
The toy began as the simple concept of a Tamagotchi for boys (as Bandai was also the creator of the Tamagotchi). It was planned by Wiz and released by Bandai on June 26, 1997. However, if a Digimon's data is completely destroyed, they will die.ĭigimon started out as a digital pet called " Digital Monster", similar in style and concept to the Tamagotchi. Digimon who are reincarnated in this way will sometimes retain some or all their memories of their previous life. The data then recomposes itself as a Digi-Egg, which will hatch when rubbed gently, and the Digimon goes through its life cycle again. Old Digimon and Digimon who receive fatal wounds dissolve into infinitesimal bits of data.

The first Digimon anime introduces the Digimon life cycle: They age in a similar fashion to real organisms, but do not die under normal circumstances because they are made of reconfigurable data. In some cases, as in the first season, the Tamers had to find some special items such as Crests and Tags so the Digimon could digivolve in another stage called Ultimate then Mega. They are able to digivolve by the use of Digivices that their human partners have. Some Digimon are feral in nature, but most possess large amounts of intelligence and human speech. The effect of Digivolution, however, is not permanent, and Digimon who have digivolved will most of the time revert back to their previous form after a battle or if they are too weak to continue. They age via a process called " Digivolution" which changes their appearance and increases their powers.


