Digimon World (1999)-Iceberg Chart

Digimon World on the PlayStation is one of my most sentimental and important pieces of media. Having first played the game as a larvalkit, I was thoroughly enchanted by its wonderful cosy feel, the rewarding (if at times annoyingly cryptic and even cruel) evolution system, lovable critters and heavily immersive atmosphere of the strange yet endearing world it takes place in.

I have (for quite some time now) wanted to put together an iceberg chart for the game, detailing some of the delightfully strange and outright mysterious aspects of it. I have now finally done so!

Please note that this iceberg chart and page will still be subject to updates or revisions until I state otherwise, so if I am missing a topic that would be fitting for the iceberg, it may yet be added. If I have made any errors in the information presented, please do let me know!

If you require an explanation of the iceberg chart format, it is briefly summed up as a diagram listing specific topics about a specified subject, which are arranged into layers. As the list and indeed layers descend (with the highest layer being the sky above the iceberg, or the very tip of the iceberg), the topics discussed will typically become more obscure, speculative and darker (with the very bottom layers often being presented as the base of the iceberg or the murky waters below it).

The same principles apply to this iceberg chart about Digimon World. Do note that this iceberg chart will only concern the original first game, meaning there will not be any discussion of topics related to any of the other games in the series; not that Digimon World 2, or indeed 3/2003 and 4 actually have much to do with the first game at all, of course. I will also not be talking about Re:Digitize or Next Order either.

If are you are ready, join me below as I excitedly make bugfox noises about one of my very favourite pieces of media!

Layer 1

From the start of the game, the Player will find a farm around the back of Jijimon’s House, ran by the heterotrophic plant Digimon Tanemon. As the name for this entry would suggest, Tanemon provides pieces of meat on the bone for the Player to feed to their Digimon…which happen to grow from the soil. Given the nonchalantness of Tanemon when the Player character initially expresses disbelief at this, it is very much implied that meat growing from the ground is an everyday, mundane fixture of life in the Digital World!

One of the very few remaining residents of File City at the start of the game, Yuramon is a seed-like Fresh-level Digimon that sits near Jijimon’s House from the morning until the late afternoon. As the game progresses, the Player will need to speak to Yuramon to trigger certain in game events, which Yuramon conveys to the Player in the form of rumours. A classic example amongst fans of the game is when Yuramon tells the Player at an early point in the game about a supposed invisible bridge leading into the Great Canyon area (which turns out to be completely true!).

The subject of this entry is rather infamous to many who have played Digimon World, even if not particularly far into the game. Once the Player accrues at least 15 Prosperity Points and speaks to Jijimon after doing so, the Player will be ambushed by a Greymon immediately upon leaving Jijimon's House. The Greymon states he had been tracking down the Player and demands to battle, which of course takes place immediately. The reason this is so infamous is because the sheer abruptness of this battle and the fact that Greymon can be quite a formidable opponent, even if the Player has a relatively strong Champion-level Digimon (though even some Ultimate-level Digimon may falter in battle against him, if unprepared). I must admit that I do remember the sheer terror I felt when playing this game as a larvalkit and suddenly being ambushed by Greymon!

Notably, I have heard that in some regional versions of the game, this event can allegedly leave the player in a rather hellish softlock; given that the Player and their Digimon always spawn back at Jijimon's House following their Digimon losing a heart through being defeated in battle (or through illness), this would therefore entail the Player being unable to leave Jijimon's House without initiating the boss fight. It could potentially worsen if the Player's Digimon loses all three of their hearts and dies, after which the ensuing Digitama would then be caught in an endless loop of being killed by Greymon. I have not experienced this myself in the European PAL release of the game, so this presumably may be an issue with the NTSC/North American version of the game (if not and/or other regional versions). Supposedly however, if the Player has an Auto Pilot in their inventory, they can use it to warp to the exterior of Jijimon's House, without triggering the event and indeed the ensuing softlock.

There are three Champion-level Digimon that the Player's Digimon can evolve into as the product of mutation, caused by negligent or poor care. These three Digimon are:

• Numemon, a green gastropod Digimon with a large mouth baring mammalian teeth. Any Rookie-level Digimon species can evolve into Numemon if they reach the age of 4-5 in-game days old and have not successfully met any of the criteria required for any of the compatible natural evolutions specific for their species.
• Sukamon, a literal anthropomorphic pile of faeces with arms and a toothy clamshell-hinged mouth. Any Digimon in the game will evolve into Sukamon (with the only exception of course being Sukamon itself) if their Virus Meter reaches full capacity due to pooping on the ground too many times.
• Nanimon, an orb-shaped humanoid with a bearded, human-like face, wearing sunglasses as well as red gloves and boots^*. Any Rookie-level Digimon species will evolve into Nanimon if their Happiness and Discipline gauges both reach 0% and the Player chooses to scold them from the menu.

All three of these Digimon are Virus-attribute and have very limited movesets (as all three are Filth-type, though Nanimon is also a Battle-type and as such can additionally learn several techniques of that type). This is particularly an issue if one is unfortunate enough for their Digimon to evolve into any of them in the early game, as the areas containing wild Filth-type Digimon (from which such Digimon can learn further Filth techniques from battling them) are not accessed until some time later; the default technique of these three Digimon, Horizontal Kick, is objectively one of the worst techniques in the game for its terrible accuracy and inability to inflict much damage at all.

Not only this, all three of these Digimon will also obtain smaller stat increases when training at the Green Gym or any other training apparatuses around File Island (not to mention all three are incredibly weak for Champion-level Digimon, to the extent that early game wild Digimon such as the ModokiBetamons and Dokunemons of Native Forest can often take them down without much effort). The game intends for these three Digimon to be penalties to the Player, for poor or neglectful treatment of their Digimon partner. As aforementioned, they are also each affiliated with excrement and unsanitariness, with Numemon and Sukamon even being coprophagic, happily eating any poop they find on the ground.

Despite their shortcomings, one of these Digimon in particular is required for a particular story event, as detailed in the following entry...

When the Player reaches the later-game area of Toy Town, the entire settlement is eerily quiet and deserted, a rather unsettling contrast from the colourful and joyful appearance of the area (given it is after all a town usually inhabited by toy-themed Digimon such as Tinmon and ToyAgumon). Seemingly, the only remaining residents of Toy Town are a small group of the aforementioned Tinmon, whom of which will refrain from even acknowledging the Player's presence if interacted with.

The story event is triggered when the Player and their Digimon enter the Costume House, which contains a conspicuously placed yellow teddybear. This is in fact a costume for the Ultimate-level puppet Digimon, Monzaemon, evident by the zipper the Player notices on the back of the costume. If the Player has a Numemon as their partner at the time, their Numemon will immediately evolve into Monzaemon, which in turn allows them to further the Toy Town story event and enter the Toy Mansion dungeon.

Of particular interest, Monzaemon has been designated as the canonical Ultimate-level form of Numemon for quite some time in the general Digimon franchise, with the implication (if it was not already evident, as described above) that Monzaemon is still a Numemon, but disguised by wearing a costume*. It's a concept I genuinely adore! In the mechanical context of Digimon World itself, I also personally enjoy how this feels akin to the trope of an exceptionally weak monster eventually evolving into a much more powerful form (akin to Magikarp evolving into Gyarados in the Pokémon games).

One of the four possible status conditions that can be inflicted in battle, the Flatten status is quite unique and (in my view) very quintessentially and endearingly Digimon. When the Flatten status is inflicted upon a Digimon (as a possible additional effect of techniques such as Danger Sting), they will undergo a rapid transformation into a 2D form, specifically as the corresponding Digimon V-Pet sprite to the species affected. Whilst in this form, the affected Digimon cannot use any of their techniques or block attacks, being reduced to using a very weak projectile attack that at most barely exceeds inflicting 10 points of damage at best. The Flattened Digimon will then revert back to their regular form and regain use of their techniques and other abilities after around ten seconds.

This is an amusing in-game event, in my opinion. When the Player defeats Giromon in Factorial Town and recruits both him and Andromon to File City, the Player will find that the Sewer subarea is no longer full of toxic fumes from the Factory. The Numemon previously encountered there prior to the story event involving the Factory will have recovered from their sickness and immediately attack the Player...only to have a mere 200 HP and would in all likelihood easily be defeated in a single attack.

This is especially amusing, given that the Player will have most likely just battled Giromon (an Ultimate-level Digimon, no less) and would conversely likely have a very strong Digimon partner at that point. The poor Numemon would not stand a chance!

Kunemon is a Rookie-level insect Digimon, resembling a Lepidopteran caterpillar with some Dipteran larva-like traits. They are the only obtainable Rookie-level Digimon that does not naturally evolve from any designated In-Training species. Instead, any In-Training-level Digimon has a 50% probability of evolving into Kunemon if the Player allows them to sleep at Kunemon’s Bed in the Native Forest, which if so would be triggered immediately after said Digimon wakes up. This is in-game event is referenced directly by one of the Kabuterimon NPCs in the Beetleland area.

Layer 2

The concept and mechanics of the evolution system in Digimon World are directly based on the earliest Digimon virtual pet toys, which initially designated Ultimate-level Digimon as the highest possible evolutionary level. As a result, the Mega evolution level does not exist in Digimon World. However, a few Digimon that are (or were subsequently designated as) Mega-level monsters do appear in the game, those Digimon being HerculesKabuterimon, Phoenixmon and Machinedramon. Jijimon is also canonically a Mega-level Digimon, though in Digimon World he appears only as an NPC.

This entry is very much a funny one to me. In the North American English localisation of the game, the most powerful Filth-type technique is known as "Ultimate Poop Hell" (abbreviated as "Ult Poop Hell" in the game, I presume due to character limitations). Said attack involves the user summoning giant poops that fall from the sky, accumulating and then exploding, with a vast area of effect that would be difficult for any enemy Digimon to evade. The technique also has a very high probability (83%, according to the data provided on Grindosaur) of inflicting the Flatten status on targets.

As someone who has played one of the PAL versions of the game for so many years, I'm still mildly disappointed that the technique was renamed to "Ultimate Poop Bomb" in the European and Australian English localised releases of the game. The fact the name "Ultimate Poop Hell" is even in this game to begin with in any capactiy at all is hilarious to me, regardless!

Much like many other RPGs, the battle system in Digimon World has status conditions that can be inflicted on Digimon in battle, each causing a hindrance to them in some capacity. Of the four status conditions (Stunned, Confused, Flattened and Poisoned) present in the game, Poisoned is by far the most imbalanced. Whereas the other three statuses are temporary and resolve after a certain span of real time, the Poisoned status is permanent and will continue to deduct HP from the affected Digimon until either their HP reaches 0 and they die, or the battle ends before that can take place (unless a status-healing item such as a Various Disk is used, in the case of Player-controlled Digimon). Furthermore, the Poisoned status also greatly slows down the movement of the Digimon affected, making it much harder for them to evade attacks. For these reasons, the Poisoned is horrendously imbalanced in Digimon World.

A subarea of the Drill Tunnel, the Lava Cave becomes accessible after the Player defeats the later-recruited Drimogemon in battle and then waits for several in-game days. It is where the recruitable Meramon is fought, revealing in the story that the landslide that obstructs the path between Native Forest and Mt. Panorama was caused by his anger about the state of the crisis affecting File Island, resulting in earthquakes. When the Player first enters the area, a path to the south is blocked off by a flow of molten lava, with accompanying atmospheric ambience. As soon the Player defeats Meramon and returns to the screen preceding where he was fought, the lava will have cooled and can be walked on; several NPC DemiMeramons are present in the area, all of whom politely greet the Player if interacted with.

What is notable about this is the fact that there is no background ambience at all in this area when returned to after the battle with Meramon; it is completely silent, a trait that no other area in the game shares. Even if this is more inconsequential, I have always found this an intriguing and even somewhat disconcerting (though in all likelihood unintentionally so) detail in the game.

At the peak of the Trash Mountain area of the game, which is indeed as the name suggests a huge pile of scrap metal and garbage, the Player encounters a tribe of Sukamons. They are presided over by the King of Sukamon, who does not take well to the Player and their partner Digimon visiting their home…assuming the Player’s Digimon is not a Sukamon, of course.

If you do however interact with the King of Sukamon with a Sukamon as your partner, he will be much more welcoming to the two of you. If you choose the dialogue option that upsets the King of Sukamon, however, he will in retaliation use his “evolution technique” and revert your Digimon partner to whichever species they were prior to mutating into Sukamon. This is of course helpful to the Player, if they were unfortunate (or negligent enough) to have their Digimon mutate into Sukamon. It's also quite amusing, given that one of the NPC Sukamons that greets the Player when they first enter the peak area of Trash Mountain hints at this, stating the King of Sukamon will turn the Player's Digimon (if they are a Sukamon, that is) into "something miserable" if he is upset by the Player.

The Finisher technique of the Ultimate-level Digimon Giromon, Deadly Bomb has a very unique utility as a Finisher, with a particular trait that no other such technique in the game shares. When Deadly Bomb is used, Giromon throws an orb-shaped bomb in the direction that they are facing in battle at the point the Finisher is initiated. The bomb does not impact the enemy Digimon, instead falling on the ground and remaining there. If an enemy Digimon moves within close enough proximity of the bomb, it detonates and inflicts damage to them. If the bomb sits idle for too long however, it will just eventually disappear.

Given that all of the other Finisher techniques in the game are projectiles or physical attacks that are seemingly guaranteed to hit the enemy (or in a number of cases, even multiple enemies), Deadly Bomb has a very unusual functionality. That said, many fans of the game would actually argue that Deadly Bomb is one of the worst Finisher techniques because of this, given it can entail a high likelihood of not working at all, due to the independent factors of the where the bomb lands and the movement of enemy Digimon.

There is a small handful of Digimon that add points to the Prosperity Rating of File City, despite not actually appearing there permanently or at all. Some of these are also not even acknowledged by Jijimon when he is spoken to by the Player after what would otherwise be their recruitment to File City. In this case, I am also referring to Digimon that appear in File City but are never acknowledged by Jijimon. These Digimon are as follows:

• Sukamon, who once spoken to at Trash Mountain (stating he is secretly interested in going to File City) occasionally appears by the toilet, usually at night. He is otherwise still present at Trash Mountain and is always present there too, regardless of whenever the Player visits the location. His presence is not acknowledged by Jijimon. Additionally, Sukamon being recruited only adds 1 Prosperity Point, which is presumably due to Sukamon being a penalty mutant species, as discussed on Layer 1; this same rule also applies to Numemon and Nanimon once they are also recruited.
• Seadramon, who adds 2 Prosperity Points after the Player chooses to the option to befriend them (and receives the Blue Flute item) after catching them using one of the Fishing Rod items at the southern area of Dragon Eye Lake. They do not ever appear in File City and are not acknowledged by Jijimon.
• Andromon, who is actually acknowledged by Jijimon (and as he's an Ultimate-level Digimon, contributes 3 Prosperity Points) but only sporadically appears in File City. He otherwise continues to live in Factorial Town, overseeing running the town and the Factory in his role as the Administrator.
• Nanimon, who is acknowledged by Jijimon but remains completely absent after being recruited. This is very much fitting though, given he appears at five very specific locations (most of which being after boss battles corresponding to those areas take place), the first of which being the area in the Ancient Speedy Region where Meteormon was fought. In the first four encounters, Nanimon is startled by the Player and then runs away immediately. Notably, much like Sukamon, Nanimon only contributes 1 Prosperity Point for the same reason, too.
• Monzaemon, or rather as specified at the end of the Toy Town story event: "Monzaemon's Stuffed Animal joins the City". With this in mind however, a Monzaemon plushie does indeed appear in Jijimon's House after this event takes place.
• Etemon is referenced by Jijimon when the latter is spoken to after battling the former, but he is never found in File City. Rather, Etemon spends the rest of the game sat around the outskirts of File City at the Digimon Bridge, explaining the other Digimon ejected him from the City for his inappropriate behaviour. If the Player has at least 50,000 Bits, he will offer to sell to the Player a Gold Banana (the evolution item for Etemon) for that price.

