Giga Pets Trolls

The Giga Pets Troll is the second new toy to come from Top Secret Toys. There’s not a lack of content here per se, but it feels needlessly complicated in some areas.

The first important point to bring up about this pet is one of the selling points on the box- it can’t die. Even if you’re busy and can’t always take care of it or if it’s small child playing with it, it’ll just keep sticking around. There’s no kind of growth here, but there is an in-game hair-length-counter that will get longer the longer you take care of it.

Giga Pets AR

Giga Pets AR! Similar to the Tamagotchi P1/P2 rerelease from a few years back, this is a rerelease of the Giga Pet with some newly added features.

The Giga Pet AR comes in three flavors- a standard puppy, a T-Rex, and a unicorn (my personal favorite is the T-Rex). They all function basically the same way. Each starts out as a baby that grows to its full size after a few days. Their lifespans are around two weeks, though they can stick around longer with good care. There’s no kind of branching evolution here; what you see is what you get. The upside to this is that the pets are really well-animated. They’re always doing cute little animations- running around, coming up to the screen… They’re really fun to watch. In addition to the attention light, they also play different animations depending on what they need at the time. If you don’t interact with your pet for a while, they’ll go to sleep to act as a battery saver.

Giga Pets Pixie

I was really excited to get to play with this one, and it didn’t disappoint! The Giga Pet Pixie fixed my main "issue" with the Giga Pets AR and added a whole bunch of new features to make it really stand out as a unique virtual pet! The instruction manual can currently be found online here. 

I’m really happy with this one aesthetically, though I could see how it could be a bit much for some people. I was a little worried that the wings would make it uncomfortable to hold, but they’re actually really soft and flexible. Like the Giga Pets Troll, the ‘body’ differences are purely aesthetic, so you’re free to choose whichever color you like.

Your new pixie briefly starts out as a baby before growing into a slightly more grown-up form. In terms of basic care, it’s similar to the previously released Giga Pets. You’ve got food and snack options, games to play, and can give your pet baths or send it to a doctor.

Demon Slayer Tamagotchi

A Tamagotchi based on Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba franchise!

The first thing you might notice about this release is that it retains the original Japanese packaging and programming. This is the first for a release that’s been brought over to the USA. English instructions can be found over on Bandai’s website.

When you start up the toy, you’ll see a little scene play out and you’ll be presented with a generic, low-ranking character that will grow into a character from the franchise depending on how it’s cared for.

Hello Kitty Tamagotchi

The Hello Kitty Tamagotchi! The theme of this Tamagotchi is probably clear based on name alone. It's adorable, packed with charm, and is nicely animated considering the size. It's a more Vanilla experience compared with some of the other crossover Tamagotchi Nanos that have recently come out, but I think the sheer cuteness helps make up for it.

It's a normal, simplified Nano experience this time around. Feeding your Tamagotchi will show Kitty delivering your chosen food or snack. You'll be feeding your Tamagotchi some of Kitty's favorite foods- apple pie and milk!

There are two games to play here. The first is a game of timing where you press the button that corresponds to falling musical notes. The other involves helping Kitty use balloons to fly to the end of a course while collecting other balloons and avoiding crows that fly in your path. Neither are particularly difficult, but they're both pretty fun.

Jordy Tamagotchi

Based on the NINIZ mascot of the same name, the Jordy Tamagotchi is the first Korean-exclusive device!

When you first turn it on and set the time, you’ll get to see Jordy defrosting from a glacier. After this, the upkeep itself is standard as far as Tamagotchi Nanos go. Feeding, playing with, and cleaning up after Jordy is all done through simple menus accessed with the A button The biggest difference here is the lifecycle.

Evatchi (Evangelion Tamagotchi)

The Evatchi, also known as the MULTIPURPOSE EGG SHAPED DECISIVE WEAPON EVATCHI! As you can probably already tell, this is a Tamagotchi featuring characters from the Evangelion franchise. Even if you don't know anything about the Evangelion franchise, I think the character design and gameplay are enough to support this as a standalone toy.

When you start it up you'll get to see a quick scene featuring the Second Impact, and your Angel Fetus arrives! The characters here aren't really cute in a traditional sense, but they are really cool and weird. They're pretty decently animated  considering the size, and there are a lot of characters to raise and unlock. In a change from traditional Nanos, some characters are available right away while others can only be unlocked by raising other sets of characters first.

