Digimon Reference Book

The Digimon Reference Book (デジモン図鑑 Dejimon Zukan, lit. "Digimon illustrated reference book" or "Digimon "; Dub: Digimon Field Guide (2021-2022)/Digimon Encyclopedia (2022-present)), formerly branded as the Digimon Dictionary, 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 three versions of the Reference Book in other languages, which all launched on February 27, 2022 during Digimon Con: English (the culmination of a gradual rollout of English-translated entries from the previous year), Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

As of, there are Category:Digimon with profiles on Digimon Reference Book Digimon entries on the Digimon Reference Book.

=Overview=

Premise
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".

Entry Contents
Each Digimon entry on the Digimon Reference Book is illustrated with Bandai's stock art of the Digimon 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. All images are of a standard size of 320x320 pixels.

Each entry provides the following information on a given species


 * 1) The Digimon's species name, given both in the original Japanese and as an official English rendering of said Japanese name (in the translated versions, 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)
 * 2) The Digimon's Level
 * 3) The Digimon's Type
 * 4) The Digimon's Attribute
 * 5) The Digimon's Special Moves (usually 1-2 are listed; Hi-Vision Monitamon has the most listed Special Moves, with 8)
 * 6) A profile of the Digimon that describes its origin, nature, lifestyle, and abilities

The following icons are displayed beneath the species name on relevant entries:


 * : Marks the current most recent additions to the Reference Book
 *  : Marks that the Digimon is a carrier of the X-Antibody
 * : Marks that the Digimon was introduced as part of the Digimon 20th Anniversary Project (i.e. the Zubamon evolution family)

As of the 2020 redesign, most entries end with a See Here for Related Digimon section, which links to entries for up to three pre-set Digimon that are, usually, in some way connected with the Digimon in question. Some Digimon have more than 3 possible Digimon with the choices shown randomly. For example, the Royal Knights suggest each other but only show three at a time. Refreshing the page will usually change what is shown.

Profile Text
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.

In a few cases, the Reference Book totally replaces that original profile text with a brand new, different profile.

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) 

Naming
The Digimon 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)
 * X-Evolved variants of Digimon species: Gomamon (X-Antibody)
 * Variants with a different Evolution Stage: Whamon (Adult)
 * Alternate variants of a species introduced for an anime series: Kudamon (2006 Anime Version)

In the case of Mode Changes, they are treated as part of the Digimon's actual name and are not given in brackets.

The English renderings of Japanese Digimon names are 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
In the original 2007 version of the Digimon Dictionary, the index also had a Year Active field, 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:

Navigation
The current incarnation of the Digimon Reference Book has a search function. The text search field searches the names of Digimon, their attack techniques, and their profile text. Searches can be filtered by the following criteria


 * By name The Japanese version sorts Digimon by ' order, i.e. sorting Digimon 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 ' by their consonant sound (or lack thereof). The English version sorts Digimon by Latin alphabetical order, divided into 26 letter filters. Both Chinese versions omit the name filter function entirely.
 * By Level Valid filters: Baby I, Baby II, Child, Adult, Perfect, Ultimate, Armor, Hybrid, Xros Wars, Unknown
 * By Attribute Valid filters: Vaccine, Data, Virus, Free, Variable, Unknown, NO DATA
 * By Type 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
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 Versions
The English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese versions 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. Because of this, 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 versions of the Reference Book).

When the English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese versions of the Reference Book launched in 2022, translations of all pre-existing entries in the Japanese Reference Book were available immediately. Since then, all versions of the Reference Book have been simultaneously updated for all new entries.

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 facet. 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&mdash;for example, by Bandai Asia (D-Spirit, Digimon Fusion Loader Toy), MOVEINTERACTIVE (Digimon RPG, Digimon Masters) or (the Digimon Frontier manhua adaptation)&mdash;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).
 * 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&mdash;a series that features a significant amount of content that rarely appears in other Digimon productions, especially in English&mdash;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&mdash;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"&mdash;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, and, are ignored in favor of their original Japanese names,  and.
 * 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 (original Japanese name, never previously used in English localizations) and  (the rename given to  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.

