Digimon Reference Book
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The Digimon Reference Book (デジモン図鑑 Dejimon Zukan;[N 1] Dub: Digimon Encyclopedia[N 1])—formerly branded as the Digimon Dictionary[N 1]—is a feature on the Digimon Web website. It is a database of information on individual species of Digimon.
The original Japanese version of the Digimon Reference Book was launched on June 25, 2007, the eve of the Digimon 10th Anniversary. Digimon Web also currently hosts four further editions of the Reference Book in other languages: English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese (launched on February 27, 2022), and Korean (launched on March 31, 2023).
Since June 26, 2024, Digimon Web has also hosted the Appmon Reference Book (アプモン図鑑 Apumon Zukan;[N 1] Dub: APPMON Encyclopedia), a similar but separate database of information on species of Appmon.
As of October 4, 2024, there are 1226 Digimon entries on the Digimon Reference Book.
Overview[edit]
Premise[edit]
According to Agumon Hakase in Digimon Profile, the Digimon Reference Book is a compilation of information derived from the observations and thorough investigations of Digimon researchers, and said investigations are still ongoing. It describes their research methods as a "trade secret".[1]
Entry Contents[edit]
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Each Digimon or Appmon entry on their respective Reference Books is illustrated with Bandai's stock art of the species. The majority of articles only use one image, but a small minority, such as Dukemon, have included a second image since October 6, 2021.[2] All images are of a standard size of 320x320 pixels.
Each entry provides the following information on a given species:
- The Digimon/Appmon's species name
Given both in the original Japanese and (for Digimon only) as an official English rendering of said Japanese name. In the non-Japanese editions, the Japanese spelling is replaced with the appropriate localized name for that language, but the English rendering is still present, unchanged, and still reflects the species' Japanese name. - The Digimon's Level / the Appmon's Grade
- The Digimon's Type / the Appmon's App Name
- The Digimon's Attribute / the Appmon's Type
- The Digimon/Appmon's Special Moves
Usually 1-2 are listed. Hi-Vision Monitamon has the most listed Special Moves, with 8. - A profile of the Digimon/Appmon
Profiles describe the origin, nature, lifestyle, and abilities of each species.
For Digimon, the following icons are displayed beneath the species name on relevant Digimon entries, and next to their Level in the Reference Book's index:
- NEW:
Marks the current most recent additions to the Reference Book. - X-Antibody 「X抗体」:
Marks that the Digimon is a carrier of the X-Antibody.
Not all Digimon who had been identified as X-Antibody carriers in other media, prior to the implementation of this icon in 2021, are marked with this icon. - 20th:
Marks that the Digimon was introduced as part of the Digimon 20th Anniversary Project; i.e. the Zubamon evolution family. - Xros Wars 「クロスウォーズ」:
Marks that the Digimon debuted in Digimon Xros Wars media; these Digimon were not originally given Evolution Stages or Attributes.
Not all Digimon originating from Xros Wars media have the "Xros Wars" icon, especially those who only appeared in non-anime Xros Wars productions, or those who were added to the Reference Book after the "Xros Wars" Level/Attribute update of 2020; for example, Shoutmon EX6 does not have it, but Shoutmon X7: Superior Mode does.
This designation only appears in icon form in the Reference Book's index. In Digimon entries, the "Xros Wars" flag is instead given as part of the Level; for instance, Shoutmon's level is given as "Child (Xros Wars)."
As of the 2020 redesign, most entries end with a See Here for Related Digimon/Appmon 「関連するデジモン/アプモンはこちら Kanren-suru dejimon/apumon wa kochira」 section, which links to entries for up to three pre-set Digimon/Appmon that are, usually, in some way connected with the Digimon/Appmon in question. For some species, such as members of the Royal Knights, some or all of the three are randomly chosen from a larger pool of related species each time that the page is loaded.
