As a kid, I loved Digimon when it first came out. It was like Pokemon but with everything made from hardware or data, and can be able to grow into giant monsters nearly at will. The first season, for all its campiness, was where it’s at since it kept things nice and simple, sort of like the first game for the Playstation: Digimon World.

Spoiler alert: the card was the Metalgreymon as shown here.

The premise is similar to the first show. A young kid gets whisked away from home in a digital device, and is told he’s the only hope to save the world. As Jijimon, the elder of File City, will tell you, your job is to go around File Island and convince all the Digimon that had left before to come back and rebuild. To help this, you are given your own Digimon (either Agumon or Gabumon, depending on your limited question choices just before the game prior).

So begins your adventure and your taming in Digimon World. You can only get one Digimon at a time, but it can become into a variety of other types of Digimon, provided it digivovles right. You’ll work through day and night literally with a Clockmon at the upper right corner telling you what time it is in game. The key factor is getting its stats right through training at the Green Gym just next to the city, but you also need to consider the mood, hunger, and cleanliness of it like any pet. And that includes making sure he goes to the bathroom on the can, and feeding your Digimon meat from the meat farm. Yes, a meat farm.

Don’t question it. The Digital World doesn’t run on common sense.

The interesting bit about this game is the battle system. Like Pokemon (again) you can train your Digimon to fight battles as you travel around. It’s pretty much expected since it’s crawling with enemy Digimon that can fight you as soon as you touch their roaming bodies, and if you’re unlucky, you might end up fighting up to three or four at once and be unprepared for it.

But it’s not that simple. Depending on the Intelligence stat level, your Digimon might be stuck doing commands on its own to getting specific orders. The lowest commands you start with are Auto and Run Away, with a new battle tactic added as the Intelligence of the Digimon is higher. Maybe attack viciously or moderate in fighting, but those specific orders will be exempt away when your Digimon is smart enough to be ordered to use attacks like Magma Bomb on command. On top of having the stats needed to make sure the attacks stick, it’s another reason to get invested in training.

A smarter Monochromon can even best another player’s Skullgreymon!

But Digimon World also has elements of Monster Rancher as well. Not just in managing training, but managing the Digimon’s life expectancy. As I mentioned, you can get a wide number of Digimon, but outside of digivolving them (outside of battle, by the way), you’ll have to start all over when a Digimon dies of either old age or losing in battle 3 times. The former is better as you get more investment and a conscious decision of which Digimon line to start with. You can pick four eggs, that evolve to four Babies, four In-trainings, and can each branch into two exclusive Rookies that eventually branch out to the wide number of Champions.

I never did get to finish Digimon World as a kid, but my older brother did, so I got a gist of the ending. I won’t spoil it but I’ll say that the game was fun in trying to figure out how to get the favorite digivolution or what areas to explore. The only downside, as I recalled as a child, is that you couldn’t get digivolutions like those from the show, such as Gomamon or Ikkakumon or Togemon. About six of the seven/eight Rookies from the show you were able to get and raise, but that was it. Also, this game was made before in mind of the first season’s ending, so the highest expected level is Ultimate. Unless you count the three secret digimon at the highest level that even the official guide book refused to reveal on. In hindsight, it was actually pretty cool that my older brother, upon beating the game, did so with one of those three secrets: MegaSeadramon.

The game is a nice love letter to fans of the first season that wanted to know what its like raising their own Digimon and exploring the world around. Music is catchy in most levels, with apparent changes during the shift to time and day. There was a sense of accomplishment getting your favorite Digimon or winning in some battles, and you would feel just as devastated when they would pass away like an old pet. Digimon World was certainly more expansive than the handheld Digivice shaker toys in hindsight. I’m just hoping that the new Digimon Re : Digitize comes out for the 3DS, so everyone can play a game similar but more enhanced to Digimon World.