What is Digimon? A beginner’s guide to the franchise
Digimon is short for “Digital Monsters”, a Bandai franchise that began as a 1997 virtual pet and grew into anime, video games, a card game and a lot of toys. The creatures themselves are living data that hatch, grow and evolve inside a parallel Digital World. If you have ever wondered what Digimon actually is, where to start, or why people keep comparing it to Pokémon, this is our guide.
The short answer
A Digimon is a single Digital Monster, and the word is both singular and plural. One Agumon, ten Agumon, never “Agumons”. The “mon” ending is part of every creature’s name, from Koromon to Omnimon, which is why fans sometimes type “digimon mon” when searching for a name they half remember.
The franchise launched in Japan on 26 June 1997 as a keychain virtual pet, pitched as a Tamagotchi for boys. You raised a creature, trained it, and linked two devices together so the pets could battle. That battle feature is the seed of everything that came later. The creator is credited as Akiyoshi Hongo, a collective pen name for the Bandai and WiZ staff who designed the original toy.
What are Digimon, exactly?
In every medium we know, Digimon are artificial life forms born from data on the network. They hatch from Digi-Eggs, start small and weak, then digivolve into bigger forms. Most live in the Digital World, a dimension that mirrors our own internet, and some cross over to Earth when the border between worlds gets thin.
Levels
Every Digimon sits at a level. The English and Japanese terms differ, which trips up a lot of new fans reading wiki pages.
| English level | Japanese term | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Baby (Fresh) | Baby I | Botamon |
| In-Training | Baby II | Koromon |
| Rookie | Child | Agumon |
| Champion | Adult | Greymon |
| Ultimate | Perfect | MetalGreymon |
| Mega | Ultimate | WarGreymon |
Yes, “Ultimate” means different things in each language. The English dub shifted every label up one slot, so a Japanese “Ultimate” is an English “Mega”. We use the English terms on this site.
Attributes
Most Digimon also carry one of four attributes: Vaccine, Data, Virus or Free. In the games and the card game these form a triangle. Vaccine beats Virus, Virus beats Data, Data beats Vaccine. Free sits outside the triangle. The anime mentions attributes rarely, so treat this as a game mechanic first.
Types and families
Beyond level and attribute, each Digimon has a type (Reptile, Beast, Holy Knight, Machine and so on) and often belongs to a family like Nature Spirits or Metal Empire. These matter in the Digimon Story games for move affinities, and they explain why Agumon and Guilmon look alike but behave differently.
Is Digimon an anime?
Digimon is an anime, but it is also a lot more than one. The first series, Digimon Adventure, premiered on Fuji TV on 7 March 1999 from Toei Animation. Fox Kids brought the English dub to the United States that August as Digimon: Digital Monsters. That show is what most people picture: seven kids at summer camp get pulled into the Digital World and bond with partner Digimon.
Here is every main TV series to date, with Japanese run years and episode counts.
| Series (English title) | Years | Episodes | Hook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digimon Adventure | 1999 to 2000 | 54 | The original DigiDestined |
| Digimon Adventure 02 | 2000 to 2001 | 50 | Sequel set three years later |
| Digimon Tamers | 2001 to 2002 | 51 | Darker, card-game-powered story |
| Digimon Frontier | 2002 to 2003 | 50 | Kids transform into Digimon |
| Digimon Data Squad (Savers) | 2006 to 2007 | 48 | A government agency, DATS |
| Digimon Fusion (Xros Wars) | 2010 to 2012 | 79 | DigiFuse combining armies |
| Digimon Universe: App Monsters | 2016 to 2017 | 52 | Smartphone app creatures |
| Digimon Adventure: (reboot) | 2020 to 2021 | 67 | Retelling of the 1999 cast |
| Digimon Ghost Game | 2021 to 2023 | 67 | Horror-tinged episodic stories |
| Digimon Beatbreak | 2025 onward | ongoing | Newest series |
Most seasons are stand-alone. Only Adventure, 02 and the films that follow them share a cast, so you can start almost anywhere. Adventure also got a trilogy of continuations for grown-up fans: the six Digimon Adventure tri. films (2015 to 2018), Last Evolution Kizuna (2020) and Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning (2023). We cover streaming options for each season in our piece on where to watch Digimon on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix and Blu-ray.
Digimon vs Pokémon: the real differences
Both franchises arrived in the late 1990s with pocket-sized monsters, so the comparison is unavoidable. The differences run deeper than art style.
- Digimon talk. Partner Digimon are characters with opinions, jokes and arguments. Pokémon mostly say their names.
- Evolution is temporary. In the anime, Agumon becomes Greymon for a fight and shrinks back afterward. Pokémon evolution is permanent.
