Artyte said:
I understand your point, but can you spot any similarities in it?
1. Both have monsters. (A defining trope of a genre, not an actual similarity per se.)
1a. Some of these monsters are based on the same things. (Also a defining trope because the creators have to get their ideas from
somewhere. It just so happens that both were founded in Japan, so both have similar sources of inspiration.)
2. Evolution. (However, evolution for both franchises do
not have similar principles. As I've stated before, Pokémon evolution is a one-way street that represents maturity and growth from one stage to the next, as shown by the change in psychology and power when a Pokémon evolves. Digimon evolution is a two-way street – as in, a Digimon can
devolve – that represents only a rise in power, as shown by a lack of psychological change and the timing of evolution.)
3. Both are born from eggs. (However, Digimon's egg concept comes from Tamagotchi, which makes this a moot point.)
4. Both involve PvP battling. (However, this was set up differently in the originals. With Digimon, the keychain devices were set up so two players with fully evolved Digimon can battle via button-mashing. Pokémon had a GB and link cable to enable not only trading but also turn-based battling.)
5. Both attack. (Digimon's attacks were first named in the anime; they were unnamed in the original game. Furthermore, Digimon have attacks based on individual species, so no two Digimon actually have the same moveset. This contrasts with Pokémon, which has a certain list of defined attacks that can be mixed and matched with each monster. In other words, Digimon takes into consideration the individualism of a monster. Pokémon, not so much.)
6. Both have humans teaming up with monsters. (Trope. Also, in Pokémon, it's more of a master-servant relationship in that the trainer orders his Pokémon to perform strategies and is never directly involved -- or if they are, it's taboo. The original Digimon assumed your pets battled for you, yes, but as if you were standing on the sidelines and watching a rooster fight. In the anime, a Digimon's partner represented equal power. A Digimon knew how to attack without the partner's direction and, in many cases, attacked without orders. However, the partner held items that could boost a Digimon's power. For example, the crest, the egg, or the cards. Furthermore, a Digimon's partner stood on equal footing, not only because a Digimon could speak – and, therefore, was seen as an intellectual equal – but also because Digimon in later seasons had the potential to merge with their human partners. Also, human partners can only possess one Digimon, whereas Pokémon literally encourages you to capture at least 493.)
7. Both involve devices. (Digivice, Poké Ball. However, they don't work the same way.)
If I'm missing one, feel free to add, and we can discuss it.
Why isn't digimon in the essential 50 since you said it in that way?
Because it's not as popular. Seriously, the fanbase for Digimon has always been smaller than other games of the time, including and especially Pokémon.
Btw, tamagotchi isn't in there too, and it is a game (they don't have to be computer games).
This should tell you something about what the author's calling influential. Tamagotchi was one of the biggest fads of the 90's to the point where there was merchandise for it and rip-offs
everywhere.
Of course, it also wasn't a video game. It was, first and foremost, a virtual pet, as was Digimon. It just so happened that Digimon also had PvP capabilities to appeal to boys. (Tamagotchi was a franchise aimed at girls because of the cutesy monsters and the concept of taking care of a baby. Digimon was an attempt by the same company to market the same idea to boys.)
Well according to logicial deduction, pokemon was the first one to come out with that idea, and with digimon being similar to it and also being the second, this implies that digimon was copying it,
This isn't logical deduction. Why? Because your reasoning is vague.
Put it this way. What you're saying (as it is in the above quote) is essentially the same as this: Legend of Zelda came before Final Fantasy. Does that mean Final Fantasy, which has a number of similarities to Zelda, ripped off Zelda? Eragon came after the Lord of the Rings. Given that they're both fantasy novels, does that mean Eragon ripped of LotR? Guitar Hero, a music-and-rhythm game that uses an instrument, came after Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (which can essentially be described the same way). Does that mean Guitar Hero's clearly a rip-off?
Point is, just because one game or whatnot came before the other doesn't mean it's clear that one was copying off the other. It just means there was a market for it at that time (or throughout time in the latter example), so someone tried to capitalize on it
without using a predecessor for an example.
Edit: Yes, you mention reinvention, but to clarify, again, there was a market for monsters, not necessarily opened by Pokémon either. (If anything, it might've been opened by Tamagotchi and other earlier fads.) So, I wouldn't even call Digimon a reinvention of the monster genre.