Let's Raise a Couple of Digital Buddies! Let's Play Digimon 20th Ver.

[LoakaMossi]

Run 3, Day 1

I just noticed that, based on the last entry, I don’t know how to count.

Anyways, Huckleberry has passed on. He actually managed to get more injuries than Hanzo despite me exclusively fighting in Tag Battles.

Hanzo died not too long afterwards. I’m actually not sure what happened? My best bet is he got sick, but I didn’t think he had fallen ill that many times.

But in better news, it’s time for our final run! Here’s our Ver. 4 egg, ready to hatch into a tax evader!

And here they are, ready to tell the IRS to go fuck themselves!

Our new friend is a Yuramon.

Fur can be hard to convey on an LCD sprite, especially one as small as the Baby sprites.

Little Yoshi here is still cute, accurate sprite or no.

It’s hard to evade the IRS on an empty stomach, so I make sure to feed them right away.

Pictured: Yoshi after learning about loss farming.

After ten minutes, Yoshi evolves into a Tanemon!

Tanemon is one of the more famous Baby II digimon due to being in Adventure. I like them, and I think the sprite is pretty accurate!

Oh my, that’s. . . that’s a face alright.

Yoshi is fed again, so let’s get ready to hatch them a sibling!

The Ver. 5 egg has an interesting design, I think.

And here’s Yoshi’s little sibling, a Zurumon!

The sprite looks accurate, I think, but the OA really gets its mischievousness across more.

Zurumon gets fed immediately, and ten minutes later, they evolve!

Say hello to Pagumon!

Again, the sprite is pretty accurate, but the OA looks a lot meaner, doesn’t it? Also, that’s a Kirby mook. I don’t think there’s any specific Kirby mook that looks exactly like that, but come on, that’s a Kirby mook.

Little Scarfy here is done chowing down. Yoshi’s attack sprite was the same as their eating sprite for this stage, but let’s see what Scarfy’s looks like!

Oh God. Those are certainly some teeth.

Good job living up to your namesake, Scarfy.

And here’s our two cuties for this round! If you have any names you’d like to give these two that you think are better than my names, feel free to post them! I should be back tomorrow with two children!

[LoakaMossi]

Run 3, Day 2

Welcome back!

Scarfy evolved into a Gizamon about an hour ago. By the way, the other digimon he could evolve into is call Gazimon, which is honestly just confusing.

The Gizamon art looks like it’s own separate creature, but the Gizamon sprite looks like a redeco of Betamon.

Like Betamon, Gizamon is the digimon you get if you make too many Care Mistakes.

Alright Scarfy, time to see if your battle sprite got any better.

Well, at least the teeth are stylized this time.

Alright, that’s enough of Scarfy. Time to check in on Yoshi!

There was no dinosaur I could evolve Yoshi in to, so I chose the next best thing and evolved them into Biyomon!

I really like the Biyomon sprite, and while it does look a little different, I think you can tell what it’s supposed to look like.

Biyomon is the Child that Tanemon evolves into if you get few or no Care Mistakes. The old Tamagotchis used to say that, if you screwed up raising your Tama Pet, it would grow up uglier. I think they tried to use the same design strategy for the Digimon V-Pet? I think all the Child sprites look cute, but there’s definitely something more pleasing about the “Good” Child Sprites.

Like, Gizamon and Betamon are cute, but they’re not as cute as Biyomon and Gabumon, right?

Wait, what are you so worked up about, Yoshi?

Oh my God, it’s my local IRS office! Yoshi, no!

Yoshi, having taken their tax evasion to the next level, is very pleased with themselves.

These two seem to be getting along well.

. . . For the most part.

Since we’re back on a branching egg, I have to raise these digimon in certain ways to get the Adults that I want. I’m going to evolve Yoshi into Monochromon, which requires 0-2 Care Mistakes and 16+ training, and Scarfy into Flymon, which requires 0-2 Care Mistakes and 0-15 training.

