What if Digimon beat Pokémon? | Alternate History Explored
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- If Digimon is more popular than Pokemon, the WonderSwan beats out the Game Boy, Mother 3 gets an American release but Animal Crossing doesn't, and nobody cares about Pikachu. With only a few small changes to our timeline, this might have been our world - a world where Digimon beats Pokémon to becoming the premiere animal-battling franchise in America.
Welcome to the Digiverse.
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Polygon's VERSUS is an alternate history series that explores what would happen if just one thing had gone differently with some of biggest rivalries. In video game history, seemingly tiny decisions have huge impacts.
#Digimon #Pokemon #Versus
Folks, if you liked this video: GUESS WHAT IT'S A SERIES NOW. In the next episode, Pat reveals an alternate history where Final Fantasy 7 came out on N64... and the whole world changes ruclips.net/video/GuQgafov0pA/видео.html
Looking forward to more of these!
Name of review I missed the point by forget adventure 2 where the older digidestines where replaced by what where they called oh kids
This was a cute perspective however by the time the Porygon episode aired so many balls were rolling that it wouldn't had mattered.
The development in the tale end of the original games was going poorly on multiple fronts. The games' code was becoming a hot mess. While there's no believeable timeline in which Satoru Iwata doesn't see the potential for the Pokémon series and step in to fix the code... but there's the potential for a ripple here in what happens next. Satoru Iwata not only cleaned up the code but his optimization of the code freed up exactly enough space for 1 more Pokémon to fit on the cartridge. This is why Mew ended up on the cartridge but was never obtainable.
It's the 90's and video game secrets are all the rage. The internet is barely a thing but it allows for all kinds of rumors to spread like wild fire. The potential for a brokenly powerful hidden character that could be added to your party in an RPG would had been huge. (We see this with SquareEnix's spin off Final Fantasy: Tactics having Cloud from FF7 as a character unlockable if a sequence of hidden events lines up properly.) GameFreak themselves have stated based upon the sales numbers that IF the promotional marketing contest to WIN THE HIDDEN MYTICAL POKéMON never occured.. the series would had never taken off.
We have now a HUGE catalyst for a new timeline: at last minute of debugging since they ran out of time to add an encounter for Mew into the Game... they just scrap Mew. While the games merrit some praise and GameFreak breaks even. The series doesn't become HUGE... Nintendo never keeps a share in GameFreak and Pokémon becomes another weird Japanese RPG. In this timeline, the potential is clear for other developers and companies in Japan... what if you replace these strange Pocket Monsters with Monsters from another more established IP. Bandai heads are convinced to take the formula of Pocket Monsters so that the first Digimon games for the Wonderswan would not be Ryo's tale but instead a "Digimon Red & Digimon Blue". The Digital Monsters Tamogochi's have enough brand recognition this seems solid. A Bandai head speaks with trusted connections in the United States and are told that in the USA you need a cartoon for a series to be popular... so Bandai has Toei get right on that... now in 1999 everything Digimon is different but global and not under the shadow of Pokemon.
If Digimon won,We Would have Gotten Battle Spirit 1.5 On The GBA!
Jenna "that's not how time works"
Me: *surprised Augumon face*
How can i like a comment 12 times?
@@shisuiki Gotta create 11 alt accounts
DIGIMON FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGES MEME CULTURE
I think Patamon fits more perfectly
@@nowonmetube or terroirom/lopmon
there’s just one inconsistency in that if furries are now a worldwide phenomenon, animal crossing would absolutely get made except all the neighbors are now way hunkier
yessss honestly same with Breath of the Wild xD
@@peridotqueen26 Oh god, what would Sidon be like then?!
or twinkier
and every villager is now romanceable...
Why did I read this in Brian's voice?
The idea of Hot Topic selling badly made, cheap fursuits caused such a visceral reaction in me that I'm not even sure how to properly describe it.
"bad ow no more *body folding into a ball noise* " think this is close enough
yes
Zhierb 2: Revengeance
Oh god
In this timeline Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way would’ve had a fursuit
Freeze-Dried Water nah wrong not cheap
This went from “what if a Pokémon anime never came back from hiatus” to “it’s cool to be a furry in the Digiverse”
Get me an effing time machine. I need to fix a few mistakes.
@@apollyonnoctis1291 but what is when you already went back and changed it to Digimon only to realize that you can't let the Digiverse exist because Digimon became real and would take over the world🤔🤔🤔
I feel like this was the true agenda of the video
It's cool to be a furry in our universe too, if you're not a coward.
DominateEye Entirely fair point
I think the part of this that physically hurt me the most was Ice Age beating Spirited Away.
@@jasong8085 Well to be fair is seems that no one taught americans how to read. . . Subtitles.
