from some threat, I just dumped hours and hours into training my Digimon! There was a story, however, in which you needed to battle and befriend many of the feral Digimon around the world to bring back to File City where they help to restore it to its former glory. Finally, you face off against the evil Analogman who has been terrorizing the land with his Machinedramon, a mega-level Digimon, in order to free it from his grasp.
It did have its fair share of problems, however, as the difficulty of actually progressing through the game is tedious. You spend a lot of time on a powerful friend of yours to bring them up to Champion or Ultimate level, only to have them “die” of old age while half-way through the most dangerous maps in the game that have high-level enemies. Also, this is coupled with the fact that that finding your way to a new area or wherever you’re supposed to go is pretty difficult as there is no huge hints or hand-holding to figure out ways across maps (i.e. fishing for Seadramon, veterans will understand). Although this never really dulled the experience of the game for me because it’s just that fun to experience.
Now, I understand many people who aren’t fans of the series may be overwhelmed by the amount of name-dropping I’m doing here but bare with me or finally decide to get into Digimon. If you happen to have a PlayStation or PlayStation 2, or have a local game shop that has them for cheap, then I highly recommend trying out this title just to experience the gameplay and get into the digi-verse that so many fans around the world are fond of. For those wanting to get into Digimon than I highly recommend this as watching the show could really put you off from the voice acting, and this title doesn’t really have talking but cute noises coming from the digital monsters, instead. Digimon World will always be a game that I go back to occasionally to replay through on my old PlayStation and I’ll always continue to buy Digimon titles in order to feel that same thrill every time they digivolve and battle.
The direct sequel to this first game, Digimon World: Next Order, was released in Japan on March 7th, 2016 so here’s hoping for a North American/European release!
Missed it Monday is a unique segment designed to allow writers from TheHiddenLevels.com to share a retrospective look at their favorite games from the past. These games are past favorites from no particular console or time. Simply put these are games we think you may have missed or that we personally miss and want to share our memories of. Missed it Monday can be followed on social media using #MiM and is published weekly.
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