The Story of the game follows the original plot of the first anime, Digimon Adventure which was aired in 1999.
The plot follows seven kids who went on a summer camp. Japan was experiencing some weird wether phenomena such as a snowstorm that came out of nowhere during summer. The kids took shelter and when it was done they went out to see the aftermath. Before proceeding to find any adult a "meteor" storm occured with "rocks" landing infornt of every child.
Out of the hole made from the "rocks" a device came floating infront of the kids who grapped it. By doing so a Tsunami appeared and dragged them in. The kids then wake up in the digital world where a digital monster AKA a Digimon was next to them. The digimon explain to the kids how they re located in the Fille Island which is inhabited by
Digimon and its far away from Japan. Originally the kids are scared and try their best to find their way to go back.
Chapter one has the kids being chased by an evil Digimon known as Devimon. Through their adventures the kids travel to other places that are ruled by other Digimon, Etemon. The kids and their digimon grow stronger and even unlock digi evolutions which allows the Digimon to transform into bigger more powerfull forms. During Etemon they learn
that their Digimon can grow stronger with the help of Crest. Events occur and eventually the kids learn of an eight kid which will be haunted by Myotismon who made his way to Japan in order to get to it first. The heroes then try to make it to Japan and encounter Myotismon. With the eight kid joinning and Myotismon threats done, the kids noticed that the Digital
World fell under the rule of the Dark Masters. An adventure awaited them with their return to the digital world.
The story goes on and more villains to be encountered in the likes of Apocalymon and a few others who were featured in the films and other media.
Personally i am a sucker for the original Digimon Adventure(1999). The game is literally following the entire plot of the anime. It includes the original tracks of Koji Wada's Butterfly and Brave Heart. The original cast of all Digimon, Digidestined and others is back repricing their roles. All the scenes where well translated into the video game. CGI scenes were also included for some of the iconic moments of the series. The hero portraits were illustrations of the anime with moving lips and few extra PNGs to emphasize the feelins of the cast(angry, sad, happy etc). The side missions were well selected as they add to the main story and also add gameplay. For example, we going through the progress of collecting flowers, wooden planks(for the raft) and others. During these moments we can interact with the kids and build a better bond and in general to see what they were thinking. Other side missions, have the cast meet with Koromons who were lost after their village was destroyed by the dark masters. Its up to the kids to find them, and whilst we do, we see TK worrying about his brother who left them after his fight with Tai during Puppetmon. All of these moments are things that made my eyes watered despite knowing the plot through the back of my mind.
Digimon Adventure is a game that combines RPG elements with Turn based compat and Dungeon Crawling.
The player begins each chapter by controlling a Digidestined kid. Usually the one leading the chapter/episode. The player cannot change the control of the Leader character but they can control the party. The party consist of three heroes unless the story
teams only two kids together or are left alone. The player then walks around a larged scale area that is inter-connected among others. Around these "dungeons" the player can find Digi-boxes that consist with multiple items and key items. These items
are the ones required for the side and main quests. These key items are represented with colorful stars on the ground. Around the world, the players can find the save points, by walking on top of them all the Digimon will recover all of their SP, HP and recover their stats.
The player can also click it to save their progress. During the main missions, there are checkpoints used as rest spots where the player can interact with the rest of the kids. Last but not least, the player can spot Digimon that re wandering around. By walking on top of them
an encounter will be triggered similar to games like Crisis Core FFVii or Persona 5. The wandering Digimon can also walk towards you trigering the battle, the difference is who ever walks towards the other first will get priority
on the attacks.
