POKEMON fever may well have swept Britain, but Pikachu and his friends may be overtaken by a new craze this Christmas.

The names Kabuterimon, Togemon and Greymon could soon be tripping off the tongues of children desperate to get hold of anything to do with Digimon.

Digimon is the latest in the wave of Japanese monsters to hit the shelves, following in the wake of Power Rangers, Tamagochi and, of course, Pokemon.

The hand-held computer game has already spawned a multitude of spin-offs which have taken America by storm and is set to do the same here.

Digimon, which means digital monster, is remarkably similar to Pokemon and that could hold the key to its success.

The game features a central character called Patamon, who has 279 colourful friends with their own powers.

And like Pokemon, the game has already generated a huge array of merchandise.

Digimon the TV series has arrived, launched on Rupert Murdoch's Fox Kids Europe.

The show is the highest rated on the Fox Kids network in the States - and that is only the start.

There will soon be action figures, videos and the trading cards which have been one of the backbones of the Pokemon phenomenon.

Pokemon cards have sold in their millions and rare examples have been known to change hands for anything up to £60.

There have been examples of muggings and burglaries by children desperate to get their hands on cards they need. A self-help group has even been set up in Yorkshire by parents.

Whether the predicted Digimon craze will reach those heights remains to be seen, but one sure thing is that the merchandising men will do their best to make sure everybody knows about it.

There are already hundreds of Digimon sites on the Internet, dedicated to the little monster, with hints and tips on how to play the game, news on the TV series and film and everything else about the creature.

It still has some way to go to catch up to its more established rival, but experts say that interest is growing and reckon the race could be neck and neck by Christmas.