For me it's Animal Crossing getting snapped
@@jasong8085 pfff dude im sorry to say that but if a movie is loved by general audiences, made to be understood by kids and is watched by pretty much everyone this generation, then its not "too smart" for most people
Acording to a bunch of greedy old farts with no taste atleast
@@EmerlyNickel Honestly I'm doubtful of the Animal Crossing part. Worst case scenario we get Yokai Crossing instead, a chill management game where you're a mayor of a town filled with Yokai local and foreign.
"Ice Age would win instead, but this would have no effect on the rest of history."
Goddamn that got me. 😂
Pewdieshit subscriber
"remember to digido your part for digidemocracy" - hillary clinton in the timeline where digimon beat pokémon
She still lose to a blonde idiot. The one constant in the multiverse.
@@Aes_Saru He's actually pretty smart if you pay more attention to his actions than his words
@@imachangedname2978 Yeah................ no.
@@imachangedname2978 😂
@@imachangedname2978 oh I do. Which is why I do not like him. He ain't smart at all and is dangerous to remain to office at this point.
I’m glad Polygon is publishing fanfic now.
It genuinely feels like the logical next step
Some of their reviews were already fanfic. JK.
If by ‘fan-fic’ you mean occasionally being a video game oriented version of Cody Franklin’s ‘Alternate history hub’ channel, I’d find that great
It's Porygon
Vintage Terminal alternate history is just fan fiction for the real world
I guess in this universe, Disney's Robin Hood would definitely get a live action remake
But they wouldn't hire true furries as advisors
But it ends up looking like cats, until fan outrage leads them to redesigning the characters to look at least decent, in the same way the sonic movie was in our timeline.
If u think that still wouldn't happen in our universe i think you underestimate disneys lust for money
Should somebody tell him?
me: i would do ANYTHING to play the original mother 3 on the n64
jenna: ice age beats spirited away
me: i would do ALMOST anything to play the original mother 3 on the n64
Considering the oscars are worthless anyways, I am more than fine with ice age beating spirited away to play mother 3 on the n64.
Fundamentally different movies imo, the Oscars are redundant popularity contests anyway.
This is the longest “I prefer Digimon to Pokemon” coming out video I’ve ever seen.
I, too, prefer Digimon over Pokemon. Machinedramon gang represent!
machineDRAmon
Honestly me fucking too
Never played a Digimon game, but god the Digimon Anime is wayyyyy better then the Pokémon Anime.
@@a_person5668 I like how that the Digimon aren't these somewhat stupid creatures that are used primarily for fighting each other for entertainment.
Halfway in the video: "Man this whole timeline sounds awful."
Jenna: "Itoi's original vision for Mother 3 for the N64 is produced."
"I'll digido whatever i can to make this a reality"
Is it worth sacrificing spirited away?
Is It Worth Sacrificing Animal Crossing
That Includes becoming a furry, right?
@@brucesewing6183 Yes
@@moselzag5451it’s not
“Without the extensive Pokémon work on their plate, Creatures Inc. is free to return to the Mother franchise unhindered”
*a soul for a soul.*
"what did you sacrifice?"
"Everything"
the phrase "hbo's redwall" sent me into a wall-staring existential crisis
same! but just in case you didnt know- PBS made an animated redwall series. it's great and you can watch it right here on youtube.
gorddude i actually have it on dvd! prime weird 90s-2000s tv
Ditto, it needs to be in existence.
Same, the books were half my childhood
...except I have to imagine the it'd have a ton of fan furvice in it (which is what I assume the furry community calls fan service directed at them) and you know HBO would take that too far.
“Tai, or should I say Tyler...”
That physically hurt me
Yea. But they did the same thing to a lot of other shows. Most likely he'd still be called "Tai" but for the American release it would be "Ty" as in short for Tyler.
I mean, Pokemon did this. All the names are "localised" .
I already doesn't like americanization of names 😂 I mean, Tai is okay. But T.K? Seriously? And they changed Yagami just because it's I'm a gay backwards?
@@Netsuki more likely because it clearly sounds foreign, that's all.
Fun fact for all of you, did you know the original japanese name of Link from The Legend of Zelda is 'Rinku'?
@@Netsuki OMG Never realized that about Yagami...
I'm just thankful that GMTK still seems to exists in the Digiverse!
Can't wait to see an episode on Digimon
But it's renamed as "digi maker's toolkit"
Congrats on being literally the only thing that survived the change.
@@wswordsmen Critickal/Penginz0 survived
"... DeviantArt, one of the top five social media platforms"
Oh no
*OH YAS*
unzips
@@aa-tx7th very underrated comment
O H N O
Thinking about it, due to Digimon partially taking place in the Digiworld, it may encourage the idea of virtual reality or augmented reality years earlier in this theoretical timeline. Making technological advancements in VR and/or AR technology much faster, possibly developing something as powerful and easily accessible as the Oculus Quest 2 as early as 2015.
This may also heavily encourage the idea to create virtual worlds like the Oasis in Ready Player One, this may also popularize Sword Art Online and possibly improve it's story in the process, as well as popularizing VR media altogether.
