Digimon

http://www.freewebs.com/digimonuniverse/dworld.html

Digimon.....short for "Digital Monsters“, got it's start back in 1997 much in the same way as Pokémon did......in a game format.  Digimon was produced by Bandai, so it was more of a spin-off of the (then popular) Tamagotchi that they produced, rather than an RPG for a handheld game console.  It came in several different versions, each one had a different Digimon you had to take care of.  As with most virtual pets, the better care you gave them (like feeding them, and making them battle), the bigger they grew....eventually making them better and stronger Digimon.  You could connect your Digimon to another persons Digimon and do battle with them. These Digimon V-pets came to Western shores in early 1998, but they didn't fly off the shelves.  In fact, they sold quite poorly, thus,  there are very few of the "original" Digimon out there, and they are now considered a collector's item. Although never becoming as popular as Pokémon, Digimon has always been there making money and is still considered successful, but with Pokémon out there it has always been over shadowed with the Pokémon games being considerably more popular. Personally I found the early ps1 Digimon game, Digimon world, to be the best monster breeder game I have ever played, retaining the qualities of the tamagotchi and mixing it with a battle formula similar to the battles from the original Digimon tamagotchi's but ported over to work in a fully 3d environment thanks to the play stations capabilities.