Ninja Penguin Podcasts – A Nostalgia Podcast Network

Play Comics is a show where Chris and a guest takes a look at a video game based on a comic property and how well the game sticks to the source material.

Check out the newest episode below.

Digimon Digital Card Battle with Sahoni (Bramble Wolf Games)
Digivolve your PlayStation controllers and prepare to shuffle your way through the most wonderfully confused identity crisis in gaming history, because this week on Play Comics we're tapping into the pixelated card-battling chaos that is Digimon Digital Card Battle for the PS1! Released in 2001 when every entertainment franchise on Earth was racing to cash in on the trading card game gold rush sparked by Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, Bandai decided their digital monsters deserved a piece of that sweet, sweet card-slinging action. The twist? They didn't just adapt the existing Digimon trading card game – oh no, that would be far too simple. Instead, they created an entirely NEW card game exclusively for this PS1 title, because apparently someone at BEC thought "You know what kids collecting physical cards really need? A completely different set of rules that only exists in digital form!" What emerged was a gloriously polygonal fever dream where Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon became your partners in a card-battling odyssey through Battle Arenas, all while you sacrifice Digimon from your hand like some kind of digital monster cult leader gathering "DP" (Digivolve Points, not whatever your brain just went to) to evolve your creatures into increasingly ridiculous forms. It's rock-paper-scissors meets card game mechanics meets "please stop making me grind the same battles 300 times to unlock the secret final boss." Joining us for this digivolved discussion is the phenomenally talented Sahoni from Bramble Wolf Games! When they're not busy crafting games that actually mean something or channeling their Queer and Indigenous (ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ) storytelling magic into unforgettable tabletop experiences, Sahoni brings their narrative expertise to help us understand how this PS1 oddity somehow convinced an entire generation that carrying around 30 digital cards was infinitely more practical than the hundreds of physical ones weighing down their backpacks. So crack open that PS1 jewel case, practice your best "I'm going to pretend I understand these Support Card effects" face, and prepare for an episode more entertaining than watching the same Digimon battle animation for the 47th time. We'll explore whether this card-game-that-never-was actually honored the spirit of the Digimon franchise, or if it just left us wondering why we couldn't trade our digital cards with friends like we could in literally every other TCG game of the era!