=Site Updates=
 * June 25, 2007: The Digimon Dictionary was launched on Digimon Web, at the time located at the  domain.


 * c. Early-mid 2009: Digimon Web, including the Digimon Dictionary, moved from its original domain to the  domain.


 * June 4, 2010: The "Debuts in Digimon Xros Wars" 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 from  to  . 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's  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 to, the Reference Book was also totally revamped. 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 https://twitter.com/digimonweb_net/status/1309326762963275778, all pre-existing entries for Xros Wars Digimon 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; for instance, Shoutmon's level is given as "Child (Xros Wars)". 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. For example, Shoutmon EX6 does not have it, but Shoutmon X7: Superior Mode does.


 * 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.
 * 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" 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.


 * February 27, 2022: As announced during Digimon Con on the same day, three fully translated versions of the Reference Book were launched on Digimon Web. From this point onward, all four versions of the Reference Book have been updated simultaneously with the same new content. Unlike the earlier English profile rollout, the completed translated versions 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 language version of the entry.
 * 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").

=Issues=

Image Quality
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

Revisions

 * 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, the profiles of the following Digimon were edited to remove all mentions of earthquakes and tsunamis: Ancient Mermaimon, Caturamon, Minotaurmon Adult, Neptunemon, Tactimon, and Whamon Perfect. 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.


 * 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.)


 * In mid-2021, the Reference Book's key 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.


 * Examples of edits to add new content and attack techniques include:
 * c. 2015: Magnamon's entry was revised to add a new attack technique, . A new sentence of profile text describing the technique replaced the original profile's description of the technique, although  was not, and still has not, been removed from Magnamon's Special Moves list.
 * c. 2018: Skull Greymon's entry was updated to add a new attack technique from various video games,, was added. A new sentence describing the technique and its status as a recent discovery was added to its profile text.
 * 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, and a sentence of profile text describing said technique.
 * c. 2020: Metal Greymon's entry was updated to add a new attack technique from Digimon Adventure:, . A new sentence describing the technique was added to its profile text.


 * 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.
 * 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, but was changed to Data within the next four days, making it consistent with Hiro's Digimon Study Files in the Digimon Ghost Game episode (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.
 * c. May-July 2021: Correcting Shoutmon X4K's level from just "Perfect" to "Perfect (Xros Wars)," to include the appropriate "Xros Wars" level classification.
 * October 24, 2020: Correcting Chamblemon's type from Food to Plant
 * c. Mid-November 2022: Correcting Xiangpengmon's profile text to address an error in which its attack technique (, 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,  (, lit. "Shred of Bright Lightning"), in its profile text. 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  (were it not an error, the URL would describe a hypothetical X-Antibody variant of BEMmon, which currently does not exist). The URL was corrected to   by November 2, 2022.


 * A handful of Digimon species have, in the past, had their names in their Reference Book entries&mdash;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&mdash;revised at some point after their profiles were first published. They include:

=In Other Media=

Antecedents
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 ("Visual Dictionary" being the book's English gloss for 大図鑑 daizukan, "Great Reference Book"), which featured profiles on 523 Digimon species which were extant as of its publication in November 2002.
 * The websites for 1990s/2000s LCD game lines (e.g. Digital Monster, Digimon Pendulum, D-3, Digivice iC ) 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
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.

Appmon Chip Reference Book

 * Main article: Appmon Chip Reference Book

Although Appmon are not included in the Digimon Reference Book, the Appmon Data Lab website features a dedicated counterpart that covers them: the Appmon Chip Reference Book. It, along with the rest of Appmon Data Lab, launched on September 15, 2016.

Bandai Asia Digimon Reference Book
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  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.

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 some such Digimon, such as Grademon (Vice). The Bandai Asia Reference Book was also the first Digimon material to introduce the edited version of Psychemon's Bandai key art, nine years before it was added to the Digimon Web Reference Book.

=Image Gallery=

2020 Redesign
=Additional Information=

=External Links=
 * Digimon Reference Book on Digimon Web
 * Bandai Asia Digimon Reference Book (archived by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

=See Also=
 * Digimon Analyzer
 * Digimon Life