D-TERMINAL

 

D-Terminal

The Bandai D-Terminal is modelled after the D-Terminals used by the kids in the show in appearance only. There’s no e-mail here, obviously. The D-Terminal is fitted with five buttons - essentially on/off, up, down, confirm and back - and has multiple features, which I shall run through separately.

Database
This is, first and foremost, what the D-Terminal is all about. There is an encyclopedia list of 351 Digimon, which you can search by name, number, and, I was surprised to discover, game card number. Each entry contains an animated figure of the Digimon, their name and number, their Level, Group, Type, Data Size and Technique, and, if they are DigiDestined Digimon, then their Digivolving abilities. You can Digivolve, reverse Digivolve, and even Armour Digivolve all the DD Digimon into all their different forms ( Terriermon, Kokomon, and even Diaboromon all have this feature). I was disappointed to see that Myotismon, Etemon and other characters on the show who had been shown to Digivolve on TV were not given this feature in the D-Terminal, though. But this is all in all a very usual device to have if you’re writing a fanfic, or just need some information.
However, it’s not without it’s bad points. For starters, a LOT of the later entries are missing information - mostly Data Size and Type, but also Group in some. And a lot of the later entries only have one attack included as opposed to two. Also, being from Bandai, it contains “Bandai” names - Creepymon instead of Daemon, Apokarimon instead of Apocalymon, etc, as well as “Bandai” attack names, which do not corroborate what is seen on the show - “Top Gun” for Silphymon, “Speedy Scratcher” (?) for Paildramon, etc. And Magnadramon, Seraphimon, Imperialdramon, GranKuwagamon, Valkyriemon and Vikimon are all missing - their entries merely come up as “Unidentified” when you type their numbers in. I’m puzzled by this - it’s not because they don’t have cards - neither do a lot of the later entries (and Magnadramon DOES have a card, anyway). And it’s not because they hadn’t appeared on the show yet. They’re just... not there (reducing the actual total Digimon count to 345). Also, Ebonwumon and Zhuqiaomon have had their names reversed - but this is a fault carried over from the original Japanese D-Terminal.

Translate
This feature is worthless. For the US D-Terminal, Bandai has created it’s own version of Digi-Code, with symbols representing English letters, rather than Japanese syllables, as the true Digi-Code works. You input an English word, and it is converted into these symbols. It’s stupid, useless, and if you ever DID find some use for it, you could do the conversion faster by hand, using the key inside the D-Terminal lid, rather than waiting for the D-Terminal to process it.

Game
A mildly amusing feature. Here, you are given the choice to play two games - one is a shooting game, the other a “jigsaw” game. In the shooting game, you simply move your target up and down, and fire at the “shuttles” which move back and forth across the screen until you run out of energy. For the jigsaw game, which I prefer, you are given a picture of one of the Digimon from the database, and it is split up into eight pieces, which you have to re-organise. Something to pass the time with if you’re bored.

V.s. Battle
This feature allows you to connect up to a friend’s Digivice to D-3 to battle their Digimon. To obtain a Digimon of your own, you type in a password of anything up to 5 letters - the letters can be anything you like, they don’t have to actually form a word, or anything. Just smack ‘em in, and hope you get something powerful. I’m sure somewhere on the ‘Net there’s a list of passwords for this features. I don’t know anyone with a Digivice or D-3, so I haven’t been able to try out this feature, but if I’m feeling bored, it can amuse me to type in “colourful” words and see what Digimon I get... Palmon is “Bitch” for example... but the D-Terminal seems to take forever to process your word and bring up your Digimon.

System
Here’s where you fiddle with the contrast and sound. I prefer to keep the contrast at 5, and the sound off.

Overall
I hardly deny that this is designed for little kids - the Digi-Words and game features show that. But if Bandai had just put a LITTLE more work into completing the Database, this would be a excellent tool for all Digi-fans. As it stands, however, they didn’t. But it’s still not without it’s uses or mild entertainment value.

Rating: 3 out of 5