I also have this feeling that the whole "characters aging/maturing throughout the series" would make rating systems like the ESRB less and less important as the years go by, until it is no longer needed anymore.
"this may also popularize Sword Art Online and possibly improve it's story in the process" I see no timeline where that story can be improved choom.
My favorite Polygon video genre is "Jenna Stoeber goes the heck off"
Fuckin seconded.
Cheers bro i miss fiendzone daily
SAME
AKA Every Jenna video
Jenna is the main character of Polygon and you can’t tell me otherwise
Jenna we need to know what happend to Brian's Perfect PokeRap! Does it become the Definitive DigiOpera?
In that alternate universe, Brian was never hurt by the loss of Terry the Tangela, so he and his best friend Kevin Punt started a real estate company together and Brian was never hired at Polygon.
@@aimelle3 That's the saddest timeline.
I was going to say he did the digirap instead, but since Pokemon was never localized and we never got the pokerap it's unclear if the digirap would still happen
aimelle3 also, a young Griffin McElroy was emboldened by the burgeoning furry community and Big Gulp is one of the country’s top podcasts.
@@rattyeely Also, all of this is assuming that there is such a thing as a digirap in the first place. It's entirely possible that, in the Digiverse, Bandai never greenlights the idea, meaning Brian doesn't come up with the idea to compose his sorrows at the loss of Terry in the form of a PokeRap parody. Also, since the focus is no longer on collecting mons, Brian would never trade away the digimon version of Terry, instead aiming to keep the Digimon he already cares about.
“If Digimon was more popular than Pokémon, then there would be a version of *The Dark Knight Rises* with a Japanese Christian Bale” is my takeaway from this
also no heath ledger's joker.
He might still be in it, just not in the scenes with the mask on.
"'Ice Age' wins the Oscar instead, but this has no effect on the future"
Yeah that checks out
The only thing I could see it really doing is maybe more of a budget for Ice Age 2.
It would be funny if it went in the direction of Dreamworks becoming a well-respected studio while Pixar falls behind.
@@DenderFriend You mean it would be awful.
Edward Nygma no becuase then the SCU ( shrek cinematic universe) would be a full thing
@@oscarpersaud7650 YES that would be amazing!
Me: "Okay this sounds pretty okay so f-"
The Jenna: "So no Volkswagen Pikachus."
Me: "BLASPHEMY! HERESY! I WON'T HEAR OF IT!"
By Sigmar and the Emperor! How dare she to speak those words.
Fuck Pikachu. Come at me.
I was for it until furries were cool.
NOT THE PIKABUG!!
I didn't even know that VW Pickachus existed.
You had me at everything being more like power rangers. Six year old me just tried to drag me into that timeline by force.
"no more baby games, game babies!"
holy shit, Jenna is absolutely killing it again
The one that got me was "the first Pokémon movie, 'Pokémon: The First Movie'"
We're forgetting the biggest change in the Digiverse. Everyone associates All Star with Digimon: The First Movie instead of Dreamworks' Shrek
NONONONO, NOW IT'S THE WORST TIMELINE GO BAAAAACK
Hey look found a homestuck
Yoooo, that means shrek would have died after 4!
Dear god
I already do. Every single time.
I have epilepsy and one time I was stressing out really hard for a final and I thought “hey if I had a seizure i could probably get a week extension” so I watched the porygon episode and had a seizure 10/10 can confirm it works
Modern problems require modern solutions. Hope it turned okay.
Points for efficiency I guess?
out of curiosity did this actually get you the week extension
I cant tell if I should laugh and make some comment but it will be really insensitive any way i phrase it or ask of you are okay
A universe where Digimon was more popular sounded way cooler than this one, but then you said “Tyler Cameron.”
@@Mike-xn2xd In latinamerica, Germany and other areas of the world, we had an interesting mix of both japanese and US versions. We had the original soundtrack and a closer translation to what actually happens (ie: Angemon is treated as a miracle, not an "oh, cool!", and Wizardmon explicitly dies), but we also had "Tai Kamiya" instead of "Taichi Yagami" and Megakabuterimon instead of Atlurkabuterimon.
I don't know how Saban works internationally (I know 4Kids! had little power here in latinamerica) but they were already strong with the Power Rangers dubbing, so we would have probably received the washed out version in the entire world. So "Tyler Cameron vs Taichi Yagami" would be our "Ash Ketchum vs Satoshi"
Who likes Digimon? Pokémon is way better.
@@iUseAndroid2024 I'm a fan of both and I prefer Digimon (and SMT) over Pokémon.
@@iUseAndroid2024 Not a digimon fan but I can see why people would like it, it doesn't even feel that similar to pokemon
There would be fans who would argue that the English translation "watered down" the authentic content from Japan in the digiverse, so more than likely he'd still be know as Tai. But the marketing name would be Tyler
I legit wonder if the response to the pandemic would have been different if Digimon took over if they synergized themes of, "we can beat the virus together" and emphasizing the value of digital spaces.
def beats the gotta catch herd immunity strategies :/
Corona virus wiped of the face of the Earth within one month due Bandai realeasing massive amounts of free new content to their most recent, and most played game in the world, for the Genesis Swap, Digimon Axe/Digimon Spear, which has a PC version with cross play.
