Original Release:
June 22 2026
Type:
Full Game Expansion
Platform:
Digimon-Themed Vital Hero
Summary:
Welcome to the special anniversary release of Training Gear: Digimon Link. This is the definitive edition of Digimon Link, combining all the features of Digital Monster, Digivice, and Real Digital Monster Ver. into one interactive experience.
This release celebrates the one-year anniversary of Training Gear: Digimon Link and represents the closest realization of what I, Comic Munch, imagined the Vital Bracelet would be when I first saw its announcement in 2021: a true combination of traditional care-based V-Pet gameplay and the adventure of pedometer-based Digivices.
This version, Pendulum Progress, expands and evolves all aspects of Training Gear: Digimon Link:
- Evolved Care System: An original, layered reinvention of the classic Hunger and Strength meter systems.
- Evolved Happiness Meter: Your Digimon's happiness is now tied to your Bond, determining many elements of the game.
- Evolved Evolution Mechanics: Evolution is now based on Bond level, returning to the classic care-mistake system and the feel of the anime.
- Evolved Battle Mechanics: Your Digimon's attribute now grants passive HP, DP, or AP as you grow in strength.
- Custom Stat Building: Train your Digimon toward an attack strategy, defense strategy, or a combination of both.
- Evolved Digimon Pendulum: Pendulum Power now scales in strength with your training.
- New Pendulum Power: Enjoy "Team Strike," a Pendulum attack that lets both of your Digimon join the battle at once.
- Evolved Feeding: A wide selection of food, each with unique effects on your Digimon.
- Evolved Survival Simulation: With rationed food, strategically plan when and how to feed your Digimon to keep them from starving.
- Evolved Odyssey: Find food by beating enemies in Odyssey, monitor your Digimon's health, and utilize multiple healing items.
- Evolved Digivice Mode: Meet specific step requirements to unlock "Burst Evolution" and receive a special food item to devolve.
- Evolved Personalities: Digimon are now born with a personality type that persists until death, affecting the raising experience.
- Evolved Jogress Options: Toggle Jogress on or off. You are no longer forced to Jogress with Digimon in storage.
- Evolved Battery Saving: Optionally turn off screen lighting and sound during automatic cycle training.
- Evolved Heart Rate Monitor Nullification: The Heart Rate Sensor no longer affects gameplay or activates during training.
- Evolved Training: Training results are now based 100% on movement; the Heart Rate Sensor no longer influences results.
- Evolved Date Screen: View the month in text format alongside the day.
- Evolved Praise and Scold: Praise and Scold now play a significantly more impactful role.
- Evolved PVP: With custom stat building, passive attribute gains, and Pendulum Powers working in VS DIM battles, you can raise a unique Digimon with your own custom battle strategy.
- Evolved VS DIM: Access the VS DIM function directly from the main menu and input your Pendulum Power before entering battle.
- Evolved QOL: Battles feature reduced wait times, and Pendulum inputs are registered three seconds after you land on them.
- No more Dim Card limit. Now you can use Dim Cards across devices unlimited times.
Warning: The restore file is not universal; each installation generates a unique restore. To ensure you do not firmware-lock your device, do not ever write over the Dims you used to install Digimon Link, Once installed store the DIM with the restore file saftely with your other Dims and again, DO NOT WRITE OVER IT.
Philosophy of Pendulum Progress:
I remember when I received my first Pendulum Progress as an import for Christmas in 2002–2003. Before that, my only V-Pet experience was the original Ver. 1 Digital Monster a friend gave me, and I was genuinely impressed. The Pendulum Progress was a significant evolution: larger sprites, stats that grew with training, evolution routes determined by the time of day, in-game battles, and the Pendulum system for power scaling. That experience defined my expectations for Digimon V-Pets, followed by the Pendulum X—which blew me away with its item system and board-game-style Adventure mode—and finally the Digivice iC.
The Digivice iC (released in 2006) was the last LCD V-Pet toy to give me that "blown away" feeling. While recent additions like the Digimon Ver. 20th and Digimon X are cool, no recent release has matched the "wow" factor of the early 2000s, when the line was regularly evolving and experimenting. Even the Vital Bracelet, while physically interactive and fun, lacked that spark.
On a gameplay level, I found the VB-BE series greatly lacking. It had exercise incentives, but the fun features Bandai built in the early 2000s were gone. The VB felt like an odd middleman between a Digivice and a V-Pet, offering only the bare minimum of both.
This is where Training Gear: Digimon Link—and specifically Pendulum Progress—comes in. Since Ver. 1, I have wanted to bring that early-2000s "wow" factor to the Vital Bracelet by introducing original game loops born from my deep knowledge of the franchise. With an even deeper care system, an overhauled food system, and an expanded Odyssey, this update is truly what the Vital Bracelet could have been had it been developed during Bandai's most innovative era.
Pendulum Progress Development Adventure:
This expansion is the most advanced and complex release Cyanic and I have tackled. As we push further into technical depth, the challenges increase; the fact that this release was delayed is a testament to that complexity. We usually finish a release with around 30 beta builds, but this one reached 70. We have truly pushed the Vital Bracelet systems past the limits of what Bandai originally intended.
Training Gear: Digimon Link Ver. 2: Pendulum was already the most advanced modification for an official Bandai handheld. Pendulum Progress takes that record even further. This is not a simple Quality of Life (QOL) patch; it does not just swap images or add existing functions. Training Gear: Digimon Link creates original systems, graphics, layouts, and game loops by reverse-engineering the firmware to integrate them flawlessly. I architected an experience that builds upon the game's core fun, and Cyanic reverse-engineered my blueprints with such precision that the work looks official. This is the first full game-expansion mod for an official Bandai device, and I am very proud of what Cyanic and I have achieved.
I am also proud of our development process. Cyanic brought his equipment while traveling, and I stayed up all hours of the night to provide notes, directions, layouts, and graphics in a matter of seconds. We both showed an immense level of commitment, resulting in another piece of professional-quality work.
Intellectual Property & Credits:
Comic Munch - Author, Producer, Game Planner, Graphics & Art, Trailers, Manual, Promo Material
Cyanic - Reverse Engineering, Technical Implementation
Project Authorship, Game Loops and Logic, Concept, Design, and Direction © 2026 Comic Munch. All Rights Reserved.
All original game mechanics, logic, UI/UX mockups, manual, text, art and custom visual assets are the
exclusive property of Comic Munch. No part of these systems may be reproduced or
redistributed without express written consent.
Technical Implementation & Code © 2026 Cyanic.
The underlying firmware modifications and technical codebase are the property of Cyanic,
utilized here under commission and
direction for the Training Gear: Digimon Link project.
Third-Party IP Digimon and all related characters and trademarks are the property of Bandai Namco
Entertainment. This is a non-profit fan project created for the community.