Poll: Digimon vs Pokemon

[Fox12]

Hoo boy there have been a lot of anniversaries lately. Resident Evil, Zelda, Pokemon, and now Digimon, apparently. I was recently hit by a wave of nostalgia, and bought Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuths, marking the first time in about fifteen years that I've touched anything Digimon related. It's a good game, and it brought back a lot of memories of the show and games I enjoyed as a kid.

Digimon always took a back seat to Pokemon, largely because it began as a shameless ripoff, before growing into its own thing. Though it was never as popular, I can't help but feel like it was a much better series. The story was typically more interesting and complex, with actual character and plot progression. The original series benefited from the work of Mamoru Hosoda, who directed Wolf Children, and the rather dark third season benefited from the work of Chiaki Konaka, who wrote Serial Experiments Lain. At times it dealt with themes of puberty, divorce, child abuse, abandonment, and death. This gave the series a distinct, and at times rather morbid identity. I remember appreciating this as a child, as I didn't feel like I was being talked down to. So lets resurrect this old school-yard argument. Which is better, and why?

 

[CritialGaming]

Digimon and Pok?mon have evolved into two completely different entities. On the surface, you could look at them and think that they are the same thing. However Digimon is a bit of a shallower experience IMO, you just kind work to get the coolest looking or strongest monster and progress that way.

Pok?mon, in addition to having a lot more monster variety, has more depth for the people who want it. All the different types of attacks, pokemon types, Breeding EV's, Hidden Abilties. Yes Pok?mon's storylines have basically been the same for twenty years...the combat has evolved giving it a hell of a competitive scene.

I would pick Pok?mon as I never liked the Digimon games, they felt like clunky and dumber versions of Pok?mon to me. But that is my personal opinion.

 

[Drathnoxis]

This is in gaming discussion, but it seems like you are comparing the television series more than the games.

Anyway, I do think that the Digimon show was better written than Pokemon, and benefited from actually telling a story with an end and having varied villains and characters that were allowed to grow and change. That said, the first Digimon adventure had a terrible ending with a final boss that popped up out of nowhere 2 episodes from completion only to whine and whine at the characters until he was defeated with deus ex machina, and then all the kids had to leave their Digimon for... reasons. Digimon Tamers was really solid though.

I've got a lot of nostalgia for Pokemon, though, and the show tended to be a lot more lighthearted and comedic.

The true solution to this argument, however, is to mash them both into one super show!

I wonder if anybody is going to pick Monster Rancher, though. That show was pretty bad. The first season was just barely passable, with the grand "save the world from the evil Moo" plot, which I don't really remember the end to despite only re-watching it a couple years ago. The second season, however, was completely abysmal, for reasons I also don't remember. All I remember is everything from the first arc was pretty much abandoned and was replaced by a weird tournament thing with extremely poor justification. I wasn't really a fan of the games either, Monster Rancher 4 was just... boring.

 

[Fox12]

The way it always seemed to me was that Pokemon always had the better games and Digimon had the better TV shows and movies.

But since Cyber Sleuth Digimon seems to be trying to be Persona, so we'll see how that works.

I noticed that. They even nabbed some of the same staff and character designers, apparently. It's funny, because I almost think they should have gone a little further, mechanics wise. Have three other protagonists with their own Digimon, while you develop your own. Then you could have more character moments, and the digimon wouldn't feel like random creatures you catch in the wild. Instead it would be more like the show, where they could have more personality.

 

[Guffe]

I was a Pokemon child, my cousins liked Digimon more, the bastards!!
So yeah, for me it was Pokemon, I never even really followed Digimon at any time.

 

[Saulkar]

Unlike the Pokemon anime (which I loved a kid and am now horrible bitter that I cannot even force myself to enjoy it anymore) the Digimon one is not only watchable (even if the English dub is corny as hell) but actually enjoyable in both dubs.

 

[Odbarc]

Games: Pokemon is better. Thought it was hugely formulaic which sort of ruins it's long term enjoyment, it at least stays consistent and adoptable by new/younger viewers.

Digimon: I loved the anime. It kept fresh. It reintroduced new characters instead of adding 5 new power levels. And the characters grew. The games were pretty bad. Just a tag along to some third party developer and publisher. At least the one(s) I've played.

Monster Rancher: The anime was kind of dumb. It's alright but nothing memorable. The game was a lot of fun for me with the min/max spreadsheet gaming. In MR1, using other CDs to generate monsters was wicked awesome for me. And my monsters actually lived long enough to get attached to. Had a lot of good fun memories with this game. MR2; The Arrowhead / Joker was epic wicked looking. Took me forever to figure out what combination I needed to get it. Google; [Selketo]

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

The Pokemon anime lost it's appeal to me shortly after the first season due to a lack of character growth or story progression. I stuck with the movies much longer because those at least have self contained stories and Ash has almost laughably taken a backseat in them in favor of bringing the mons front and center. The movies are still awful of course, but they're watchable for a nostalgia kick.