Profile Text[edit]
For older Digimon, the profile text is often, but not always, sourced from their profiles in previous products where available. The original text is not always retained verbatim, as it is sometimes edited or expanded.
Example: Rosemon (expansion of previous profile) | |
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In a few cases, the Reference Book totally replaces that original profile text with a brand new, different profile.
Example: Pukamon (completely replaced profile) | |
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Appmon Reference Book profiles are taken from the Reference Book's predecessor, the Appmon Chip Reference Book website.
Many, but not all, Digimon who were created through design contests have footnotes in their profiles acknowledging either the contest winner who submitted them, or their origin from such a contest.
In keeping with the format established by the Digimon Pendulum X website's profiles, the profiles of X-Evolved variants of Digimon species follow a format that consists of the same text as the original species, followed by a new blurb describing the effects of the X-Antibody upon it, following the following syntax:
- (Original profile)
- X抗体による_______のデジコアへの影響 (The effect on _______'s Digicore due to the X-Antibody)
- (X-Antibody variant's profile)
Example: Vademon (X-Antibody) (expanded profile for X-Evolved variant) | |
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Naming[edit]
The Digimon/Appmon species' full name is given in Japanese. Any necessary disambiguators are given in brackets following the name, such as:
- Variants with a different color and/or Attribute: Greymon (Blue) 「グレイモン(青)」
- X-Evolved variants of Digimon species: Gomamon (X-Antibody) 「ゴマモン(X抗体)」
- Variants with a different Evolution Stage: Whamon (Adult) 「ホエーモン(成熟期)」
- Alternate variants of a species introduced for an anime series: Kudamon (2006 Anime Version) 「クダモン (2006アニメ版)」
In the case of Mode Changes, they are treated as part of the Digimon's actual name and are not given in brackets.
Some Digimon are given name distinctions despite being the original versions, with their more known variants instead being rendered without a parser. For example, Rapidmon (Gold) is named as such despite being the original Rapidmon with Rapidmon Perfect, the green variant, being named "Rapidmon" with no parser.
The Digimon Reference Book, unlike the Appmon Reference Book, also provides English renderings of Japanese Digimon names, given in all-caps. They do not include the disambiguators in brackets, but do include Mode Change terms; when such terms are native Japanese words rather than English loan words, whether or not they are translated into English is inconsistent (e.g. "RASENMON:FURY MODE" vs "AGUMON -YUKI NO KIZUNA-"). With the exception of Coaltmon/"QUETZALMON", the renderings reflect the original Japanese names of species, not any renames or other alternative spelling choices that they may have experienced in English localizations of Digimon material. The spellings may vary from those used in other Japanese Digimon media, and may on occasion be noticeable mistranslations of the intended name (e.g. "YOXTU!YOXTU!MON").
Former Content[edit]
In the original 2007 version of the Digimon Dictionary, the index also had a Year Active field 「活躍した年 Katsuyakushita nen」, which stated the year in which a given Digimon species first debuted in Digimon franchise media. However, this field was inconsistently used and was generally left blank for newer entries past the Dictionary's launch window, and was removed entirely during the Digimon Web revamp of June 2010.
Prior to the 2020 revamp, Reference Book profiles were formatted as follows:
[edit]
The current incarnations of the Digimon Reference Book and Appmon Reference Book have a search function. The text search field searches the names of Digimon/Appmon, their attack techniques, and their profile text. Searches can be filtered by the following criteria:
- By name
The Japanese edition sorts Digimon and Appmon by gojūon order 「五十音順」, i.e. sorting species into the Japanese analog of alphabetical order. This is divided into ten filters that each represent a gyō, the ten columns/rows of a gojūon table that group kana by their consonant sound (or lack thereof).
The English edition sorts Digimon and Appmon by Latin alphabetical order, divided into 26 letter filters.
