Pokémon Spinoff: Digimon Adventure TCG

[Guzeinbuick]

I downloaded this over a year ago, finally got around to playing recently and thoroughly beating this build. Thought I'd re-read the thread, did, ran out of time to comment, and saved a backup copy of what I wrote -- and am only now returning to type out my thoughts weeks later. I got too excited seeing talk about updates beyond the version I was playing (not sure which version I have anymore). Was tragic to see this reply 🥲 Sorry if it's a bother, but I will list out some things (below) that may be worth fixing/changing if you ever get in the mood to come back to this project.

Guzeinbuick, thank you so much for putting this together, it was very fun! I had such a fun time playing. Loved how the pace of battles in this one ended up being distinctive, compared to the other fan spinoffs I've tried. Your balancing choices allowed for slower development in duels and made it less centered around attackers that can deal high damage for a low investment on Energy cards. I don't know if the simplified terminology used in this is common elsewhere, but it was kinda fun too (having played the original game a lot). Not sure I have much to add that hasn't been said already about the art(great!) and balance of the game, but it really had a special charm. The card balance isn't perfect, sure, but it still makes for a fun experience.
(I know this project is effectively shelved forever, but will nitpick and say some things as if it weren't after the line break anyway)
I sure hope the formatting matches what it looks like in the preview, this turned out to be a long BIG GIANT reply...

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That noted, there were some things I noticed that were maybe actual bugs (along with a few typos/minor errors). I didn't pay as close of attention as when I originally played TCG Neo a while back, but I ended up making a few notes anyhow. Some things make more sense when seeing things that must've changed from version to version (e.g. Why is Steve's deck called the ~"Legendary Azulongmon" deck when this spinoff now contains 0 of that Digimon?). Figured I'd share some here, even if they may have been already known or noted before.

One of the big ones that stood out to me was how the "Water Gun"/"Hydro Pump"-like attacks works for various Digimon. Syakomon has "Black Pearl Blast" and Gizamon/Depthmon have a "Water Shock" attack, all of which work fine. From what I tested, both Shellmon/Seadramon unfortunately have a "Water Shock" attack that does not behave as the description says. Each will deal 20 damage with two Water Energy cards attached, but still deal 20 with a third Water Energy (I think the expected amount is 30 damage). They will do 30 with four Water Energy and 40 with both five and six(or more), so basically they take an extra Water Energy to deal the amount you'd expect. I originally had tested these interactions out with a only-water type deck for all Digimon I could find, but later when I played with Shellmon I noticed something else (haven't yet re-checked all cards with similar effects). It seems if you attach a non-Water Energy when you have an amount that's dealing 10 less damage than expected, it goes back to functioning properly. Example: if you attach 3 Water Energy and deal 20 damage (should be 30), if the next turn you attach an Earth Energy you will start dealing 30 damage each attach (returning to the expected amount). Seems to be the same at 4 Water Energy + another non-Water Energy.

I know the CPU players and their "AI" are incredibly primitive, but there are some examples of attacks they just... won't use? I identified some (probably others which are unlisted here), but figure you may have a better idea of why this happens? I first thought it was because some attacks with higher Energy costs were listed first (differing from the base game) for cards like DemiDevimon and Herissmon (won't use their "Sharp Claws" attack) and Jellymon (won't use its Colorless "Spiral Kick"). However, there's at least LadyDevimon, which won't use its Colorless "Evil Whisper" attack, despite the cheaper attack being listed first. Wasn't sure if that was a complication resulting from the card wanting 3 types (generic/Dark/Fire) of Energy, or what was to blame but I wanted to mention that I noticed this. Other examples off the top of my head would be both Palmon/Floramon not using their "Photosynthesize" attack to heal itself when they don't have enough Energy to use their other attack. Yanmamon also often skips over using its "Bite" attack, for no clear reason when it has 2 Energy attached. There's also a more generally inconsitent behavior that I noticed when the CPU opponent digivolves, uses "Swap Out"(Switch) or retreats: they almost always will not attack with the newly-active Digimon. I love when it happens when I'm losing, but can tell it's maybe not what's supposed to be happening. Also, I'm guessing the computer being dumb when they need 1 more Energy to reach 4 or 5 Energy and attack, but then opt to not add anything to their active Digimon isn't an easy fix? Not sure if any of this is a fixable issue, but wanted to report

