#cathode tamer

[digi-lov]

Today releases the EX-03 Draconic Roar Set! And it contains this nice Agumon card!

Agumon EX3-027 by Takase from EX-03 Theme Booster Draconic Roar

This is a reference to the Ryo WonderSwan Games Anode/Cathode Tamer. In this game Ryo is teaming up with Taichi's Agumon. It's referencing the scene when Agumon shows up on Ryo's computer. You can see Ryo's desk just like in the games, and the chair has his bag hanging over it too.

While being not very known in the West, due to the WonderSwan, and by extension its games, never having been released outside of Asia, this would be a very recognizable reference for (older) Japanese fans, as the games were very popular.

Might be worth noting that Agumon doesn't actually jump out of the computer in the games.

[otakween]

Digimon Anode/Cathode Tamer: Veedramon Edition - 5 hours in

Another long-ass title I have to type out. Also, another name that only sounds cool to Japanese people, but to English speakers it's just like "wtf am I looking at?"

Anyway! I started playing the Wonderswan Digimon game! I think this game was an attempt to use the Pokémon model of having two versions of pretty much the same games with a different variety of mons in each. (Only ever seen Pokémon and Yokai Watch do that). I honestly can't remember which version I selected, but I'm only going to do one of them. Judging by the walkthrough I'm using, it seems like this will be a short one. That's already a plus in my book. I'm enjoying myself so far.

Notes:

-First impressions of this game were very much a mixed bag. On the one hand, I really like the art/graphics, but I was very frustrated to not be told wtf was going on, like with Digimon World 1. I did end up picking things up pretty quickly, but I don't think a newer kid's game would ever be this vague. Also, the music is very annoying and repetitive.

-I didn't expect poor Ryo to get so ripped off! Gennai calls him a "chosen child," but then is immediately like "here, have this hand-me-down digivice and Agumon." Lame! I get they're trying to tie it into the anime, but they still could have given Ryo his own stuff. Oh well, maybe that changes later.

-Plot-wise we have a similar issue to Digimon Adventure 02, why can't the OG kids just help? -big shrug-

-I groaned when Gennai welcomed me to the digital world lol. Hate that dude.

-Now that I've gotten used to the battle system I'm having a lot of fun. I haven't played a ton of tactical RPGs (I briefly played but didn't finish Disgaea) so seeing that that was the play style made me a little nervous.

-Already some improvements over Digimon World 2 (even though this game is older): taming digimon is less painful, when you lose in a dungeon you can just try again instead of getting a game over screen, very easy to fast forward through things and the battles aren't as painfully slow, and I haven't hit any annoying storage limits (yet). Earning money, skills, and stat increases come pretty quickly so grinding is satisfying too.

-There's a lot of extra stuff in this game I'll probably just ignore. It seems they wanted this game to be very social, but I don't have anyone to play with, so I obviously won't be exploring the multiplayer features. No clue what the analyzer does.

-I'm 4 dungeons in and there are only 13 of them. It's still kinda tricky for me to predict how long this game will be though because I'm assuming future dungeons might take many tries.

-Sooo this game was officially released in English by Bandai Asia, but I don't think the US ever got the Wonderswan, so I guess it was for English speakers in the East only. Weirdly I was watching an anime the other day and they suddenly mentioned the handheld. I was like "what are the odds!?" (Anime is Haiyoru! Nyaruani: Remember My Lovecraft-sensei. It's really bad, don't watch it lol)

[caterpie]

Digimon Adventure: Anode/Cathode Tamer (2001)

[slutpoppers]

Digimon Digital Monster

Anode Cathode Tamer - Wonderswan Color (2000)

I started this game and I havent finished the first boss Devimon yet 😭 But I made these gifs to compensante the under representation for those retro ah games ❤️💕

Featuring from left to right: Tentomon, Palmon, Gabumon, Tailmon, Agumon, Patamon, Piyomon, Gomamon.

Botamon, Mojyamon and Tyranomon, Pabumon, ToyAgumon and Petimeramon.

[orangelemonart]

What is your score from 10 to 0 for: Digimon Adventure (Short 1999), Digimon Adventure (Anime), Digimon Adventure: Bokura no War Game (Film), Digimon Adventure 02 (Anime), Digimon Hurricane Touchdown! Supreme Evolution! The Golden Digimentals! (Film), Digimon Adventure 02: Diablomon no Gyakushuu (Film), Digimon Adventure Tri. (OVA) and Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (Film)?