Both Chinese editions and the Korean edition omit the name filter function entirely. - By Level (Digimon) / By Grade (Appmon)
Valid Digimon filters: Baby I, Baby II, Child, Adult, Perfect, Ultimate, Armor, Hybrid, Xros Wars, Unknown
Valid Appmon filters: Standard, Super, Ultimate, God, Unknown, — - By Attribute (Digimon) / By Type (Appmon)
Valid Digimon filters: Vaccine, Data, Virus, Free, Variable, Unknown, NO DATA
Valid Appmon filters: Entertainment, Game, System, Social, Tool, Navi, Life, God, Unknown - By Type (Digimon only)
As of October 1, 2022, there are 135 valid filters, covering all Types represended by Digimon who have Reference Book entries.
Prior to the 2020 revamp, the Digimon Reference Book was instead navigated manually by browsing either of two sorted lists: Sort by Gojūon (i.e. by name), and Sort by Evolution (in which Digimon were categorized based on their Evolution Stage).
New Entry Schedule[edit]
Between its launch and April 6, 2012, new entries were added to the Digimon Reference Book at a rate of two per week.
Since April 6, 2012, the rate of additions has been significantly slowed down and, past 2012, become highly irregular.
Other Language Editions[edit]
The English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean editions of the Reference Book have all of the same content as the Japanese Reference Book and do not omit anything, barring the occasional translation error or name/terminology changes between languages. When the English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese editions of the Reference Book launched in 2022, translations of all pre-existing entries in the Japanese Reference Book were available immediately. Since then, all editions of the Reference Book have been simultaneously updated for all new entries. The same applied to the Korean edition upon its launch in 2023.
English[edit]
Due to the identicality of all content between editions of the Reference Book, the English Digimon Encyclopedia is one of the few English-language Digimon productions of any kind to still feature Sistermon Noir and Sistermon Noir (Awaken), rather than substitute in Sistermon Ciel and its Awaken form (which have their own separate profiles on all editions of the Reference Book).
The English Digimon Encyclopedia makes no attempt to acknowledge or document the numerous cases where inconsistent English localizations over the years have resulted in multiple different names for a single Digimon species, attack technique or other element. Instead, it only gives one such name in these cases, as follows:
- Generally, only English localizations that were produced/released in the Western world are taken into consideration. Any differences from Japanese or Western localizations found in English material produced in or for other regions—for example, by Bandai Asia, MOVEINTERACTIVE or Chuang Yi—are ignored.
- Localizations of Bandai material are commonly, but not universally, prioritized over anime dubs where they differ.
- For example: Ranamon, Sephirothmon, Kaiser Leomon and Kaiser Greymon are respectively called "Ranamon," "Sakkakumon," "JagerLoweemon," and "EmperorGreymon" in the Disney dub of Digimon Frontier, but have been respectively known in most Bandai materials from the airing of Frontier onward as "Lanamon," "Sephirothmon," "KaiserLeomon," and "KaiserGreymon."
The Encyclopedia uses an inconsistent mix: "Lanamon" and "Sephirothmon" are retained from Bandai materials, but "JagerLoweemon" and "EmperorGreymon" are retained from the Frontier dub ("EmperorGreymon" has been used in some other 2020s localizations, but "JagerLoweemon" has not).
- For example: Ranamon, Sephirothmon, Kaiser Leomon and Kaiser Greymon are respectively called "Ranamon," "Sakkakumon," "JagerLoweemon," and "EmperorGreymon" in the Disney dub of Digimon Frontier, but have been respectively known in most Bandai materials from the airing of Frontier onward as "Lanamon," "Sephirothmon," "KaiserLeomon," and "KaiserGreymon."
- When such a dub is a species' only prior English-language appearance, any name changes that it made are frequently ignored in favor of the original Japanese names.
