Pssh, they don't even compare. Digimon beat the shit out of Pokemon. Best kid's show ever. That was like, my childhood.

KiruTheMant:
Alright,No this isn't a bitch thread. (Well,MAYBE at the people who are asses about it and claim with no proof.) But they came out about the same time,Pokemon in Games and Digimon in Keychain pets,But really the only thing they share is the monster angle,and that could mean godzeera was the original pokemon. I felt Digimon was for the more mature child while pokemon was for children whop wanted something funny with something cute. What are you angles on the Similaritys?

For JackPHA+T2theSwgSSdtIGdvaW5nIHRvIHNlZSBhIHBsYXkuIEkgaG9wZSB0aGF0IGZvciBuY2Ugd2hlbiBJIGdvIHNlZSBvbmUsIGEgRGlnaW1vbiB0aHJlYWQgZG9lc24ndCBwb3AgdXAuIElmIG9uZSBkb2VzLi4uIEkgZGVtYW5kIGVpdGhlciBmaXJlIG9yIGZsb3dlcnMuPC9wPg==

X3

Real reason, broadcasting. Pokemon came on more well known channels where I lived and Digimon came on the obscure channels the weird kids watched.

It was simply inspired by Pokemon and not copied. Why don't we consider every fps a copy of doom, or every rock band an Elvis copier? Because people take a formula that clearly works and give their own touches to it. It's the same in all forms of media.

Digimon is like a romance, in that one person and one monster share a bond and partnership fully reliant on trust and inter-dependability. Pokemon is like a movie about a king and his concubines; he is responsible for their well-being, and they are dependent on him, but in the end it's a matter of developing enough of an emotional connection to each to use them for his own purposes, and not much more.

That said, I like both, but I find Digimon to be thematically superior in every way. And superior in most other ways too.

Verex:
Pokemon
Digimon

Well played good sir!

KiruTheMant:

Psychosocial:
You're saying it wasn't a ripoff because of a couple of keychain pets?

That's not even logic, what the two of them are famous for are being shows where teens go around catching weird monsters and evolve them. Even though there wasn't as much of the catching in Digimon as in Pokemon, the facts remain. Pokemon set a ground as a game, and later on an anime, about kids catching monsters. Digimon set a ground as a keychain pet.

Fair enough,But I mean the only ground I see is the monsters part,the evolution was a bit different,but still on a basis. Every anime has a transformation of some sort nowadays if its actiony,just called evolution there. As for the games,The base is sort of the same,it IS more about catching in some,but the pokemon games have the catching Genre set in stone,whil the Digimon Worlds changed contantly. 1 was a daycare raising sort of thing,2 a crawler with random battles like final fantasy games,3 was about collecting cards,and 4 was a battler. Data Squad was an Anime game. Similarities Exist,but the differences are more direct.

Digimon debuted 16 months after Pokemon, but not on the Gameboy. They debuted on a set of Tamogachi virtual pets that Bandai created to appeal to males since the Tamogachi was liked mostly by females.

Even the Digimon Adventure movie was just a short film. It was never meant to lead into a TV series, but lo and behold Bandai's pets were so popular they received a request to create a TV series before the film was even done.

However, Digimon became the series it did because the writers were given free reign to tell some good stories in the respective universes.

Cases in point:

Matt and T.K. - Their parents divorce and Matt's hatred towards his mother because of it.
Tai - His guilt for nearly causing Kari's death years before.
Joe - His questioning of what his father wanted from him, I.E. to become a doctor. (Edo Period tradition, though.) Yoshino in Savers had similar issues with her mother.
Cody - Overcoming his phobia of water and coming to terms with his father's death.

Seriously, if you look at any of the Digimon seasons, it's clear that the characters are more realistic, despite the awkward dialogue at times. (Also, don't forget that one of the head writers of Serial Experiments Lain and Neon Genesis Evangelion had a hand in Digimon Tamers.)

The games have been all over the place since Digimon World 1, but overall they're fun to play, especially the DS games.

Actually, here's an idea Namco/Bandai, free of charge: (Not really.)

Make a Digimon game with Dynasty/Samurai/Gundam Warriors gameplay, expanded RPG elements, and an open world like what we see in Skate 3 or Just Cause 2. I can almost guarantee that people will love it.

There are some glaring similarities to Pokemon. Not surprising though, give the people what they want.

Because, at least in America, the Pokemon anime came first.

