Digimon Reference Book

The Digimon Reference Book (デジモン図鑑 Dejimon Zukan, lit. "Digimon illustrated reference book" or "Digimon field guide"; Dub: Digimon Encyclopedia), formerly branded as the Digimon Dictionary, is a feature on the Digimon Web website. It is a database that documents and provides 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. English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese versions were added to Digimon Web on February 27, 2022, following an announcement at Digimon Con.

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, include a second image. 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 romanization (in the translated versions, the Japanese spelling is replaced with the appropriate localized name for that language, but the romanization is still present, unchanged, and still reflects the Digimon's 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 nature, lifestyle, and abilities

As of the 2020 redesign, most entries end with a See Here for Related Digimon section that links to the entries for three pre-set Digimon that are, usually, in some way connected with the Digimon in question.

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:

Profile Text
For older Digimon, the profile text is often, but not always, sourced from earlier profiles for other products, such as virtual pets, where available. The original text is not always retained verbatim, as it is sometimes edited or expanded.

In a few cases, the Reference Book replaces that original profile with a brand new one, and does not retain any of its original text.

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: Metal Greymon (Virus)
 * 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 official romanizations of 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 romanizations reflect the original Japanese names of species, not any renames or other alternative spelling choices that they may have experienced in English localizations or dubs. The spellings may vary from those used in other Japanese Digimon media, and may on occasion be erroneous.

The English Digimon Encyclopedia does not take into account the numerous cases where inconsistent localizations and dubs over the years have resulted in Digimon species having multiple English names, and only gives one such name. It prioritizes English localizations produced/released in the Western world rather than Southeast Asia, and it commonly, but not universally, sides with localizations of Bandai material and ignores anime dubs where they differ; when such a dub is a species' only prior English-language appearance, it has even been known to entirely ignore any name changes that it made and use the original Japanese names (e.g. "BlackSeraphimon" instead of "ShadowSeraphimon", ignoring all species name changes from the "Digimon Fusion" dub of Digimon Xros Wars). 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" and "Lighdramon" instead of, respectively, "Omnimon" and "Raidramon".

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.

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, any new entries are added to all versions of the Reference Book simultaneously.

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 ' (i.e. by name), and Sort by Evolution''' (in which Digimon were categorized based on their Evolution Stage).

=Site Updates=
 * June 25, 2007: The Digimon Dictionary was launched on Digimon Web, at the time located at the  domain.
 * TBA 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.
 * Mid-late 2010: The "Year Active" field is 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 Stages as "Xros Wars". The Attribute field was also added to said Digimon, but was still left empty at this time.
 * The "???" category, which contains the Unknown level, was added to the Sort by Evolution tab, to facilitate the addition of an entry for N.E.O.
 * February 2018: As part of a major revamp of Digimon Web, coinciding with its move to Bandai's  domain, the Digimon Reference Book experiences 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 Digimon 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 an announcement a week prior, 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)". All Xros Wars-related Digimon who have been added to the Reference Book subsequent to this date (e.g. Shoutmon EX6) are only given a natural Evolution Stage and are not given the "Xros Wars" classification.
 * August 10, 2021: An "X-Antibody" field was added to the Reference Book, and the entries of X-Antibody Digimon were updated to flag their X-Antibody status accordingly. 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.
 * February 27, 2022: Three translated versions 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").

=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

Profile 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 profiles to undergo revisions. 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 have since been reverted to their original state, 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.


 * In 2015, Magnamon's entry was updated to remove all references to its attack technique and replace them with references to a new technique,.


 * Recent edits to profiles which add new content and attack techniques include Skull Greymon in 2018 (adding a new attack technique from various video games, ) Beelzebumon (X-Antibody) in 2019 (adding new content that brings it in line with the then-newly-introduced X-Antibody variants of the other six Great Demon Lords) and Metal Greymon in 2020 (adding a new attack technique from Digimon Adventure:, ).


 * A handful of Digimon species have, in the past, had the official romanizations of their name given in their entries revised at some point after their profiles were first published. They include:

=In Other Media= Since the 2000s, features that use the Digimon Reference Book branding have been a frequent part of Digimon video games, in order to document the Digimon who appear in a given game. These versions of the Reference Book often borrow profiles for the featured Digimon directly from the website, with modifications made as necessary. Examples include:


 * Digimon Battle Chronicle (Dub: Digidex)
 * Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and Hacker's Memory (Dub: Field Guide)
 * Digimon ReArise (Dub: Digidex)
 * Digital Monster Vital Bracelet Lab (Dub: Digidex)

Bandai Asia Digimon Reference Book
In the early-to-mid 2010s, Bandai Asia featured its own separate Digimon Reference Book on its merchandise website for "Digimon Fusion Battles", the name given to Digimon Xros Wars for Southeast Asian marketing purposes. 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 has since allowed the  domain to expire.

This version primarily featured Digimon who either appeared in some capacity in the three Xros Wars seasons, or are obtainable through DigiMelodies in Bandai Asia's Digimon Fusion Loader toy.

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:


 * Their name, also provided in Japanese
 * A list of their attack techniques, divided into "CRITICAL ATTACK" (Special Moves) and "NORMAL ATTACK" (Signature Moves)
 * The Xros Wars episode in which they supposedly first appeared (false debut episodes are also stated for Digimon who never appeared in Xros Wars at all)

New profiles were added in monthly batches based on batches of Xros Wars episodes.

Content was nominally provided in three localizations: "International" (English), "Hong Kong Chinese" (Cantonese) and "Taiwanese Chinese" (Mandarin). In practice, however, only English was consistently available, as the fields for the other two languages were frequently left blank.

=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