Tamagotchi

Veterinary Dictionary: Tamagotchi

[Japanese; cute little egg] space-age cyberpet; a solely electronic state; indigenous to Japan, appearing as an egg on a liquid-crystal screen. Life history, consisting of hatching, feeding, beeping when not fed, sleeping in 12 hour snatches, growing, dying prematurely if neglected, flying away, is completed usually in 2 weeks with maximum recorded life span 4 weeks. The low maintenance costs and brief life span appear to have been designed to suit society's average desired investment level and affection span for a house pet. An unfriendly addition to the veterinary profession's list of exotic companion animals.

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Games: Tamagotchi

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Release Date: 1997 10
Genre: Simulation
Style: Life Development Sim
Similar Games: Catz (Game Boy Color), Dogz (Game Boy Color)

Game Description

Tamagotchi is the Game Boy version of the popular hand-held children's toy that caused quite a stir in Japan, and made only minor waves in the United States.

A Tamagotchi is a small alien creature that hatches from an egg. Once it is "born," it is up to you to raise it properly by feeding it, cleaning it and playing games with it. Depending on how you raise the Tamagotchi, it will grow into one of several different species.

The Game Boy version expands on the options of the toy by adding more of everything: more food, more games and more detailed graphics. However, since it is unlikely that people would keep their Game Boys on constantly (the original hand-held Tamagotchi units stay on 24-hours a day like a clock), other changes have also been made. You can save your Tamagotchis using battery-backed memory and raise up to three at once.

~ Skyler Miller, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

One of the stranger fads of the late Nineties was a little toy called Tamagotchi. Imported from Japan, where it enjoyed mass-market permeation, Tamagotchi was a tiny LCD device with three buttons, where the goal of the player was to "raise" a tiny creature by feeding it, playing with it, and cleaning it. While Tamagotchi went over gangbusters in Japan, its lifespan in America was limited.

In any case, Japanese toy giant Bandai has ported Tamagotchi from a keychain toy to the Game Boy.The overall premise remains the same: your goal is to raise a little lovable critter from outer space, and give him all of the care and patience that he needs.

The main Tamagotchi screen shows your little critter bouncing around or sulking in the middle of the screen. From here, you can feed him a variety of treats, turn off the light to make him sleep, play a variety of incredibly lame mini-games with him, administer medication, flush his toilet, or shout at him. The options are expanded a bit from the original hand-held game -- in this one, you can raise (and name) three Tamagotchi simultaneously, then enter them in Tamagotchi Tournaments once they become healthy and strong. You can also help it study math to build its IQ -- but no matter how smart it becomes, you can never toilet-train the dang thing.

If you ever get confused, simply consult the manual, and completely avoid the in-game help from the Tamagotchi Professor. Otherwise, you'll be baffled with phrases like "SPEED COMPETITION RESULTS OF TAMAGOTCHI CARE," "REMEMBER TO FLASH THE TOILET," and "TAMAGOTCHI LIKES TO PLAY EARLY WHEN UPSET." Right.

If you didn't get sick of the original keychain Tamagotchi, then you'll probably flip head-over-heels for this Game Boy revision. But if you grew tired of the tiny chirping plastic menace years ago, you'd be best to let this one sit.