So I'm watching the first series again...

Yeah looking back, he was a pathetic Elvis wannabe. God, I miss this show.

"Are you sure you want to play this game?"
"I'm afraid you'd lose"

I loved series one. The only part I didn't really enjoy was the Etemon arc. It seemed so slow compared to the rest of the season, especially considering that it came right before the Myotismon/Eighth Child arc which I consider to be the best arc of any season.

In the sub is he even better?

Make IMDb a better place, ignore The_Sound_of_Glaciers_Moving.

He was more menacing than Devimon, honestly. Devimon didn't actually destroy the Digidestined during his arc, but Etemon came close several times. And while he was annoying, some major points of story development took place during that time.

His Elvis accent was pretty funny, though...

I liked Etemon because he was different than all the other villains. He's not some kind of demon/vampire or anything. He's actually pretty different from any villain in any series.

Etemon was definitely more powerful then Devimon. He might have been goofy but he had a large portion of the continent under his control and had a large force of minions as well as having powerful attacks himself. He was definitely an appropriately powerful threat for the Digidestined at the time and served as a good antagonist for that story arc.

Etemon was a filler "threat" while the kids looked for their tags and Crests.

Screw destiny... right in the face.

I just rewatched the whole first series for the first time since it aired...and I actually thoroughly enjoyed Etemon. I loved all of his gibes and silly remarks. I especially liked that laugh he always did. "Huhauaha Huhauaha!"