File it under pretty dang cool. Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters, a 2016 Nintendo 3DS game developed as part of the App Monsters multimedia initiative, has finally received a full English translation. It's obviously a fan project and a labor of love.
Never released outside of Japan, Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters was part of an entire Digimon era that missed the boat in that regard, as the anime it's based on – App Monsters – was never dubbed. (The same thing happened with the follow-up anime Ghost Game, but maybe the success of Digimon Story Time Stranger and other things helped turn things around, since the ongoing Beatbreak series has a dub.)
Raising awareness
Not much to say about this one. I want to help spread awareness among Digimon fans and it's worth giving a shout out to the staff who put countless hours into this cause. Geo helmed the main translation, graphics editing, programming, text editing and testing. Romsstar helped with programming, while text editing was supported by birdboy2000, who also participated in the testing along with Ren D. and Lys T. Fat Cat worked on further translation and LouLilie did the English editing of the title logo.
The dubbing website, which includes a download link for the English localization fix, is available here. Here's what the site has to say about its efforts:
“We are proud to present the final result of the effort to bring Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters (3DS game) to an English-speaking audience. The project began in late May 2025 and was completed in less than a year, in May 2026. The game is fully translated and playable in English from start to finish on the modded 3DS, as well as anyone who could watch it, thanks to the emulator. it from start to finish!”
The annual turnover is frankly amazing. I remember how long it took for Xenosaga: Pied Piper to get its translation, even though it also meant remaking the game from the ground up, so… apples and oranges. But the Crossbell games in the Kiseki series – Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure – were Herculean efforts that took ages to catch on. Since then, they have also received official localizations.
Speaking of which, if you're just getting into the Localization 101 fandom, Geofront is the group that tackled these two Trails games. And they also worked on White Witch and others. They're looking for help from hackers and programmers, so if that floats your boat, go check them out!
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