Digimon Racing

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Digimon Racing is a Game Boy Advance Racing Game which, like the Digimon Rumble Arena games, is tied into any of the anime series. In this case, this game mainly stars the eight chosen Digimon from Digimon Adventure as playable characters, with the lead Digimon from Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers, and Digimon Frontier being unlockable. To summarize, think of Mario Kart: Super Circuit, but with Digimon and its well-known elements.

For the long version, this Mascot Racer utilizes some familiar mechanics of its genre such as Mario Kart-esque power-ups obtainable from item boxes. However, unique to this game is the digivolution mechanic. In this game, a racer has his/her own "health" gauge of sorts seen on the left-hand side of the screen during races, which can be reduced by taking damage (or using items) or increased by running over digital "wireframe" terrain or using a certain item. It has three segments, each representing the form the racer ends up as. By default, the racer starts out as a Rookie (middle segment), but taking too much damage can reduce the gauge to its lowermost segment (In-Training), while filling the gauge enough to reach the topmost gauge will allow him/her to digivolve into his/her Champion level (or Armor in Veemon's case). The Digimon's current form also affects their racing performance, with reduced stats as an In-Training and better performance as a Champion/Armor. If the gauge is fully filled, the racer will be able to unleash a special power unique to him/her. Most of these powers are used to attack other racers, but few can provide advantages to the user instead.

The goal of the game is simple, win all of the Grand Prix. As the player progresses through the game, the player can unlock more content and can even end up in boss battles against the three famous Mega-level Digimon in the Adventure universe: Omnimon, Diaboromon, and MaloMyotismon.

This game was released in Japan on (funnily enough) April 1, 2004. Europe later got the game on April 30, 2004, while North Americans had to wait several more months before getting this game on September 13, 2004.


