History TabletopGame / Digimon

* ''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum'' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that was featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that [[TruthInTelevision there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game]]. It was brought to the rest of the world, with some minor modifications, as the ''Digi-Battle Card Game''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus, and was only retired around the launch of ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' to make way for ''Alpha'', but even so was revived for special prestige releases.

* ''Digital Monster Card Game Alpha''--or just ''Alpha''--was the third, and second ''primary'', Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum -- most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules also exist somewhere.

* ''Super Digica Taisen'' was the fourth Japanese card game, released concurrent to ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars''.
* ''Digimon Jintrix'' was the fifth Japanese card game, released concurrent to ''Super Digica Taisen'' and ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars''. It's a fairly unusual game: cards are purchased in physical form, then codes from them are inputted into the game's website, on which the game is actually played. It's considered particularly notable by the fandom because new releases of card sets regularly introduce completely new {{mons}}, moreso than any previous card game.
* ''Digimon Fusion'' was the fourth international TCG, released to promote [[Anime/DigimonXrosWars the anime of the same name]]. It was short-lived, lasting only one set.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Sort of - looking at the back of a Hyper Colosseum card, would you automatically peg that as a piece of ''Digimon'' merchandise? The appearances of the logo on it are both very small and you'd be forgiven for completely missing them.

* ''Data Carddass Appli Monster Card Game'' was the sixth Japanese card game, designed as one of the tie-ins to the Franchise/DigimonUniverseAppMonsters sub-franchise. Designed to be compatible with ''Hyper Colosseum''.

* PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage: Inevitably there are plenty of examples; a standout is Digi-Battle's promotional Infermon and Diablomon cards released as part of a tie-in to ''Digimon: The Movie''. Their evolution requirements made them completely useless for several sets until cards of Keramon and Chrysalimon, their pre-evolutions, came along.

* MetaGame: In keeping with the LensmansArmRace of ''Hyper Colosseum'', each new release of cards would have a handful of cards that would become the centerpiece of that generation of gameplay... and it would often have a handful of cards specifically invalidating the centerpiece of the previous generation's. If your card negates the effect of a specific card, chances are that that specific card was top-tier in the preceding metagame.

* ''Data Carddass Appli Monster Card Game'' was the sixth Japanese card game, designed as one of the tie-ins to the Franchise/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters sub-franchise. Designed to be compatible with ''Hyper Colosseum''.

* ''Digimon Card Game'' is the seventh, and third ''primary'', Japanese card game, released concurrent to ''Anime/DigimonAdventure2020''. Unlike ''Hyper Colosseum'' and ''Alpha'' before it, this iteration uses entirely brand new mechanics for its system.

* ''Digital Monster Card Game Alpha''--or just ''Alpha''--was the third, and second ''primary'', Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum -- most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules apparently exist.

* ''Digital Monster Card Game Alpha''--or just ''Alpha''--was the third, and second ''primary'', Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum - most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules apparently exist.

* ''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum'' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that was featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that [[TruthInTelevision there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game]]. It was brought to the rest of the world, mostly unmodified, as the ''Digi-Battle Card Game''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus, and was only retired around the launch of ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' to make way for ''Alpha'', but even so was revived for special prestige releases.

** From the earliest days, every new generation of cards was sloppily designed not to [[CompetitiveBalance compete with]] so much as ''completely invalidate'' [[SoLastSeason previous cards and strategies]]. ''E.g.'' when armor Digimon were introduced, [[WeakButSkilled they overcame Ultimates' power with withering effects]] such as reducing the foe's PowerLevel by ''half'', and once they suffused the metagame, a new generation released and began to propagate the effect of [[AntiMagic ignoring an enemy's special abilities]], turning the Armors into useless weaklings. \\

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: A huge problem with ''Hyper Colosseum'' and its successor ''Alpha Evolution''.

