17, 2013, part of the line-up of video games of the 15th anniversary celebration of the franchise. The game covers the entire series as well as the second Japanese film, Bokura no War Game, and sees the return of all the main voice actors. The game also features original story elements and an unlockable dungeon mode featuring the protagonists of the other anime series in the franchise. Reception On its initial release, the series found a rather large success in the United States. When it was first released in North America, the series was seen as an attempt to imitate the success of Nintendo's Pokémon franchise. Entertainment Weekly magazine named Digimon as the "Worst Pokémon/Net Crossbreeding Attempt" in 2000. However, audiences eventually noticed that compared to Pokémon, the characters interacted and developed realistically, as well as the integration of more complicated science fiction stories and societal themes. The English dub gradually improved as well, making fewer and fewer alterations to the Japanese original by later episodes. As a result, many young viewers quickly outgrew Pokémon and migrated to Digimon instead. Despite the criticism, it placed first at the start of the May 2000 Nielsen ratings sweeps, surpassing Pokémon: Adventures on the Orange Islands among viewers aged 2–11 and 6–11. Retailers and businesses such as snack food company Jel Sert and toy store chain Toys "R" Us capitalized on the popularity of the series by licensing it for promotion with their own products. Web search engine Lycos listed Digimon as the number five fad of 2000, and it ranked 35th on the list of the year's top searches. On Anime News Network, Luke Carroll gave the Digimon: Digital Monsters - Collection 2 DVD an overall grade of D+. Notes References External links Official website Official sequel website 1990s Japanese television series 1999 Japanese television series debuts 1999 anime films 1999 anime television series debuts 2000 Japanese television series endings 2000 anime films Adventure anime and manga Animated television series about children Animated television shows based on films Adventure Discotek Media Fuji TV original programming Fiction set in 1999 Isekai anime and manga Isekai novels and light novels Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated adventure television series Japanese children's animated science fantasy television series Japanese animated films Television series about parallel universes Television series about summer camps Television series by Saban Entertainment Toei Animation television