Level Up: Digimon Battle Spirit

Back in Cheap Dam-month, I talked about Digimon Digital Card Battle and today I realized… This is somehow the only other Digimon game I own. The Digimon World games are quite rare and expensive, and the other games that have been released in North America and are at a decent price just haven’t interested me enough yet. I really do like Digimon, but I had an N64 instead of a PlayStation growing up, so I missed out on the games when I could have gotten them reasonably priced. Today we have a game that is for a Nintendo system: here’s Digimon Battle Spirit for the Game Boy Advance.
This game has references to the show, but it really doesn’t make any sense because it’s a fighting game so you got good guys fighting good guys. Well, maybe they’re under the control of black gears or a similar device? Well no, cause the enemy is Milleniummon, so how and why? Well, maybe despite being iconic Digimon, they’re just other ones without trainers? No, cause they’re seen with the trainers on the select screen, and Digimon like Wormmon reference their partner with their attacks. Well maybe they don't all know each other so they just assumed they’re enemies? Well I know for certain that Henry and Rika know each other. Whatever, the Digimon just come together and fight each other in order to get to Milleniummon and beat him before he destroys the Digital World. Doesn’t make sense, but again, this is a fighting game, they gotta fight for some reason.
Digimon Battle Spirit is a much different game than your typical Street Fighter type of stuff. As a matter of fact, despite being full 2D, I’d put it closer to Super Smash Bros. or Power Stone, as this is more of a platforming-fighter: you can move freely about huge stage, make big jumps, attack combos are simple and there are even items that you may use to attack. However, there are no health bars, damage meters or any way to ring out an opponent, so how do you win a match? Well, as you fight, you’ll notice that colored orbs (called D-spirits, so the title makes sense) fly out of a Digimon after it has taken damage. Your goal is to damage your opponent and then collect these D-spirits, and whoever has the most when the timer runs out wins. So is this a good or bad fighting system? I can’t really tell. At some times I really enjoy the different play style, and appreciate that it’s so unique. Other times, I feel it makes the game too stiff and slow, and that chasing after the orbs after damaging was a pointless step. I guess it really depends on your gaming preferences and mood.
However, there is one aspect I could always count on to make the game fun, and that was Calumon. As you should know, Digimon are famous for their Digivolutions, which transforms the Digimon into a more powerful monster. Touching Calumon will trigger this and turn your Digimon into a much bigger and more powerful one for a short time while also making you invincible, meaning you have a great chance to take the lead. Think of this like the Power Stones or the Smash Ball from the Super Smash Bros, but you only got one shot at it each round, so make it count.
Digimon Battle Spirit is a pretty unique fighting game based off of Digimon, and at the end of the day, I like it. It was good enough to warrant a sequel (which I’m probably never going to buy, since it has LESS Digimon, all based on the 4th season I didn’t like), but that seems to be as far as its popularity goes, as I never really hear anyone raving about it. The graphics are actually among my favorites on the Game Boy Advance, which is a bold statement since it never started a trend like Mario & Luigi or Sonic Advance (which is a shame, cause I would love to see Pokemon done in its style). The music is pretty good too, so over all it’s a good quality game. The game play is pretty mixed, as I can see why it would be easy to hate this game, get frustrated with it or get bored of it quickly after unlocking everyone. It’s probably best you only get this game if you really like alternative fighting games and if you can find it cheaply, but if you want something to just experiment with and like Digimon, I say try it out. I give Digimon Battle Spirit for the Game Boy Advance 7 levels out of 10.