There were a few kids who said Digimon was a ripoff, but the rivalry was overstated. The only time I really encountered it was in those unofficial magazines like the one in OP's pic. I was always pretty big into both franchises, so I imagine I'd have encountered it more on the playground if it were that big of a deal.
I don't imagine it'd have been much of a rivalry though. Digimon was pretty successful compared to the average franchise of its kind, but there's just no competition. In-general, I only had a few friends who I'd talk about Digimon with, where there was just an expectation that you were into Pokemon if you were a kid in the late 90s/very early 00s.
>>58073157>Even YugiohYugioh was insanely popular. It took over as the number one game played on the playground after Pokemania died down. It never reached the same heights as Gens 1 and 2, but I can't think of anything else that came close to that.