Tropes used in Digimon Racing include:
  • 100% Completion: Required to unlock everything, especially the characters.
  • Adaptation Decay: The three boss Digimon. They are all Mega level but their weakness is... bubbles. No, the player cannot use their Digimon's signature attacks against them. Keep in mind that the Evolutionary Levels only go up to Champion (Armor for Veemon). Then there is Omnimon's Supreme Cannon. But, hey, Rule of Fun. It will not be fair otherwise, considering what this game is.
  • Advertised Extra: In the US and Europe versions, Guilmon is the center Digimon on the box art (while Agumon appears faded in the background), even though he is an unlockable character. To a lesser extent, the game's logo in the localization uses the one from Digimon Frontier, even though the major theme of this game is primarily from the Adventure universe and Agunimon himself is, once again, an unlockable character.
  • Airborne Mook: Piximon, DemiMeramon, and Oppossummon.
  • Artificial Brilliance: If given a chance, the AI may try to use shortcuts.
  • Artificial Stupidity:
    • The AI outright breaks itself when it gets affected by Gatomon's Cat's Eye Hypno. On a player, they can at least try to control themselves during the Interface Screw (inverted steering controls), but the AI will instead wildly veer at random directions until the effect wears off.
    • The AI may occasionally get stuck on a static obstacle too high for them to jump over due to them wasting time trying to jump instead of driving around it. This is easier to see on Gabumon and Gomamon due to their lower jump height.
  • Blade on a Stick: The Piximon in Swamp Bog use this to smack racers that get too close to them, slowing the poor racers down.
  • Boring but Practical:
    • Tentomon. Just, Tentomon. He has the best handling stat among all characters, which means much of the difficulty is cut down if the player just uses him in all tracks. His low top speed and acceleration can hinder him, though, and his special power does not help much if he falls too far behind.
    • Jumping in general. Maneuvering gets tricky? Control self with a bit of jumping. Incoming bad terrain? Easy, just jump over them instead of trying to drive around them if possible. Want to bypass hazards and hostile opponents without crashing into them? Jump. Of course, the game knows this, as there are certain shortcuts, alternate paths, and even main paths that require jumping.
  • Boss Battle: The player can face against Omnimon, Diaboromon, or MaloMyotismon in their respective arenas. The objective is to hit the boss with the "red bubble" projectile items enough times to defeat him (and no, special powers are not allowed for some reason).
  • Boss-Only Level: The three arenas.
  • Bottomless Pits: If a track does not have "out of bounds" areas, deep water, or walls, this will suffice.
  • Bubble Gun:
    • This game's Green and Red Shell expies. The Green Shell expy is colored blue, though.
    • Omnimon's Supreme Cannon is rendered as this, due to using the same projectile.
    • After defeating Omnimon, the short cutscene depicts the player's Digimon capturing him in a blue bubble.
  • Collision Damage: Any bump that is not against the walls causes this. Also, it is a bad idea to bump into an opponent of a higher level than the player's current form, as it will cause not only this but also a spin out.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: All opponents drive karts whose color scheme can not be selected by the player in order to distinguish them. This is more noticeable in multiplayer where even player-controlled racers will be shown driving a kart with the AI color scheme when seen from one player's perspective.
  • Comeback Mechanic: If a racer is severely lagging behind, he/she may pick up a "light beam" item that allows him/her to stall all opponents.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: It is Digimon, so they have some resistance, but what about their karts? Driving on the burnt terrain on the Volcano track may burn the tires but it does not hinder the Digimon's performance. Only by falling into the lava does the kart get totally destroyed, though when the Digimon returns, his/her kart will be good as new. Then again, there is the fiery bird Birdramon who can drive her kart with no trouble to it.
  • Cooldown: During boss battles, the boss Digimon will go into this state after a few attacks, rendering him vulnerable to the red bubbles.
  • Death From Above:
    • Angemon's Hand of Fate and Growlmon's Pyro Blaster rain down beam of light and stream of fire (respectively) on an opponent in front.
    • There is also the power-up variant which hits all opponents.
    • This is Diaboromon's fate in the short cutscene after defeating him.
  • Difficult but Awesome: Gabumon and Gomamon. Once the player can handle their horrible handling and acceleration, they become the best characters in the game due to their very high top speed, especially in straightaways.
  • Double Unlock: Since all tracks aside from the four starting ones require unlocking them first, the hidden characters basically require this. Even worse for Agunimon, since the entirety of Grand Prix, Fake Longevity and all, has to be won to finally unlock him.
  • Dub Name Change: Obviously, the localization uses the dub names for the Digimon and series-specific terms.
  • Fake Longevity: The Grand Prix has this in spades. Apparently, it is not enough that the player defeated MaloMyotismon for the first time, the player has to race on more Cups featuring the same tracks but in different orders!
  • Fireballs: Greymon's Nova Blast, Garurumon's Howling Blaster, and BurningGreymon's Corona Blaster are rendered as these.
  • Follow the Leader: To Mario Kart.
  • Fragile Speedster: Patamon and Biyomon, despite their very low top speed, have the highest acceleration to back it up, allowing them to resume race after stalls quicker than other characters. Their light weight also allows them to jump high, but this makes them easy to get pushed aside by heavier characters.
