Digimon

Digimon, short for Digital Monsters, is a very popular chain of merchandise and media from Japan. Digimon are imaginary creatures living in a parallel universe known as the "Digital World". There are several hundred species of Digimon and the different species constantly keep evolving. Most Digimon have attributes of real organisms and possess large amounts of intelligence and even the ability to talk. The Digital World keeps expanding and new species of Digimon are regularly discovered.

Digimon originally started out as a ’Tamagotchi’ (or a ’virtual pet’) created for boys. The Digimon Tamagotchi was released by Bandai in 1997. A digimon pet needed to be looked after like a real pet and could combat with another owner’s Digimon and records of the wins and losses could be stored. With proper care, the digimon pet could ’digivolve’ (evolve) into a stronger and more powerful Digimon.

Subsequent to Digimon’s growing popularity, its horizons were broadened and numerous Digimon-related games and merchandise were made available such as digimon cards, digimon toys, digimon games, etc. Also, Digimon TV series and movies were released.

Digimon cards are collectibles and were first introduced in Japan in 1997.. The Digimon collectible card game is based on the concept of Digimon. The primary strategic element of the game is deciding which kind to ’digivolve’ one’s cards into.

Many Digimon games are currently available. Digimon World was the first Digimon game to have been released in North America and Europe in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The game takes place on File Island. The aim of the player is to help the Digimon, that have lost their memories and have become feral, to regain their memory and return to the island, saving the island in the process. It has four sequels, Digimon World 2, Digimon World 3, Digimon World 4 and Digimon Digital Card Battle (also known as "Digimon World: Digital Card Arena"). Apart from the Digimon World Series, there are other Digimon games like Digimon Rumble Arena, Digimon Battle Spirit, Digimon Racing, etc.

The Digimon television series and movies have also gained immense popularity all over the world. The first Digimon movie was released in theatres in March 1997. Around the same time, the Digimon Television series began to be aired. The first series of the lot was called "Digimon Adventure". Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Savers are the series that followed. Owing to their immense popularity and success internationally, the movies and television series have been dubbed into several other languages apart from English. The Digimon movies and Digimon TV series are available on various Digimon DVDs.

Among other Digimon merchandise, digimon toys, digimon figures, digimon soft toys, etc are a huge hit with Digimon fans around the world. The digimon toys and action figures are available in various forms and sizes and some of them even have the ability to ’digivolve’.

Even more than a decade after its inception, the Digimon franchise still holds a prominent position in the global market and has a sizable fan-base and hence, new card series, games and movies continue to be produced and released.