Minor other stuff about attacks: Gatomon's "Lightning Paw" will show "0" damage initially, and then show how much it deals when the game picks its random target. Not the worst, but it has briefly surprised me a few times -- don't know if this is intended/required to make the attack function as desired. Looks like I didn't keep a record of others I obseved, but similarly: I think a few other non-damaging attacks also show themselves dealing "0" like this, even though I think the original game skips over that step for non-damaging moves (e.g. Piximon/Kangaskhan's "Fetch"). Having delayed a few weeks to type this out, I'm not as fresh with details (and have played the Kanto TCG by ContentlyForlorn in the past week+, hopefully I'm not mixing up things here). Wish I had an example here, but for some useless reason I just wrote myself this as a question in my notes (but was not referring to coin flips that result in 0 successes; I will try and return with an edit or separate reply if I think to do so later). Another CPU opponent problem is when the computer players use Andromon's & Thundermon's searching-deck-for-Energy "Power Reroute"/"Electrolysis" attacks, they not ever do anything when the CPU uses them besides shuffle their deck.

Mentioning that I, too, was confused by a few things (at least initially). The "Automatic Damage" explanation on the (single?) Apollomon attack wasn't clear to me, and I learned what it meant here. Don't think I checked through all in-game text or read all of the tips from the bookshelves around the map, but maybe it was explained somewhere? Also, minor thing: the bookshelf describing Courtney/Apollomon at the "Digimon Dome" mentions one of the original game's Moltres's attacks, "Dive Bomb". Coelamon being able to see what the other player draws was a bit confusing. The text box that appears says "You drew..." instead of the NPC's name, but I'm guessing that is more of a carryover from the original (like how the Challenge Hall introduces the first opponent as your character's name). It's hardly needed, but if the DGMN Power description mentioned this, it wouldn't have made me think it was a bug at first. Maybe I'm just slow, or it would've clicked for me sooner if I had started playing with Coelamon before I had played through 5+ collected medals. First put it into a deck when I was goofing around to farm a specific booster pack, so I had assumed it was just a bug with that specific NPC lmao. Gave me a big "OHHH." moment when I noticed the effect stopped when I finally collected and evolved one into a Piranimon.

It's minor, but 3 Digimon have a "Lv X" listed in their names for the menus/visible on their cards, like the Pokémon would. Digitamamon/Piedmon/MagnaAngemon appear as "Lv 1/6/4" respectively. Another subtle text carryover from the original is that some dialogue/text boxes still use the names of their original Pokémon TCG cards. This is predominantly limited to the trading talks with Ishihara and the lady who tells you what reward you won from the randomly recurring post-credits Challenge Hall events. I specifically remember this being the case with Hyperenergize (being called Super Energy Retrieval), but I think it happened with another card, too. Found in the same places, the names of Andromon/Elecmon are swapped, for some reason (both when winning them from the Challenge Hall and when trading Ishihara).

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Spoiler: less fun feedback-y stuff, "give me MORE" whining, etc.

Minor things I noticed: not sure if it was intended, but Shakkoumon and Seasarmon have a DGMN Power/attack with the same name, "Ancient Firewall". Etemon's "Dark Network" attack is listed as "30x" but in practice seems to always just do 30 damage. Its description doesn't say I should expect it to do anything special, but wasn't sure if something changed and that was missed. There's probably other discrepancies like this, but Bulkmon's "Electric Rush" attack says both "40x" and its description lists "20x" (I think it does 20x per coin flip).

Mostly my gripes/complaints: I also was bummed out that Machinedramon/Wizardmon are visible on the booster packs but didn't make it in as cards. I guess Azulongmon was also included but not as a card, as well, but I don't remember that one as clearly so I'm less bothered than the first two. I think I've read there may be ways to go beyond the default 228 cards, but would probably be a hassle to re-adjust everything to work that out (and that's IF you even wanted to return to this for a new version -- I'll have to cope with it being on its final version already, oh well). I also wish the game wasn't so limited and you could do Rookie/Champion/Ultimate/Mega evolution lines. I think you (Guzeinbuick) expressed your disappointment relating to this already, but still. You seem very passionate about Digimon and I trust if anyone ever figures out how, I trust you'd be the one to show it off right. This is less of a complaint and instead feedback (because I have the capacity to be dumb enough to do this), but I occasionally mistook the "Jijimon"(Professor Oak) card for being a playable Digimon. It shouldn't have happened (there's the distinctive T/Basic symbol when shown in your hand), but having a name exactly like a playable Digimon led to me accidentally discarding my whole hand a few times (mostly after sorting larger hands) without intending to. I'll just float the idea of renaming it to something like "Jijimon's Aid" or "Jijimon's Help" or anthing that makes it stand out slightly from a list of [etcetera-]mon cards, because it tends to sort itself right next to them. But I wouldn't mind hearing feedback from others about this. Hopefully somebody has a a tale to share of user error besides me? 😬

