Where in the World is Digimon World Re:Digitize?

Not many people knew about Digimon World: Re:Digitize and even less even cared about this rather obscure PSP title. But for some, such as myself, there was hope that this little gem would make it over to the English speaking side of the world. Well that is not going to happen, at least not in any official capacity.

ReDigitize was essentially a PSP remake of the first Digimon game. The original Digimon game, released on the PS1, was essentially a remake of the Digimon virtual pet; which was like the Tamagochi only it had fireballs. In all three games you started with a baby Digimon and raised it by feeding, training, and cleaning its poo. Based on your care, or lack there of, you Digimon would live longer and become stronger. Based upon its form before death you would receive a Digimon egg and start the process anew. All the while gaining the skills you needed to raise the ultimate Digimon and… well I never beat Digimon World and only got my Digipet to Metal Greymon a few times. So I can not really tell you what the point was, only that I had way too much fun doing it.

The major difference between ReDigitize and Digimon World was story. ReDigitize had the same basic outline with so much more added in. Now I do not speak Japanese, so I can not attest to the game personally, but everything I have read points to it being a much larger and lively world. New missions, new characters, and a much, much, larger list of Digimon. That last one being the most obvious since “Mega” evolutions were not even included upon the first game’s release. The game looked to be a nostalgic wet dream for Digifans.

Sadly its release on July 19th, 2012, and every day since then, yielded no new news about a US release. But do not give up hope, as there are yet 3 options that could get this game to you. The first is simply buying it and brute forcing your way through the language barrier. There is no region locking and so, as long as you can find your PSP, you should be good to go. The second option is waiting for the potential re-release being created on the 3DS. Digimon World: ReDigitize Decode is currently in development and has a slightly higher chance of being released in the US, seeing as Digimon Fusion will make it on to our TVs soon enough. Not much is known about the 3DS remake except that it will feature new Digimon and a few new story chapters.

The third option is to wait for the fan translation, you can find out more about it here. A brief summary is that they are working hard on it, and many items are fully translated. If I were a betting man I would place my chips on this option being the best one. The 3DS title could make it, but marketing is a funny thing. If Digimon Fusion does not pull down the numbers it needs to, then it is unlikely that an English translation would even be bothered with. So if you want to be able to play this game in English I suggest supporting the translation team in any way you can.

More tragically sweet news in the vein of Digimon was another nighttime nostalgia mishap in the form of Digimon Adventure. This game takes the original first season, and up to the first movie, and lets you play every episode. It is less about raising your Digimon and more about grinding up their levels. Turn based, War Greymon, VR style world, color me excited. Color me also a tad disappointed as there is still little to no chance of this game ever seeing an English release. However, the same team that is working on the ReDigitize translation has stated plans to do at least a menu translation of Digimon Adventure.

Silver linings come in all different forms. Thankfully there is a small but dedicated group of Digifans willing to give up their own time to give the rest of us something we can all enjoy. As soon as these Digital Champions finish their project, LevelSave will let you know about it. Until then I am going to bug Namco with a continuous stream of emails, ranging from begging to demanding, for some word on either game.

If you want to know a little more about Digimon Adventure, here are screenshots and trailers.

And here are some images from the translation project.