Remember Tamagotchi? Remember Pokemon? This was neither, but pretty close. Made by Bandai and a "boy branding" of Tamagotchi, the Digimon Virtual Pet (V-Pet) line was introduced! Maybe you had one as a kid or saw it in the Digimon World Playstation game and always wanted one. Maybe you're one of my friends who had theirs "poop to death". Maybe you've been following the Digimon virtual pets and are a master tamer? I admit, I had a D-3 Digivice as a kid, but not much else. I dabbled in collecting various V-Pet versions through the 2000's, namely looking to raise that much wanted Gabumon, but even then my Version 2 died on me fairly quickly and I had no one to battle with. How does the 20th Anniversary V-Pet compare? Let's take a look.
The version 20th's were originally released in Japan, but lucky for the states, we've gotten a release, too! We even have the old 1997 style packaging! So what's improved? What's the difference between the JP and US versions?
Well, there isn't a difference in versions, so far. We're on Wave 3. We didn't get a special Digimon in wave 2 that Japan did get, but we're suspecting it's for Wave 3. Note, when I say "wave", that's a term referring to a batch of colors released. Please note, this is only for the US release. You may want to look into some more special colors in Japan to get other versions: Omegamon, Alphamon, Zubamon colors for example, and the Digimon V-Pet Pendulums. US Waves and their Digimon include everything on this list, but here's a breakdown of the specials and colors: Wave 1: Navy / Red - Agumon Anime Egg Gray / Yellow - Gabumon Anime Egg Wave 2: Translucent Green / Translucent Blue - Coronamon Translucent Purple / Translucent Yellow - Lunamon Wave 3: Purple, Black, White, Glow in the Dark, Neon Red, Translucent Orange (The special is currently unknown, but we suspect it is Meicoomon) You can still order these on Amazon right now! They're only 19.99 each. You can select the color (as of writing, all colors are available, but Wave 1 has been out for some time so I suggest you jump on it). If you are going to order anyway, please consider helping us out by using this link:
What's new in the version 20ths?
What can it connect to?
Let me reiterate, they are not the same toy from 1997. They have a lot of quality of life changes Bandai made for the on-the-go Millenial that wants to get back into these toys. As I already said, the raising time is a lot faster. Instead of a few hours to evolve, it takes minutes early on. You can raise two Digimon at once, which means you can Jogress them to make another! (Jogress is a term in Digimon that essentially means fusing.)
I toyed around with one for a few hours to a few days before. I think they're fun and definitely a good way to spend some time while you're stuck cleaning house in quarantine. Embrace your inner stay-at-home parent with your own monster from the Megalithic Mainframe!
Currently, the two shown above are the few from Wave 1 I have, in Dark Blue / Navy and Light Blue / Gray. I wasn't going to go through the tedious 5 resets of a second device for the special anime eggs for now, so I'm gonna gamble and see what Digi we get!
When turning it on we're greeted by the Bandai logo and one Digi-Egg / Digitama. You input your 4 letter name and the time and off we go. The egg hatches in about a minute.
From there, you wait for the Digimon to "call", usually to clean poop. You can also feed it food or vitamins. These can increase/decrease it's weight and cause/prevent care mistakes (when it cries out and is ignored, essentially). This can also injure the Digimon, so you may need to give him a little bandaid. This counts as a care mistake too. I believe waking it up when it's asleep can count, also, but that may have only been in the originals. Either way, I find it's almost more fun to just wing it and see what you get. Early on, in the Baby and Baby II forms, you'll need to clean a lot of poop. Pick your most free time to devote to these stages. After that, it's a bit more lenient. We started off with a Botamon, then took pretty good care of it? He's a bit weak and could use some vitamins. I also didn't hear him call out even though he had two more poops. In about thirty minutes.... he evolved to Koromon! Sadly, there's no way to know if I got a care mistake already... (but typically if the call icon in the bottom right stays on, you're boned. Good news is, one or two early on isn't an issue. Care Mistakes also don't carry between forms, so once he evolves to his Rookie / Child stage, he will begin anew with his CM count). Now he wants to sleep! You can't feed him anything when he's tired, so I'll shut out the lights. At this point you can also press B to select your second egg. I decided not to since I was already having issues. You can activate another egg at any point after it's Rookie/Child form on your first mon. 8 hours later, he woke up! Made sure to feed/vitamins and clean poop. We'll see how it goes before he evolves in 16 more hours. Koromon evolved to Agumon! Pretty cool (but expected...)! You can connect with another pet to battle, increase its win ratio, and further influence it's evolution from here! Sadly, this takes a few days and I don't have the time to devote to these fun little guys. Above are my two Gray Digimon Virtual Pets! One is Japanese and one is the US version. On the outside, without the packing, they are almost identical. The only real difference is the language. The casing is very sturdy and the keychains seem to behave well. I had a labor intensive job and took mine with me one day and had no issues (don't forget silent mode). You will often see the '97 versions on Ebay missing their keychain. The most noticable difference between these and an original are: the copyright on the back (1997 vs 2017) (on the v-pet itself and the packaging) and the packaging of the originals has a window box that opens up. Although the new ones look like the old, they are missing this window flap. I really can't decide if I prefer the original to the new versions. I like the original's evolution speed. I miss being able to take my time more during the raising process. However, raising two Digimon is nice and really outweighs the time changes for me. Once you start off with a Botamon (initially, then it evolves), you can also choose another egg to raise. There are 5 eggs to start and more are unlocked as you raise more Digimon. Digimon have a life span and will eventually die. This has always been a thing in Digimon and Tamagotchi, but once you master the toy enough you could keep one alive indefinetly. Things like sleep, care mistakes, food/vitamins, battle win ratios, all effect what your monster will turn into! Online guides like I linked before are a great way to target what Digi you want, but sometimes I like to let mine sit and see what rando I get! With a roster of over 100 Digimon, there's a lot to see! Both suffer from the fact that you really NEED two to get anywhere with evolution (for battles) and to unlock the exclusive Digimon, you NEED at least one other pet. I highly recommend ordering two. The price point sits at an amazing 19.99 USD. That, to me, is the best part of the international release. I find that Amazon is the best place to get them (especially during the pandemic), but these have also been seen at Gamestop or Barnes and Noble and can be ordered there, if that's easier for you! Unfortunately, these don't have a wide release in places like Walmart (to my knowledge). Would I recommend them? Sure! I think for any Digimon fan it's an absolute must. This is the origin story of the anime and games in a way and deserves a look-at. Again, if you just want to fool around with one (and maybe you have one of the anime themed toys mentioned above), you could just get one, but I recommend ordering them in pairs. At their lower price point, I see no reason to pass on this. Even if you're just a casual Tamagotchi fan, maybe check this one out! Did you have a Digimon Virtual Pet as a kid? What Digimon did you raise? Was it the dreaded Numemon? (Oh boy, Digimon World 1 flashbacks, you guys...) Maybe you're like me and owned a D-3 or other Digivice? Do you collect other virtual pets? Most importantly, out of the wave 3 colors, what did you pick?! (We chose Black and Glow in the Dark) Let us know in the comments! Don't forget these are available on Amazon. The first wave initially sold out, so if you want them, I would get one now. Wave 2 is heading out and Wave 3 is on preorder for October 2020:
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Author: ShindoW
I am a anime and video game enthusiast living in Texas. I have been collecting since 2005. During that time I've collected a variety of merchandise and knowledge to help other collectors. Archives
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