The Best Digimon Games Of All Time, Ranked

The Digimon anime has featured tons of hits and misses throughout its history, but the Digimon video games have had a much better track record of quality. For a franchise that came from a variety of Tamagotchi-style virtual pets, Digimon has had a massive range of video games on various platforms, each varying wildly in terms of style and substance.

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Most of the games in the franchise center on the idea of collecting and digivolving your partners just like in the show, but this basic mechanic has been utilized in all kinds of genres, from classic RPGs to fighting and racing games.

Updated May 23, 2023 by Quinton O’Connor: Hello! We’ve shifted things considerably around here, added Digimon Survive, and rewritten large passages whilst maintaining the spirit of the original article.

21 Digimon World Championship

• Release Year:
  2008

• Platform:
  Nintendo DS

• Developer:
  Epics

While Digimon World Championship isn’t exactly the worst Digimon list, it definitely doesn’t come close to the top Digimon games, particularly when it comes to the best Digimon World games. This series is known for great RPGs with wonderful stories and methodical combat, and World Championship takes a step back to utilize the Nintendo DS’s touch screen.

As a result, this entry plays in an especially odd way, being a somewhat active combat system full of text and movement around while you guide your Digimon to dodge attacks. It’s certainly not unplayable, but it definitely isn’t something that Digimon fans might be itching for if they want a good Digimon game.

20 Digimon World 3

Digimon World 3 is… fine. We’re not in love with it, and looking back at its contemporary critical reception, neither were a lot of folks at the time. While it iterates on some things which make the first game so memorable (and the second game less so, as noted by its absence here), it also has a tendency toward rote gameplay and tedium.

The problem isn’t that the developers opted toward a more classically ‘JRPG’ turn-based battle system – that could have been neat. It’s the relentless grind involved, and the lack of battle options therein. Still, it’s an appreciable effort, if a misfire, and we do like it more than Digimon World 2!

19 Digimon All-Star Rumble

Many people consider Digimon All-Star Rumble to be the worst Digimon game, particularly the Digimon fighting games, but it’s poor quality is much more because of how it compares to many modern fighting games. At it’s core, it’s fairly similar to the classic games that will be mentioned later, being 2D platforming brawlers with a wide variety of Digimon full of unique abilities.

The main appeal, though, is that this game has some stellar graphics thanks to its modern console homes. If you don’t like RPGs, you certainly aren’t going to have a bad time fighting it out with fellow childhood fans of Digimon in this game, but it hardly has the level of polish that players could enjoy in the actual best Digimon games.

18 Digimon World 4

Time has not been kind to Digimon World 4, a hack and slash video game starring everyone’s favorite Digimon that strayed from the RPG style of the past great Digimon World games. It was a little bland and the graphics weren’t that good, but it certainly played fine considering it was one of the first action-based Digimon games in quite a while.

Since Digimon World 4 was released, though, the world was spoiled by better hack and slash games. The Devil May Cry series was already on its third installment when Digimon World 4 came out, and the God of War series was just getting started. It’s still fairly good as a Digimon game, but its gameplay is extremely lacking and the Digimon characters add surprisingly little to its charm.

17 Digimon Digital Card Battle

The Digimon TV show was definitely its own entity that was separate from its competitors, but Digimon was hardly afraid to branch into similar successful series. Digimon Digital Card Battle was one of those games, borrowing elements from both the popular games of the Pokemon TCG and Yu-Gi-Oh.

This was made smoother by its release shortly after Digimon Tamers, the third series that used cards as special attacks and power-ups. It’s slightly more interesting than you would expect, but it ends up feeling like a poor imitation of the series it feels derived from, rather than being fun in its own right.

16 Digimon Racing

Digimon Racing is easily the weirdest Digimon game out there, playing unlike anything else in the series. Not only is it one of very few Digimon games on a console as early as the Game Boy Advance, but it’s a classic kart racer in the vein of the original Mario Kart games.

It isn’t actually that bad, with eleven playable characters who can all Digivolve over the course of a race to gain new powers that attack your foes on the course. It’s a fascinating kart racer that’s unlike any other Digimon game, made even more unique by being one of the few Digimon games that was developed in the United States rather than Japan.

15 Digimon ReArise

Digimon ReArise is where the games start getting much higher in quality for the Digimon series, but this time it comes in the form of a mobile gacha-style game. This plays much like a typical RPG, with your Digimon being collected and Digivolved through various collectibles and microtransactions.

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While it’s not going to be everyone’s favorite Digimon game, it’s hard to argue that it’s a bad one thanks to some gorgeous visuals and an interesting modern twist on some classic gameplay. That said, service for the game ended in early 2022, so… well, you can’t play it. Rough.

14 Digimon Adventure

Despite how immensely popular the early seasons of Digimon were in the US, interest in the series greatly waned around the fourth season of the anime. With a lack of interest in the west to see more Digimon products, Japanese developers will occasionally not release Digimon games outside of Japan, but given how fun they were, it’s a fair bit of a shame.

The Digimon Adventures game on the PSP, which is based on the first season of the show, was one of those great games that never made it to Europe or North America. The graphics are impressive for the handheld and the game’s story closely matches with the story on the show, making it feel more nostalgic and interesting than the original stories of the other games on this list.

13 The Digimon Virtual Pet

Digimon has always been called out as a Pokemon rip-off, but many gamers and childhood viewers may not have known that Digimon was much more based on Tamagotchi pets. These were virtual-pets that you carried around in a tiny handheld device, and these were popular toys both before and after the Digimon anime debuted.

