Digimon Battle Spirit

Digimon Battle Spirit is a fighting game originally published by Bandai and developed by Dimps for the Japanese-only WonderSwan Color handheld system under the name Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit. It was later ported to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance for international releases in North America and Europe two years later.

The game features characters and Digimon that were included in the first three seasons of the animated series of the same name in a somewhat simplistic fighting scenario, and also has slightly arranged samples of the show's soundtrack.

Story
The Digital World, a computer-generated subspace that exists between all forms of digital devices, and home of the creatures known as "Digimon" is under attack by a malevolent and powerful force known as Millenniummon, who seeks to corrupt all the data present in the world and modify it to his own designs. In response, several Digimon and their human companions have set out to stop Millenniummon and his minions before any irreparable harm can be done. This is accomplished in a very round-about and a-typical way to the fighting videogame genre, by finding and defeating as many opponents as possible on the way.

Gameplay
While structured very similarly to a conventional fighting game, Digimon Battle Spirit is much more like a barebones representation of the genre, mostly due to the limitations of the handhelds it was released on. Each character only has a handful of special attacks they can perform, with the two action buttons, A and B, allowing them to jump or attack respectively.

Each match is won by collecting small blue spheres called "D-Spirits". These are obtained by hitting your opponent, which causes a few of them to fly from their body and scatter across the battlefield. Different attacks can produce more spheres to fly out, and the player who has collected the most by the time the round ends wins. Each character can also digivolve into their most powerful or "Ultimate" (Mega) form by touching a flying Digimon named Calumon that appears every so often in each stage. This form grants them different, more powerful attacks for a limited time.

As the player advances through each stage, they will occasionally have to battle a character named Impmon. Winning or losing this encounter has no bearing on the actual game progression itself, and only serves to award more points. In the final stage, the Digimon must face off against Millenniummon himself.

Characters
The game features characters from the first three seasons of the anime (or Digimon Adventure /02 and Digimon Tamers in Japan). Each one has their own special moves and digivolutions, as well as slightly varying normal attacks and taunts.

Playable characters
Guilmon: Somewhat weak physically, but is very quick on his feet. His special attack, Fireball (Pyro Sphere), travels straight forward and has a bit of a recoil. His digivolution is Gallantmon.

Terriermon: His special move, Blazing Fire (Bunny Blaster), has limited ranged, but his rushing attack is quite effective. The smallest fighter, but actually fairly strong. He digivolves into MegaGargomon.

Renamon: A very well-rounded character with effective normal attacks. Her special attack is Fox Leaf Arrowhead (Diamond Storm), and she digivolves into Sakuyamon.

Veemon: Limited range on nearly all attacks, yet powerful. His V-mon Head (Vee Headbutt) and Boom Boom Punch (Vee Punch) moves can cause a lot of damage. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode is his digivolution.

Wormmon: One of the slowest characters, yet his moves come out very quickly. His digivolution is Imperialdramon Fighter Mode.

Agumon: Has a mixture of weak and strong attacks, but good range on his Baby Flame (Pepper Breath) attack. He digivolves to WarGreymon.

Sukamon: A weak and unorthodox character, yet his digivolution, Etemon, is quite powerful. His special attack throws his pink friend in an arc.

Hidden characters
These are characters that are not available at first, but have to be unlocked by fulfilling certain conditions.

BlackAgumon: A virus version of Agumon, with a slower, more powerful normal attack. His digivolution is BlackWarGreymon, and can be unlocked when beating the game with 2 different characters.

Lopmon: A variation of Terriermon who is obtained by beating the game with three separate characters (although not the same ones used to unlock Dark Agumon). His digivolution is the viral Cherubimon (Kerpymon).

Gabumon: A slow, yet very offensively oriented Digimon. He is obtained by beating the game with all the normal characters, as well as BlackAgumon and Lopmon. His digivolution is Omnimon.

Extra Agumon: A special version of Agumon with a floating ability and can digivolve into Omnimon. He's unlocked by completing the game using Gabumon.

Impmon: Powerful and quick, but with limited attacks. Unlike the one that attacks between stages, he does not have a sphere attracting move. He is the only character without a digivolution, and is unlocked by beating the game and collecting at least 300 D-Spirits.

Reception
IGN selected Digimon Battle Spirit as the runner-up for the January 2003 "GBA Game of the Month" award, behind Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced.