Digimon World (1999) Iceberg

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 quite often annoyingly cryptic, and at times cruel) evolution system and just immersive atmosphere of the strange 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 may still be subject to updates or revisions (unless stated otherwise, of course), 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 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 sometimes 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...)

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 meat growing from the ground is a 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 activate 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!).

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 in-game days old and have not successfully met any of the criteria required for the natural evolutions specific to their species.
• Sukamon, a literal anthropomorphic pile of faeces with arms and a 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 becomes full, due to pooping on the ground too many times.
• Nanimon, an orb-shaped humanoid with a bearded, human-like face and sunglasses^*. Any Rookie-level Digimon species will evolve into Nanimon if their Happiness and Discipline gauges both reach 0%.

All three of these Digimon are very weak for Champion-level Digimon and have very limited movesets (as all three are Filth-type, though Nanimon is also a Battle-type) and their stats decreased from their previous form. Not only this, all three of these Digimon will also obtain smaller stat increases when training at the Green Gym. The game intends for these three Digimon to be penalties to the Player, for poor or neglectful treatment of their Digimon partner.

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


*As a tangential side note, the Digimon Reference Book makes reference to Nanimon being a mysterious entity that was previously known as "Oyaji" and had invaded the Digital World from another dimension. This entity eventually was able to adapt to the often precarious and hostile conditions of the Digital World, evolving into the Digimon species now known as Nanimon. If you do not know what this is a reference to, the implication is that Nanimon used to be the Tamagotchi species known as Oyajitchi, as Digimon did after all begin as a spin-off to the franchise!

Monzaemon costume

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 conspicuosly 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. In the context of Digimon World itself however, I personally enjoy how this feels akin to the trope of a weak monster eventually evolving into a much more powerful form (akin to Magikarp evolving into Gyarados in the Pokémon games).


Kunemon

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


Ultimate Poop Hell

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 Flattening status on targets.

As someone who has played one of the PAL versions of the game for so many years, I'm 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 is hilarious to me, regardless!


Poisoning status is very imbalanced

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 (Stun, Confusion, Flattening and Poisoning) present in the game, Poisoning is by far the most imbalanced. Whereas the other three statuses are temporary and resolve after a certain span of real time, Poisoning 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 Poisoning status also greatly slows down the movement of the Digimon affected, making it much harder for them to evade attacks. For these reasons, Poisoning is horrendously imbalanced in Digimon World.


King of Sukamon's "evolution technique"

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 into "something miserable" if he is upset by the Player.


Deadly Bomb

The Finisher technique of the Ultimate-level Digimon Giromon, Deadly Bomb has a very unique utility as a Finisher, with a 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 proximity of the bomb, it detonates and inflicts damage to said Digimon. 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 some cases, multiple enemies), Deadly Bomb has a very unusual and unique 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 how much its use hinges on the movement of the enemy Digimon.


Sleep-induced evolutions

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 30% 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 30% chance of evolving into Airdramon if they sleep with their Happiness and Discipline Gauges each at 100%, and Tiredness at 0.

Defeat-induced evolutions

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:

• Any Rookie-level Digimon has a 10% chance of evolving into Bakemon if defeated in battle.
• MetalGreymon and Megadramon each have a 10% chance of evolving into SkullGreymon if defeated in battle
• Birdramon has a 50% chance 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 50% chance of evolving into Devimon. Notably, this is the only evolution method of obtaining Devimon (aside form using Black Wing evolution item on any Rookie-level Digimon, of course).

Mamemon battle music

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.*

*I myself can attest to the battle being difficult. Given how much Mamemon loves to spam Full Potential and buff their stats, to the extent that your Digimon's attacks are inflicting damage not exceeding double digits. All whilst Mamemon delivers many heavy attacks, I very much agree it's not an easy fight at all.

Mojyamon Bits-farming exploit

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 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.




Layer 3


Exclusive MetalGreymon Digimon Trading Card Game promo card

A special limited edition promo card of MetalGreymon for the Digimon TCG was given away with earlier-released North American copies of Digimon World (pictured above). 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 this 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.)



MetalGreymon was originally a Virus-type Digimon

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's "sculptures"

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), which can literally turn 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 Tyranomon. 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!


Digitamamon is the corrupted offspring of Machinedramon

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 attacks the Player and initiates a battle.

The game alludes directly to the possibility that this Digitamamon could be 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. Even if this perhaps extends into the territory of a headcanon, I personally subscribe to this idea, especially given how Machinedramon is (in the context of Digimon World at least) implied to be completely synthetic and unnatural in form.

Bakemon's rumoured dialogue "translation"

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)!



PlatinumSukamon and the absence of toilets in Factorial Town

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.

Layer 4


Giromon's Jukebox crashes the game (NTSC version)

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 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.