Without the original Digimon virtual-pet devices, we wouldn’t have gotten the anime or any other proceeding product of the series afterward. They also were surprisingly deep compared to other digital pets, with many later Digivice pets resembling the anime and having many minigames and features such as MP3 players that put them above their peers.

12 Digimon World Re:Digitize

Digimon World Re:Digitize serves kind of as a predecessor for future titles in the franchise. Re:Digitize was a PSP game released exclusively in Japan in 2012, but would later get an enhanced port on the 3DS in the following year called Re:Digitize Decode. Re:Digitize’s gameplay is a return to form for the franchise, following a gameplay similar to that of the classic best Digimon World games through a more slow turn-based RPG.

The biggest change with this game is its human character designs, all of which feeling more out of a modern anime instead of the more cartoonish vibe of past games thanks to the choice to feature the character designer for the Durarara!! and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor. This is an excellent shift, as it makes it feel better for new fans who have trouble returning to the older games that feel more meant for kids despite their deep RPG elements.

11 Digimon Rumble Arena 2

Digimon Rumble Arena 2 may not be the most polished fighting game out there, but it is still a lot of fun. Rumble Arena 2 is a Super Smash Bros. type fighting game starring the iconic characters from Digimon. They can absorb orbs to get more energy and can Digivolve into their more powerful champions and mega forms, and they come with some gorgeous 3D models that justify the new consoles.

The controls for the game are pretty clunky, and there are a lot of aspects of the game that haven’t held up as well as fans would hope. For more diehard fans that don’t enjoy many newer Digimon and enjoy the classic style, though, it’s definitely the best Digimon fighting game that you can sit down and play with friends.

10 Digimon World DS

Digimon World DS might not be the very best in the World sub-series, but it’s still pretty darn good. It’s a great introductory Digimon game for the platform, and absolutely worth picking up or trying if you want one of the most straightforward Digimon RPG experiences you can find.

9 Digimon Battle Spirit

There is a lot to like with this game. Battle Spirit is a Digimon fighting game that was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Digimon begins fights in their rookie or champion forms, but they can Digivolve into their stronger ultimate or mega forms, giving them the edge in battle.

Battle Spirit plays well on a handheld, and the graphics are pretty good thanks to some incredibly clean sprite work. Considering it gave such a complex fighting game such a new look and play style, it’s a remarkable game that feels pretty underrated, especially since most fans associate Digimon with the PlayStation rather than something like the GBA.

8 Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory isn’t necessarily a bad Digimon game, but many fans were definitely a bit disappointed by it. It is a sequel to Cyber Sleuth, and it is more or less the same as its predecessor. A lot of Hacker’s Memory takes place in the same setting as Cyber Sleuth, making it feel especially familiar.

Fans were clamoring for something a bit different for the sequel, but it still ranks among the best. You’ve just got to go into it remembering it’s a heck of a lot like its immediate predecessor, and has perhaps a somewhat weaker story to tell.

7 Digimon World

It’s hard to get into the best Digimon games without discussing Digimon World, the original entry in perhaps the most iconic franchise of the series. This let you play as a fully new character exploring a 3D world with their own partners and turn-based combat to fight strangers.

Despite an (incredibly) shoddy localization, it is still an enjoyable experience, and it’s clear why this series took off as strongly as it did. It didn’t entirely succeed in its attempt to dethrone Pokemon as the key digital pet game, but it was still good enough to foster an enthusiastic fanbase.

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5 Digimon Story: Super Xros Wars Red & Blue

Released only in Japan, there’s one fairly strong final entry to the Digimon games on the original DS that many fans may never have experienced. This game came out at the height of the Digimon Fusion anime, focusing on Pokemon from this series and even starring the anime’s main protagonist instead of an original one.

This leads to some interesting fusion mechanics, but more fascinating with these dual-version games are that it’s much more similar to Digimon World than the later Digimon Story games that would come out later on.

4 Digimon World: Next Order

Open world games have become increasingly popular since gaming consoles have become powerful enough to handle games as huge as open worlds. Even Digimon has their own version of the open world video RPG called Digimon World: Next Order, and it attempts this with surprising success.

The game is a fun take on the open world genre, and the story is pretty entertaining too. It has more modern polish than many other Digimon World games, and while it definitely feels unlike past games in terms of gameplay, it still has many of the best Digimon from throughout the series to help make it feel more classic.

3 Digimon World Dawn And Dusk

A sequel to Digimon World DS, Digimon World Dawn and Dusk improves on what was established with its predecessor, and is an overall superior game. Following the Pokemon tradition of releasing two games in each generation, Dawn and Dusk are two separate games that tell the same story using unique day & night themed Digimon.

The games are RPGs that center on collecting and Digivolving your own Digimon still, but Dawn and Dusk offer more variations to Digivolve your Digimon, and the story is more engaging than the first thanks to some original Digimon for each game.

The presentation and the graphics are pretty great, especially on the DS, and it mostly just perfects the mechanics found in the best Digimon World games on handheld consoles.

2 Digimon Survive

The newest Digimon video game as of this writing, Digimon Survive quite impressed us. Sure, its battle system isn’t the greatest. Yes, its visual novel segments (the meat of the game) aren’t the best in the genre. But both key elements are quite solid, indeed, and the cast – both humans and Digimon – is pretty great.

Sales were promisingly strong insofar as future international launches are concerned, by the way – with just two days of tracking to its name, Digimon Survive nevertheless managed an eighth-place victory on the NPD charts, and came in tenth in the UK. Not bad at all for this franchise!