To be fair, it has far more in common with Transformers (cartoon made to advertise a line of toys. The plot had shapeshifting heroes and their human friends fighting off evil invaders from Earth--At least, during the Myotismon arc and the movies)

KiruTheMant:
Alright,No this isn't a bitch thread. (Well,MAYBE at the people who are asses about it and claim with no proof.) But they came out about the same time,Pokemon in Games and Digimon in Keychain pets,But really the only thing they share is the monster angle,and that could mean godzeera was the original pokemon. I felt Digimon was for the more mature child while pokemon was for children whop wanted something funny with something cute. What are you angles on the Similaritys?

For JackPHA+T2theSwgSSdtIGdvaW5nIHRvIHNlZSBhIHBsYXkuIEkgaG9wZSB0aGF0IGZvciBuY2Ugd2hlbiBJIGdvIHNlZSBvbmUsIGEgRGlnaW1vbiB0aHJlYWQgZG9lc24ndCBwb3AgdXAuIElmIG9uZSBkb2VzLi4uIEkgZGVtYW5kIGVpdGhlciBmaXJlIG9yIGZsb3dlcnMuPC9wPg==

Pokemon had a stronger media presence, received more media attention (remember the seizure warnings for the first movie?) and had it's animated series released in NA first (I believe). People had a higher chance of being exposed to Pokemon over Digimon, so when they eventually DID see Digimon they figured it was a clone regardless of the actual dates involved in their creation.

I'd personally say it was the other way around, but meh.

Even if it was a ripoff, it was still better. Much better.
hell, even the new seasons of digimon are better than the new seasons of pokemon.

If you had to explain the show to the uninitiated, you could easily say "some kids with outrageous hair and hats go around pitting their pet monster things against one another with the help of their nifty little gadgets to see who will come out tops." for either one.

Since Pokémon came first, Digimon gets called a copy cat. It doesn't help they share the same suffix. That's not to say one is automatically excellent and the other is trash, that's just opinion. (Although I'd like to think Pokémon was/is better seeing as it's the 2nd best selling video game franchise behind Mario)

Also, you could say the same for Yu Gi Oh, if you replace monster with playing cards and gadget with millenium puzzle.

When I was a kid, I can remember watching both of them at one point. I watched pokemon more just because it was on just before and after school. So if I was ready to go on time I could watch it before I went to school, and then watch the next episode straight after I got home. Digimon was on later, when I was having dinner I think (I can't remember all that well, it was ten plus years ago). So I watched it more at first because it was convenient, then because I could follow the story, as I missed so many Digimon episodes I forgot all about it!

I have personally played most games for both franchises, as well as watched the animes, and I even had a little digimon keychain. And although my personal preference tends to be Digimon, I will attempt to be unbiased, and most likely fail.

Pokemon -

While the franchise is bigger, it lacks a real storyline. You start with one Pokemon, you catch more, you fight at gyms, get a badge, and then throughout, you have antagonists you have to battle and beat.

However, although it's been the same ever since it came out, the introduction of new Pokemon has made it more interesting. It adds a suspense sort of effect, making you question how it will turn out. Despite the repetitiveness, it has a very large fanbase, and is extremely popular among people of many ages -- My mother even has a tattoo of Umbreon and Charizard on her back! And I'll admit, I play and watch Pokemon games more often, and I own a Pokemon blanket and Umbreon plushie, and well as the newest Pokedex book.

However, Digimon -

The fanbase is much smaller, and I'm sure there are much less Digimon than Pokemon (I am not sure!). Digimon has a much deeper storyline, more mature. Characters die, there is a looming darkness actually threatening to destroy the Digi-world, and there is the wonderful thing called character development! Now, you can argue that there was character development in Pokemon, but a very minimal amount. In the end, the plot of Digimon's anime was much better, in many ways.

So what about the games?

Dear god, some Digimon games were absolutely horrible, and the same goes for Pokemon. This is my personal opinion, but Pokemon Channel was a very cutesy game, but in the end, it got dull extremely quickly, and eventually became repetitive. Several Digimon games were repetitive as well. I will admit, I do have bias here. Although the Pokemon games do offer a lot of freedom and sidequest sort of things, I find that Digimon games seem more interactive, funner. You can choose to Digivolve them into a couple different kinds, and make several combnations. (The same may be said for Pokemon, although by my count, I believe there are five-to-ten Pokemon in all that actually have variety in evolution.)

I believe, in the end, Digimon is called a rip-off because of release date, small similarities, and fanbase.

~Clockwork