The Digimon franchise has seen something of a resurgence outside Japan, with new movies and games being released not too long ago, and momentum has not stopped, as it appears that a big announcement is coming next month.
According to Ryokutya2089 (translated by Siliconera), the July issue of the Japanese magazine V-Jump will contain something notable in the Digimon section. According to the translated article, “something big is happening.” V-Jump doesn’t solely focus on video games, so it’s unknown if this announcement is referring to a new game, something regarding the upcoming 20th-anniversary movie, or something else entirely. Either way, Digimon fans will want to keep an eye out in May when V-Jump releases.
Digimon has been extremely successful since the original anime premiered in 1999. Although the franchise may not be as popular as Pokémon, Digimon has been better acclaimed in some areas. The original anime was notable for having a deeper storyline and more layered characters than the Pokémon anime. This continues to the modern day with the Adventure tri. series and the upcoming anniversary movie.
Although the Digimon anime was well-received, the games have received mixed reviews. While just about every main Pokémon title is given positive reception, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a Digimon game that is universally well-received. The highest rated title on Metacritic is the RPG Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, which has a score of 75. Despite this, though, a lot of the Digimon games are well-liked by fans of the anime. Many players probably have fond memories battling it out in Rumble Arena 2, a Smash Bros.-like fighting game with Digimon characters.
The most recent Digimon game was 2017’s Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory. This year will see the release of Digimon Survive. Bandai Namco describes Survive as a “simulation RPG.” According to Japanese blog Esuteru (as translated by Siliconera), Digimon is also getting a new installment in the Story series at an unspecified date. Perhaps the news in next month’s V-Jump will be about one of these two games. We’ll only know for sure once V-Jump goes on sale in May.