Oh my fucking god
Big Brained Mind Mage
I think the concept of 'cartoon characters not aging' being gone in the alternate timeline is certainly an attractive outcome. Pokemon and the ageless Ash certainly the one who created the impression of 'all cartoon characters should remain constant' for me. I don't feel it back then, but now that I am as old as the franchise itself? Watching your favourite characters growing up with you is a treat like nothing else.
Discussion points:
- Montgomery AL: Silicon Swamp
- WonderSwan battles misogyny
- Arthur the Aardvark's MCL
- Furries are cool
- The Saban Cinematic Universe
That Saban Cinematic Universe is very enticing but at the cost of having everything else.
I really think the Wonder Swan would have been called something else in America. I will look into this.
Wait, so the power rangers fight against Thanos? I support that. Where's their Patreon?
Arthur the Aardvark deals with endless calls to the insurance company over out of pocket costs.
1.9/11 never happens cause american capitalism is seen cause of poke'hoarding
2. Al gore wins cause of a slew of climate change Digimon Data commercials
3. The fall of all organized religion as sciences start to focus on getting us all to the digital world
4. 2015 the first human upload occurs and there he meets the first general friendly AI (Fraimon)
5. Elon mush launches the first solar powered space based "Vacuum Quantum Computer servers"
6. Finally upon death, injure, illness or choice all human have a "Real" Heaven to upload to
7. 2020 now with knowledge of a true after life all of humanity changes fundamentally and the Venus Project be comes a reality with AI helping in all sectors of life and resource management a true utopia is achieved.
8. 2035 humanity becomes a level 1 Kardashev Civilization
thank you for listening to my ted talk ...
With a greater focus on a "digital world" it could be argued that VR technology made leaps and bounds since it came to the digiverse much earlier than our timeline
yup, much like how Pokémon GO was essentially developed to make the PokéUniverse more tangible and true-to-life.
Omg this made me realize, I want a digimon vr game.
polygon: if pokemon didn't catch on, furries would be more accepted
me, who is not a furry i swear: _"im listening"_
XD Same
The supremacy of Polygon in both timelines... iconic
well, wasn't the poke-rap a huge thing for polygon? and would unraveled's "big dramatic Amounts of Media" thing have taken off if digimon's more story-based style rather than pokemon's "catch 'em all" style was mainstream? i love all polygon videos, but you have to admit that unraveled really brought in a lot of the fanbase. with the class divides that are rising in prominence in the digiverse, a lot of the unity that comes from video games is lost, because of how the characters are constantly changing, so video game journalism is considered something serious and deep and dark (due to the change in nintendo franchise styles). polygon's humour, especially in the "randomness!!" phase of comedy online (2009-2014) wouldn't have ever gone mainstream, because of the far more mature conceptualization of media. plus, with the prominence of female role-models in gaming shaping far earlier, sexual harrasment would likely be treated far more seriously. nick robinson's sexual assault allegations would have come to light earlier and been met with significantly more public distaste. if polygon had ever gotten off the ground or even been created, that would have drop-kicked it straight into the ground.
@@999lily yeah, that's fair, but it wouldn't be the polygon we know and love, and since so much is currently going wrong in the pokeverse (that's us) jenna might not have been able to make the video in the same format, because it'd be considered too unrealistic and not fit with the polygon brand.
Jenna: what if we were in a differente timeline?
My quarantined ass: go on.
This is my favorite iteration of a post apocalyptic universe yet
"Spirited Away didn't get nominated for Oscars"
Okay, shut it down.
did it not? how, how the hell. but boss baby and shark tales did? at this point it's useless
@@funkuro spirited away won an oscar. Best animated film
@@MediumDon hell ya. so when the original said shut it down they meant in the alternate universe?
@@funkuro yup
"Arthur blows out his knee playing basketball" I'm actually dead 😂😂😂
Why would it be funny, it was a really sad episode. Arthur took a 7 episodes to fully recover and it was a starting point for him feeling sad and not wanting to play basketball anymore and it gave him anxiety.
@@ahorribleterribleperson Didn't Francine become paralyzed from the waist down in the following season, leading to her joining a wheelchair basketball team? That arc dealt with the issues around disability and sports a lot better, I thought.
@@Stephen-Fox True, it was much better with dealing with the issues around disability with sports, it was a top tier arc.