There are some notable alternate evolution requirements for a small number of Champion-level Digimon, all of which have a chance of being triggered after allowing a compatible Digimon to sleep, provided certain very specific condtions are met.

These Digimon are as follows:

• Vegiemon has a chance of evolving into Ninjamon, if they sleep with a battle victory count of at least 50, as well as their Discipline Gauge being 100%.
• Birdramon and Seadramon both have a chance of evolving into Airdramon if they sleep with their Happiness and Discipline Gauges each at 100%, and Tiredness at 0.

Similar to the above entry on evolutions triggered by sleep, there is similarly a small number of species that certain Digimon can evolve to, if they lose one of their three hearts as a result of losing a battle. These Digimon are as follows:

• Almost all Rookie-level Digimon have a probability of evolving into Bakemon if defeated in battle.
• MetalGreymon and Megadramon each have a probability of evolving into SkullGreymon if defeated in battle.
• Birdramon and Kokatorimon each have a probability of evolving into Phoenixmon if defeated in battle.
• If Angemon is defeated in battle and their Discipline gauge is less than 50%, they have a chance of evolving into Devimon immediately after spawning at Jijimon's House. Notably, this is the only possible method of obtaining Devimon through natural evolution.

Unusually, if the Player encounters and battles Mamemon at Mt. Panorama Plains, the typical battle music that plays when battling recruitable Digimon (or in battles that pertain to story-related events) does not play for the battle. Instead, the later-game wild Digimon battle music plays is used instead. This was presumably due to an oversight on behalf of the developers, though some fans of the game would jokingly say the theme feels appropriate, given it is often cited as a very difficult battle.*

There is a well known exploit to in the game that allows players to farm large quantities of Bits, involving the use of one of the recruitable Mojyamon NPCs found on the coast of Freezeland. Of the three Mojyamons that are present in the area, one of them will offer to trade Medium Recoveries for S. Defence Disks. As Medium Recoveries are easy to source starting from an earlier point in the game (costing 500 Bits each at the File City Item Shop), the Player can trade multiple with the Mojyamon to receive S. Defence Disks, with the latter having a resale value of 2000 Bits. If the Player trades a number of Medium Recoveries for S. Defence Disks and then sell them at the Item Shop, they will be able to obtain vast amounts of Bits in a very short span of time.

It is worth noting that the last Mojyamon the Player completes trading each of their requested items at least once will then join File City, meaning that this exploit will no longer be possible should the Player recruit the aforementioned Mojyamon instead of either of the other two Mojyamons in the area.

After defeating the final boss, the last in-engine cutscene of the main game involves the Player and their Digimon partner surrounded by a group of inhabitants of File City, all thanking the duo for saving File Island and wishing the former farewell before their return to the Real World. Of the Digimon present in the scene (such as a small handful of the Fresh and In-Training Digimon, as well as Greymon and Drimogemon), Leomon is also present in the scene. Of note is that he will appear in the scene, irrespective of whether he has been recruited to File City or not. Whilst it is of no real consequence, I do find this a mildly amusing detail, though it is presumably merely an oversight.

Layer 3

Within Digimon World, the Player can obtain Medals for successfully completing certain tasks (such as defeating the final boss and raising a Digimon with maximised stats), very much akin to achievement or trophy systems in more modern video games. Of the 15 obtainable Medals, one in particular is the bane of many who attempt to acquire every single one of them: the Medal awarded if the Player achieves a perfect score of 10 in the Curling minigame.

Given the level of precision that the computer controlled opponents (Penguinmon and, after recruiting them to File City, MetalMamemon) are able to use, achieving a perfect score is hard, to say the least of it. I myself am terrible at the Curling minigame, to the extent that when attempting to recruit Penguinmon in Freezeland in a playthrough, I usually wait until my Digimon partner sleeps and I can save; I to this day still find it exceedingly difficult!

A special limited edition promo card of MetalGreymon for the Digimon Trading Card Game was given away with certain copies of the North American, European and Japanese releases of Digimon World. The card pictured above is from the North American release of the game. The card artwork depicts MetalGreymon as they appear in the render on the North American cover art and the opening FMV of the game. Notably, 100,000 copies of the North American Digimon World promo card were printed, with each copy being numbered.

(Many thanks to Digi-Battle.com for their page detailing this card and the image used here.)

Whilst it is generally maintained in the Digimon franchise that MetalGreymon is canonically a Vaccine-type Ultimate-level Digimon, MetalGreymon was at first a Virus-type Digimon. Remnants of this are very much evident in Digimon World, with MetalGreymon not only being specified as a Virus-attribute Digimon in the game, but their design was later reappropriated for what became the Virus-type subspecies of MetalGreymon. At present, Virus-type MetalGreymon is the canonical Ultimate-level form of Black Agumon (and in turn, their canonical Champion level form as well, Blue Greymon), which is likewise a Virus type conuterpart to Agumon (and Greymon) being Vaccine-types.

Kokatorimon is a Digimon that is both an obtainable Champion-level species and a recruitable Digimon, found in the Misty Trees area between 4:00am-8:00am. He needs to be defeated in a battle in order to to recruit him, after which he will then add a small sculpture to File City (located between the Item Bank and toilet), which seems to be a crude attempt at making a statue modelled after the Player character.

It is worth noting that Kokatorimon is a Digimon species that has the ability to petrify their enemies with their special attack (named Frozen Fire Shot in the English localisations of Digimon World), literally turning them to stone (something that was depicted when Kokatorimon appeared in the Digimon Adventure animated series). In the corner of the Misty Trees area where Kokatorimon is encountered, there are what appear to be the petrified remains of several Digimon, one of which seemingly appearing to be a Tyrannomon. The implication is that they were all killed by Kokatorimon, with Kokatorimon's attempt at making a sculpture based on the Player a possible attempt at detracting attention from his past actions, perhaps. Either way, I do love this piece of subtle visual storytelling in this part of the game!

If the Player loads their save file after defeating Analogman and Machinedramon and completing the game, they can find a post-game exclusive recruit if they fight their way up to the peak of Mt. Infinity (again). In place of where Analogman summoned Machinedramon, a large egg is present, which reveals itself to in fact be the Ultimate-level Digitamamon, who immediately initiates a battle.

The game alludes directly to the possibility that this Digitamamon is the corrupted offspring of the Machinedramon the Player and their Digimon fought at the end of the game, with the Player character even stating "Could [the egg] be Machinedramon's?"

Given that it is established that a Digimon will give birth to an egg (that hatches into a Digitama) just prior to their death, this could indeed imply that Machinedramon was unable to give birth to a more "natural" Digitama when they were killed in battle. I feel this is very fitting, as Digitamamon is, in spite of their name, an Ultimate-level Digimon. Not only this, but it is also established from the description of Machinedramon in the Digimon Reference Book (sourced via the Wikimon entry on Machinedramon)that the species is completely synthetic in form and in turn very much implied to be an unnatural being. I would argue that this could serve as a potential explanation for Machinedramon being incapable of giving birth to a more "conventional" Digitama.