Shameless begging if you ever come back to this: Both Elecmon have the same art/attacks and seems to be identical except for their "rarity" (but they're both promo cards that aren't found in booster packs, so it doesn't really matter). Can you change anything up to keep them distinctive? The two Surfing Pikachu have slightly different art, so I think it should be possible even if everything else has to stay the same for ambiguous reasons.
I only noticed now (after typing several thousand words), that the Mysterious Fossil art might be the original Pokémon artwork? I knew a few had subtle tweaks to insert Digimon into the art so I'm squinting at my game and wondering if I just can't tell for this one lol
Also, if any attack effects or PKMN Powers went unused, would be cool to see them implemented if you ended up adding further cards someday (and yes, I know you're done with this, but obligatory 🥺🥹🥺)
I know plenty has been said about the higher Energy cost attacks, but I didn't mind them so much by the time I had played until I felt "done", for now. Yes. they are extremely vulnerable to energy removal, and some would be fine at a lower cost, but I'm okay with the idea in general -- as long as the payoff is worthwhile. I think the biggest problem for me was dealing with them on a fairly new game. It's brutal to be stuck on 1-2 Digimon with an active that needs 5 Energy to get through resistance and then get KO'd when you before you get there while you're still learning what the cards do. I think my specific memory was with one of the Tyrannomon cards, and I don't know if even have Double Colorless Energy at that point. Frankly, it's not bad overall, but can lead to unfun moments that had me wanting to reset and just restart the battle instead of keep try to turn it around.
If you find a solution for dealing with the Energy-related(?) NPC weirdness or any other limitations regarding more complex Energy costs for attacks, I would specifically ask that we get a bit more flexibility with specific cards that require 5 Energy for one of their attacks, on an intentional basis (rather than universally). Andromon is the one I had in mind, but something like Tortomon could benefit also. Basically, allow EEEEC or EEECC (E = Energy required of a specific type, C = Colorless/generic Energy requirement) costs more often if you can. Andromon has a colorless "Power Reroute" attack, but due to his other attack requiring 5 Lightning Energy, he bascially can't be used outside of Lightning-only decks for anything besides sharing Energy, taking a beating, and retreating. IMO It's a great example of a 5-cost attack being balanced (his other attack can make it effective a 4-cost), but it's just difficult to use for most decks. If the Energy requirement had more flexibility, it could fit into [Lightning/1 other type] decks, at least? I mention Tortomon because one of the two needs 6 specific Energy cards before it can use both attacks, so in practice you're limited to mostly only using one or the other. Hopefully you get what I mean, but I can explain in a separate reply later.
I also wanted to know if I was missing something with Terriermon/Gargomon and Lopmon/Turuiemon? The Basic forms are functionally identical, but Turuiemon seems flat out better because it has a second, cheaper attack too? Don't know if there's lore or gameplay reasons for this.

In other specific cost complaints: Blackgabumon's Energy requirements are quite brutal for a 40HP Digimon. I think your idea behind Water types was (roughly) lower HP, higher/faster damage glass cannons, but I think it may be a bit too harsh to have both attacks (possibly) require 3 Energy before you have a chance to fight back. If you go second and they have anything that can damage you immediately, felt like you might as well start stacking Energy cards on your bench instead of BlackGabumon as it'll likely be KO'd before you can attack twice (if not once). Wouldn't mind seeing a weaker first attack for it, requiring 2 Energy instead of 3 (even if it required 2 Water instead of 2 generic Energy).
The Devimon (with Illusory Mansion)'s single attack costing 5 Dark Energy felt a bit weak with only 30 damage. I don't think it's weak overall, but would prefer having lower damage or HP and having a lower-cost attack, personally.
Digitamamon has an even stronger defensive Power, but weirdly I thought it was almost not worth playing due to how it was either a near perfect defense, or not. If it could be hit (especially for 20/turn or if it were poisoned/confused/sleeping), I expected it to not survive long enough to hit back for 20 or maybe 40 damage -- thought it was just better to let it be a sturdy punching bag while I built up something on the bench. Its retreat cost didn't help, even if it's clearly a huge balancing factor that keeps it from being almost unstoppable at times. Don't know if I have a specific recommendation here, but I think it needs a tweak.
If I had to pick one more suggestion, it would be for the promo Piedmon with the "Ending Snipe" attack. For 1 Lightning/3 Dark Energy, dealing 10+ damage felt a bit weak. After a KO, you'll be hitting for either 10 or 20 and a lot of the time will only reach 30 or 40 at best. Thought if it wasn't a hassle, wouldn't be too scary at 20+ if that was doable and nothing else changed around
I could nitpick personal feelings on other examples, but generally didn't mind the power level of most cards?