Oh dang you really thought this through. "Planned merchandise obsolescence" is def a capitalist bullet we've managed to evade so far
I mean, some cartoons/movies do constantly change the charcter designs with every iteration, but nobody actually cares that much because the first designs always wind up being the most popular due to nostalgia
@@rattyeely Fair point, though a big marketing push from a giant franchise could definitely tip those scales. I'm sure "season 7 mega-action-ninja-with-scars-from-his-past Carl" is going to sell more than "season 2 regular-looking but sweetheart Carl". The key is the "planned" part. It's not just redesigns, it's redesigns with the exact purpose of making the previous iteration obsolete, redundant, boring.
Pffft. "Evade" Sure.
Transformers Season 2 would like a word with you.
I'd prefer merchandise obsolescence to electronics obsolescence, so maybe the perception that it's a "kiddy" thing could do some good as well.
Remember to Digimon Go to the polls this November!
best comment
Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave
I did not think "furries are mainstream" was where this was going lol
*You don't know enough about digimon. People would try planting meat into the ground to see if it grow too*
Buddy, I expected that event as soon as I watched this video.
I see people painting their shits pink with spray paint @@accounttwo938
‘pokénnui’ is the best thing anyone has ever said, thank you jenna
"the digivergent point" also had me going
Ok..my friends will tell you that I'm very passionate about this subject..Digimon GO makes more sense than Pokemon GO..why haven't we gotten a Digimon GO?! It makes more sense..
All of the digimon mobile games are mediocre, which sucks cause you could totally tell a cool narrative AR story on mobile! Just have the phone turn into a digivice!
@@mitkitty "Just turn the phone into a digivice!" Appmon, my friend. You are taking about Appmon.
Well, the Pokemon games, GO especially, are focused on collecting. Whereas Digimon was more plot driven. And I think the biggest appeal of Pokemon GO is obtaining the large and diverse creatures- and leveling up as a result. Something about being able to scroll through one's library of caught monsters and see their CP increase is innately pleasing. I think for Digimon GO to have the same affect, it would have to follow the same formula- which would deviate from its norm.
@@mothhuuny you are the one making it about Appmon, as we all know Appimon doesn't exist, shut up about it
@@duppady5319 Sorry my man
I want more of this! Can we get a "What if SEGA had beaten Nintendo?"?
Go over and watch the Final Fantasy vs Dragon Quest one and you'll get SEGA beats SONY.
I feel like in this other timeline being a furry would ALSO be normalize xd
This is just Brazil.
me: yeah I like to consider alternate history
what they think I mean: ww1, ww2 and the civil war are turned on their head
what I actually mean:
My thought process watching this video:
Ooh, that's good!
Aww, that's bad...
Oh! That's good.
Aww, that's bad.
But that's good!
But that's bad...
I just hope that in the Digimon Timeline, Digimon isn't the one to end up with years and years and years of basically identical video games
And every episodes the same in 20 years.
*identical video games of declining quality
In this timeline, it does. Getting absolutely shattered and exploded is what made Digimon stronger, remember that it started as a sexist Tamagotchi
I feel like they would’ve made digivice vpets with WiFi, where everyone and their mothers can battle
And then, similar to Pokémon go, they made these digivices able to catch digimon in sources of electronics that can be found outside
@get butthurt • 666 years ago surprisingly a similar incident happened with Pokémon go, where they used a lure for Pokémon and whenever kids came they stole their phones lol
Wasn’t as extreme as your example, but it’s still pretty bad though unfortunately
me: man this world sounds awful-
jenna: mother 3 america release
me: *im listening*
Weebs: "This is terrible!"
Furries: "RENAMON OUR LORD AND SAVIOR HAS BROUGHT US TO SALVATION!"
@@ChrisD__ I mean how is this different
@@xathridtech727 There's no salvation in this timeline.
*Wonderswan beats the Gameboy*
Me: Eh, I was fine with the Gameboy
*Digimon makes kids TV more story driven*
Me: Okay that's pretty cool
*HBO makes a Redwall series*
Me: TELL ME HOW TO GET TO THE DIGIVERSE
*Saban Marvel leads to movies sucking*
Me: Nevermind
I think in this alternate universe, Saban would invest more heavily into animated movies because of how well Digimon does with all audiences.
@@weirdofromhalo Would they? Or would they cash in on the success of Outrageous Fight Sailor Moon and double down on the semi-live action adaptation that was in the works but never saw release in our own timeline?
@@dankayur2910 Would the world really be worse with more sailor moon? Besides Card Captors kicked ass!
@@Vouru Card Captors did kick ass. I had a grudge against it for a while, since they used it to replace Digimon Tamers after about 8 episodes, but I could never stay mad at that :).
Sailor Moon, on the other hand, I enjoyed more as an idea than as a show. I'd've been interested to see if that adaptation could change that.
This Twilight Zone reboot is terrifying
Holy shit, Clayton outdid himself with this one. The glitching effects (and the art that the rest of the video team did!) looks PHENOMENAL.
this really feels like being ranted at by your older siblings stoner college roommate but like, in a good way
The point about characters aging and transitioning in digimon becoming a norm in kids shows makes me wonder if other fantastical kids with that sort of approach (Code Lyoko comes to mind but it was so bad idk about that) would've been bigger hits!