Adventure Movie: 10 Adventure: 8 (I mean it is for kids so like. 8 is generous for an adult like me to give it haha.) Bokura no War Game: 8 but only cause the music sucks and isn't ska bangers like in the us version 02: 9 (I like how the older kids became mentors. Especially Tai, his growth is <3.) Hurricane Touchdown: 8 same problem as War Game with the music Return of Diaboromon: 10 Tri: ughhhhhh it's mid as hell. Not the unforgivable insult some people seem to think it is, not a glorious return to form like others think. It's slightly above average. Kizuna: Slightly better than Tri but I don't know why it needed that tragic ending???? It was good but I just don't buy it if they're still honoring the 02 epilogue

The American recut Digimon Movie: 1000000000 THE DIGIVOLUTION IS UP AND RUNNIN DIGI SEE DIGI HEAR DIGI KNOW IT WAS COMIN My prediction for the new 02 movie is its gonna undo a lot from Kizuna AND its gonna make Ken and Miyako a couple in order to fit that stupid epilogue. F.

Also I haven't watched the remake because I heard it was monumentally disappointing, only giving Matt and Tai interesting things to do and not enough of the group together. In case anyone cares: Frontier<Savers<Xros<Hunters<Appmon<Adventure<02<Tamers (I personally like Adv and 02 more than Tamers but let's be real. Tamers is the best one). I haven't watched Ghost Game yet and Ive never played any of the games (although I want to understand Anode and Cathode Tamer lore more than life itself).

[washipink]

Now you can play Digimon Anode Tamer and Cathode Tamer. And their sequel, Digimon Tag Tamers. I don’t know any other Wonderswan games. Also apparently other people were incapable of identifying this system when they watched this show. I’m the best at watching Ex-Aid.

[reliablejoukido]

Different Anon here. Yeah, on the Japanese Wonderswan there were a pair of games called Digimon Adventure Anode and Digimon Adventure Cathode. The sequel, Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers details Ken's first adventure into the digital world, working alongside Ryo to defeat Milleiummon. That's where he's infected with the dark spore. There's some game play, I think of all of them, on Youtube. Even fan translations. I've never watched or played these games, though.

Ohhh okay. These games sound really fascinating. Thanks to everyone who's been telling me about these.

[magpiejay1234]

I was wondering when the usual Toei saxophones were going to start, it is in the SLASH!! theme's instrumental version. Sounds pretty cool.

Anyway, so far, there are no notable differences between Dub, and Japanese original, besides the Cathode Tamer reference we mentioned before. I still prefer Japanese original, since it is the original, and canon one, but you really aren't missing much with Dub.

I suspect there will be more divergence once Devas come, but you can watch Tamers Dub, and get the story proper, whereas Adventure, and 02 both have some story elements that are explained slightly more clearly in Japanese original. The bigger problem, of course, most of Adventure's original lore is limited to novelization, and PSP game, so you have no choice but to track wikis, and read fan translations, unless you buy those yourself. This will be harder due to the reboot, of course.

That said, I can't really blame English Dub for not explaining Devas in detail, considering they originate from Chinese Buddhism, so you are need to be aware both their original basis from Chinese Buddhism, their reinterpretations in Japanese Zen Buddhism, and their Digimon canon specific lore, which wasn't fully explained during Tamers' original run. Then you would need to explain why these Chinese Devas are attacking the Japanese city of Tokyo to sniff out some Westernized Japanese kids (one of being half-Chinese), and two vagabond Digimon, in a manner that is inspired by Angels from NGE.

Then you would need to explain why these Devas are coordinating their attacks, despite being under different Sovereigns with wildly different ideologies, one of them being Qinglongmon (Azulongmon from Dub), the Big Good of 02, and the intentional Gandalf reference.

****

Anyway, for those wondering, the Devas are based off the Twelve Generals in Chinese Buddhism:

As for why they are associated with Sovereigns:

The Zodiac's popularity in Japan peaked during the Edo Era (1600-1868 AD), by which time each of the 12 animals were commonly associated with one of eight Buddhist patron protector deities (four guarding the four cardinal directions and four guarding the four semi-directions; the latter four are each associated with two animals, thus covering all 12 animals).

Since Sovereigns represent the four cardinal directions, this makes sense.

The Twelve Generals are also optional bosses in SMTII, unfortunately they haven't reappeared in any Megaten game since:

[doublade]

I can't stop thinking about the tragedy that is Ryo's entire life because of this fucking Agumon card and its Anode/Cathode & D-1 Tamers callbacks

[izzyizumi]

Just Digimon Adventures Things

Ryo Akiyama: I'm Sorry in advance for Millenniumon

[koushirouizumi]

ME: Good morning to Ryo Akiyama and Ryo Akiyama oNLY

[digi-lov]

how do u even start getting into Digimon?? there so much stuff, i dont even know where to begin. like, there is like a hundred shows??? do i start with the first one that came out??