Hopefully, I’ll check in sometime tomorrow with those two adults!

[LoakaMossi]

"Run 3, Day 3

Scarfy actually managed to evolve before Yoshi. Time to evolve is only counted down when a digimon is awake, and Gizamon have later bed times than Biyomon. It’s not consistent, but the digimon you get if you’re a bad parent tend to have later bed times than the digimon you get if you’re a good parent.

Anyways, here’s Scarfy the Flymon!

Flymon is normally an evolution of Kunemon, but not in this toy! Honestly, I think I prefer the sprites to the artwork most of the time? The sprites tend to look a lot cuter.

See? The sprite is so much cuter!

It’s time to hit the coliseum again!

One down, fourteen to go.

In other news, Yoshi is finally a dinosaur now! He evolved to Monochromon!

The difference in cuteness is not as stark as Flymon, but it’s still there.

Especially when they smile!

Yoshi seems pretty happy, but I think there’s one thing that would just make their day.

Beating up the local tax collector!

See? They couldn’t be happier!

I decide to be more economical about fighting the remaining fourteen battles and switch to Tag Battles.

These two are on a winning streak, so I should be back soon with a couple of Perfect levels!

[LoakaMossi]

Run 3, Day 4

Once again, Scarfy has evolved! This time, he’s a MetalTyrannomon.

I like the sprite, but the mechanical stuff from the OA doesn’t really come across.

Again, the sprite is cuter.

Although, the mouth is a little too big, isn’t it?

Wouldn’t want to run into one at night, at least.

Unfortunately, Yoshi doesn’t actually have many dinosaur options. Scarfy could have been a dinosaur from Adult to Ultimate, but Yoshi was only a dinosaur at the Adult stage. But in better news, they’re a Megadramon now!

I like the design! It’s a really messy but interesting mix of design ideas.

Again with the mouth though.

At least the eyes are cute.

But what’s that? Something has set them off!

So, part of the reason I’m making so many Yosh the Tax Evader jokes is (1) my girlfriend is reading this and she loves that joke, and (2) I’m writing a paper on strengthening the estate and gift tax and it’s helping me set off steam.

Wait, that’s my apartment! Yoshi, digimon don’t die! You won’t have to pay the estate tax, I swear!

Well, I’m looking for a new place to live.

Anyways, it’s time for the Dream Team of Yoshi and Scarfy to head back to the Coliseum.

I decided to show off what a Giga Hit looks like. Just stop the triangle on the third highest chevron, then push the A button eleven times.

It’s a little risky, since you won’t necessarily be going in at full power and the Giga Hit can still miss, but it paid off for now!

Next time, I’ll be back with a pair of Ultimates!

[Jenner]

I love our giant monster sons.

[LoakaMossi]

Run 3, Day 5

Scarfy reached their ultimate form! Say hello to Machinedramon!

Machinedramon has a very cool, very over the top design. The sprite, however, looks like someone tried to draw Blastoise from memory.

Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s a lot easier to make the sprite smile, for instance.

I put Scarfy through their paces, and yeah, that’s a knockoff Blastoise alright.

Now that Scarfy is warmed up, let’s check in on Yoshi.

Yeah, Scarfy became a vaguely dinosaur-shaped thing while Yoshi became a floating spherical thing. Whoops. Anyways, this is Aegisdramon.

The sprite looks more like a floating head, but the OA reveals that Yoshi has a battleship on their back.

But that’s not it for these two. It’s time to show off the last secret mechanic!

To perform a Jogress evolution in this version, we need to fight in five Tag Battles.

After five battles, we get this.

Both digimon slide into frame while the Digivolution jingle starts playing on loop. Both sprites start alternating and moving towards the center of the frame until . . .

I am neither Yoshi nor Scarfy! I am Scarshy, the RustTyrannomon!

RustTyrannomon falls victim to the same Highly Detailed Art, LCD Sprite Syndrome as most Perfect and higher stage digimon.