Oh i loved code lyoko
Perhaps, but it’s also likely that both kid shows and cartoons ITTL would also tackle more adult and/or more complicated issues, from Identifying Toxic relationships and how to deal with them, to how not everyone can be saved.
* files this video away in my mind for if I ever need to teach history students about causality and the fragility of history in the most niche and chaotic way *
“Furries are accepted into regular society much earlier than in our reality”
... wasn’t really aware we’d accepted the furries in this reality yet
compared to 5 years ago its definitely less stigmatized i feel. not yet fully accepted sure but we're gettin there methinks
people still like to make jokes at the expense of furries, but i don't think a lot of people are genuinely disgusted by them the way they were a few years back
Yiff in hell
Still a joke.
... that’s the joke.
I think it's worth considering that many of Digimon's artistic choices were reactions to Pokemon's success. For example the anime never had Ash grow up - so Digimon allowed their characters to grow up. Without living in the shadow of Pokemon, Digimon would likely make more traditional artistic choices.
Other notable changes that Jenna didnt mention:
Since nintendo went into more gritty games franchises like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing havent found their footing. Which means Eric Barone didnt have a farming game to rework or another game to be inspired by. Which means Stardew Valley doesnt exsist. However, due to anti-mysoginy Wonderswan campaign many western female creators got a better treatment and experience in the industry. Who knows what type of games we would have gotten to replace Stardew with.
I know this isn't what you meant but "Since nintendo went into more gritty games franchises like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing"
@@tobyw484 the comma is very important there 😂
what if the grittification of the nintendo means that the playstation's more light hearted titles, like Katamari, Vib Ribbon, or Parappa the Rapper, become more mainstream
@@zoinks-scoob And the "like" should not be there.
@@nathangamble125 no, it should be lol. It's being used properly
I love how pat's name is in two different versions in the credit. Pat gill is a story editing persona and Patrick gill is art persona. Duality of Pat.
the sheer number of times I said "Jenna, oh my god" as I watched this should genuinely be taken as a compliment, but Jenna, oh my god.
Dont do this to me 2020
Me: "Wow, a video that explores how popularity would affect the Digimon franchise in storytelling, Monster design and gameplay"
The video: "Wonderswan beats Game Boy, Ice Age beats Spirited Away and all anime are ultra violent"
huh
And furries are globally accepted
that's how mafia works
@@decidueyedude4280 More Renamon porn right...
@ bruh
I actually prefer much more the fact that she pointed out the social aspects of the world that could have been. The storytelling, design and gameplay the community of fans already do this.
This is concerningly well researched. I love it
Thank you!! We're hoping to put out some more videos like this one. :^)
i’m LOVING the trend of polygon employees going absolutely wild with speculation recently
Please make the "What if Pokemon Had Won?" video and pretend like you're in the Digiverse and it's completely normal....
Watch this video backwards.
Replace the words digimon with pokemon in the video and then you have your answer
YES! PLEASE!
@CommandoDude Fuhrereich.
Ok, I lost it at "the first Pokémon movie, Pokémon, The First Movie."
I wonder how the Evangelical sermons about how Digimon is “the work of the devil” would play out.
(Sees Devimon and Angemon and the Devas from Tamers) oh, that would be interesting lol
They would probably be down for it. Angewomon and Angemon .
They're part of the "Y2K bug" anti-christ conspiracy 😆 the "I love you virus" is destroying nuclear families by making kids love digital "monsters". But at least 9/11 doesn't happen???
The guns on malomyotismon are named sodom and gomorrah so not well.
"Montgomery, AL becomes the Silicon Valley of the South"
Does this mean the stores and restaurants would be open for more than like 4 hours a day? Would there actually be things to do?
It means silicon valley relocates to Washington, leaving the south.
the heavy Japanese influence would also promote those close family bonds y'all have instead of how society treats you.
yeah, but only for people with start-up money
Yes, but it'll still be illegal for retailers to sell alcohol on Sunday mornings. Because some things never change, regardless of the universe you're in.
@@USBYDProductions YEEHAW!!!
"The first pokemon movie: Pokemon The First Movie" is a brilliant line, thank you for that
I've never wanted a wonder swan this much in my life.
There not hard to get and there is a translation chip mod with a WiFi adapter thingy
Alternate History Hub took a weird turn but I’m here for it.
I'm not against a alternate pop culture history hub, like the videos are the gist of a conversation with an expert, and the whole convo is in podcast form
Watching someone describe reality in an alternate timeline in detail is just so much fun.
"I can no longer speculate, with any accuracy" That's where you draw the line?!
Yeah. After making fury’s main stream, murdering animal crossing. And making Nintendo all edgy and dark toned, that’s where she drew the line.
Actually, Digimon being big would have a bigger effect on anime, because of Bandai. Bandai actually owns a lot of anime and Digimon being a success would make them more willing to bring over their kid friendly anime. Remember Pokemon anime may have been a success but the anime was created by a company that doesn't have much of a footprint in America nor is it known for producing a lot of anime.