In the spirit of some other comments, I'm going to vaguely list off a number of decks I put together with a rough description:

Spoiler: spoiler for decks within

• Impmon/Myotismon/LadyDevimon -- very strong combination of attackers, without any weaknesses, mostly low retreat costs too. This deck is both simple and powerful.
• Piximon/Thundermon/Salamon/Gatomon -- Piximon is super useful with draw and special conditions. Thundermon can either find you Grass Energy for Piximon, or load itself or your bench up with Energy for big attacks. Salamon is a pretty good Basic and Gatomon will randomly damage anything that retreated from Piximon. Dark resists on 3/4, which is nice (see: deck above this) Ran a few bonus Excavations(Energy Search) to help me consitently find Grass Energy for Piximon.
• Coelamon/Whamon/Depthmon/Hawkmon -- a few cost-efficient, powerful Champion(Stage 1) attackers + Hawkmon's draw/free retreat. Also had 2/1 Piranimon/Aquilamon and Digimon Traders. Another deck of strong attackers that's not too complicated to pilot.
• Mephistomon/Ghostmon(both)/Leomon -- Gazimon isn't the best but WOW its Digivolutions are good. I couldn't believe my eyes when I realized I could recreate a classic deck with arguably STRONGER cards. Warp Digivolve(Pokémon Breeder) and Final Heal(Pokémon Center) are very useful when paired with Mephistomon. When I stopped playing this and read the thread, I chuckled a bit when I saw the gameplay posted from an earlier version than the one I'm playing (where this deck was even stronger still). Once you get Mephistomon ready, you can move damage over to Ghostmon and then Pick it up with its Power and then replay it often. Move damage to/from Leomon for big attacks and while keep it out of being in KO range. Have a Final Heal(?), then move your damage over to anything without Energy or at least away from your active attacker and then let it rip and make the other player start over from scratch to earn your prizes. Took a while to earn more than one of the promo Ghostmon, but I personally put 2 of each Ghostmon in to minimize the chance of an early Ghostmon(30HP) 1-KO loss. Also had Bakemon included for that reason (digivolve if I had to, but it's not bad either?). Digitamamon(a.k.a. Mr. Mime on steroids) would have a home here because he'd be borderline un-KO-able without Confusing it, but I didn't end up including because it's already strong.
• Venusmon/Angewomon(Heaven's Charm)/Calumon Doll -- Venusmon is reliable with 100HP, and the Heaven's Charm Angewomon just hits HARD when you load up your bench with Calumon(Clefairy) Dolls or other Basics. If you want, you can run some number of the Healing Wind version of Angewomon too.
• Lillymon/Sunflowmon/Dinobeemon/Piximon -- draw cards, play Energy. Sunflowmon can retrieve Energy from the discard pile and then Lillymon can move it around freely until you're got multiple 'mons ready to collect prizes. Don't worry about dealing with Sunflowmon, just get as much Energy in play as you can and start hitting big with either Lillymon or Dinobeemon. Grass resistance? Use "Acid Mist." Othewrise, you should be good to go with either "Hell's Masquerade" or "Flower Cannon." Piximon is included to draw and resist Dark attackers while you get prepared. Flymon is pretty decent, too
• Knightmon/Monzaemon/Lucemon/Light Barrier/Time to Retreat -- High HP + Selfdestruct attacks. As long as you have 2 Digimon to start, it's ok if you just let the active take damage while you build energy for a different attacker. If you can "Time to Retreat"(Scoop Up) instead of giving up a prize, go for it. I'd recommend including 1-2 "Rejuvenating Light"(Full Heal) to ensure you can use a key Selfdestruct attack right before you'd otherwise get KO'd. "Gennai"(Mr Fuji) can also be pretty nice. Also mentioning I named this deck "KnightBear Explosion" and thought that was worth sharing by itself. Does take some time to gather all of the relevant cards if you're playing normally.
• Tuskmon/Triceramon/Andromon/Scorpiomon -- wanted to play with Tuskmon and ended up bulding this deck. If you get Andromon, it's just there to build up Energy on the other cards which mostly need 3-4 Earth Energy to get swinging. I included a full 4 of both "Light Barrier"(Defender) and "Holy Prayer"(Potion) to maximize my fun with Tuskmon/Triceramon. Scorpiomon isn't the strongest attacker, but it is BULKY. Deck can truly struggle against certain cards, but still can be quite fun to play. You can flex in a few things to fix up the glaring problems or keep it simple with some number of Volcdramon/Brachiomon to get through resistances. Using a Calumon Doll to delay an extra turn for more Energy on your attackers isn't a bad idea.
