Tamagotchi (1996 – Now): Why Tamagotchi Had Been So Popular Till Now?

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Before smartphones and the shiny consoles that we have today, before the Nintendo Switch and the fancy PlayStations, before even the Pokémon Mini, we had the Tamagotchi. This was a toy every teen wished to have in his or her pocket.

That little plastic egg, which housed the first digital pet in the world, taught a generation to love and care about an inanimate object living on a small screen.

The Tamagotchi tops the list of the best toys in the world that have stood the taste of time. Since 1996, the Tamagotchi still feature in our toy shelves today.

Why is Tamagotchi still trending today?
Three years ago, in 2017, on their 20th anniversary, Bandai (The Japanese Toy Manufacturer who invented the ‘90s Tamagotchi) brought the Tamagotchi back to life for the new generation. This nostalgia packed toy has been re-invented to fit the current technological advancement and needs of the kids today.

The Tamagotchi Pet toy has been trending ever since. The new Tamagotchi toys are smaller, with a smaller screen. But the looks and functionality remain pretty much the same as they did over 20 years ago. The only notable change is that the black and white screen has been replaced with a color screen, and it costs over $40 more on retail. However, the core features remain unchanged, from the unmarked buttons to the simplicity of the Tamagotchi gameplay.

Not only does the new Tamagotchi attract nostalgic adults, but also the Generation X kids who find pleasure in playing with this Tamagotchi retro toy.

Understanding the Background of Tamagotchi
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Anyone who grew up as a kid in the ‘90s will remember the Tamagotchi.

The Tamagotchis were digital beings from another planet called the Tamagotchi World. If you get a Tamagotchi egg, you can raise it from infancy to adulthood. Later on, you can marry the pet off or breed them with other Tamagotchis.

It is easy to take care of a Tamagotchi; all you need is to feed it, bathe it, and occasionally play with it. But all the same, the Tamagotchi is demanding. They can make noise all the time; thus, you will need to keep an eye on them constantly.

If you left a Tamagotchi unattended, you would find it has pooped on itself, or sometimes they could even die.

In the year 2013, Bandai recreated Tamagotchi as an Android App. This brought the experience of raising a Tamagotchi on the smartphone.


The latest Development in Tamagotchi

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The Limited anniversary edition of the Tamagotchi was sold at $15 each. This Tamagotchi Limited edition was created for the millennials as a nostalgia product. The toy had the look and feel of the ‘90s that appealed mostly to those who enjoyed their childhood around that time.

The gameplay involved hatching the Tamagotchi from the egg, caring for it, and raising it until maturity. The new version of Tamagotchis can also interact with you, allowing you to plan your dates, you can go on holidays, and even give gifts to your friends’ Tamagotchis.

The newly released Tamagotchis are so sophisticated that you can even marry tow Tamagotchi and ultimately grow a Tamagotchi family of many generations. This feature was not included in the original Tamagotchi toys that were released in 1997. Back then, you either took care of it until it dies or goes back to the Tamagotchi planet.

Buying a Tamagotchi in 1997 had a whole different experience that buying the device now. The classic Tamagotchi doesn’t in any way compare to the new device; neither does the Smartphone App come close to the experience delivered by the ‘90s design.

In 1997, the internet was just settling in, and not so many people had adopted the technology. It was considered a fad by many, and it was costly at the time. Back then, there were no social media groups or pages, no Tamagotchi YouTube walkthrough hacks. We had to discover stuff, tricks, and hacks of the Tamagotchi on our own.

At that time, Amazon and eBay were not as advanced as we know them today. Their existence was almost unknown to many. We had to buy the Tamagotchi from a physical toy store.

Is the New Tamagotchi App safe for Kids?
The App version of Tamagotchi has enabled the toys to take advantage of the advanced connectivity features of smartphones to communicate with other Tamagotchis over the internet. Now one Tamagotchi can interact with thousands of others all over the world. They also have built-in security features to ensure that kids don’t talk to people they don’t know.

For the Generation Z kids, who have grown up with iPads and smartphones, the Tamagotchi will seem like an old classic game designed to grab their attention and keep them checking the screen. The retro style of the new Tamagotchi has been designed to appeal to everyone, including those who never got the chance to interact with the little virtual pet back in the ‘90s.

The Tamagotchi virtual pet device is powered by Triple-A batteries (AAA) and doesn’t have to work with Wi-Fi. And its screen is not touch-enabled! Though you must tend to the pet frequently, Bandai has not monetized the devices’ gameplay. Unlike other online games, even the money used to pay for stuff like babysitting in the Hotel Tamagotchi or a nice meal in the Tamagotchi world is obtained from Gotchi points. You will earn the Gotchi points from playing games with Tamagotchi instead of spending real money on in-app purchases.

