is a
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...
role-playing video game
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
developed by
Prope
Prope Ltd. is a now defunct Japanese video game development studio founded by Yuji Naka, a former Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer.
Formation
As part of Sega's "support program for independent game creators", Yuji Naka lef ...
and published by
Bandai Namco Games
is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California an ...
under the
Bandai
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...
label for the
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...
. The story of the game is based on the first ''
Digimon
, short for "Digital Monsters" ( ''Dejitaru Monsutā''), is a Japanese media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures, who inhabit a " ...
''
anime series of the same name. It includes dialogue with voice acting from the main
voice acting
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...
team of the anime. The opening theme song for the anime,
Butter-Fly
"Butter-Fly" is a song recorded by Japanese singer Kōji Wada as the opening theme song to '' Digimon Adventure''. The song was released as Wada's debut single on April 23, 1999.
Background and release
"Butter-Fly" was the theme song to the 1 ...
by
Kōji Wada
was a Japanese pop singer. He was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the ''Digimon'' anime television series, including his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, "Butter-Fly", the theme son ...
, and the insert song used for digivolutions, Brave Heart by
Ayumi Miyazaki
or Ayumi for short, is a Japanese singer and composer.
Miyazaki has sung several songs in the Digimon series. He sang the evolution theme song for '' Digimon Adventure'' called "Brave Heart" and its '' Digimon Adventure Tri'' remix. He also sang ...
, are also featured. The game is part of the series' 15th anniversary celebration and was released in
Japan on January 13, 2013.
Gameplay
Initially, only seven
characters
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
and their Digimon partners are available. During the third arc, the eighth character,
Hikari, becomes available. During the course of one episode, one character assumes the role of team leader and two other characters' Digimon partners join in battle. Occasionally, the team leader will be able to talk to the other characters mid-episode. By choosing the right answer, the relationship level between those two characters is increased. This has multiple benefits, like an assist attack in-battle and unlocking extra episodes after the main story.
A battle is between a maximum of six Digimon, three on each side. By default, the player controls the Digimon of the team leader and can take manual control of the other partner Digimon through the strategy menu. It has a turn-based system wherein each Digimon can use a regular attack, use special attacks, use items, guard against an attack, or attempt to run from a wild battle.
After completing a main episode unlocking the evolution, the Digimon can
digivolve in-battle into their Champion, Ultimate or Mega forms. This significantly increases stats. Evolution consumes special points (SP) and doesn't use up a turn. Post-battle, the Digimon revert to their Rookie forms. Occasionally (for example during the first time a Digimon evolves mid-story), they evolve pre-battle. The evolution sequences from the anime were completely reanimated for this game, unlike the non-credit version of the opening movie of the anime which was only cropped to fit the 16×9 aspect ratio of a PSP screen. These sequences are only shown once during the initial evolution, but can be viewed anytime from the library.
Story
The game retells the story of the 1999 anime series, in which seven children; Tai (Taichi), Matt (Yamato), Sora, Izzy (Koushiro), Mimi, Joe and T.K. (Takeru), are mysteriously transported to the Digital World, where they meet monster companions known as Digimon. Using the power of the Digivice to evolve their Digimon partners into more powerful forms, Tai, his friends and their Digimon companions must work together in order to save both the Digital World and their own. The game also features the story of the film, ''
Our War Game!'', as well as original scenarios exclusive to this game.
Development
''Digimon Adventure'' was first announced in an August 2012 issue of Japanese ''
V Jump
is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on new manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1993 by Shueisha under the '' Jump'' line of magazines.
History
A prototype magazine called '' Hobby's J ...
'' magazine as part of the franchise's 15th anniversary, and would be designed as a re-creation of the original ''Digimon''
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
series "in full" for the PlayStation Portable. Game developer
Yuji Naka
, credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series on the Sega Mega Dri ...
announced via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that his own studio,
Prope
Prope Ltd. is a now defunct Japanese video game development studio founded by Yuji Naka, a former Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer.
Formation
As part of Sega's "support program for independent game creators", Yuji Naka lef ...
, would be developing the title as the company's first role-playing game. A trailer was released the following September, revealing that the original main voice actors from the animated version would reprise their roles for the title, which includes over 70 hours of total voice audio.
In addition to the series itself, the developers also included a scenario based on the 2000 ''Digimon'' film ''
Our War Game!'', as well as bonus "sub-episode quests".
First-print copies of the game came with a product code for a PlayStation Portable download title called ''Digivice Ver. Portable'', an emulated version of the
Digimon virtual pet
The Digital Monster is a digital pet created by WiZ and Bandai that spawned the ''Digimon'' franchise. It was released by Bandai on June 26, 1997 in Japan and on December 5, 1997 in North America. This pet was a masculine counterpart to the Tamag ...
device, as well a voucher which could be redeemed for in-game cards for the
GREE
GREE (derived from an abbreviation of the " Six degrees of separation" concept) is a Japanese social networking service founded by Yoshikazu Tanaka and operated by GREE, Inc.
GREE focuses primarily on mobile games and over ninety percent of it ...
mobile platform social game ''Digimon Collectors''.
An unofficial English translation was released in 2018 translating all the text and graphics into English.
Reception
''Digimon Adventure'' sold 47,807 copies in its debut week, debuting as the third highest-selling game of that period in the
Media Create
is a Japanese company that gathers and analyzes data from the digital entertainment industry, specifically focusing on the Japanese console gaming market. Business operations include publishing, market research and consulting. It is a popular we ...
software charts. The game sold a total of 70,172 copies in the region before falling from the top 30 software charts the following month,
and received a 29 out of 40 total score from Japanese ''
Weekly Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
'' magazine based on individual reviews of 8, 7, 7, and 7.
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References
External links
*
{{Digimon
2013 video games
Bandai Namco games
Crossover video games
Digimon video games
Dungeon crawler video games
Japan-exclusive video games
PlayStation Portable games
PlayStation Network games
Role-playing video games
Video games developed in Japan
Video games about parallel universes