Idk man it just happened??

No, but seriously, don't worry about it! There aren't even that many shows if you ask me. I'll put a list below the cut! I'll list all movies too, so it'll look like more than it really is. Also the dates are the japanese air dates.

Obviously starting with the first season, Digimon Adventure is an easy pick, it also has the most sequels and movies.

But aside from the Adventure related media, all other Digimon Seasons are completely self-contained, and you can just go and watch any! They also all explore "Digimon" and the Digital World in different ways. I personally loved them all.

For the anime I also highly recommend watching the Japanese original. I'm sorry for anyone who grew up with it, but I can barely stand watching the English Dub at all. If you know German though, the German Dub is really good. I still prefer the Japanese original, but the German Dub is at least a translation and not a fan fiction.

The same basically goes for the games. You can just pick any of them up! Also, all Digimon games kind of do their own thing in terms of gameplay and mechanics. There's similarities too, but usually each have their own vibe. A lot of the DS titles do work very similar though!

Anime:

Adventure: Digimon Adventure (Movie) (1999) • Digimon Adventure (Season 1) (1999-2000) Digimon Adventure: Our War Game (Movie) (2000) • Digimon Adventure 02 (Season 2) (2000-2001) Digimon Adventure 02: Hurricane Touchdown!! Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals (Movie) (2000) Digimon Adventure 02: Diaboromon Strikes Back (Movie) (2001) • Digimon Adventure tri. (6 Movies or 24 Episodes) (2015-2018) Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (Movie) (2020) Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning (Movie) (2023) [Digimon Adventure: (Reboot) (2020)]

Tamers: • Digimon Tamers (Season 3) (2001-2002) Digimon Tamers: The Adventures' Battle (Movie) (2001) Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express (Movie) (2002)

Frontier: • Digimon Frontier (Season 4) (2002-2003) Digimon Frontier: Revival of the Ancient Digimon (Movie) (2002)

Savers/Data Squad: • Digimon Savers / Data Squad (Season 5) (2006-2007) Digimon Savers The Movie: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode!! (Movie) (2006)

Xros Wars/Fusion: • Digimon Xros Wars / Fusion (2010-2012)

Appmon: • Digimon Universe Appli Monsters (2016-2017)

Ghost Game: • Digimon Ghost Game (2021-2023)

Games: Generally known Games in bold, more obscure or never released in the West in small I also left out most Phone and Smart Phone games since they're shut down

· Digital Monster Ver. S: Digimon Tamers (1998) (Sega Saturn) • Digimon World (1999) (PS1) · Digital Monster Ver. WonderSwan (1999) (WonderSwan) · Digimon World: Digital Card Battle (1999) (PS1) · Digimon Adventure: Anode Tamer & Cathode Tamer (1999/2000) (WonderSwan) · Digimon Adventure 02: Digital Partner (2000) (WonderSwan) · Pocket Digimon World (2000) (PS1) > Pocket Digimon World: Wind Battle Disc (2000) (PS1) > Pocket Digimon World: Cool & Nature Battle Disc (2001) (PS1) • Digimon World 2 (2000) (PS1) · Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers (2000) (WonderSwan) · Digimon Adventure 02: D1 Tamers (2000) (WonderSwan Color) · Digimon World: Digital Card Arena (2000) (PS1) · Digimon Tamers: Digimon Medley (2001) (WonderSwan Color) • Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit (2001) (WonderSwan Color / GBA) > Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit Ver. 1.5 (2002) (WonderSwan Color) > Digimon Frontier: Battle Spirit / Battle Spirit 2 (2002) (WonderSwan Color / GBA) • Digimon Tamers: Battle Evolution / Rumble Arena (2001) (PS1) · Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer (2001) (WonderSwan Color) • Digimon World 3 / 2003 (2002) (PS1) · Digimon Racing (2004) (GBA) • Digimon Battle Chronicle / Rumble Arena 2 (2004) (PS2 / GCN) • Digimon World X / World 4 (2005) (PS2 / GCN) • Digimon Story / Digimon World DS (2006) (DS) · Digimon Savers: Another Mission / Digimon World Data Squad (2006) (PS2) • Digimon Story: Sunburst & Moonlight / Digimon World Dawn & Dusk (2007) (DS) · Digimon Championship / Digimon World Championship (2008) (DS) · Digimon Masters (2009) (PC) [Korea only] · Digimon Story: Lost Evolution (2010) (DS) [Japan only; Fan Translation exists] · Digimon Story: Super Xros Wars Blue & Red (2011) (DS) • Digimon World Re:Digitize (2012) (PSP) > Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode (2013) (3DS) [Japan only; Fan translation exists] · Digimon Adventure (2013) (PSP) [Japan only; Fan translation exists] • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (2015) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory (2015) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) • Digimon World -next 0rder- (2016) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) · Digimon Universe Appli Monsters (2016) (3DS) · Digimon New Century (2021) (Smart Phone) [China only] • Digimon Survive (2022) (PS4, Switch, PC, XBO)

