Digimon Adventure: Anode Tamer and Digimon Adventure: Cathode Tamer are a pair of counterpart games based on the Digimon franchise, released exclusively on the Bandai WonderSwan in 1999. They later received a Compilation Re-release in 2001 for the WonderSwan Color, Digimon Anode/Cathode Tamer: Veedramon Version, which received an English translation in Hong Kong.
The games collectively are the first installment in a series of Digimon games following the transdimensional adventures of Ryo Akiyama, who would later make two cameo appearances in Digimon Adventure 02 and become a main character of Digimon Tamers. On New Years' Eve 1999, Ryo is playing on his new laptop when he is interrupted by a blackout, and taken into the Digital World by Taichi Yagami's Agumon. After a brief skirmish with a wild Digimon, Agumon and Gennai explain that the rise of a powerful new enemy, Millenniummon, has resulted in the imprisonment of all the Chosen Children and the revival of many dangerous enemies, and that it's now up to Ryo to amass an army of Digimon and lead them to victory against Millenniummon.
The games are a simplified take on the Turn-Based Strategy genre, with some of the maintenance elements of the Digimon virtual pets thrown into the mix. Both the player and the enemy control three Mons each with limited offensive commands available. The player can charge and use energy from Taichi's borrowed Digivice to capture and "purify" an enemy Digimon and convince it to join Ryo's army.
The games were followed up with Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers, continuing Ryo's adventures and tying into the backstory of Ken Ichijouji.
Tropes present in Digimon Adventure: Anode Tamer:
- All There in the Manual: This game is one of the many
unexported manuals about exactly who the hell that Ryo guy is and why he's such a good Tamer. - Com Mons: It's difficult to not end up getting a lot of Veedramon from Gennai, as they're your reward for beating the first dungeon in the Veedramon Version. It stands out in that you'll end up with a hell of a lot of them even though you can't find and purify them in dungeons. The original Anode/Cathode gave you a Koromon and a Tyrannomon instead, as they generally had good synergy with Agumon and their combination gave you access to some basic Variable moves. Subverted in that Veedramon is a Disc-One Nuke that's more than capable of carrying you to the ending, especially if you take the time to teach it variable moves.
- Compilation Re-release: Veedramon Version.
- Department of Redundancy Department: You have to wonder why they bothered compiling both versions together given they're virtually identical.
- Critical Hit: In this game, a critical hit is indicated by the name of a Digimon's Signature Move appearing on screen during their melee attack.
- Disc-One Nuke: Veedramon in the remake. Highest possible HP in the game and good overall stats.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Omnimon/Omegamon, called "Garuru Greymon" in the game as the movie wasn't released yet is one of the hidden Variable moves obtainable by having a Veedramon in the original.
- Guide Dang It!: Two of the hidden post-game dungeons. While an NPC in town mentions that there are four of them after you beat the game, only two of these are easily found. The third one where all of the bosses can be caught is unlocked by having played the game for 20 hours total (though impossible to miss after that), and the final one with all of the Chosen Children's Digimon is unlocked by completing the Digimon Analyzer. This is a very little known fact among Western players of the game, as there are no English sources on the internet that state this.
- Harmful to Minors: Ryo not only realises by the first encounter with a Digimon (Kuwagamon, again) that he can get killed easily, he faces every villain alone, and each of them promises to give him a painful, gruesome death.
- One Game for the Price of Three
- Socialization Bonus: Considering how it works like the Pokémon games, where trading is key to completing the Pokéd- I mean, Digimon Analyzer.
- Secret Character: In the original game, players could only obtain a Veedramon through a real-life event, much like Mew and other such legendary Pokémon. Judging from its stats in the remake, they've forgotten (or were unable) to nerf it appropriately, making it a readily available
Game-Breaker. Their inclusion, and by extension the Veedramon Version in general was likely meant to make the hidden variable moves Aero Veedramon, Goldramon and Omegamon more easily accessible.