The games though are where the series truly lives, not just the core series created by GameFreak, which a lot of people grew up with (including myself) and still buy today, but also the creative liberties The Pokemon Company has taken with the spin offs. Pokemon Conquest is a fantastic game, the Ranger games are pleasantly fun and there are many people extremely interested in Pokken Tournament. Even Detective Pikachu looks intriguing and I don't even like Pikachu.

I've also noticed my five-eight year old nieces and nephew becoming interested in Pokemon. It's turning into a multi-generational thing where the parents still enjoy it and now their kids enjoy it with them.

***

Digimon on the other hand has a much better anime, the story is just better, the characters grow and I was very invested in it all the way through to the end of Digimon Adventure 2. It lost it's way a little when they started retconning their own continuity, not that the following seasons were bad, they were still well written and the characters were endearing, but it still created a little bit of disconnect. Recently they released Digimon Adventure Tri, which picks up at this disconnect and really brought back all those fond memories, this is something the Pokemon anime can never accomplish, because Ash never went away to begin with.

The Digimon games are mostly an afterthought, the first one was good, but a lot after that were bad and a number of them never left Japan, although Cyber Sleuth looks really interesting.

***

As for toys, Pokemon wins because of a larger selection of mons and cute critters that translate well into plushies, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't love to have a nice Gatomon plush and Digimon has more collectible, action figure potential.

***

So both? Or neither?
I suppose Pokemon wins because they get more of my money. I would like to give Digimon some of my money but they need to make more things I want to buy first.

Spoiler: Pokemon is a machine built of the dreams of children, you cant kill it, you can only slow it down.

***

Since we're talking about series where the cast basically commanded and battled using cool (often giant) monsters, you know what show was pretty rad back in the day? Zoids. Zoids was great.

Yes. Then they tried to fuze and quickly realized that was a mistake and then blew up the entire planet and started from scratch (If you haven't seen Zoids Genesis, it's a pretty decent nostalgiafest), but I haven't heard peep about it since. I miss Zoids.

 

[rcs619]

This is in gaming discussion, but it seems like you are comparing the television series more than the games.

Anyway, I do think that the Digimon show was better written than Pokemon, and benefited from actually telling a story with an end and having varied villains and characters that were allowed to grow and change. That said, the first Digimon adventure had a terrible ending with a final boss that popped up out of nowhere 2 episodes from completion only to whine and whine at the characters until he was defeated with deus ex machina, and then all the kids had to leave their Digimon for... reasons. Digimon Tamers was really solid though.

True. I still think the... I think it was the third season (the one with Guilomon and the D-reaper and stuff) was one of the best. It got pretty dang dark towards the end, with some fairly disturbing imagery for a kids show.

Also, <3 Guilomon. He was a lovable dork who was also a dinosaur. There is nothing about that that isn't awesome

Digimon Tri has turned out pretty great too, I have to admit. Just the right mix of nostalgia with some kickass animation.

Basically, pokemon is the franchise you'd rather play (since they've polished their games to a highly-refined sheen, while digimon's history with videogames has been... iffy, to put it mildly), but digimon is the franchise you'd rather be real. Even some of the weakest digimon are still 50ft tall kaiju that can level a city block during a fight. Charizard ain't got shit on that

I wonder if anybody is going to pick Monster Rancher, though. That show was pretty bad. The first season was just barely passable, with the grand "save the world from the evil Moo" plot, which I don't really remember the end to despite only re-watching it a couple years ago. The second season, however, was completely abysmal, for reasons I also don't remember. All I remember is everything from the first arc was pretty much abandoned and was replaced by a weird tournament thing with extremely poor justification. I wasn't really a fan of the games either, Monster Rancher 4 was just... boring.

Oh man, I remember that show. The ending made me mad.

Spoiler

All the monsters the kid had been traveling with basically die to combine into Phoenix, and the kid gets booted back to Earth a few seconds after he'd originally been sucked into the game. Basically, there was no payoff, and the whole trip was essentially pointless

Since we're talking about series where the cast basically commanded and battled using cool (often giant) monsters, you know what show was pretty rad back in the day? Zoids. Zoids was great.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I think where I stand is pretty obvious...

*cough*

 

[Victim of Progress]

Anime-wise Digimon completely obliterates the poor excuse for a show that Pokemon is. But Pokemon beats Digimon in all other aspects(merchandise, trading cards and video games).

Man, the Digimon anime is really under appreciated...

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

Pokemon has the better games. More moves. More Monsters. Definitely better than any Digimon game I've ever played. That's not to say I don't enjoy playing my digimon games. They just don't compare to Pokemon.