[otakween]

Digimon Anode/Cathode Tamer: Veedramon version - Final thoughts

Wow, what a compact little game! I guess that's pretty typical for a handheld, licensed game. This one took me around 15 hours to beat in a single week. Nice. I think gameplay-wise this was actually my favorite so far. I really enjoyed the tactical RPG battle system. It forced me to strategize a bit, so there was juuust enough challenge to make things feel satisfying. Probably doesn't have a lot of replay value, but I'd recommend giving this one a try! (Especially if you're a fan of the original anime because it takes place immediately after it).

Notes:

-I was kind of surprised that most of the bosses in this game were push overs. The guide I was following hyped me up for them and then the majority of them only took me one try. Even the final boss was pretty easy and left me thinking "that's it?"

-Similar to Digimon World 2, this game didn't really motivate me to tame anymore digimon than I needed. The game actually just gives you digimon as you go along and those suited me fine.

-Weirdly this game doesn't really feature digivolution in the traditional sense and, aside from the boss digimon, the partner digis only go up to champion. I kind of appreciated the simplicity of this. I also thought it was clever that the digimon could psuedo-digivolve via the variables. That actually made a lot of sense because digivolutions in the anime are like temporary summons anyway.

-In honor of the V-Tamer 01 manga, I got a Veedramon and named it Zero. He ended up being my strongest partner.

-I still think the story was kinda lackluster. Ryo is just borrowing his digivice and his partner digimon and at the end they're all like "See ya! We're gonna go back to our REAL partners that we like more than you" lol. Also, toxic masculinity Tentomon made me sad:

-Side note: this game's font is terrible. Look at those nearly identical ls and exclamation points!

-Millenniumon low key looks like a Xenomorph in his portrait.

-I'm not going to play Cathode tamer because it's essentially the same game and I've also decided to not do the 4 bonus dungeons. My reasoning is that they don't really seem worth it. It's cool that you can tame the bosses, but one of the hidden dungeons requires you to complete the Digimon Analyzer which I believe requires you to link the games? I guess I could cheat to get to that point, but it still doesn't really seem worth the trouble. If it added to the story maybe, but based on what I've seen on YouTube, it doesn't.

-Loved all of the art so much! Not just in the story bits, but the variables and the digimon sprites were all great. More charming than the PS1 3D versions for sure. The world itself and the battle grounds were a little bland and repetitive, but I liked the designs of the boss dungeons (see the Milleniummon one above). Anything's better than the horrible Digimon World 2 dungeons!

-Just as I expected, I really didn't bother with or need a lot of the extra stuff in this game. A lot of the buildings in town I went into maybe once or twice. I never used Penguinmon trading, Piximon training, Leomon colosseum, or the digimon analyzer. I didn't bother expanding the amount of digimon I could carry via Nanimon because I didn't need anymore digimon. If I had access to this game in the 90s and had my unlimited kid free time, I might explore these features more, but I don't care to do so now. I've got a zillion more Digimon video games to get through!

-I'm trying not to spoil myself for future franchise entries, but it sounds like Ryo will return in other games. I hope he gets justice for his blah storyline then.

[envyplays]

Digimon Adventure Cathode Tamer (Wonderswan)

The exciting experience from the TV Anime will now be revived! It's time to begin a whole new journey together with Agumon and friends!!

A brand new Digimon Adventure is about to begin on Wonderswan! The Chosen children have been kidnapped by an evil Digimon who can destroy time... Gather together a group of 3 Digimon and fight!!

Exciting new visual techniques will occur while battling with your Digimon team, that's the key to victory!

Collect all the Digimon and complete the Digimon Analyser!

Digimon of the Ocean will secure your victory!!

[digi-noir]

Day 7- Home

I made a PowerPoint because me ranting about Ryo yesterday sparked my "I must rant about the WonderSwan Games" urge. Despite this, this is still the surface level of the games since tumblr only lets you upload 10 images at once so I had to condense it, might do a more in-depth look sometime. I acknowledge the background is ugly but I regret nothing.

