Digimon World MetalGreymon Promo (DW-01)
This is one of the coolest cards from any card game ever and is my favorite Digimon card. This card depicts a CG render of MetalGreymon (or MetalGreymon Virus to some people) from the opening cut-scene of the Digimon World 1 Sony Playstation game. The card was released in several different ways but the coolest release BY FAR is the North American Digimon World version.
North American Release
The North American release was distributed as a promotional card for the Digimon World PS1 game. New copies of the game included the holographic card inside the case, as you can see advertised on the front of the case:
(image shamelessly stolen from ebay)
You can see the contents of the box at game-rave.com.
However this version of the card included an especially cool feature. Every card was numbered between 1 and 100,000 - meaning there is only 100,000 of these cards in existence and they are all one of a kind. You can see the number in the cards description box. Below are 3 copies of the card that I own:
Maybe I’m just a sucker for promo cards, but I find this ridiculously cool. It makes every copy of this card feel special and unique. The 100,000th copy is owned by Mittenmon as shown in their collection video, a super cool number to own!
I’ve setup a part of this site to record what DW-01 numbers still exist or have been in circulation. Check out the DW-01 Records Section.
European Release
Luckily DW-01 was also released as a promotional card for Digimon World 1 in Europe(1), but unfortunately we didn’t get a numbered release but the card is still cool though. It’s holographic and basically identical to the North American release but without the numbering. Below is my copy of the European release, please excuse the creases.
German Comic Release
For some weird reason Germany had a non-holographic version of the DW-01 released, obviously in German. It was released with issue 4 of The Digimon Comic Book in Germany on 06 December 2000. Here is one of my copies of the German release:
Here is scans of the comics cover and page 3 which details the German DW-01 comic release:
German CD Release
It was believed for a while that the non-holo German version of DW-01 actually had 2 releases, 1 from the comic mentioned above but the other was a mystery. Recently nights has confirmed that the second way this card was released in Germany was as a promo with a Digimon soundtrack CD.
Here is a scan of my copy of this version of the card:
The only difference noted between the 2 German versions is the corners. For whatever reason the Comic version always has really rounded corners, unlike any other Digi-Battle card. Whereas the CD version looks like a standard Digi-Battle card.
nights was also kind enough to share pictures of the CD that this card was distributed with, images used with permission:
The front of the CD case.
The back of the CD case.
An insert from inside the CD case. The German text read “New each month with extras for 5,70dm! Just for you! The special Metalgreymon Digi-Battle card is also in the Magazine #6!”
Japanese Dw-0 Release
The same artwork was used for a Japanese Hyper Colosseum card, Dw-0. It is a non-holographic, silver text card that was released in Japan as part of the “Digimon World Summer Campaign”(2). Here is a scan of my copy of this card:
Printing Issue
Just a heads-up about the holographic versions of this card. I’ve seen copies that look to be in absolute mint condition but have a weird, shimmering, spilled oil looking pattern in the holo surface. I think this is a printing issue with certain copies of these cards and has nothing to do with damage. If I get my hands on a copy that has this defect I’ll be sure to update this page.
Where to Get One
So you’ve read this page and now you want one for yourself. Here’s some good places to look for each version and how much you might expect to pay.
What to search for: dw-01, digimon card metalgreymon, digimon world ps1. Or just search for “digimon”, order by newly listed and look for hidden gems.
North American Release
There is almost always a North American release on ebay, but most people ask for several hundred dollars if they know what the card is. No matter how much I like this card I don’t think I can bring myself to say it’s worth $400. If you’re patient and check ebay often you might be lucky enough to Buy It Now for as little as £20 from a seller who doesn’t know what it is. But if it’s an Auction then expect to pay about $50 because these listings tend to get spotted and sniped.
European Release
Much like the North American release, sellers try to charge through the nose for this card if they know what it is. These cards appear on ebay much less often than North American versions, but all the same if you’re patient and lucky you can pick one up for cheap eventually.
German Comic Release
These appear on ebay about as often as the European release but are usually quite reasonably priced. In my opinion this card is worth around $15, I was even able to pick one up for this price with the original comic book.
Japanese Dw-0 Release
Although you can find this card on ebay, sellers tend to charge a lot for it. Personally I would use a proxy site like buyee.jp where you can buy one from Japan for around $10 before import.
References
- I've seen some people say this version was only released in the UK but I'm not certain. PAL versions of games are typically release across Europe so I'd be surprised if this release was specific to the UK.
- According to the Trivia section of the Digimon World page on wikimon.net