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