[First Impression] Digimon Vital Bracelet, Live Healthy While Becoming a Digimon Tamer!

Late last year Bandai Namco announced an accessory in the form of a fitness tracker bracelet with a Digimon theme. Named the Digimon Vital Bracelet, this tool allows its users to find out statistical data from steps and heart rate which will later be needed to raise Digimon. That’s right, this tool is not only useful for monitoring your exercise results, but can also be used as a unique Digivice.

We were fortunate to have had the opportunity to take a closer look at this product and get a clear idea of the premise it offers. Please note that the Vital Bracelet is temporarily still an imported item that is only marketed in Japan, so all the default settings and applications are still available in Japanese as well. But at least we still managed to get enough impression material to be summarized in this article.

Dim Card Usage

Digimon Vital Bracelet comes with a default card that is packaged like a game cartridge called Dim Card. Each card comes with a separate Digimon that is clearly customized in the package, so you can more easily choose a specific Digimon that you want to nurture and strengthen. So far, the new Dim Card offers five Digimon options, namely Agumon, Gabumon, Veemon, Pulsemon, Agumon (Black), and the last one is Gabumon (Black).

Each card provides a complete branched evolution phase for each Digimon, such as how you can strengthen Veemon to a choice of six forms in the Ultimate phase, or up to four evolution forms in the Mega phase which is complete with Fighter Mode and Dragon Mode. One warning that users need to pay attention to is to always store or secure the Dim Card so that it doesn’t get lost, this is also because the Dim Card packaging is only in the form of simple plastic like when you buy a Sim Card.

Take Care and Train Your Digimon

After choosing a Dim Card from your favorite Digimon, it’s time to raise it. Veemon is the Digimon we chose, and at the beginning he still has a Chibomon form which is of course still very weak. At this phase we can do nothing but do sports or other productive activities that can be measured by the Vital Bracelet. After getting enough data after recording our footsteps, finally cute Chibomon has evolved into DemiVeemon.

The next Digivolve phase will undergo a drastic change after entering, where the Digivolve will be triggered automatically after a few hours until the player reaches the Rookie stage. It is at this stage that the Digivolve path will be determined from your sports activities and the Digimon’s performance in fighting.

Although it sounds quite easy and specific, there is a big consequence that you should pay attention to, namely the fact that the Digimon you care for can die. This happens if the Vital Bracelet doesn’t get measurement data from your sports activities within 24 hours, including if you lose a battle between Digimon in a row. If you experience a scenario like this, then you must be prepared to start progressing from the beginning again.

It’s time to exercise

Not a fitness tracker bracelet of course if it’s not used to measure your sports activity, and for this the Vital Bracelet does its job well. After successfully strengthening Digimon to a certain Digivolve phase, you will get a series of special missions related to physical activities such as walking and doing a specific number of squads.

The measuring sensors in this Vital Bracelet are quite sensitive enough to make them easy to trick. For example, you can get a data measurement of the number of steps you take just by doing small movements, such as waving your hand, opening a door, and various other small movements. Sounds like a cheesy trick indeed, but setting aside time to exercise regularly is still the main option to get the best results.

There are some important details that you should know about the gadget itself. First, the Vital Bracelet does not have the best resistance and is not suitable for use in dust or water filled terrain. Fortunately sweat from the results of exercise does not have a detrimental effect on the device, but you must remain vigilant to keep it away from excessive water contact.

The second is the battery life which is quite wasteful and can only last for one day. So after charging, you should immediately use the device, because as we mentioned earlier, you can lose progress if the Vital Bracelet doesn’t get data after being inactive for 24 hours.

Don’t Forget Your Mission

The experience felt after entering the Rookie stage onwards will be very different, because from here you can follow a series of missions to get the Vital Points and Trophy needed for the Digivolve process to a higher phase. The Vital Bracelet gives you a variety of tasks divided between normal missions and special Adv missions. Normal missions are simple tasks that take a long time to complete such as collecting data from footsteps and specific Vital Point counts. While the Adv mission is a task that puts you in a battle scenario between Digimon, which is fully automatic and determined from your Digimon’s stats.

All the tasks you do with the Vital Bracelet are quite simple, it’s just that there are some moments that do require focus. One of them is how the Adv mission can continue to the next stage after you win a battle, and not infrequently there are also moments where you have to deal with Digimon who have entered a higher Digivolve phase. If it’s like this, instead of losing your Digimon and having to restart the progress from the beginning, the only thing that can be done is to turn off the Vital Bracelet and delete the recorded data.

Before doing sports, it is also very important for you to pay attention to the selected time, because there are moments where your Digimon will sleep for several hours every day. So if the timing collides with your workout schedule, then all you have to do is wait until the Digimon wakes up before you can go on another mission, or advance the clock on the Vital Bracelet. It would be much better of course if there was some kind of option or special command to wake up Digimon directly.

Vital Bracelet Built-in Application Functions

Not to forget, this bracelet is also equipped with a free default application called Vital Bracelet Lab. This application records all data from your sports activities, including performance when you were a tamer from the start using the tool. Another function of this app is to store Digimon which further provides options for DNA Digivolution. You can do DNA Digivolution by combining specific Digimon, with a note that one Digimon must be active while the other is in an inactive position in storage.

In addition, the Vital Bracelet Lab allows the user to set special missions that need to be carried out. Depending on how many missions or challenges are successfully completed, you will be rewarded with V-Coins which can be exchanged in the Shop for more special missions and special items to speed up the Digimon evolution process.

Due to the availability of built-in tools and applications that are only specific to the Japanese region, using the Vital Bracelet does require more precision. But fortunately there is already a built-in guide that is quite easy to follow because the steps are simple. If you’re still confused, there’s nothing wrong with using Google Translate.

Conclusion

Combining a fitness tracker with a Digivice is an idea that sounds very appealing, and the Vital Bracelet we have to admit managed to make it happen with good execution. The desire to care for and raise Digimon certainly encourages users to exercise more regularly, especially for Digimon fans who really like side activities like this.

Our first impressions weren’t completely perfect, because there were some shortcomings such as how the Vital Bracelet is not resistant to water and dust, the battery is quite wasteful, and the availability of Adv missions which can sometimes disrupt activities suddenly, especially when you are faced with stronger Digimon. .

For those of you who are interested in the product, the Digimon Vital Bracelet can be obtained from Bandai Store worth USD 65 or around IDR 938 thousand. Pre-order access has been open until April 27, but when we checked they were out of stock at the moment. Even so, maybe you can get the goods by checking other marketplaces or if Bandai will provide additional stock again in the near future.

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