- For example: The "Digimon Fusion" dub of Digimon Xros Wars—a series that features a significant amount of content that rarely appears in other Digimon productions, especially in English—changed many names, such as "Reapmon" (Baalmon), "AxeKnightmon" (Dark Knightmon), and "Axemon" (Deadly Axemon); it also renamed the concept of DigiXrossing to "DigiFusing." However, the Encyclopedia ignores most of Fusion's changes—including retaining the Japanese names of all such Digimon, referring to DigiXrossing by an approximation of the Japanese term ("Digixrose"), and leaving the "Xros Wars" level classification as "Xros Wars" and not "Fusion"—and the only terminology to be retained, other than the dub's title in profiles of species from the Digimon Xros Wars Original Digimon Contest, is a small minority of renamed attack techniques.
- Some attack technique names are reverted to their Japanese names instead of using prior localized names.
- For example: Despite their largely consistent usage in both anime dubs and Bandai productions, the previous standard English renames of MetalGreymon's (Metal Greymon) attack techniques, Giga Blaster and Mega Claw, are ignored in favor of their original Japanese names, Giga Destroyer and Trident Arm.
- Attack technique names for the same Digimon from multiple sources are frequently mixed together.
- For example: Aldamon's two attack techniques are referred to as Brahmashira (original Japanese name, never previously used in English localizations) and Atomic Inferno (the rename given to Brahmastra in the dub of Frontier).
- Following suit with some other recent localizations, a small number of older Digimon species are also referred to on the Encyclopedia by their original names rather than their long-standing, otherwise consistent localization renames, most notably "Omegamon" instead of "Omnimon."
Consistency between the Encyclopedia and contemporaneous English localizations of other media (e.g. the Digimon Card Game, Digimon Survive) is not guaranteed.
Simplified and Traditional Chinese[edit]
Korean[edit]
Site Updates[edit]
- June 25, 2007:
The Digimon Dictionary was launched on Digimon Web, at the time located at thedigimon.channel.or.jp
domain.
- c. Early-mid 2009:
Digimon Web, including the Digimon Dictionary, moved from its original domain to thedigimon.net
domain.
- June 4, 2010:
The "Debuts in Digimon Xros Wars" 「デジモンクロスウォーズ 参加」 category was added to the Sort by Evolution tab. At this time, entries for these Digimon did not have Evolution Stage or Attribute fields at all, since Xros Wars used neither concept.
- c. Mid-late 2010:
The "Year Active" field was removed from the index.
- April 27, 2012:
Hybrid and Armor categories were added to the Sort by Evolution tab, accompanying the addition of the first entries for Digimon of these Evolution Stages.
- June 2014:
As part of a major revamp of Digimon Web, the Digimon Dictionary was rebranded the "Digimon Reference Book" and its index underwent a major cosmetic revamp.
In accordance with the rebrand, the URL for the Reference Book was changed fromdigimon.net/cat-digimon-dictionary/
todigimon.net/reference
.
Reference Book entries themselves were largely unchanged, experiencing only minor alterations to the window style.
- December 26, 2017:
Minor changes to the Sort index and Digimon profiles were pushed, including:- All entries for Xros Wars Digimon were revised to list their Evolution Stage as "Xros Wars." The Attribute field was also added to said Digimon, but was still left empty at this time.
- The "???" category, for Digimon whose level is given as "Unknown," was added to the Sort by Evolution tab, to facilitate the addition of an entry for N.E.O.
- c. February 2018:
As part of a major revamp of Digimon Web, coinciding with its move to Bandai'sb-boys.jp/series/digimon
domain, the Reference Book underwent minor cosmetic changes.
Reference Book entries themselves were totally unaffected.
- January 21, 2020:
As part of a major revamp of Digimon Web, coinciding with its move back todigimon.net
, the Reference Book was also totally revamped.[3]
As part of this revamp:- The visual design and layout of Digimon entries was totally revised to its current appearance.
- The "Sort by Gojūon" and "Sort by Evolution" browse modes were completely removed, and were replaced with the current search function.