Edit- I just realized I forgot to clarify that Mille is ZeedMille during the entirety of Brave Tamer, but I luckily I think that’s common knowledge

Edit 2- yeah I’m looking back and I realized I put that you have to collect pieces of the digimental of desire to open the door to MoonMille??? That’s completely wrong, dunno where I got that from. What you actually have to do is beat normal Mille in the same number of turns as Ken as you did as Ryo (EX: if you beat Mille in 10 turns as Ryo you have to beat him in 10 turns as Ken) and yes that’s as annoying as it sounds.

[o-w-quinlan]

Game Journal: Anode/Cathode Tamer - Entry #06

And with these words, we proceed to the end of the journey, the battle against Millenniummon.

After stepping onto the portal, we arrive at a golden lair floating in the middle of a void, surrounded by lights and strange looking crystals. Once again we are confronted by PicoDevimon, who panics and runs away to his master. For this final battle, I stick to the team I used for the Piemon fight, Tailmon-Patamon-Musyamon.

We go through six random battles, each consisting of 2 Adult-levels and a Child-level, except for the last one, which has 3 Adult-levels. All 6 fights happen in different terrains, be them grasslands, deserts or snowlands, with varying areas of water and mountains. During these, my Musyamon learns the “Angewomon” Variable Move, becoming my second healer, and oh boy was it necessary.

I also learn to fear some new Variable Moves from my enemies, which don’t directly affect my team’s stats so much as make them hungry or in need of relief, indirectly weakeaning them for as long as I don’t take care of them. I run out of food soon enough, having to go through the dungeon with a hungry team.

After the six battles are done, I once again fight the previous bosses, this time accompanied by their most notable servants (except Piemon, who has a Meramon for some reason). They don’t speak this time, for some reason. They showcase new Variable Moves, which the post-game tells me I can get by repeating these exact same configurations. Also, I finally get rid of PicoDevimon. Can’t forget that.

Upon defeat, Mugendramon appears, also silent. He has the most health points out of any enemy digimon in the game, but thankfully his lack of flying means I can easily corner him and beat him 3-on-1.

Mugendramon finds his defeat more amusing than anything, and morphs into Millenniummon. It turns out he’s completely immune to Variable Moves or attacks from digimon other than the Chosen’s, so I can’t fight him long distance and my Musyamon is now only useful for support. He also packs quite a punch.

Millenniummon has access to the “Apocalymon” Variable Move, which affects all my digimon simultaneously, and may or may not imply certain things about his in-universe power level. Still, once again his lack of flight means I can corner him, and after abusing the healing moves from my Musyamon, I’m capable of defeating the fused chimera.

Millenniummon’s defeat means we can now rescue Taichi, who is overjoyed to see his partner. The feeling is mutual. Taichi thanks Ryo for saving him, but Ryo denies it, saying Agumon and the rest of the digimon deserve the thanks. Ryo asks whether this means he can now go back home, which Taichi confirms. Ryo gets emotional upon realizing this means separating from Agumon, but not only that, he remembers Agumon was never actually his partner, but Taichi’s. Still, he asks Agumon not to worry about him.

The entire team gathers to thank Ryo and promise him they’ll meet again. For some reason, Tentomon tells him not to cry because “real men don’t cry”. I don’t remember Tentomon thinking like that in the anime.

Taichi promises they’re friends forever, and as long as Ryo remembers these battles, they’ll meet again. Or, you know, you could exchange e-mail adresses. That works too.

Agumon and Ryo share a tearful goodbye. Ryo looks devastated. Agumon is also clearly sad, but nowhere near that extent, and does his best to comfort the boy.

Finally, the team goes back to File Island, where the resident digimon thank Ryo for all he has done for the Digital World. Gennai doesn’t show up because he’s grumpy I guess.

It’s very unclear how exactly Ryo gets back home, but he does, and apparently no time has passed in the human world. His mother wonders how the computer continued working with no power, but brushes it off as just something strange. Ryo’s father soon arrives, from work I guess, and wonders aloud at how much more grown Ryo looks.

The boy himself is distracted, hoping that he’ll meet the digimon again, and so the story ends.

See you next time for my final thoughts on the game, its story and characters!

BONUS:

For the post-game, this strange structure in the village I mentioned in an earlier entry is finally accessible. It’s about 5 or 6 battles to unlock new digimon for the competitive scene. Given this is a 21 year old game in a failed gaming console that never reached the West, I’m assuming I’ll never use those.