Unbelievable Fact about the New Tamagotchi
If you played the original Tamagotchi of the ‘90s, when you went to school, the Tamagotchi would wither, get sick or even die. But now, in the new Tamagotchi, instead of leaving him without attention, you can take send him to Tama Hotel. This is an exciting feature that only costs 10 Gotchi points an hour. This was very thoughtful of the creators.

These additional features on the new Tamagotchi toys have made the device to the trendy nowadays that kids and adults have gone crazy over it.

It is amazing to see kids today falling in love with the Tamagotchi. It confirms that the toy is timeless, just like the Furby, Skip-It, and the Sega Game Gear. These toys have been seen to wow the current generation kids, in the same manner, they wowed us back in the ‘90s.

The New age Tamagotchi is an amazing piece of technology. The internet’s instant gratification is a great motivation. Everything is now sold online and shipped to your destination in a few days.


The return of the mighty Tamagotchi.

The kids consider the Tamagotchi too "basic". Well, I guess that was the point!

This is not the first return of the Tamagotchi since the ‘90s. The original edition of the ‘90s Tamagotchi returned to North America in 2018 (although the old version was previously available on eBay), and an upgrade followed in 2019.

Bandai America would not share sales figures for North America with CNN at the time, but it is estimated that they sold over 82 Million Tamagotchi Toys worldwide by the year 2019. However, the device had been launched several times in Japan since it is considered an essential toy for Japanese kids.

This is how the new Tamagotchi App looks like in iOS
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The Bandai Namco Entertainment iOS App costs about 99 cents in the App Store. The latest version has enhanced colors and appealing display for the modern age kids. However, the Tamagotchi is not designed to compete with the latest games in the market. It has a niche of its own. If you are an iOS user, you should catch up with this amazing App and enjoy the stroll down memory lane.

The return of the Tamagotchi is an excellent addition to the arsenal of toys of kids today because it teaches great life lessons. With just three buttons and little no notifications to destruct you, the tiny device will teach help you to learn to prepare a schedule and keep to it. Also, the new update, though mildly creepy, allows the kids to understand biology. Since the Tamagotchi, in this case, can propagate, the value of family life and taking care of the family is also learned when you take care of your Tamagotchi until s/he is of age.

This was not supposed to be a review of the Tamagotchi, but rather a walk down the memory lane to see how the Tamagotchi’s have evolved. I recall my initial experience with my Tamagotchi pet. I had named him “Rex” after the hilarious TV Show series of the police dog called Rex.

Unfortunately, my Rex grew up and went back to the Tamagotchi planet. I am planning to get another Rex this Autumn in his honor. That way, I will relieve the good old days in style. I found the new Tamagotchi 2015 edition easy to use and fancy, too, in its design.

Overall, if you found taking care of the virtual pet fun, which I did while in fourth grade, then the new Tamagotchi and the accompanying App will bring back to you the memories of the good old days. Technology has made it available effortless from the Appstore. On a click of a button, you will be able to enjoy all the new enhanced features that the new Tamagotchi App provides.

Three Questions about Tamagotchi that I need you to answer truthfully
Today I will adopt a different way of closing my article. I would wish to hear from you. Yes, you. This part is for those who at least owned one Tamagotchi or more. Or maybe you borrowed from a friend and spent the weekend with one.

I need you to answer the following questions truthfully:


1. How did it go for your first Tamagotchi?
Honestly, my first Tamagotchi died of hunger while I was in school. It was sad; it wrecked me emotionally back then. Until my mom did the “magic trick” of bringing him back to life, I guess she just did a reset, and we were back to my young Tamagotchi. But after the first bad experience, I was very keen on my next round.

I managed to raise my Tamagotchi to adulthood, and he went to Planet Tamagotchi. It was the happiest moment in my life back then. It made me feel like I have achieved something significant.


2. Would you play with a Tamagotchi now? Assuming that you are an adult.
Well, I wouldn’t mind having a physical one myself. But I think I will have to put it in silent mode. Meanwhile, I am downloading the Android version: My Tamagotchi Forever android App. I have just noticed they have introduced in-app purchases.
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3. What do you consider as the most memorable Tamagotchi moment of the ‘90s?

I would like to know what you remember fondly with nostalgia. I remember the trips in the school bus with a bunch of us trying to brag about our new shiny Tamagotchi toys and how well fed mine was compared to the others. It was fun back in the days. The virtual pet was a fun thing to have around.

Please comment below with your honest answer to the above questions. Try to be as truthful as possible. We all starved our virtual pets at some point, so don’t fret about mentioning J I won’t, Judge!
 
i remember the teacher yelling at all the chicks to stop playing with them and everyone would complain about how they had to feed it or it would die . You guys remember the pikachu one they made ? That 1 i had ..
iu
 
i remember the teacher yelling at all the chicks to stop playing with them and everyone would complain about how they had to feed it or it would die . You guys remember the pikachu one they made ? That 1 i had ..
iu
I remember that one! I wanted kne of those so freaking bad as a kid!
 
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