The combat is turn base where each Digimon will be able to attack. At the bottom, theres a line with the digimon faces which indicates the attack order, for example if Agumon is first then Gabumon then Etemon and then Patamon, means that, thats the order of attacking priority. When the player is selecting an attack
a fade out image of the current character will be appear somewhere at the end of the line, showcasing his order. Some attacks may allow your Digimon to go twice in one turn as their speed was faster. When its your turn to attack, a menu with multiple options will apear. These Options are :
The gameplay of Digimon Adventure is very nce and smooth. The player is constantly walking into the unknown and explore areas from the Digital world. The enemy Digimon can be seen lurking around ready to trigger the battle. Exploration is rewarding as it gives the player multiple items and crafting materials. Additionally, conversations with the kids matter as friendship boost comes handy during combat. Combat is very straight forward but it can also be very strategic. the player can use buffs/debuffs skills to power up the party/enemy, they can llaunch devastating direct attacks or AoEs and can even heal. The priority bars allows the player to know which attack they should use as some weaker attacks may allow the player to attack twice with the same Digimon before the enemy can attack once. Break and Shock are also mechanics triggered with the skills that will allow the player to skip the enemy turns and vice versa. I found the best way to approach is always Digievolve and use my attacks normally or with skills as SP can always be regained by walking on a save point or by using Items.
During or after the game's main campaign the player can experience certain Side-Quests. These Side Quests become available during Quest selection. For example, when Meramon attacked the Yokomon
village some Yokomon were lost. Biyomon and Sora offer to help find them. In other quests, Sora lost an item when captured by Bakemon and returns to find it. Mimi goes on a date with a Numemon of all Digimon
and others. These side-quests literally act like a normal level.
Another thing the player can do is enter the Digi-dungeons. These dungeons are like Mazes where the player can go through battles. These are multilayered levels where the durther the player proceeds the closer they get
to the end. At the end a Boss battle occurs which will grant the player an award.
Last but not least, the players can also access the Library. In the Library the players can find the Episodes which give a quick Synopsis of all the main Quests and Side quests. Additionally they can access Movies which will allow you to rewatch
all the animated CGI cutscenes of the game. Furthermore the Encyclopedia is also included which includes the 3D models of all Digimon that you encounter alongside their data type and their Description. Think of it like the Pokedex from Pokemon. Last but not
least it includes the tutorials.
On the sound department, Digimon Adventure hits the spot with their selection. The developers signed the rights to the iconic songs from the show, thus Butterfly, Brave heart and others make their return within the game. Additionally OSTs like the Battle theme or
Matt's harmonica also made their return. The cherry on top is the return of the original cast.
On the visual department, the game has a nice artstyle that looked very good on the PSP hardware but looks gorgeous on an emulator. The game includes CGI cutscenes and cutscenes with the ingame models. The in game models are more restricted. They change the pose of the heroes and
try to match story. The CGI cutscenes are more free to pose the models in a more unique wayand play the cutscene more closer to the anime. Additionally all Digimon have unique animations for each skill. Last but not least, all Digimon and Digidestined kids have a portait picture that
appears each time a member is speaking.
Overall Digimon Adventure for the PSP is an amazing game that was never publisized outside of Japan. Players can experience the game through the Japanese physical copy or from an english emulation from online sources provided by the Digimon community. The game retells the story of the
original season 1 of Digimon Adventure Episodes 1-54. If you re a fan of the plot surounding the 8 original digidestined kids then you will love the plot. It goes through the main plot but it also adds multiple subplots to enrich the relationship of the kids and to further explore the digiworld.
Furthermore, near the end it allows the player to experience further ultimate digievolution of Digimon whose ultimate form came through other media(E.g Rosemon, Seraphimon etc.). Gameplay wise, the player explores dungeons using the kid leading the plot and controlling up to 3 Digimon. The game is
turn pace RPG with the player controlling all of the Digimon. Graphically the game looked good on the PSP and very well on an HD emulation. The cgi cutscenes though do not look as impressive on emulation as the rest of the game whilst looking amazing on the PSP. Audio wise the game is kicking it off the park
by using OST from the original series and bringing the original cast. Above completing the game the players can complete side content and explore more dungeons.
If you re a fun of the series i would recommend giving the game a shot.
This is a video showcasing and reviewing the Game, the gameplay used was from an older emulation.