Anyways, Scarshy is our first Super Ultimate digimon! In this version, the only Super Ultimates are RustTyrannomon, AlterOmnimon, Omnimon, and Examon. The Pendulum version adds a few more.

I’m gonna try and clear the Single Colosseum with Scarshy, but meanwhile . . .

We’re down to having only one digimon, which means another slot has opened up.

I unlocked the Breakdra egg, which is Slayerdra’s counterpart, but we never looked at the Version 3 egg. I think Scarshy ought to have a little sibling!

And here’s Poyomon!

Look at him. Look at him. I love him.

Poyomon is awfully cute, and ten minutes later:

We get Tokomon!

Tokomon is . . . less cute when they open their mouth.

The sprite’s smile is cute, at least.

Scarshy meets their new sibling, who needs a name!
I know I said I was going to end the run here, but I liked the idea of trying to raise another digimon to Ultimate before Scarshy passes away. So I’ll be back tomorrow with Tokomon’s child form!

[LoakaMossi]

Run 3, Day 6

Scarshi’s little sibling has evolved into Kunemon!

Kunemon is another sinister digimon (probably because they’re the child that requires Care Mistakes), and their sprite is actually roughly as sinister as their OA.

I think I know what evolution I’m going for, so I’ve been calling this digimon “Bottles.”

The evolution I’m going for requires me to overfeed Bottles three times, so they get to chow down.

I also need to train them 16+ times, so I’m being very involved in their childhood.

So, another issue with the sprites is scale.

Bottles should only be the size of Scarshi’s head, but the sprites are roughly equal size. It’s a little strange, honestly.

Bit of a short update this time, but next time: we’ll get to see why I named this pet Bottles!

[LoakaMossi]

Run 3, Day 7

Bottles evolved again, and now their name makes a little sense! Say hello to Drimogemon!

Once again, the sprite is cuter than the OA, but that might just be because of the mouth.

Drimogemon is the second worst Adult stage digimon in the Ver. 3 egg, with the worst being Sukamon, which is literally shaped like poop. I think the tongue is a little unsettling, but overall I think they’re adorable!

Until they do that! Bottles, stop showing your teeth!

There, that’s much better.

Bottles is an Adult now, so it’s back to the coliseum.

Scarshi has been making slow progress through the Single Arena, so Bottles can still hold their own.

But let’s put Bottles and Scarshi through a couple of Tag Battles, just to be safe.

Yeah, that somehow didn’t work out.

They get those two next time, though!

And that does it for this stage! Unfortunately, Drimogemon doesn’t have an Ultimate form, so I’ll be back next time with Bottles’s Perfect and final form!

[LoakaMossi]

So, um, bad news everyone.

Bottles did evolve, but it was at the start of the holidays. I was too busy celebrating Christmas to make an update, and both Bottles and Scarshi passed away before I could take pictures of them. I’m very sorry to go out with a dud like this, but .

Bottles final evolution was Giromon, which looks like this:


I like the Mamemon-style digimon in their OA, even if their sprites all end up looking too similar. As you can see, Bottles went from being named after the mole in Banjo-Kazooie to being named after the Molotov Cocktails I’m certain he now has.

All in all, this let’s play was a lot of fun! I hope you enjoyed watching me raise a few digimon, even if my capture equipment was not up to par. I really do recommend getting one of these V-Pets if you’re interested. You can order them online for around $20. I’ve seen some crazy listings on eBay, so stay away from those and try not to pay more than $20. Good bye, everyone!

[LoakaMossi]

It’s a pseudo-update five months later!

Remember how I mentioned wanting to move this concept to a Twitter account? I finally did that at @LoakaVPets. I only have a couple of tweets from late into a run of the 20th Ver. Digimon, but I have a few Tamagotchi’s coming in and I plan to run them all on the Twitter! Check it out if you’re into this sort of Let’s Play, and feel free to tweet your VPets at me, I’d love to see them!