Tamagotchi P1 & P2 Re-Release

I finally got the chance to try out the new Tamagotchi P1 & P2. I couldn't find them in any nearby stores and nobody knew when they'd be in, so I ended up ordering them off of Amazon instead. The good part about that, though, was that I was able to get the exact colors I wanted!

Starting off, I love the box art! It really brings back the feel of the 90s release. I've always loved the look of the vintage designs. If you'd like to get a closer look, you can see some high-quality box scans here!

The Tamagotchis themselves are nice-looking for the most part. I didn't have any problems, but some people have said they've had issues with the quality of some of the painted-on shell designs. Try and get a closer look at them before buying, if you can.

Tamagotchi Mobile Games

Since the P1/P2 Tamagotchi seem to be set to release at the end of September, and a new color Tamagotchi is set to release in Japan, I thought this would be a good time to talk about some Tamagotchi mobile apps! Yay!

The first I wanted to look at was from the Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. product line that Bandai was promoting a little while back. It was essentially a clone of the P1 and P2 Tamagotchis, though it did feature the ability to zoom in on the Tamagotchi you were raising so you could see them bigger and in color. This would also change the game you would play, though it just meant it taking longer for the same reward.
The more Tamagotchi you raised, the more background and shell types you would unlock, which was a pretty nice feature.
This was later taken down and replaced with the Tamagotchi Classic app. The release of this one was a bit odd. Two versions of this exist, one that features P1 characters and one that features P2 characters. The P2 version for the most part only seems to have been released in regions that did not previously receive the original L.i.f.e. app.

UraTama

The Ura Jinsei Enjoi Tamagotchi Plus, or the UraTama as it is more commonly known, was released in Japan in 2006 and could be seen as a sequel to the previously released EnTama. The UraTama is comparable to the English Tamagotchi Connection V4.5.

One of the first things you probably notice upon turning it on is that the pixels are a nice, light blue color. Very relaxing, although a bit harder to see than the regular black ones. Not so much that it makes a huge difference, though.

Added to the status screen is a menu for your Tamagotchi's GUTS Points, which affect which character it will grow into. These points can be earned in a variety of ways.

The first way to earn GUTS Points is by playing one of the three games with it, the first game raising the first type of point and so on.

Tamagotchi Connection V4

The Tamagotchi Connection V4 was released in 2007. It was based on the Japanese EnTama, but had some unique features of its own.

The status screen now has an area for displaying the skill points your pet has earned. These affect what character your Tamagotchi will grow into.

You can receive mail, which replaced the light icon. There are three types of mail you can get.

You can get fortunes, which give you one to three stars in three different areas: Gotchi Points, Love, and Skills. Three stars is a good fortune, and will give positive results in that category. Your Tamagotchi can earn more Gotchi Points or skill points after games, or become friendly with the Tamagotchis it connects with more quickly.

The next type of mail you can receive are letters. It shows a little animation based on what you got in the letter, if you got presents or points from the king, got a random gift, or were visited by a thief who steals your points.

Tamagotchi V4.5

The Tamagotchi Connection V4.5 was released after the V4 as an updated form of that version. It was based on the V4 as well as the Japanese UraTama.

The status screen has an area for displaying how many skill points your character has gotten.

You can receive mail, which replaced the light icon. There are three types of mail you can get.

You can get fortunes, which give you one to three stars in three different areas: Gotchi Points, Love, and Skills. Three stars is a good fortune, and will give positive results in that category. Your Tamagotchi can earn more Gotchi Points or skill points after games, or become friendly with the Tamagotchis it connects with more quickly.

The next type of mail you can receive are letters. It shows a little animation based on what you got in the letter, if you got presents or points from the king, got a random gift, or were visited by a thief who steals your points.

The last kind of mail you can get is probably the most important. This last category is for when your Tamagotchi reaches important milestones, which allow it to go to preschool, school, and finally to work. It will get this mail when it reaches certain ages.

There are five different non-work mini-games you can play.

Gudetama Tamagotchi

I've finally gotten to play with my Gudetama Tamagotchi, and I can say I'm having a lot of fun! I really like seeing Bandai doing these Sanrio collaborations.
 

 First off, it's super-cute. It's smaller than I thought it would be, about as tall and wide as a Mini, but the back side is fuller and rounder.

It seems to be based off of the Tamagotchi Nano, so the Gudetama Tamagotchi has a few more features than a Mini.