- October 2, 2020:
Following an announcement a week prior, all pre-existing entries for Digimon who are marked "Xros Wars" were revised to assign Levels and Attributes to each. Following this update, they also retain the "Xros Wars" Level classification in addition to their new Level.[4]
Continued usage of the "Xros Wars" classification for Xros Wars-related Digimon who have been added to the Reference Book subsequent to this date has been inconsistent.
- c. Early 2021:
The Reference Book began gradually rolling out a small number of English translations of Digimon entries.
At this point, the translated versions were implemented using a simple button toggle to switch languages within the page via the Wovn website localization service (also used elsewhere on Digimon Web to provide machine translations).
- August 10, 2021:
- The search functionality was updated to search profile text and Special Move names for any search keywords, in addition to species names.[5]
- The "X-Antibody" icon was added, and the entries of X-Antibody Digimon were updated to use it to mark their X-Antibody status.
However, the following Digimon identified as natural X-Antibody carriers in earlier material, such as the Digital Monster Card Game and/or Digimon Masters, did not have their entries revised accordingly: Clavis Angemon, Death-X-mon, Dracumon, Grand Dracumon, Matadrmon, Sangloupmon, Medieval Dukemon, and Volcdramon. Whether this was a mistake, or an indication that Bandai has retconned them to no longer be X-Antibody Digimon, is unconfirmed.
- October 6, 2021:
A "View Other Illustration" 「他のイラストを見る」 button toggle, to view a second image of a Digimon in its profile, was implemented. Six Digimon profiles were updated to add a second image: Lopmon, Dukemon, Youkomon, Bancho Leomon, Splashmon and Abbadomon Core.[2]
- February 27, 2022:
As announced during Digimon Con on the same day, three fully translated editions of the Reference Book were launched on Digimon Web:- The English "Digimon Encyclopedia"
- The Simplified Chinese “数码宝贝画册” ("Digital Treasures Field Guide")
- The Traditional Chinese 「數碼寶貝畫冊」 ("Digital Treasures Field Guide")
-
From this point onward, all four editions of the Reference Book have been updated simultaneously with the same new content.
Unlike the earlier English profile rollout, the completed translated editions of the Reference Book are located on their own separate URLs; the Wovn language toggle buttons now redirect to said separate URLs for the appropriate edition's version of the entry.
- March 31, 2023:
The Korean edition of the Reference Book, “디지몬 도감” ("Digimon Dogam"), was launched on Digimon Web.
However, its launch was accompanied by a spate of new errors introduced into other editions of the Reference Book.
- June 26, 2024:
The Appmon Reference Book was launched on Digimon Web, replacing the Appmon Chip Reference Book.[6] Only the Japanese edition was available at time of launch.
- c. July 2024:
The English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean editions of the Appmon Reference Book were launched on Digimon Web.[7]
Issues[edit]
Image Quality[edit]
Entries that were added between April 18 and June 6, 2008 had images that were below the quality standard. Although the quality of images released prior to this returned to normal, with the exception of five pages (Labramon, Ancient Volcamon, Giga Seadramon, Vademon (X-Antibody), Zudomon, Relemon, Tsubumon, Metal Piranimon, Sinduramon, Swimmon, Yuramon, Kyaromon, Pukamon, Locomon, Kuramon, and Mechanorimon), the remaining low quality images still exist on their pages.
Pages with "below-standard quality" images
Comparison of images showing improvement in quality |
Errors[edit]
- When the Korean edition of the Reference Book launched on March 31, 2023, a wave of errors and other issues were introduced into profiles across other editions of the Reference Book.
- Xiquemon's profile was removed entirely.
- The X-Antibody icon was added to the profiles of numerous Digimon who have never been X-Antibody carriers,[8] while also being removed from the profiles of many previously-marked carrier species.[9]
- Both the Xros Wars level label[10] and the 20th Anniversary icon were removed from all Digimon profiles bearing them.