Digimon has the better anime. Never really could get into Pokemon, even as a child. But Digimon? Hell yeah! Loved every second of it! I especially love the dark Digimon Tamers and the unique Digimon Frontier. And the designs? Blows Pokemon out of the water! I seriously love Digimon and long for a good, free roam, action digimon game sort of like the Tales series. Exploring the digital world and fighting along side your favorite Digimon not-turn-based style! Some Day.

Some Day.

Since we're talking about series where the cast basically commanded and battled using cool (often giant) monsters, you know what show was pretty rad back in the day? Zoids. Zoids was great.

Oh god, I loved Zoids more then I loved Gundam, somehow. Giant robot animals firing rockets and just being awesome! I died a little when Zoids Saga DS didn't come to the west. I wonder when they're going to make another Zoids anime...

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I've never played any Digimon or Monster Rancher games...but I voted Monster Rancher strictly for its concept of disc-swapping for unique monsters. A game that might give me a super-strong monster buddy if I pop in my copy of Cruelty and the Beast disc 2 is a game I want to give a spin!

I loves me some Pokemon though. Not so much the anime or movies but I do like the core games. Back when I was super into it, I wound up importing White and Soul Silver. At the moment I have yet to beat Omega Ruby and I only managed to beat Y because Mega Evolutions are absolutely broken.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

This argument is still a thing? I like 'em both, personally. Why is there no option for that?

Oh, and I liked the Monster Rancher anime... even if it was a bit dumb. Really should look into playing the games, though.

The true solution to this argument, however, is to mash them both into one super show!

Ohmigod the nostalgia! ...Excuse me while I go fangirl for a while.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Digimon. But I can't even pretend that it's not due to nostalgia. When I was a kid I sent a letter to Santa asking for a Digimon companion and was fully convinced that he would give it to me.

I was also convinced that he'd already given one to one of my friends, and that infuriated me to no end because he just wouldn't stop bragging about it

 

[Zhukov]

As a kid I and every other kid I knew regarded Digimon as a cheap imitator trying to cash in on Pokemon's success.

Everyone except the one lonely Digimon fan. He got laughed at a lot.

 

[Raggedstar]

It was a schoolyard debate between the franchises, but I can't pick one over the other. I am a fan of both, though I'll chime in on general consensus: Pokemon had the better games, Digimon had the better anime. The structure of the Pokemon games are beautifully simple and addictive, but Digimon had actual characters, legitimate threats, genuine tearjerker moments, and stronger theming. Digimon Tamers is legit, yo. But anyone who says Digimon is a cheap knock off through and through perhaps haven't watched much of the anime. It managed to get to a surprising level of quality considering it had such a small budget.

I watched a bit of Monster Rancher too, but I don't remember much besides Tiger. Games never interested me.

 

[Kotaro]

When I was a kid, I--like everyone else I knew--dismissed Digimon sight-unseen as a cheap Pokemon knockoff.
Then several years later (post-Frontier but pre-Savers), I actually caught it on TV and realized that the similarities were entirely superficial and the two franchises were actually rather different.
I ended up as a fan of both. Though, aside from Tamers--which is like Evangelion for kids, in a way--there isn't a whole lot to keep me invested in Digimon these days, as most of what's been coming out has been lackluster to say the least, whereas Pokemon maintains a pretty high level of quality to this day.
Cyber Sleuth changed my tune a bit, though. I mean, it's like Shin Megami Tensei with Digimon. And it's awesome! Really cool to have something geared for the kids who grew up with the franchise and are now adults, like Pokemon Origins was.

(Side-note: In retrospect, I can never help but get annoyed when I look at the English dubs of anything Digimon-related, mostly where minor changes created plot holes (like Mimi saying she misses her little brother, then later being an only child). Or things like what happened with Galgomon. When Galgomon first appeared, the dubbers made the easy mistake of calling it Gargomon. This would cause a serious problem later when a different Digimon appeared named--of course--Gargomon. So Galgomon became Gargomon, and then out of necessity, Gargomon became Gargoylemon. Oops.)

The Digimon games are mostly an afterthought, the first one was good, but a lot after that were bad and a number of them never left Japan, although Cyber Sleuth looks really interesting.

Cyber Sleuth is great. Play Cyber Sleuth. I've been playing it (and Fire Emblem Fates) recently, and loving it.

 

[IOwnTheSpire]

I agree with most here that the Pokemon has the better games and Digimon has the better anime.

I've actually been rewatching Digimon and I love that it actually has a story with character arcs and whatnot. Frontier was the last season I watched and I have no interest in watching anything after that except Tri if they dub it (I'm not a fan of subtitles and I can't imagine the characters without the English voices).