>>54774497Digimon leaned in heavily on appealing to boys while Pokemon appealed equally to boys and girls, for one thing. Every kid had a Pikachu doll during PokeMania, have you ever seen a girl with an Agumon doll? No. Digimon get bigger and scarier, whereas even Pokemon like Ryhorn and Gyarados still have cute anime eyes and stout, animal like proportions.
The Pokemon games are also extremely easy, simple, and engrossing, they're right next to Mario and Dragon Quest in their universal appeal.
Meanwhile Digimon has a very continuity heavy cartoon, monsters designed more for action figures than plushes, no "collection" mechanic to market with, and when a game finally does come out it's PS1 only with grimy graphics and obtuse design. They were selling to a specific audience of boys growing out of Pokemon, and that's all they got.