Devil Chips

In the post-game, Devimon will have joined the city following the battle with him on Mt. Infinity. He will occasionally appear in the Secret Item Shop, selling three variants of an item known as the Devil Chip, or DV Chip as abbreviated in the game. The three types of Devil Chip, DV Chip A, DV Chip D and DV Chip E, can be purchased for 5000 Bits each. All three of these items increase two stats of a Digimon (with A increasing Offense and Brains by 100 points, D increasing Defence and Speed by 100 points and E increasing HP and MP by 1000). The cost of using these items, however, is that for each DV Chip used the lifespan of the Player's Digimon will decrease. The specific amount of time they deduct from a Digimon's lifespan does not seem to be confirmed, but multiple online sources seem to suggest this ranges from about 12 in-game hours to a whole day.

Notably, in the North American English localisation of the game at least, the Item Menu flavour text for DV Chip E erroneously reads as indicating that the item increases Offense and Speed by 1000 points. As discussed, DV Chip E in fact increases HP and MP by 1000 points (in addition to the above cited effect of lowering the lifespan of a Digimon, of course).

In the area inhabited by the Sukamon Tribe at the top of Trash Mountain, there is a training apparatus that literally entails the Player's Digimon spending one in-game hour sat inside a heaping pile of faeces (with the name of "Hide in Trash" in the English language localisations). Participating in this training drastically increases the MP stat of your Digimon, but also lowers the Happiness gauge of the Digimon for each hour trained using the apparatus. As far as I am aware, this is the only training apparatus anywhere in the game that has this effect; quite understandable though, given the poor Digimon has spent potentially up to multiple consecutive hours sitting in a literal pile of shit!

An old rumour related to the game told of the Bakemon found in the Overdell Cemetery, having special hidden dialogue that would only be triggered if the Player's partner Digimon was also a Bakemon. The rumour entailed specifically that the yes/no questions the Bakemon asks the Player (which are vocalised entirely by Bakemon as the words and variations of "Bakke bakke" repeatedly) would be "translated", revealing the questions worded in coherent wording and structure.

As far as what is detailed in this rumour, it is false. If the Player speaks to the Bakemon in the Overdell Cemetery with a Bakemon as their partner, the dialogue comprising the yes/no questions dialogue is unchanged. Whilst this rumour has been debunked for quite some time, there is in fact a tangential element of truth to it. If the Player has a Bakemon as their partner and they speak to the recruited Bakemon when they are present in the central plaza of File City, additional dialogue from the Player character will be present, with the implication that their Bakemon partner is informing them that the now-recruited Bakemon is "patrolling".

Remodelling Mamemon

In Factorial Town, if the Player has a Mamemon as their partner and goes to the Factory (near the door that leads to where Giromon is battled), an NPC Guardromon will be present. If the Player speaks to them, the Guardromon will offer to “remodel” their Mamemon for a fee of 2000 Bits. There are three possible outcomes to accepting this offer:

• Mamemon will evolve into MetalMamemon.
• Mamemon will evolve into Giromon.
• Nothing happens and Mamemon does not evolve.

In all of the years I have adored and been intensely hyperfixated on this game, I only discovered that this event can take place less than a year prior to writing (in 2024)!

After clearing the Toy Town story event (in which WaruMonzaemon has taken over the settlement and kidnapped Hagurumon), the Player will be notified that "Monzaemon's Stuffed Animal [has joined] the city!". What is interesting about this is that the Player will then find what appears to be another (or very similar) costume of Monzaemon hanging on one of the coat hooks in the back of Jijimon's House. However, unlike the Monzaemon costume found in Toy Town that will trigger Numemon to evolve into the species if interacted with, this costume does not trigger Numemon or any other Digimon to evolve.

I would argue there is something somewhat unusual about this. I speculate (with a massive degree of conjecture, albeit) that perhaps during the development of the game, this may have given Players the option to evolve their Digimon (presumably Numemon) into Monzaemon on demand. That said, it could also simply be to signify that the Player has completed the Toy Town mission and nothing more, which very much seems to be the case in the final game at least.

Intentional or otherwise, some fans have made a connection between the inhabitants of Factorial Town, whom of which are predominantly robot or cyborg Digimon and the presence of PlatinumSukamons in the area. Given that the primary inhabitants of Factorial Town are Guardromons, a Digimon species that is an umambiguously inorganic robot, it has been theorised that the PlatinumSukamons could be the waste product of these robotic and cyborg Digimon, being a subspecies of Sukamon that is metallic in appearance. This in turn also serves as a possible connecton and explanation with regard to the absence of any toilets in Factorial Town.

The human character that is the main protagonist of Digimon World was (in the English localisations, at the very least) never given an official name*. Some sources had given him names such as Hiro (which I myself recall seeing used in older online discussions related to the game in the late 2000s; it is supposedly the official name of the protagonist in the Japanese version of Digimon World, though I am uncertain if I can verify whether this is in fact true, due to the language barrier). Another name given (officially, in Japan) was Analog Boy, which notably is the name of a Tamer Card from the current iteration of the Digimon Trading Card Game, indeed also depicting the Digimon World protagonist (accompanied by a Botamon and Koromon; they even drew him with disproportionately large hands like in a lot of the earlier Digimon renders, which I find a very endearing detail!).

Layer 4

Whilst the mechanics of Digimon undergoing a perennial cycle of death and rebirth certainly not at all obscure to anybody who has played Digimon World*, I feel (on a much more subjective and personal note) that the death sequences in Digimon World are always some combination of being incredibly uncanny and sad. When the Player's Digimon partner dies of old age, anything the Player was doing comes to a stop, with a blackness engulfing the screen and closing in on said Digimon. This followed by said Digimon having their body effectively fall apart, with the textures around the contours of their model falling away and the wireframe of their model glowing, before transitioning into a ball of light that embues the fallen remains. Following this, Jijimon then appears and states that the Player's Digimon has passed away (and will of course be subsequently reborn as a Digitama).

I have always found the sharp and genuinely foreboding and ominous sound design of this sequence unsettling, to the point that when playing the game even now, I end up having to sometimes mute my television when it occurs. Not to mention with how easy it is to become attached to your Digimon companion, eventually seeing them pass away can be especially upsetting sometimes, especially as they will often cry out with their discontented sounds as their body falls apart. It is even worse if your Digimon was killed in battle and lost the last of their three hearts, as their lifeless body fades away.

I'm aware that this is a much more subjective entry, but I feel there is something genuinely incredibly haunting about this sequence.

An infamous glitch found only in the North American/NTSC version of Digimon World. After recruiting Giromon to File City, he installs a jukebox in the Restaurant, wherein the Player can select and play the majority of the songs (or environmental ambience tracks) from the game soundtrack. In the Japanese (NTSC-J) and PAL (European and Australian) releases of the game, this works as intended and without any issues. In the North American version however, selecting any track will immediately cause the game to crash, seemingly caused by a programming oversight of some variety.

Another infamous glitch associated with the game, albeit this time certain PAL releases of the game, which prevents the Player from progressing past a certain point and softlocking the game.

The glitch in question takes place after the Player encounters and defeats Ogremon and his gang of bandits for the first time in Great Canyon. By design, the game intends for the Player to then travel to the lower area of the Great Canyon and enter Ogremon's hideout located there, the Ogre Fortress.

The problem is rooted in the fact that a text-based cutscene is supposed to trigger when the Player and their Digimon approach the entrance to the Ogre Fortress, where an Agumon NPC is standing. After a text-based cutscene ends, the Player and their Digimon then automatically enter the Ogre Fortress. For whatever reason, in certain PAL releases of the game (only affecting some European PAL versions, though I am not certain which specifically) this cutscene does not trigger, meaning the Agumon remains stationary and obstructs the entrance; the Agumon cannot be interacted with, completely negating access to the Ogre Fortress.

As a result of this glitch, the Player will be unable to access areas such as the Secret Beach Cave or Factorial Town (due to the third encounter with Ogremon being linked to unlocking access to both areas). Furthermore, this in turn means that a sizeable handful of Digimon cannot be recruited (including Ogremon himself, as well as Shellmon, Whamon and all of the recruitable Digimon in Factorial Town). This also therefore means that the Player cannot obtain the possible maximum 100 Prosperity Points.