  • Goomba Stomp: Nothing stops racers from jumping on each other to inflict damage.
  • Homing Projectile:
    • The "red bubble" item, which is this game's Red Shell.
    • Greymon's, Garurumon's, Kabuterimon's, and BurningGreymon's powers are this if there is an opponent in range.
    • Diaboromon's Web Wrecker is a slower variant. As long as the player keeps their speed up, his shots will never reach the player.
  • Human Popsicle: Or Digimon Popsicle, more like. Getting hit by the Mojyamon's snowballs will cause the racer to spin out while encased in ice.
  • Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Present on the Coastline. These serve as mere obstacles, though.
  • Interface Screw:
    • Gatomon's Cat's Eye Hypno inverts the steering controls of an opponent in front (or last place if she is in the lead).
    • Running over a Numemon in Toy Town may occasionally make him splatter on the screen, blocking some of the player's vision for a short while.
  • Invincibility Power-Up: Birdramon's and Flamedramon's powers. Birdramon's also has an added bonus of raising her top speed temporarily.
  • Jack of All Stats: Agumon and Salamon have average score on all three stats.
  • Jump Physics: All racers can jump freely. Unlike the conventional "hop" in other racing games, their jumps are high enough to clear ground-bound obstacles barring walls. Also high enough to Goomba Stomp an opponent.
  • Last Lousy Point: Unlocking Agunimon is this, thanks to the Grand Prix's Fake Longevity detailed above.
  • Level Map Display: The track's map is visible in the HUD during the race.
  • Life Meter: Present during boss battles, to represent boss health.
  • Lighter and Softer: While the Digimon series does not shy away from its lighter side, this is taken into ridiculous levels with the boss battles and their respective cutscenes post-defeat: Omnimon getting caught in a bubble, Diaboromon getting immobilized by a beam fired from above, and the player's Digimon giving MaloMyotismon a good smack in the back... with a kart. Keep in mind that all of these are done by Rookie-level Digimon in a kart while the three Megas have nothing else!
  • Limit Break: The special powers. They will show up once the digivolution gauge is full, but it does not require the same full gauge to actually use, just being at the Champion/Armor level when the racer is going to use it.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The shield power-up and Flamedramon's Flame Shield protect the user from hazards. Birdramon's Fire Burst may also count.
  • Mighty Glacier: Gabumon and Gomamon are rather heavy and have the highest top speed, but their horrible handling and acceleration mean that they do not fare well on turn-/drift-heavy tracks and they will take some time to reach their top speed, respectively.
  • Mook Bouncer: MaloMyotismon can teleport the player back to the start of his maze using his Screaming Darkness attack. Considering that boss battles are a Timed Mission, be very careful when the player reaches his area after navigating through Deep Jungle.
  • Mutually Exclusive Powerups: The item box powerups. While a racer technically can hold up to two powerups (item box and special power), picking up an item box while the racer is already holding a standard powerup will result in said powerup to be replaced with another if it rolls a different powerup.
  • Mythology Gag: The character selection screen depicts the currently-selected Digimon rotating on a white disc. If the player waits for a few seconds, it shows all of his/her forms he/she can turn into in the race. This invokes the regular digivolution sequence seen in the first two seasons of the anime.
  • Nitro Boost: One of the items. There are also the conventional speed boosts found on tracks.
  • No Item Use for You: Averted for the items in boss battles. The only item is the "red bubble" that homes in on the boss if he is on range. It is, however, played straight for the special powers here.
  • Personal Raincloud: Any racer who finishes fourth or lower. The player can also get in Time Trial if they fail to set a new record.
  • Regenerating Health: Only when the digivolution gauge is less than 50%, just so the poor racer will not struggle with lowered stats as In-Training for too long.
  • Rubber Band AI: More noticeable as the player progresses through the game. At early-game, they do not possess much threat and are easy to outspeed. As more and more content are unlocked, it is hard to stay in front before the AI suddenly catches up and tries to bombard the player with items or special powers more often.
  • Save Game Limits: This game only allows one save file.
  • Spread Shot: Togemon's Needle Spray fires three needles in this fashion.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The bomb power-up functions as a trap-based item.
  • Super Drowning Skills: The racers can drive on shallow water just fine, but the moment they enter a darker shade of water, they instantly vanish.
  • Teleport Spam: Diaboromon is the only boss who does not stand in one place.
  • Time Trial: Present in this game, of course. Beating all the preset records will unlock Guilmon as a playable character.
  • Timed Mission: The Time Trials basically become this if the player wants to unlock Guilmon (or just trying to make new records). Also, the boss battles have a time limit.
  • Unlockable Content: Guilmon, Veemon, and Agunimon are the unlockable characters, each requiring 100% Completion of a specific mode. The game features 12 tracks and 3 boss arenas, but only 4 is available at the start, requiring Grand Prix to unlock the rest.
  • Video Game Settings: Even to the point of using the similar themes for the bonus Cups.
  • Wacky Racing: Considering how much Mario Kart influence in this game.
  • Your Size May Vary: Due to the digivolution mechanic, Gatomon becomes as big as the normally Kaiju-sized Champions. In general, everyone's fully digivolved forms have drastically different sizes due to the need of fitting them in a race kart.


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