You brought up how the WonderSwan games would have games for both boys and girls but a lot of the games you brought up are anime properties.
Yeah and some of them are shoujo
@@joshuamanjarrez6321 Exactly but to mention Bandai also owns Sunrise, one of the biggest and most prolific anime studios.
I have to agree- I don't see how Digimon winning out remotely means anime becomes a 'niche interest' or why there's even MORE censoring, or the other side effects she mentioned, like Spirited Away not showing up here in America- which would be a huge blow, I gotta say...
@@brightlight8852 Isn't Sunrise the one that brought Gundam Wing into the west? Between Mechas and Megazords, I see a much more robotic timeline than the one we had.
@@IceSpoon Yup the very same one and Bones is an offshoot of Sunrise too. Not to forget that Digimon actually won awards in Japan for tackling subjects that kids media tended to avoid. There's no way that they would edit it too much.
I don't know if it's the general darkweb conspiracy theory vibe Jenna is giving off or the sheer creativity of this alternate worldbuilding, but I would watch a whole series of this.
“HBO’s Redwall”
All you had to say, sold!
That was a reference I was not expecting to see in a Polygon video.
We might still get a Mouse Guard anime...
And now im super sad cause it will never be... Im in the wrong universe...
I would love to see this, Redwall deserves a good screen adaptation.
I would be onboard to exept in this timeline furrys are cool.
Jenna not being able to sit straight in a chair is EXTREMELY relatable.
WHY "Jenna has never heard "A Cruel Angel's Thesis"matter，and where can i watch this Jenna?
Technically, you can kill Pokemon before it's even out in Japan. At the last minute end of development for Red & Green, Game Freak took a risk and after removing the debugging tools, they filled the remaming cartridge space with the code for Mew. Now what if that broke the game?
Would legit love to see a monthly pop culture alt-history what-if series like this. Please do more!
“When Arthur blows out his knee” lmao
matthew weber i cried at this part
You're missing one of the most important possibilities of early Bandai success with stateside anime:
We might have been introduced to a good Gundam series first instead of Wing, and people who don't watch it would no longer call them "Transformers."
That's true, plus if super robot wars gets imported with the wonderswan than Gundam and Gunpla would skyrocket in popularity in the States.
The mother franchise comes back and is successful and the “Pokémon ripoff” argument is gone, BUT anime is bad
Me: *sweats nervously*
I doubt that Mother would actually come back though, at least in any meaningful way. The Creator said that 3 was going to be the last game, and we all know that he wasn’t kidding.
Goro Akechi true, but hey, while we aren’t gonna get any new mother games there’s tons of games made to be like mother from fans so that’s good enough ig
*a soul for a soul*
@@apollyonnoctis1291 yeah
It'll only be bad in America. Other countries will still get anime regardless, especially asian countries.
Ok but as long as the Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth games still release/are improved then I welcome our Digimon timeline overlords.
Sadly cyber sleuth is nowhere to be seen, however we do get an AMAZING story driven niche Pokemon rpg for the Wii U, that focus on understanding the underlying dynamics of pokemon and humans from a less "kid-friendly" angle, including some jokes about "gardevoir"
@@poster1233 P. I. Kachu is sadly underappreciated
We don't get cyber sleuth, instead Yasuda is hired to create art for another spinoff SMT title. Taking inspiration from Soul Hackers with the fidelity of modern portable consoles, players join an ace detective on a digital romp through cyberspace. Stylishly capturing demons and resolving reality distortions, they provide a glimpse into a world physically altered by digital phenomena.
The game is called.....Cyber Sleuth.
Hot take, cyber sleuth is a pretty alright game and im glad I got it. Thanks, fan demand. Also, I'm glad digimon is experiencing this weird resurgence in popularity in recent years, still very niche but I feel like it's getting real recognition again.
all i want is digimon world to get good sequels :( the original was so good, the following were nothing like it, and the return to form, next order, just makes me wish i was playing the original.
I love how this is a fictional time line theory about real life featuring a variety of obscure references and funny puns and jokes that feel like she just made them some time and wanted to find a way to share them.
" 'Spirited Away' isn't even nominated for an academy award"
Maybe we aren't in the worst time line...
Do we really care about the academy awards? Remember not a single How to train your Dragon film won an Oscar
Big Hero 6 beat HttyD 2
If that happens then it'll truly give a new meaning to "hidden gems"
I remember my local newscaster closing out his report of the seizure news with a smug smile intoning that "There are presently no plans to bring the cartoon to the United States," not aware that in less than a year it would become the biggest thing going.
I also remember well after Pokemon's US debut, in 1999, the Simpsons (having just started the slide into being *a bad show* a few years prior) the family going to Japan and all collapsing while watching an episode of "Flying Seizure Robots." Very timely and funny, Simpsons.