• Dolphmon/Shellmon/Ebidramon -- modified version of one of the CPU decks named "on the beach". Very simple to play, cheap attacks and solid damage. Would strongly recommend including X-Antibody(PlusPower) and Tempest(Gust of Wind).
• Tortomon/Shellmon/Tyrannomon(Hammer Head) -- surprisingly decent attack power, can be a burdern to KO these Digimon with sturdy shells. Included a few Light Barrier/Holy Prayer cards to make it even tougher to lose prizes. Tyrannomon included to handle the problem with Grass weakness; not always necessary.
• SuperStarmon/Golemon/Hawkmon -- (Super)Starmon has some ability to deal damage evenly to their whole team, Golemon can poison early and deal big damage later. Hawkmon was an early game addition to draw cards when I didn't have Izzy(Bill), but it's not a bad inclusion either. Brachiomon/Knightmon are other viable choices too
• FIlmon/Gatomon/Thundermon -- one other option to deal bench damage. X-Antibody(PlusPower) does not apply to the bench damage, so it's not as good here. Instead, try using Tempest(Gust of Wind) to switch in something you can damage and switch out something with Lightning resistance (it won't resist damage on the bench). Can throw in Data Drain(Energy Removal) to keep their active from KOing your active bench-damager
• Puppetmon/Pumpkinmon(Trick or Treat)/Coredramon -- Puppetmon is really dominant attacker against some Digimon when it can disable their best move every turn. This Pumpkinmon is the rare combo of higher HP and being able to attack early and does a good job setting up. Coredramon is there mostly for the DGMN Power saving me some energy for the other two (not as many low-retreat cost options in this spinoff)
• Pumpkinmon(Jack o' Lantern)/MetalGreymon/Birdramon -- Mostly used Grass Energy (some Fire too for Greymon/Birdramon and 4 Double Colorless Energy). Load up MetalGreymon with Energy and let it 1HKO nearly anything it attacks. Pumpkinmon is pretty decent and can use "Nightmare" no matter what Energy you find. Biyomon with "Fetch" is strongly preferred over the others
• Arukenimon/Toropiamon -- was in the mood to evolve and poison Digimon and had fun with this deck
• WereGarurumon/Coelamon -- lots of strong attacks, but if you don't add something beyond Gabumon/Mysterious Fossils, you'll have some bad starts where you lose quickly because it only had the 4 Basic Digimon
• Vorvomon/Lavorvomon/Impmon/Biyomon(Fetch) -- lower HP, decently high damage. Ran a full set of Excavation(Energy Search) for the 3 types of Energy and whatever draw/Deep-Sea Exploration(Computer Search) I had at the time to make sure I was attacking as early as possible
• Zudomon/Gesomon/Dianamon(Crescent Harken) -- the "Cold Crusher" DGMN Power is just Rain Dance. Wanted to run more than 1 Dianamon but it took a long while before I went back to collect the 2nd copy of the legendary cards and had moved onto other decks
• Shakkoumon/Angemon/Seasarmon -- mostly came together because I wanted to finally play with Angemon and realized I had plenty of Shakkoumon, too
• Togemon/Rafflesimon/Mammothmon -- I think this was largely built out of my starting deck and what cards I collected early. Didn't return to using Rafflesimon later, but it really helped me early on
• Dianamon(Arrow of Artemis)/Andromon/Piedmon(Ending Snipe) -- another 3-color hodgepodge of cards I hadn't gotten around to using much early and jammed together. Wasn't anywhere near as weak as would've expected

Wow, that was a long one. Hope it's not so wordy that it's illegible.
But enough about that, I want to reiterate that I love all of the effort put into this. So much lovely pixel art and small details (changing Trainers to Tamers, etc.) that really show it off as a work of passion for Digimon. You really made a unique play experience. Thank you

Holllllyyyy shiiiieeeettt that is a lot to take in! Can I just say I absolutely love these deep dives into my hacks. It gives me so much pleasure to know that other people are enjoying my games this deeply!

I really appreciate all the insightful feedback; it really feels like you've picked up on every single thing!

I'll tell you what. Summer vacation starts in two weeks and I should have a lot more free time then (believe it or not I'm a teacher lol. I make Digimon stuff for my students). The PokeTCG Disassembly has come a long way and although I'm not the best programmer around, even I should be able to iron out most of the kinks in my original Digimon Adventure TCG if I remake the whole thing using the Disassembly (I still have all the assets ((graphics)) lying around on my computer).

Hmmm....

Let's make it a MAYBE for now... BUT... There's a chance... no, a good chance...

...that...

....I'll...

...Remaster this game. :)







But no promises! ;)