- English renderings of Japanese Digimon names were altered or replaced in various ways, including:
- replacing them with the "directory_name" portion of the URL of the Digimon's profile—most often and most visibly affecting X-Antibody,[11] Mode Changed[12] and other variant Digimon,[13] as well as Digimon whose URLs already contained obvious errors (e.g. Examon becoming "EXSAON"[14])
- appending the Digimon's Type, by its name in the English edition, to their name (e.g. the original Cyberdramon becoming "CYBERDRAMON_ANDROID"[15]; the 2010 Cyberdramon becoming "CYBERDRAMON_ALIEN HUMANOID"[16]; in Japanese terms, those should be "Cyborg" and "Alien")
- appending the Digimon's Evolution Stage, by its name in the English edition, to their name (e.g. "ALGOMON_ROOKIE"[8]); relatedly, Algomon (Perfect) (original URL just "algomon"[17]) and Algomon (Ultimate) (original URL "algomon_ultimate"[18]) also swapped URLs entirely to correspond to the English-localization "Ultimate" level instead of the Japanese Ultimate level[19][20]
-
Fixes to most of these these issues were rolled out as follows:
- April 1, early hours: The X-Antibody icon was removed from some, but not all Digimon profiles that had been erroneously marked with it.
- April 4: The Xros Wars level classification was restored to the correct Digimon, and the X-Antibody icon was restored to some, but not all, Digimon profiles from which it had been removed.
- April 7: The remaining erroneous X-Antibody removals and listings were corrected.
- April 10: Xiquemon's profile was re-added.
- As of March 2024, some issues still remain, such as the altered English renderings of Japanese Digimon names (including the Perfect and Ultimate Algomons still having their URLs swapped).
Revisions[edit]
- For a comprehensive list of revised profiles, see Category:Digimon with updated profiles on Digimon Reference Book.
It is not unheard of for individual Digimon Reference Book entries to undergo revisions to their profile text or other data. This occurs for a variety of reasons, including error correction; removal, replacement or modification of information due to changing cultural sensitivities; and addition of content to reflect new developments in Digimon franchise material. Example revisions include:
- Earlier in the Reference Book's lifespan, profiles would sometimes include translation aids for attack techniques and equipment with names taken from non-Japanese languages, giving both the language of origin and a Japanese translation of the term. These were removed in the early 2010s.
- Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the profiles of the following Digimon were edited to remove all mentions of earthquakes and tsunamis: Ancient Mermaimon,[21] Caturamon,[22] Minotaurmon Adult,[23] Neptunemon,[24] Tactimon,[25] and Whamon Perfect.[26] No new content was written to replace the removed text, so the resulting profiles were much shorter than the originals. The profiles were all reverted to their original versions in 2018, restoring said mentions of earthquakes and tsunamis.
Example: Ancient Mermaimon (removal of content for sensitivity) | |
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- In the mid-late 2010s, there was a wave of edits to profiles in order to standardize the terminology used when discussing Chrome Digizoid.
- When Galgomon was added to the Digimon Dictionary in 2011, its entry mistakenly displayed the image of Gargomon, who at the time did not have a entry of its own. This was corrected by 2014. (At the same time, the English rendering of its name was also changed it from "GARGOMON" to the more conventional "GALGOMON"; see below.)[27]
- In mid-2021, the Reference Book's stock art of Psychemon was replaced with an edited version that reflects the slightly altered design that it received in Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time.[28]
- Examples of edits to add new content and attack techniques include:
- c. 2015: Magnamon's entry was revised to add a new attack technique, Shining Gold Solar Storm. A new sentence of profile text describing the technique replaced the original profile's description of the Extreme Jihad technique, although Extreme Jihad was not, and still has not, been removed from Magnamon's Special Moves list.[29]
- c. 2018: Skull Greymon's entry was updated to add a new attack technique from various video games, Oblivion Bird, was added. A new sentence describing the technique and its status as a recent discovery was added to its profile text.[30]
- c. 2019: Beelzebumon (X-Antibody)'s entry was updated to add new content to bring the species in with the then-newly-introduced X-Antibody variants of the other six Great Demon Lords. This included revised Bandai art that added the Crown of Gluttony, the new attack technique Seventh Full Cluster, and a sentence of profile text describing said technique.[citation needed]
- c. 2020: Metal Greymon's entry was updated to add a new attack technique from Digimon Adventure:, Giga Storm. A new sentence describing the technique was added to its profile text.[31]
- Examples of edits to correct individual entries' stat data include:
- c. 2019-2020: Correcting JESmon (X-Antibody)'s Attribute from Vaccine to Data, making it consistent with both the Digimon Pendulum Ver.20th's depiction of the species, and the Attribute of the original version of JESmon.[32]
- August-September 2022: Changing Gyukimon's Attribute twice.