The obtainable and recruitable Ultimate-level Digimon Vademon differs considerably from their official design found in other Digimon media (such as the contemporaneous Digimon Adventure animated series). The Digimon itself, which draws heavily from popularised retro sci-fi depictions of extraterrestrials (donning motifs such as having cephalopod arm-like appendages, a large exposed brain and the species usually being armed with a ray-gun), appears with an altered design in Digimon World , with the lower portion of their body concealed within a small UFO.

It is speculated that this alteration to Vademon's design was made in the game to make modelling and animating Vademon's in-game model less complicated for the artists working on it (given that Vademon's main official design has many appendages that move as limbs), and perhaps even more so to put less pressure on the hardware of the PlayStation when rendering the model in real-time because of this. I personally think it's a rather adorable design choice though, I'm very fond of it!

Whilst there are a number of Digimon species in the game that unambiguously appear as subspecies or closely-related species to other Digimon in the game (for instance, Goburimon and SnowGoburimon), there are some instances of models and or animations being used for seemingly completely unrelated Digimon species. For example, if you compare the animations of Frigimon or MudFrigimon with Rockmon, the latter species shares the same animations as the former two. In fact, the same vocalisations and sounds affiliated with Frigimon and MudFrigimon in battle are even utilised for Rockmon, too.

An arguably more subtle example seems to be the model used for DemiMeramon being a modified version of the model for Yuramon, which you can see if you look closely at the contours of the models for each of the aforementioned Digimon. Another notable and arguably less subtle example is of the models of the merchants that run the Gear Savanna Item Shop, which are clearly modified versions of Jijimon's model; they even retained Jijimon's same default pose of having an arm outstretched and another folded behind their back!

As discussed in the entry on death-induced evolutions on Layer 2, almost all obtainable Rookie level Digimon have a probability of evolving into Bakemon should they lose a heart from being defeated in battle or illness. The only Rookie-level species that does not have this trigger is Penguinmon; given all eight other obtainable Digimon species of that level otherwise evolve into Bakemon in this manner, this is presumably the product of an oversight or glitch.

The Ice Sanctuary dungeon, located in Freezeland, only allows the Player to enter if their Digimon partner is a Vaccine type. The Player is prevented from entering it if their Digimon partner is a Data or Virus-attribute Digimon; if the Player walks to the entrance, a brief piece of text-based dialogue will imply that some unseen force is preventing them from walking further. However, due to an oversight, it is possible to enter the Ice Sanctuary without a Vaccine-attribute Digimon, bypassing this altogether. This is executed walking to the left side of the entrance towards the wall of the exterior of the Ice Sanctuary, then followed by walking to the right whilst as close to the wall as possible. If executed correctly, this will allow the Player and their Digimon to enter the Ice Sanctuary without issue.

You can see a demonstration of this glitch in this video uploaded by YouTube user SydMontague.

In 2002, a Windows PC port of Digimon World was released exclusively in South Korea. Whilst the game is largely a direct port of the original PlayStation release, the game also has a small number of notable differences from its original counterpart. These differences include:

• The Player will always commence a new save file with an Agumon as their partner, as the only avaialble starter species./li>
• Shadows cast by the models of the Player, Digimon and 3D objects are rendered in real-time.
• The sprites used for items found in the overworld are of a much smaller resolution.
• The Player can save at any location in the game on-demand, via the menu.
• The game also runs at a markedly faster speed than the original PlayStation version.

According to the Digimon World entry on The Cutting Room Floor, the game can be quite cumbersome to run, especially on more contemporary computer hardware.

After defeating and recruiting Digitamamon to File City in the post-game, they will occasionally appear in the File City Restaurant and serve egg-based meals. Due to a glitch or oversight in the code, any of the meals purchased from Digitamamon and fed to the Player's Digimon partner will not reduce the hunger of the Digimon at all. Consequently, this can actually be exploited to farm the stat increases that result from the food being consumed, potentially meaning that the Player could maximise the stats of their Digimon with a degree of ease (so long as they have enough Bits to purchase the meals, of course).

When the Player encounters Ninjamon at the Digimon Bridge (an event that is triggered when the Player has recruited at least one Digimon to File City that appears in the Secret Item Shop), their dialogue prior to battling them makes reference to an unseen location known as Ninja Village. The dialogue is as follows:

"[The Player character is] famous, even as far as Ninja Village."

There is of course no accessible location in the game with the name of Ninja Village. Even if this is likely no more than just a throwaway piece of dialogue, I do find the implications this has about the vastness of File Island (or indeed the Digital World as a whole) incredibly endearing. In my opinion, it contributes to the feeling of the game containing something far beyond the scope of what we as the player or viewer sees, something I've always adored about the atmosphere and feel of Digimon World.

Orange Banana discrepancy

The Orange Banana is a rare food item, only found on a specific screen of the Tropical Jungle area (specifically the screen the Player and their Digimon spawn on after Coelamon assists them in crossing over from Coela Point). There is a discrepency between the stated effect in the Item Menu and the actual outcome of feeding a Digimon an Orange Banana. The Item Menu flavour text specifies the item fully restores HP and MP when fed to a Digimon, but this is in fact false. In truth, Orange Bananas only restore 1000 HP and MP of the Digimon consuming it. Notably, unlike the Rain Plant item, which restores 1000 MP and can be utilised in battle, the Orange Banana can only be used outside of battle. I presume this is due to the item being designated as a food-type item in the game.

The PAL release of Digimon World has, in comparison to the Japanese and North American releases, rather strange box art (pictured below) that has little to do with the game itself. It is comprised of the Digimon logo of the time (used in affiliation with promotional material and merchandise for the Digimon Adventure animated series, which was broadly concurrent to the release of Digimon World in the west) imposed over a blue background. The logo in question depicts the initial seven* protagonist Digimon from Digimon Adventure, (from left to right: Palmon, Biyomon, Agumon, Patamon, Gabumon, Gomamon and Tentomon) above the typography of the image.

This choice of box art of the game is misleading, as two of the aforementioned Digimon, Tentomon and Gomamon, are not obtainable Digimon species in the game (the other five mentioned are, however). Tentomon only appears as both a non-obtainable wild Digimon species and as an NPC in the Beetleland area (which has always been a massive shame to me that the species in non-obtainable, given that on a personal note that Tentomon is of course a major comfort character/fictional species to me), whereas Gomamon does not appear in the game in any form at all.

It's ultimately of no meaningful consequence, but even as an adult critter I can't help but be very mildly disappointed that this was the box art we received in Europe, when the Japanese box art (as pictured at the top of the page) or the North American box art were not only much more appealing (in my opinion, of course) but also much more representative of the game itself. As a small bugfox I do remember being disappointed when I discovered that this box art misled me into believing that Gomamon was in the game!

In 2000, the official English language strategy guide for Digimon World was published by Prima in the United States. The book contained a dedicated evolution guide for the game, listing the required parameters such as care mistakes, stats and weight (as well as lists of techniques that each species of Digimon could learn).

Bizarrely, on page 71 of the book the required criteria for Megaseadramon, HerculesKabuterimon and Phoenixmon are not specified at all. Instead, the words "Top secret" are imposed over the tables for each of the aforementioned Digimon. Given that the Prima strategy guide was officially affiliated with the North American release of Digimon World, it is incredibly odd that this information was omitted. Presumably the writer of the guide was not given the relevant data for these Digimon species.

Further still, it is worth noting too that the specific evolution requirements for these Digimon were not confirmed* until years after the release of Digimon World internationally, after the game was datamined and the relevant data found. If you are interested in seeing the information pertaining to the aforementioned Digimon species yourself, one can search them on the Digimon World Wiki hosted on Grindosaur.

SaberLeomon makes a single appearance in Digimon World, wherein they are otherwise completely absent. In Leomon's Ancestral Cave, where the Player obtains the Stone Tablet item for Leomon, a stone statue of SaberLeomon is present. I just thought this was a fun detail, given that SaberLeomon is (as far as I can tell) never referenced directly in any other part of the game.