Ogre Fortress softlock (certain PAL versions)

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 walk to the entrance to the Ogre Fortress, where an Agumon is standing. After the text-based cutscene ends, the Player and their Digimon then enter the Ogre Fortress. For whatever reason, in certain PAL releases of the game (only affecting some PAL versions, though I am not certain which specifically) this does not occur, meaning the Agumon remains stationary and obstructs the entrance.

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 directly linked to accessing these 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).


Vademon's UFO

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 brandishing 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 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!

South Korea-exclusive Windows PC port (2002)

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:

• Agumon is the only possible starter Digimon available at the beginning of the game.
• Shadows cast by the models of the Player and Digimon are rendered in real-time.
• The sprites used for items found in the overworld are of a much smaller resolution.
• The Player can save anywhere in the game on-demand, as opposed to only being able to save via the Player letting their Digimon sleep or by using the Digivice in Jijimon's House in the original PlayStation version.
• The game also runs at a markedly faster speed than the original version.

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


PAL box art oddity

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 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) imposed over a blue background. The logo in question depicts the seven protagonist Digimon from Digimon Adventure, (from left to right: Palmon, Biyomon, Agumon, Patamon, Gabumon, Gomamon and Tentomon*) above the typography of the image.

The cover box art of the PAL release of Digimon World.

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 wild enemy 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 Tentomon is of course a major comfort character 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!

*The image does not include Kari's partner Gatomon, which I presume is due to the fact that both characters did not appear until much later in the story of Digimon Adventure.

SaberLeomon's single appearance in the game

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.




Layer 5


Cherrymon

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:

To the left is the finalised or official design of Cherrymon, which has been used in all subsequent Digimon media to the present. The right is the design of Cherrymon as they appear in Digimon World.

...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, nonetheless. 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.

*Notably however, Cherrymon also appears in Digimon World 2, utilising the official design for the species. With this in mind, I do also want to note as alluded at the start, that Digimon World 2 has very little in common with the first game, with the combined virtual pet and open-world gameplay styles infamously being completely replaced in favour of dungeon-crawler style gameplay with turn-based battles.

"Mr. M was saved by this monster."

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.


Rumoured secret evolution condition for Myotismon

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). 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!).


Etemon's Treehouse

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 the reader 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 that suggest that Etemon’s Treehouse may have been intended to have an interior at some point in development, with the pre-rendered background for the corresponding screen in Native Forest even showing 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 twchnique which will briefly cause the image of the door to disappear* before the animated background of the attack plays.

*Similarly, this can also take place under the same condition of using DG Dimension in battle, with the doors that are not part of the pre-rendered background in the Toy Mansion.

Unused, fully functional Digimon and evolution items

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.


Rumoured Metal Banana obtainment method

There has been some 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. Allegedly, some Players reported anecdotally that after recruiting Etemon to File City (after which he is then forcibly removed by the other Digimon, due to behaving inappropriately), there was a seemingly low probability that buying the Gold Banana item from Etemon for 50,000 Bits would result in him selling the Player the Metal Banana item instead. There is however no tangible evidence at all that this event can actually occur in the game.




Layer 6

Debug Areas

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.

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 PlayStation (or a PlayStation 2 Slim, due to those models 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.

Unused areas in Mt. Panorama, Greylord's Mansion and Mt. Infinity

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 copies of the dining room area, albeit with assets such as the dinner table missing. 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.


Digimon World Premium Disc (1999)

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 cheatcode on title screen. Panjyamon is even present on the title screen 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.


Royal Grade Tournament

A 22nd Tournament grade remains unused in the game files, known as the Royal Grade Tournament. It can be accessed via hacking the game 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 entirely prohibited 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 match 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.


AS Decoder

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:

“You can read Ancient Script”

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.

WereGarurumon assets

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 not for seemingly unknown reasons (which I think is probable, given that WereGarurumon is the canonical Ultimate-level form of Gabumon). The first of these assets was a set of coloured V-Pet sprites for WereGarurumon, which would have been intended for the Tournament seed screen.

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, attempting to use the item will cause the game to crash.


PlayStation Memory Card Event

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, perhaps akin to Nintendo hosting official events for the distribution of event-exclusive Pokémon species such as Celebi and Shaymin.

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 raffle was detailed, wherein winning individuals drawn from the raffle 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.

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 may be plausible, given that it has been over 25 years as of writing since this promotional campaign took place).




Layer 7


Electro Ring


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 (either removed or unfinished) species WereGarurumon, which causes the game to crash if used. 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, the game will crash if the Player attempts to use the item.

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 having a fairly 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.

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. 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 please take this with a 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. Therefore, I theorise that maybe (unless the contest was before and there were plans to add Thunderballmon to the game at the very last minute, though such an idea strikes me as impprobable), Kaminarimon was not in reference to Thunderballmon in the first place.

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. 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.

A fan-made design (artist credit unknown) for a Digimon with the name Kaminarimon, sourced from the January 1999 issue of V-Jump. Coincidence? I do not know, to be truthful.