Why the Digimon Card Game FAILED in the West

Digimon is a successful yet underrated franchise that has made a ton of great stuff. Today’s video topic is not one of those things.

History of the Japanese Digimon TCG:

Intro animation by Artsy Theo:

Intro theme song by Matt Houston:

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[TheJWittz]

Oh noooo I put the Gabumon line in the wrong order 😭

"Matt" is gonna beat me up

[ChaddyFantome]

"Poor management of the brand in the west" sums up the state of Digimon in the west relative to its contemporaries in general.

[swishfish]

I love that you post on Saturday mornings, it's like a Saturday morning cartoon (just like Pokemon/Yugioh/Digimon etc. was for me growing up in Canada) and it's awesome nostalgia.

[RisingFist]

Honestly, the NEW Digimon card game is actually looking really good. I just hope they manage it well moving forward.

[kitsterling]

"...the other Mon franchise."
I, too, enjoyed Monster Rancher.

[jpfan]

When I was a kid my friend got the digimon card game.
The rules felt so weird and complicated that we got frustrated and quit not even halfway through and never touched it again.

[owennewo]

Digimon Card Game: _has no coverage_
JWittz: *Fine, I'll do it myself*

[Bahamut_Mega]

I own a game store in the US and we run Dragonball Super events. Me and my employees have to log into Carddass twice a week. We still make jokes about it. :)

[JackOfen]

Biggest issue in my childhood:
Pokémon Card Game: I knew how to play it, but I didn't have any cards.
Digimon Card Game: I had the cards, but I didn't know how to play.

[TrainerTre]

*DIGIMON ARE THE CHAMPIONS* - Man, I still have so many of my digimon cards. I miss you, Saturday mornings. Thanks *JWittz*

[ObnoxiousArtist]

*Digimon Adventure reboot* was just announced.

Ngl, kinda disappointed that the other seasons aren't as loved by Bandai and Toei. I want more Tamers.

[SomeRandomPersonIGuess]

Fun Fact no one asked for: Germany only got the Starter Deck and two booster packs. It has less support there than Duel Masters and that one bombed so hard that they didn't even bother translating half of the cards.

[ramirezthesilvite]

"Hey you know how the game is perfectly functional and fun to play? What if we made it NOT that?"
There is no conceivable reason changing the established game mechanics would be required, let alone a good idea.

[TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

I never knew they had a card game. Guess that's why I'm here to get educated.

[TheTingleMeister]

Wow, I remember as a kid some of my friends having Digimon cards while I only had Pokemon and Yugioh cards. I loved the design and concepts the cards had and wanted to play with them, but never learned how to play the actual game. After a while I kept collecting and playing with Yugioh whereas Digimon completely disappeared, and I always wondered what happened to the game. I had no idea it was so incredibly mismanaged to the point of self sabotage.

[billiam]

I LOVE the look of these cards, I have a bunch of them. I've been meaning to look into them more.

[GATFAC]

I've literally played and collected Digimon cards my entire life and only now do I find out that there was actually a GOOD version of the game I could've been playing instead.

[evanbanjo]

As someone who has played untold hours of the Wonderswan game and spent a good while translating top decks to proxy up with a few friends. Thank you.

You did Hyper Colosseum every bit of justice it deserves.

[Dollightful]

I had no idea there was a Digimon card game! Did anyone else have one of those digivice virtual pet toys? Like a tamagochi? I have fond memories as a kid running around with my Veemon.

[otp]

Would love to see you cover the new Digimon card game in a year or so. Hopefully covid doesn't completely derail its debut.