It was originally listed as Virus (consistent with the Vital Bracelet Digital Monster) at the time of its addition to the Reference Book on August 21, 2022,[33] but was changed to Data within the next four days,[34] making it consistent with Hiro's Digimon Study Files in the Digimon Ghost Game episode "Contagion Island" (which also first aired on August 21, 2022).
By September 8, Gyukimon's entry had been edited again to undo the first edit and revert its Attribute to Virus. No explanation has been given for the back-and-forth edits. - September 9, 2022: Correcting Destromon and Ragnamon's Type and Attribute from Cyborg and Virus to Unknown and Unknown, within hours of the entries' publication, making them consistent with BEMmon and Snatchmon's Type and Attribute.[35][36]
- c. May-July 2021: Correcting Shoutmon X4K's level from just "Perfect" to "Perfect (Xros Wars)," to include the appropriate "Xros Wars" level classification.[37]
- October 24, 2020: Correcting Chamblemon's type from Food to Plant[38]
- c. Mid-November 2022: Correcting Xiangpengmon's profile text to address an error in which its attack technique Raikōben (雷煌鞭, lit. "Bright-Lightning Scourge"), despite being referred to by its correct name in its Special Moves list, was erroneously referred to by a totally different name, Shikōrai (撕煌雷, lit. "Shred of Bright Lightning"), in its profile text.[39] This error only affected the Japanese Reference Book, as the English and Chinese editions all consistently referred to the technique by their languages' respective names for it in both places from the beginning.
- When it was first posted, the entry for Baalmon (X-Antibody) was originally located at the erroneous URL
directory_name=bemmon_x
(were it not an error, the URL would describe a hypothetical X-Antibody variant of BEMmon, which currently does not exist).[40] The URL was corrected todirectory_name=baalmon_x
by November 2, 2022.[41]
- A handful of Digimon species have, in the past, had their names in their Reference Book entries—usually the official English rendering of their name, but on rare occasions, either the Japanese name, or the localized English name on the English Digimon Encyclopedia—revised at some point after their profiles were first published. Not counting the apparently erroneous changes from March 31, 2023, they include:
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In Other Media[edit]
Antecedents[edit]
The concept of the Digimon Reference Book predates the present-day website. Before its launch, various other franchise sources served the same encyclopedic purpose, and their profiles of the Digimon that they covered at the time have often been used as sources for the Reference Book website's profile text.
The "Digimon Reference Book" (デジモン図鑑 Digimon Zukan) branding also dates to the first months of the franchise, having been used in the September 1997 virtual pet guidebook Digital Monster: Bandai Official Digimon Reference Book.
- There were various Reference Book-style print books in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. One of the most expansive was the Digimon Visual Dictionary: Digital World Research White Paper,[N 1] which featured profiles on 523 Digimon species which were extant as of its publication in November 2002.[55]
- The websites for 1990s/2000s LCD game lines (e.g. Digital Monster,[56] Digimon Pendulum,[57] D-3,[58] Digivice iC[59]) often included Reference Book-like features on the Digimon included in each given device as part of their charts of their evolution routes.