As a person who enjoy both Pokemon and Digimon during my childhood, it's very interesting to know how big of an impact it would be on the world and the world's popculture if Pokemon were to lose to Digimon when it comes to popularity.
"And in this alternate timeline, instead of making a video on this, I'd be making a video theorizing what would have happened if pokemon were successful."
I wrote this before I finished the video. All i have to say is *i told you so*
"...The first Pokemon movie, Pokemon the First Movie."
"Pokénnui" is such a beautiful word.
I feel that this is Yu-Gi-Oh erasure
"Americanized within an inch of its life", huh?
With Digimon already having a massively popular cardgame, Bandai thinks it unwise for Toei to produce a direct competitor under their banner. So Yu-Gi-Oh not only never gets the push it needs to make the change from a manga about death games into a child-friendly TV series but actively gets steered into becoming more of an adult series, in line with the hyper-violent, hyper-sexualised view that the west has on anime in this parallel universe.
Which means that Yu-Gi-Oh isn't erased but is, instead, relegated to being a niche series, popular at america's few, small anime conventions. And its content is far more in line with season zero's than with what most people in our universe know.
Meanwhile, however, this frees up space for a cardgaming TV series that Digimon Tamers is more than happy to take on the role of.
@@dankayur2910 Now I'm kind of interested in the Yu-Gi-Oh! season 0-verse
@@dankayur2910 On one hand, we would never get card games on motorcycles in that dimension. On the other, we would never get Arc-V in that dimension. I'm torn
@@evan64915 Who says Beelzemon doesn't inspire a whole new wave of cardgames on motorcycles?
Digimon has always been one of my biggest hyperfixations for years. I'm really glad to see you guys talking about it!!! It really makes my heart happy.
Especially Jenna. Jenna talking about it just makes me so happy.
wait if nintendo ended up going the "darker, grittier, edgier" route with their games in the digiverse would that mean that sega did too and shadow the hedgehog (the game) would've been a critically acclaimed success and instead of pretending like it didn't exist, sega used it as inspiration for their next games?
And Metroid, being the "darkest" IP that Nintendo owns, becomes the most popular of their IPs instead of the lighthearted Mario and Legend of Zelda games series... In my dreams.
And considering how well Rare's game sold on the N64 and that Conker Bad Fur's Day is actually pretty grim and "not rated-E", that would keep Rare within Nintendo's grasp. So more Banjo Kazooie as well.
@@IceSpoon In that case modern kids such as myself would know what they are without smash
@@crazycap2945 They'd probably still have smash, it would just be more like a traditional fighting game.
Without the anime influence, we would not have Avatar: The Last Airbender. M. Night would not have made his live action adaptation, and instead would have revitalized his career by focusing on his passion project, the Unbreakable series, which would have appeared in theaters much more quickly, and garnered greater acclaim.
Is it worth it ?
Not at all. This timeline is actual garbage.
Dude... this is beautiful. This deep-dive into a what is essentially a thought experiment is really refreshing, and makes me want to go back to writing up silly short stories.
Please, keep doing this!!
"By the Mid 2010's, TV critics cite Digimon among Hill Street Blues and The Wire for popularizing this format"
This is Twin Peaks erasure
This is literally my favorite genre of speculative fiction and I am laughing so hard at all the wonderful details and research
In this alternate timeline, Brian David Gilbert rates Digimon on edibility.
WHAT IF "MONSTER RANCHER" HAD WON!?
*surprised Suezo face* the best alt timeline ever!
Instead of monetizing figurines, we monitize cds and dvds instead. Many dvds are burned outright from overuse on gaming hardware lasers, while markets are flooded with pirated discs. To counter this, music is included way way earlier in possible disc summoning, and the music industry experiences a much better physical market. Apple gains less ground and profit with ipods, making it less fashionable to spend ludicrous amounts of money on white electronics.
WHAT IF MEDABOTS HAD WON? 🤔
I was hoping this was the video reveal at the end. ☹️
I want to live in that reality. I don't know why but Monster Rancher was always so much more meaningful to me than both Pokémon and Digimon combined. I mean, yes, Genki could be an annoying little snot but he went to bat for his monster friends far more often and in ways Ash and the Digimon kids never did. I guess it was also that he believed in monsters as people, no matter how weird they were, and to an autistic kid who always felt out of place that was oddly powerful.
For ash, a weird new Pokémon was just a weapon, and for the most part the Digimon kids had very homogenised Digimon. It wasn't just the designs either, in both cases it was the incredibly subservient nature of the monsters. They were slaves rather than friends. Whereas the Monster Rancher critters would never be subservient, not even Mocchi, the cute one.
I guess that was it, I suppose. In Monster Rancher, monsters were equals and treated as though they were sapient beings with feelings and thoughts. As I said, to an out-of-place autistic kid this was... Potent? I think the word that's used these days is powerful, and it was.
So I'd have lovedf or Monster Rancher to have won.