** From the earliest days, every new generation of cards was sloppily designed not to [[CompetitiveBalance compete with]] so much as ''completely invalidate'' [[SoLastSeason previous cards and strategies]]. ''E.g.'' when armor Digimon were introduced, they overcame Ultimates' power with withering effects such as reducing the foe's PowerLevel by ''half'', and once they suffused the metagame, a new generation released and began to propagate the effect of ignoring an enemy's special abilities, turning the Armors into useless weaklings. \\

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: A huge problem with ''Hyper Colosseum'' and its successor ''Alpha'' was the absolute ''refusal'' of the developers to produce a ceiling on the numbers of the PowerLevels. Take Seraphimon, for example, whose original ''[=HC=]'' card didn't have a single attack with a power level above 600; it's earliest ''[=AE=]'' card had a power level of ''1200'' for it's strongest attack.

* ''Data Carddass Appli Monster Card Game'' was the sixth Japanese card game, designed as one of the tie-ins to the Franchise/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters sub-franchise.

The ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise, one of Bandai's many [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], is no stranger to the CollectibleCardGame - six prominent official card games have existed, each with generally different rules and mechanics.

* ''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum'' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game. It was brought to the rest of the world, mostly unmodified, as the ''Digi-Battle Card Game''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus, and was only retired around the launch of ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' to make way for ''Alpha Evolve'', with it later being revived for special prestige releases.
* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure: Card Tactics'' was the second Japanese Card game, designed around an electronic card reader allowing for a variety of complex mechanics and directly based on the anime. Lasted only one set, however

* ''Alpha Evolve'' was the third (and second ''primary'') Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum - most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules apparently exist.
* ''Super Digica Taisen'' is the fourth Japanese card game, released concurrent to the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime.
* ''Digimon Jintrix'' is the fifth Japanese card game, released concurrent to Taisen and the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime. It's a fairly unusual game: cards are purchased in physical form, then codes from them are inputted into the game's website, on which the game is actually played. It's considered particularly notable by the fandom because new releases of card sets regularly introduce completely new {{mons}}, moreso than any previous card game.
* ''Digimon Fusion'' is the fourth international TCG, released to promote [[Anime/DigimonXrosWars the anime of the same name]]. It was short-lived, lasting only one set.
* ''Data Carddas Appli Monster'' is the sixth Japanese Card game, designed as a tie-in to the Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters subfranchise.

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Hyper Colosseum / Digi-Battle and Alpha Evolve follow this principle with the three Digimon attributes: Data, Vaccine and Virus.

* PowerCreepPowerSeep: A huge problem with ''Hyper Colosseum'' and its successor ''Alpha Evolve'' was the absolute ''refusal'' of the developers to produce a ceiling on the numbers of the PowerLevels. Take Seraphimon, for example, whose original ''[=HC=]'' card didn't have a single attack with a power level above 600; it's earliest ''[=AE=]'' card had a power level of ''1200'' for it's strongest attack.

* ''Alpha Evolve'' was the second Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum - most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules apparently exist.
* ''Super Digica Taisen'' is the third Japanese card game, released concurrent to the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime.
* ''Digimon Jintrix'' is the fourth Japanese card game, released concurrent to Taisen and the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime. It's a fairly unusual game: cards are purchased in physical form, then codes from them are inputted into the game's website, on which the game is actually played. It's considered particularly notable by the fandom because new releases of card sets regularly introduce completely new {{mons}}, moreso than any previous card game.

* ''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum'' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game. It was brought to the rest of the world, mostly unmodified, as the ''Digi-Battle Card Game''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus, and was only retired around the launch of ''Anime/DigimonSavers''.

* ''Digimon Collectible Card Game'' was the third and final international card game, also a creation of Bandai of America. It's a bit of an anomaly; it was released in a period during which there was no anime and ''Digimon'' was effectively comatose in the west, nor was Bandai of America doing any other merchandise of the franchise at the same time.

* {{Expy}}: Jintrix has lately taken to introducing new {{mons}} based on classic literature; Set 3 introduced numerous mons based on ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', while Set 4 introduced mons based on ''PeterPan'' in addition to a few more ''Journey to the West'' ones.