Due to an oversight in the game, it is possible for the In-Training Digimon species Tanemon to not evolve into either of their two designated Rookie-level species (Palmon and Betamon), remaining in that form far beyond the point they were supposed to evolve. As a result, Tanemon can remain an In-Training Digimon indefinitely, until they die of old age.

This glitch is caused by the evolution requirements for both Palmon and Betamon overlapping in terms of the stat values required for either species. Therefore meaning this can prevent them from evolving into either Digimon species after one in-game day has passed.

Layer 5

Cherrymon is an Ultimate-level plant Digimon that is an anthropomorphic cherry tree, appearing as an NPC in the Misty Trees area of Digimon World. The design of Cherrymon as they appear in Digimon World is markedly different to the design for the species in subsequent pieces of Digimon media, including the contemporaneous Digimon Adventure animated series.

Rather than just describe the differences between the two designs, I will just show the following image comparing them:

...Quite the contrast!

Why Cherrymon has this design in Digimon World is unknown, but it has been speculated by fans of the game that this was an earlier non-finalised design for the species that was retained by the game from an earlier stage of development. It has also been theorised that this design was used in Digimon World to put less pressure on the hardware of the PlayStation, due to how elaborate Cherrymon's official design may have potentially been to render in real-time as a 3D model*. I personally prefer the older design, I feel it fits very appropriately to the context of Cherrymon being the lofty custodian of a creepy forest that is perennially shrouded in mist.

I have not seen this topic talked about very much in online discussions pertaining to the English language localisations of the game, but I wanted to add it here as though it is of no real significance in the context of the game, it strikes me as unusual.

When the Player reads Shellmon’s notice board after recruiting her to File City, an entry hinting at the recruitment mission for Frigimon in Freezeland has a very peculiar sentence. The line in question reads as above: “Mr. M was saved by this monster.”

Nowhere in the game is there any character known as “Mr. M”, nor is there (as far as I can tell, at least) any character that this line could be referring to. Presumably this was an unusual translation from the game being localised into English, or possibly a piece of placeholder text that was never removed. Nonetheless, it strikes me as a very unusual detail, regardless of how inconsequential it otherwise is.

An old video game rumour from years past, it was believed by some that there was a secret method that would allow the Player to evolve their Digimon to Myotismon. The method seemed be commonly described as feeding the Steak item (the same one the Player has to retrieve from the Overdell Cemetery for the Myotismon residing at the Greylord’s Mansion) to a Devimon. This would allegedly immediately initiate said evolution once consumed. Some discussion of this method also stated that this is only possible in the Japanese version of Digimon World.

This has all been confirmed to be a hoax, as it has been debunked on multiple occasions; Myotismon is simply not a Digimon that the Player can obtain in any manner through legitimate means (though some Players have hacked the game to add Myotismon as a partner Digimon. The fanmade mod Digimon World Vice for example includes Myotismon as an additional obtainable species). Nonetheless, on a personal note this entry is quite nostalgic for me, as I myself remember looking up guides for the game when I was much younger and seeing forum posts about this alleged secret in the game. In some ways, I would argue this is very reminiscent of the similar old rumours about the Pokémon video games (“Mew is underneath the truck” and “Bill’s Secret Garden”, to name a couple!).

Akin to the previous entry, this one is a (seemingly quite obscure) old rumour about Omnimon being a secret recruitable Digimon. This thread about glitches and secrets in Digimon World from 2010 on NeoSeeker details the alleged series of steps and criteria to follow to encounter and recruit Omnimon. Briefly summarised, the method states that the Player must have a Digimon with extremely high stats (seemingly also including Offence, Speed and Brains exceeding 999 points in each, which is not even possible for those stats in normal gameplay) and specific conditions for their parameters of Happiness, Discipline and their Virus Meter being 0 (or empty). Following this, the method states that the Player has to battle and win the S Cup at the File City Battle Arena. Afterwards, the Player is then apparently supposed to travel to the Misty Trees (specifically the area where Cherrymon is found, near the border of Toy Town) where they must wait for 6 consecutive in-game days, after which Omnimon will allegedly appear at night. For whatever reason, this "guide" also states that Omnimon appears in this game with the model of SkullGreymon "except with a shield*".

You can read the entirety of the method and other information pertaining to this alleged secret in the game in the linked thread on the website, but if it was not already evident, this is indeed a pure fabrication with no basis in fact. Nonetheless, I decided to include this here as it is quite an amusing (and for me at least, nostalgic) rumour in relation to Digimon World, with the convoluted method of encountering Omnimon feeling very akin to the old silly rumours about the first generation Pokémon games (or even the dubious "How to unlock Luigi in Super Mario 64" methods, even)!

There are two known specific tiles in the area of File City containing Jijimon's House, which if the Player remains stationary on, will prevent their Digimon from being able to die of old age. These two areas are the tile that the Player and their Digimon will be positioned on by default after exiting Jijimon's House, and the other being the position the Player stands in immediately after crossing the bridge to the entrance to Mt. Infinity (which is of course not accessible prior to the event trigger for unlocking Mt. Infinity takes place, as it is obstructed by a waterfall beforehand).

If the Player remains completely stationary and does not move at all, their Digimon will remain unaffected by their age stat increasing. As a result, if the Player's Digimon partner is about to die of old age, they can indefinitely continue living so long as the Player does not move at all. The care needs of the Digimon such as hunger and needing the poop will continue as normal. If the Digimon is too old and the Player moves, the sequence of their Digimon dying and reincarnated as a Digitama will trigger as per normal.

In the south-eastern reaches of Native Forest, there is a tree with a door attached to the trunk. Interacting with it will show a message engraved in the door, telling anyone present to go away; if the Player returns to said tree after accruing at least 50 Prosperity points, the ape-like Etemon will reveal himself by ambushing the Player and their Digimon, inflicting damage before initiating a battle immediately.

Notably, there is unused content in the game’s files which suggest that Etemon’s Treehouse may have been intended to have an interior at some point in development. The pre-rendered background for the corresponding screen in Native Forest shows an open doorway that is otherwise concealed by the door being superimposed in real-time during gameplay. Interestingly, it is possible to see the open doorway if the Player fights Etemon with a Digimon that can use the DG Dimension technique. When used, the technique will briefly cause the image of the door to disappear* before the animated background of the attack plays.

Hidden in the game files are three Digimon species that were left unused but are fully functional; these Digimon are MetalEtemon, Gigadramon and Panjyamon, which in turn each have a corresponding evolution item: the Metal Banana, Giga Hand and Noble Mane, respectively.

All three of these Digimon are palette-swaps of species that already exist in the final game (Etemon, Megadramon and Leomon), the only differences being that the attribute of each of them was changed, as MetalEtemon is a Vaccine type (instead of Virus type)and Gigadramon and Panjyamon are both Data types (instead of Virus and Vaccine, respectively). Notably, whilst Panjyamon is canonically an Ultimate-level Digimon, it is treated as a Champion-level species; MetalEtemon is likewise a Mega-level species (which did not exist at the time of Digimon World being developed, with Ultimate-level Digimon being the highest possible evolutionary rank) but is treated as an Ultimate-level Digimon.

If the game is hacked via a cheat engine in an emulator or through a device such as a GameShark (if playing on original hardware), the aforementioned evolution items for these Digimon can be added to the Player’s inventory. There are however no methods of obtaining these Digimon through natural evolution, though some fan-made mods for the game (such as Digimon World Vice) have included these three Digimon.

There has been some anecdotal discussion online in relation to an alleged method of obtaining the Metal Banana item, which as discussed is an unused evolution item corresponding to the (also unused) species, MetalEtemon. After recruiting Etemon to File City (or rather, he attempts to join the City but is forcibly ejected by the other Digimon due to behaving inappropriately), he then remains in the Digimon Bridge area to the east of File City. If the Player has at least 50,000 Bits, he will offer to sell to them a Gold Banana, the evolution item corresponding to Etemon. This rumour entailed there being a very low probability that when buying the item from Etemon, the Player would receive a Metal Banana instead. However, there is no evidence of this being possible in the game.