- Lines branch. One Digimon can digivolve into several different forms depending on the medium. Our explainer on Digimon evolution goes into the branches in detail.
- Death is on the table. Digimon get reborn as Digi-Eggs at Primary Village, but the shows still treat losing a partner as a real loss. Tamers and Kizuna lean into that hard.
- The origin is a toy, not a game. Pokémon started on Game Boy. Digimon started on a keychain, which is why “raising” rather than “catching” sits at the heart of the games.
The games, from Digimon World to Time Stranger
The video game side is where the franchise found its second life. These are the lines we point new players toward.
Digimon World (PlayStation, 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America). A raising sim where you feed, train and discipline one partner at a time, and its lifespan is measured in days. Digimon World: Next Order (PlayStation 4 in 2017, Switch and PC in 2023) is the modern version with two partners.
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (PlayStation Vita 2015 in Japan, PS4 and Vita 2016 worldwide). A turn-based RPG with a 240-plus roster, a cyberpunk Tokyo setting and the same branching evolution trees fans love. Hacker’s Memory (2018) is a companion story, and the Complete Edition bundled both on Switch and PC in 2019.
Digimon Survive (2022). A visual novel with tactical battles where your dialogue choices decide which evolution your partner takes. Very different pace, very strong writing.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger (3 October 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC). The newest Story entry and the current best starting point for an RPG player. Our full Digimon Story Time Stranger overview breaks down the roster and the free update patches.
Tamer tip
In the Digimon Story games, don’t rush to Mega. De-digivolving a Digimon back to Rookie raises its level cap and unlocks new branches, so the strongest teams are built by going down the tree as often as up it.
The Digimon Card Game
Digimon also has a competitive trading card game. The current Digimon Card Game launched in Japan in April 2020 and in English in early 2021. It is the seventh Japanese Digimon card game, following a line that stretches back to the Digital Monster Card Game, whose standard format was called Hyper Colosseum, which ran from 1999 to 2005. The core mechanic mirrors the anime: you play a Rookie, then stack higher levels on top of it to digivolve, keeping the inherited effects of every card underneath. The first English booster set carried the code BT01 (New Evolution). If the memory gauge and digivolution stacks sound confusing, our Digimon TCG explainer walks through a full turn.
Three Digimon every beginner should know
Agumon is the franchise mascot and Tai’s partner in Digimon Adventure. Its signature attack is Pepper Breath (Baby Flame in Japan). In the Adventure anime it digivolves to Greymon, MetalGreymon and finally WarGreymon.
Gatomon (Tailmon) is Kari’s partner and the proof that Champions can be small. It uses Lightning Paw (Neko Punch) and digivolves to Angewomon in Digimon Adventure. It is the only Champion-level partner among the original eight kids.
Omnimon (Omegamon) is the result of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fusing through DNA digivolution in the film Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!. Its attacks are Transcendent Sword and Supreme Cannon (Garuru Cannon). It appears in nearly every game as a late-game goal and headlines countless card game decks.
Where should a new Tamer start?
Pick by how you like to spend your time.
- Want the story? Watch Digimon Adventure (1999), then Adventure 02, then Last Evolution Kizuna. That is the emotional core of the whole franchise.
- Want a stand-alone show with teeth? Digimon Tamers. It is widely considered the best-written season.
- Want an RPG? Digimon Story: Time Stranger if you own a current console or PC, otherwise Cyber Sleuth Complete Edition on Switch.
- Want the raising-sim roots? Digimon World: Next Order, and set aside an evening to learn the care meters.
- Want something physical? A Digimon Card Game starter deck. You will understand digivolution faster with cards in your hands than from any wiki.
FAQ
What does “Digimon” mean?
It is a contraction of “Digital Monsters”. The Japanese title is Dejitaru Monsutā, shortened to Dejimon.
Is “Digimons” correct?
No. Digimon is the plural as well as the singular, the same way “sheep” works in English.
Did Digimon copy Pokémon?
The Digimon virtual pet came out in June 1997, and Pokémon Red and Green released in Japan in February 1996. Digimon followed the monster-raising trend, but its design came from Tamagotchi, not from Pokémon’s catching mechanic.
Is Digimon still going?
Yes. Digimon Beatbreak started airing in Japan in 2025, Digimon Story: Time Stranger released in October 2025, and the Digimon Card Game ships new booster sets several times a year.
Do I need to watch the seasons in order?
Only Digimon Adventure and Adventure 02 are connected, along with their films. Tamers, Frontier, Data Squad, Fusion, App Monsters, Ghost Game and Beatbreak are all separate worlds with new casts.