Digital Monsters 3

Digital Monsters 3
Title screen.
Publisher	Vast Fame, Li Cheng, New Game Color Advance
Developer	Vast Fame (Likely)
Console	Game Boy Color
Date	2001
Engine	Own
Sound engine	Minakuchi Engineering (Mega Man V)/Kouji Murata
Alternate names/hacks	Digimon 3 Crystal Version/Ultra Dream Version, Digimon Ruby

Digital Monsters 3 (數碼暴龍水晶版3, also known as Digimon 3 Ultra Dream Version / Crystal Version and Digimon Ruby) is a bootleg game for the Game Boy Color, released in 2001.

Overview

The game, while featuring characters from the Digimon Adventures anime, seems to have its own plot. The player can choose from the eight main characters to play as, though all it changes is the starter Digimon and player graphics.

It plays similarly to the Pokémon games, but instead of using items to capture an enemy during battle the player must give the wild Digimon enough of an item they enjoy (categorized between vaccine, virus and data) and defeat them. The Digimon evolve by leveling up to a certain point and then do so manually at their base, which the player can choose depending on what base guard they talked to first. The Digimon the player obtains from the base leader depends on which one they chose.

Gallery

Top-left to bottom right: Original Taiwanese release (as Ultra Dream), original Chinese release (as Crystal), a Li Cheng release and a generic bootleg of the common dump.

New Game release as Digimon Ruby.

New Game release as Digimon Emerald.

Trivia

• This game features two different soundtracks: one which features three tracks taken from Shui Hu Shen Shou (found in the common Chinese dump and Digimon Ruby) and another with a bigger, brand-new soundtrack (found in all other releases.)
• The game has gone under two separate names in Chinese; its initial Taiwanese release is called "數碼暴龍3超夢版" (or Digital Monsters 3: Ultra Dream Edition) and in areas like China it was called "數碼暴龍3水晶版" (Digital Monsters 3: Crystal Edition.)
• Another release by New Game Color Advance translates the game in (poor) English like most of Vast Fame's English releases. It also has slight debug stuff left in, such as a strangely varied team with some monsters starting with 0HP and some others at level 99 and 50.
• One NPC the player meets in the sewers (named "Shutulin" in Ruby) is used as the playable character in Digimon Pocket.
• The boot logo in the regular releases is an italic "DIGI" instead of Vast Fame's standard one.