Layer 6

Hidden in the game files are two areas that are used as debug rooms, remnants from the game being in development. Each of them is a copy of an area in the game, the first being the area in File City located just outside of Jijimon’s House, the other being the clearing in Native Forest with the pathways leading to Mt. Panorama in the northwest, Drill Tunnel to the west and the central clearing of Native Forest to the south.

The debug areas contain multiple character actors (with the File City debug area containing three Jijjimons and a Tokomon, and the Native Forest area containing two Sukamons), used to configure different aspects of gameplay such as stats, the in-game clock and calendar and evolutions. One of the character actors can also warp the Player to specific locations.

Notably, (as detailed in the Digimon World entry on The Cutting Room Floor) the File City debug area can be accessed if playing on original hardware and starting a new save file, without hacking. Upon starting a new save file, immediately after the FMV cutscene that plays before the gameplay begins, the Player is for a very brief interval initially spawned into the File City debug area. This is until the screen fades into the opening cutscene with the Player surrounded by Jijimon and the remaining residents of File City. Assuming one is playing the game on any model of the original PlayStation (or a PlayStation 2 Slim, due to that particular having a disc tray lid akin to the PlayStation), it is possible to stop the disc from spinning in the console by opening the lid and holding it in place. If performed correctly, the game will immediately load into the File City debug area, rather than play the opening in-engine cutscene as normal.

There are some unused areas in the game, some of which are screens associated with Greylord’s Mansion and Mt. Infinity. The unused rooms in Greylord’s Mansion seem to be duplicates of the room containing multiple computers containing items, with the statue of Unimon in the lower left corner. They contain some very poorly-defined collision detection, making the rooms extremely difficult to navigate as a result.

There are also a number of unused rooms in Mt. Infinity, which contain the teleportation tiles that appear as components of the pre-rendered backgrounds, though none of them seem to have any functionality. Oddly, instead of the regular Mt. Infinity music, all of these areas instead play the ambience that is heard in the Sewer subarea of Factorial Town.

There is also an unused earlier version of a screen in the Mt. Panorama Spore Area, which is larger than the final version that is used in the game. The pre-rendered background is a mess of colours, which I presume is attributable to this screen apparently not having a palette assigned to it. This area has three computers containing items, which are the same as the ones obtainable in the corresponding final version of the area but lined up vertically on the right partition of the area.

There is some dialogue for the Tokomon NPC that whilst not unused, would only be triggered under very specific circumstances. This dialogue is triggered if the Player recruits either Angemon or Monzaemon and accruing a total of no more than 6 Prosperity Points. The relevance is the fact that Jijimon's House is completely renovated once either of the aforementioned two Digimon are recruited. Though the game intends for the Player to access both the Ice Sanctuary and Toy Town at later stages of the game (corresponding to the locations Angemon and Monzaemon are found at, respectively), it is in fact possible to recruit either of the aforementioned Digimon, should they Player take certain very specific paths through the game. This deviates from the seemingly intended path of the Player reaching Freezeland via the Great Canyon.

In the case of Angemon as an example (and the arguably simpler route of the two), it is possible to access Freezeland (and by extension, the Ice Sanctuary) prior to even reaching Great Canyon. If the Player intiates the Drill Tunnel story event and battles (and loses against) Meramon, the Player will gain access to Mt. Panorama as this triggers the removal of the rocks obstructing the path. From there, they can then pass travel towards the northeast, through Gear Savanna, then to Geko Swamp, the Misty Trees and then finally Freezeland. Assuming their Digimon partner is a Vaccine-attribute (due to the fact that Virus and Data-attribute Digimon cannot enter the Ice Sanctuary) and strong enough to fight through the Ice Sanctuary dungeon, the Player can recruit Angemon early.

If the Player then returns to Jijimon's House after recruiting Angemon, the Tokomon NPC that sits in Jijimon's House will have the following dialogue:

"[Player], you have a way different approach to adventure".

The fact that this strange dialogue is in the game and would only be visible after what would likely be a very specific series of actions made by the Player, is so wonderfully odd to me. I would personally classify this as quite a peculiar and fun Easter Egg, if nothing else!

(Credit to this post on Reddit by user Digsu, displaying this dialogue and providing the source for this entry.)

At some stage in 1999, a specialised demo of Digimon World was distributed as a free item with a specific issue of the Japanese children's manga magazine, Comic BomBom. This demo, known as the Digimon World Premium Disc, contained the full Digimon World game, though the option to save progress was completely disabled. As well as this, the gameplay would cease once a certain number of in-game days was reached. Notably, the Battle Mode was playable, even containing an exclusive arena that seemed to be a modified version of the Mt. Infinity arena, with a distinct orange colour scheme.

Arguably, of particular interest is the fact that the Noble Mane, one of the unused evolution items (corrresponding to the likewise unused species, Panjyamon) that was not obtainable without hacking in the final release of Digimon World, can in fact be acquired in this demo via inputting a cheat code on the title screen of the demo. Panjyamon is even present on the title screen image of the Digimon World Premium Disc. Of the online discussions in English that I have been able to find about this demo, this demo reportedly had connectivity with the Japanese version of the full game, allowing the Player to obtain the Noble Mane item in the full Digimon World game; if this is indeed the case, this seems to indicate that Panjyamon and the Noble Mane item were not so much unused and removed but presumably intended as specially distributed, for the Japanese version at the very least.

One of the three unused but fully functional Digimon species hidden in the game files, Panjyamon oddly seems to be capable of evolving, which is peculiar given that (as far as I have been able to research, at least) the other two unused, hidden species cannot (albeit likely due to them both being Ultimate-level Digimon). As detailed in this video by the YouTube channel Guide to Nerdhood (timestamped in the video between 4:50-6:36), it is possible for Panjyamon to evolve into Vegiemon if the criteria (care mistakes, stats and weight) for the species is met. This is particularly unusual, as though it is possible for a small number of Champion-level Digimon to evolve into other species of the same evolution level (as detailed in the entries about sleep and death-induced evolutions), this seems to be the only instance of the same requirements for compatible Rookie-level Digimon being imposed upon a Champion-level Digimon.

Of note as well, detailed within the same specified timestamp duration of the video, is that Panjyamon seems to have a possible evolution trigger that crashes the game. Presumably there could have been an intended Ultimate-level species for Panjyamon to evolve to in the game that was never properly programmed into the game, for whichever reason. Regardless, there is something quite unsettling about watching the evolution sequence animation take place without an intended Digimon to evolve to before crashing the game, in my opinion.

A 22nd Tournament grade remains unused in the game files, known as the Royal Grade Tournament. It can be accessed via hacking the game (or via the application of a specific glitch, as detailed on The Cutting Room Floor) and entered as with all other Tournaments at the Arena in File City (with the exception of the Beetle Cup Tournament in Beetleland, of course).

The Royal Grade Tournament is comprised of combatants that seem to be selected from a heavily randomised assortment of seemingly any and all Digimon species found in the game. Oddly, even Fresh and In-Training-level Digimon can appear as combatants in the Tournament, which is peculiar given that Digimon below Rookie-level are forbidden from entering any other Tournaments.

Furthermore, all of the computer-controlled Digimon in the Royal Grade Tournament do not have any stat values assigned to them, meaning that all stats equate to 0 by default, including HP. As a result, all opponents faced by the Player in the tournament are immediately defeated as soon as the battle starts, so the Player will always win each round without fail. No prize items or Bits awarded for winning were assigned for the Royal Grade Tournament; prize items and Bits are similarly not assigned as participation prizes that are awarded to the Player for reaching the semi-final or final rounds.