- Digimon video games have routinely featured Digimon Reference Books for their respective rosters of available Digimon since the early 2000s.
Video Games[edit]
Since the 2000s, Digimon Reference Books have been a regular feature of Digimon video games. They are far more limited in scope than their website counterpart due to their focus on Digimon who appear in a given game. While more recent games generally reuse profile text from the Reference Book website, profiles are sometimes modified to better fit the game's content and context.
Conversely, video game Reference Books have also served as sources for profile text for Digimon who are added to the Reference Book website subsequent to a game's release. For example, when Ice Devimon was added to the Reference Book in 2019, its profile text was taken from the earlier Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth.
Pre-dating the Digimon Reference Book website
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Post-dating the Digimon Reference Book website
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Appmon Chip Reference Book[edit]
- Main article: Appmon Chip Reference Book
Prior to the launch of Digimon Web's Appmon Reference Book, the Appmon Data Lab website features a dedicated Appmon counterpart: the Appmon Chip Reference Book. It, along with the rest of Appmon Data Lab, launched on September 15, 2016.[60]
As of June 2024, the original Appmon Chip Reference Book is defunct and has been replaced with Digimon Web's Appmon Reference Book.
Bandai Asia Digimon Reference Book[edit]
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In the early-to-mid 2010s, Bandai Asia featured its own separate Digimon Reference Book on its merchandising website for "Digimon Fusion Battles," the name under which it marketed Digimon Xros Wars merchandise in Asian countries. The first entries for this Reference Book were published on November 27, 2012, and the last entries were published on August 13, 2013. This Reference Book is now defunct, as Bandai Asia (now Bandai Namco Asia) has since allowed the bandai-asia.com
domain to expire.
This version primarily featured Digimon who either appeared in some capacity in any of the three Xros Wars seasons, or are obtainable through DigiMelodies in Bandai Asia's Digimon Fusion Loader toy. A total of 333 Digimon had entries in this Reference Book.
Compared to the Japanese Reference Book, entries in this Reference Book had vastly less content, including having no profile blurbs at all. The only information that they provided on each Digimon was:
- Its name, also provided in Japanese
- A list of its attack techniques, divided into "CRITICAL ATTACK" (Special Moves) and "NORMAL ATTACK" (Signature Moves)
- The Xros Wars episode in which it supposedly first appeared (false debut episodes were also stated for Digimon who had entries, but never appeared in Xros Wars at all)
New profiles were added in monthly batches based on batches of Xros Wars episodes.
As with the rest of the website, Reference Book content was ostensibly provided in three languages: "International" (English), "Hong Kong Chinese" (Cantonese, written in Traditional Chinese) and "Taiwanese Chinese" (Mandarin, written in Traditional Chinese). In practice, however, only English was consistently available, as the fields for the other two languages were frequently left blank.
Several Digimon who had entries in the Bandai Asia Reference Book either at the time did not, or still do not, have entries in the Digimon Web Reference Book. Since it also provided Japanese names for Digimon, this also on occasion made the Bandai Asia Reference Book the first or only source to provide the Japanese names of a small minority of such Digimon, such as Grademon (Vice) 「グレイドモン(悪)」. The Bandai Asia Reference Book was also the first Digimon material to introduce the edited version of Psychemon's Bandai stock art, nine years before it was added to the Digimon Web Reference Book.
Image Gallery[edit]
Original Design[edit]
Logo | Index | Index | Index (category tabs) |
Profile (Darcmon) |
2010s Redesigns[edit]
Profile, pre-December 26, 2017 (Omega Shoutmon) |
Profile, post-December 26, 2017 (Omega Shoutmon) |
2020 Redesign[edit]
Index | Index (search interface) |
Profile (Pomumon) |
Additional Information[edit]
External Links[edit]
- Digimon Reference Book on Digimon Web
- Bandai Asia Digimon Reference Book (archived by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)