* '''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum''' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game. It was brought to the rest of the world, mostly unmodified, as the '''Digi-Battle Card Game'''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus, and was only retired around the launch of ''Anime/DigimonSavers''.
* '''D-Tector Card Game''' was the second international card game, and the first to be an entirely western creation; it was designed as a tie-in to the then-current ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' anime, and specifically Bandai's line of tie-in D-Tector Digivice virtual pets; the game's main draw was that each contained a "Digi-Digit" to input into the Digivice to add that card's Digimon to one's collection on the device.
* '''Digimon Collectible Card Game''' was the third and final international card game, also a creation of Bandai of America. It's a bit of an anomaly; it was released in a period during which there was no anime and ''Digimon'' was effectively comatose in the west, nor was Bandai of America doing any other merchandise of the franchise at the same time.
* '''Alpha Evolve''' was the second Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum - most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules apparently exist.
* '''Super Digica Taisen''' is the third Japanese card game, released concurrent to the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime.
* '''Digimon Jintrix''' is the fourth Japanese card game, released concurrent to Taisen and the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime. It's a fairly unusual game: cards are purchased in physical form, then codes from them are inputted into the game's website, on which the game is actually played. It's considered particularly notable by the fandom because new releases of card sets regularly introduce completely new {{mons}}, moreso than any previous card game.

* '''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum''' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game. It was brought to the rest of the world, mostly unmodified, as the '''Digi-Battle Card Game'''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus and was retired around the launch of ''Anime/DigimonSavers''.

* {{Expy}}: Jintrix has lately taken to introducing new {{mons}} based on classic literature; Set 3 introduced numerous mons based on ''JourneyToTheWest'', while Set 4 introduced mons based on ''PeterPan'' in addition to a few more ''Journey to the West'' ones.

* '''Digimon Jintrix''' is the fourth Japanese card game, released concurrent to Taisen and the ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' anime. It's a fairly unusual game: cards are purchased in physical form, then codes from them are inputted into the game's website, on which the game is actually played. It's considered particularly notable by the fandom because new releases of card sets [[AndTheFandomRejoiced regularly introduce completely new]] {{mons}}, moreso than any previous card game.

The ''{{Digimon}}'' franchise, one of Bandai's many [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], is no stranger to the CollectibleCardGame - six prominent official card games have existed, each with generally different rules and mechanics.

* '''Digital Monster Card Game / Hyper Colosseum''' was the first ''Digimon'' card game, and generally the most famous; this is the game that featured in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'', and was depicted completely accurately in that there actually were digital card readers able to be used in playing the game. It was brought to the rest of the world, mostly unmodified, as the '''Digi-Battle Card Game'''. While it was retired in the west circa ''Tamers'' presumably out of lack of interest, it kept going in Japan even through the franchise's anime hiatus and was retired around the launch of ''DigimonSavers''.
* '''D-Tector Card Game''' was the second international card game, and the first to be an entirely western creation; it was designed as a tie-in to the then-current ''DigimonFrontier'' anime, and specifically Bandai's line of tie-in D-Tector Digivice virtual pets; the game's main draw was that each contained a "Digi-Digit" to input into the Digivice to add that card's Digimon to one's collection on the device.

* '''Alpha Evolve''' was the second Japanese card game, launched alongside the ''DigimonSavers'' anime. It was something of an expansion to the gameplay of Hyper Colosseum - most mechanics were maintained, but Digimon cards now had HP and speed values. Special game-bridging compatibility rules apparently exist.
* '''Super Digica Taisen''' is the third Japanese card game, released concurrent to the ''DigimonXrosWars'' anime.
* '''Digimon Jintrix''' is the fourth Japanese card game, released concurrent to Taisen and the ''DigimonXrosWars'' anime. It's a fairly unusual game: cards are purchased in physical form, then codes from them are inputted into the game's website, on which the game is actually played. It's considered particularly notable by the fandom because new releases of card sets [[AndTheFandomRejoiced regularly introduce completely new]] {{mons}}, moreso than any previous card game.

* MerchandiseDriven: The role Hyper Colosseum played in ''DigimonTamers''; one of the better-executed examples.

The ''{{Digimon}}'' franchise, one of Bandai's many [[CashCowFranchise cash cows]], [[{{Understatement}} is no stranger to the]] CollectibleCardGame - six prominent official card games have existed, each with generally different rules and mechanics.