An unused item, the AS Decoder can be hacked into the Player’s item inventory with an emulator cheat engine or device such as a GameShark if running on original hardware. The item has no functional utility at all, with Item Menu flavour text that reads simply as:

It is theorised that this item may have been intended for use in relation to the recruitment mission for Leomon, as this mission entails having to retrieve an stone tablet with a message inscribed upon it and intended for him, left by his ancient ancestors. The mission itself in the final game however does not require any further action from the Player beyond delivering it to Leomon in the Gear Savanna. If the item was originally related to the recruitment mission for Leomon, it was may have cut to avoid overcomplicating the task at hand.

As demonstrated in this video by YouTube user Geta92, something particularly strange occurs if the Player starts a new save file in Debug Mode, uses the Tokomon actor to evolve their Digimon to Sukamon and then intiates the King of Sukamon's evolution technique at Trash Mountain. Presumably due to the game commencing in Debug Mode, the game does not register the a previous form of the Player-controlled Sukamon, which results in said Digimon reverting to Digimon No.000, appearing as a duplicate of the Player character model.

My assumption is that this Digimon was perhaps used as a dummy or placeholder during development, evidenced in part by (as shown in the video) Digimon No.000 only knowing the technique Fire Tower, (something common to a lot of Digimon that appear only as NPCs and are not battled at any point, such as Jijimon). As also shown in the video, Digimon No.000 does not seem to be able to function in battle, with both it and any enemy Digimon remaining completely stationary and not using any techniques. It's rather ominous, in my opinion!

Some assets pertaining to the Ultimate-level Digimon WereGarurumon remain in the game files, indicating that the species was intended to be included in the game in some capacity but was presumably left unfinished in the game files. This is of particular note, given that WereGarurumon is the canonical Ultimate-level form of Gabumon, the other of the two species that the Player can acquire as their starter Digimon in Digimon World. The absence is definitely very stark as a result, especially given how integral both Gabumon and Agumon were to the concurrently-released Digimon Adventure animated series, being the partners of the characters Matt and Tai, respectively.

The first of the remaining assets for WereGarurumon in the game files a set of coloured V-Pet sprites for WereGarurumon, which would have been intended for the Tournament seed screen (and possibly for the Flatten status in battle, as well).

The other asset is an unused evolution item that was intended for WereGarurumon, the Moon Mirror item, which directly references WereGarurumon in the Item Menu flavour text. Whilst the Moon Mirror can be added to the Player's inventory via hacking or via a device such as a GameShark, using the item has no effect at all.

This final entry on Layer 6 is quite something, in my opinion.

As mentioned on Layer 5, there are three unused Digimon species (and corresponding evolution items) left unused in the game files. One of these unused items corresponds to MetalEtemon, which shortly after the release of Digimon World in Japan in 1999, is evidenced to have been obtainable through some form of official real-world campaign. This is perhaps akin to Nintendo hosting official real-world events for the distribution of event-exclusive Pokémon species such as Celebi.

As discussed in this video by the YouTube channel Guide to Nerdhood (timestamped from 10:21-10:59), a Player's Guide for the game was published in Japan on February 23, 1999. On page 134 of the Player's Guide, a promotional advertisement for a sweepstake contest was detailed, wherein winning individuals drawn from sending off a form (with a small number of trivia questions related to the game) attached to the advertisement would receive one of fifty PlayStation Memory Cards, containing data for MetalEtemon. It does not seem to be entirely clear as to what these Memory Cards contained specifically. Presumably, the Memory Cards had specialised save files that would allow the Player to start the game with the Metal Banana item (or possibly more than one of the item) in their inventory or perhaps already in the Item Bank. Alternatively, maybe the Memory Cards could have contained a specialised save file in which the Player would start the game with a MetalEtemon as their partner, instead of Agumon or Gabumon.

Deviating somewhat from my more impartial style of discussing and detailing the subjects of this list, I will admit that my ability to research this much further is very much restricted, due to major factors such as the fact I cannot speak or read Japanese in any capacity. I do speculate whether any discussion, images or maybe even extracted copies of the data found on these Memory Cards distributed in the event have ever found their way online, or (in the case of the data) it is at this point some form of lost media (which I feel is quite plausible, given that it has been over 25 years as of writing since this promotional campaign took place, not to mention only a limited number of these Memory Cards were distributed).

Layer 7

To close this iceberg, a particularly intriguing mystery.

A total of five unused evolution items were left hidden in the game files. As discussed earlier, three of them were corresponding to fully-functional Digimon that also remained unused in the final game. The fourth of these items was the Moon Mirror, corresponding to the unfinished species WereGarurumon, which has no functionality at all. The fifth and final of these items is known as the Electro Ring. This evolution item corresponds to a Digimon referenced in the game files (including Item Menu flavour text) as Kaminarimon; as with the Moon Mirror, nothing occurs if the Player uses it.

What is notable about this item is that Kaminarimon, the corresponding Digimon, not only does not exist in the final released version of Digimon World, but does not seem to exist anywhere else in the Digimon franchise at all.

A common theory among fans of the game is that Kaminarimon was an alternate name for Thunderballmon, a Champion-level Digimon that as their name and design motifs suggest is a Digimon affiliated with electricity and magnets. This is supported further by the name of the item (the word "kaminari" being a Japanese word that translates roughly to "thunder") having an obvious thematic link to the design motifs of Thunderballmon. However, based on some research I have made in relation to this matter, I feel it is plausible that Kaminarimon might not have been Thunderballmon. I reiterate that this is with a degree of conjecture on my end nonetheless, so please do keep this in mind and take it all with a grain of salt.

As referenced in the citations of the Wikimon entry for Thunderballmon, the species was a winning fan-made design in an official contest held by Bandai in 1999, known as the First Original Digimon Design contest. It was held on Digimon Web, the old and long-defunct official Digimon website (an archived copy of the page in question provided by the WayBack Machine is linked in the citations of the linked Wikimon article). Thunderballmon was made into an official Digimon species, as were several other winning designs in the contest.

What I am about to propose is purely conjectural, as I have been unable to find any specific dates the contest had taken place on (so as said, please take this with a huge grain of salt), but as Digimon World was released in early 1999, I question whether this contest had taken place before the release of the game. It of course entirely possible that contest was held beforehand, but given how early in 1999 Digimon World was released in Japan, I think it is improbable. Therefore, I believe it would be reasonable to assume that Kaminarimon was not Thunderballmon at all.

So, what is Kaminarimon? I do not know. All I have just detailed about the possible lack of connection to Thunderballmon could be completely false. Kaminarimon could have been referencing another Digimon entirely, maybe it was an internal name or placeholder for one such other species of Digimon. Kaminarimon might be a Digimon species that was supposed to exist, but for whatever reason ultimately never developed past the concept stage. There is so much information and context I most likely do not have access to or are missing here, that said. Nonetheless, this mystery intrigues me thoroughly .

To close on this topic, and indeed this iceberg (if you have read all to this point, this bugfox thanks you very much for listening to them happily make chirp-yip noises about one of their dearest pieces of comfort media!), there is in fact an entry on this elusive Digimon species on Wikimon, which as you can see is (understandably) quite empty. Interestingly, whilst the image for the species on the entry (shown below) is a fan-made design, it was published in a January 1999 issue of V-Jump, a Japanese magazine focused on manga. If there is no connection between this and Digimon World, which was released in the same month in 1999 (and I have no idea, as I feel like a lot of crucial information is likely missing in this instance), it makes for quite an interesting coincidence.

Sources and references consulted

• Digi-Battle.com
• Digimon World Guide by Ginoshie (accessed via Google Docs)
• Digimon World: Prima's Official Strategy Guide (accessed via Internet Archive) by Elizabeth M. Hollinger (Prima Publishing, 2000).
• Grindosaur-Digimon World 1 Wiki
• Wikimon
• YouTube-Geta92
• YouTube-Guide to Nerdhood
• YouTube-SydMontague