Umi no Tamagotchi

The Umi no Tamagotchi- or Tamagotchi Ocean as it was called in the US- was released in 1998. An water-themed Tamagotchi, it could be seen as a counterpart to the forest-themed Mori no Tamagotchi.

This Tamagotchi has all of the same features as the original P1 and P2 Tamagotchi release, but also introduced a few new ones that make it one of the harder ones to raise.

The first new aspect you have to watch for is the water quality. This can be seen under a newly-added screen under the status menu, represented by four skulls. White-colored skulls mean that the water is clean, but black-colored skulls mean that the water is dirty and needs to be cleaned.

You clean the water by using the toilet icon, the same one used for cleaning up you Tamagotchi's messes. The button needs to be pressed once for each dirty skull.

The next newly introduced feature is predator attacks. The Umi no will sometimes take naps throughout the day, and there is a chance that it could be attacked by a polar bear during this time. In order to scare it off, press the left-button to bring up the discipline icon, then tap on the edges of the device to wake your pet up and scare the bear away. This predator feature can also be found in the Mori no Tamagotchi.

The light will also turn on and off at certain times, regardless of whether or not your Tamagotchi is asleep. From 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., the screen will go black and you will have to turn on the pet's light if it is not yet asleep. The lights remain on when not within in this set of hours. This was done to mimic the sunrise and sunset of the Tamagotchi Planet.

The Umi no's game is a lot like the one from the P1 Tamagotchi, but treasure-chest-themed. Use the left and middle buttons to select the chest you think the treasure is in. Like in the P1, choose correctly at least three out of five times to win.

There's one major way this game differs from the P1's, though. Sometimes when selecting a chest, an octopus will pop out and squirt ink at the screen, lowering the water quality and fully lowering the pet's happiness-level.

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This Tamagotchi is one of the harder ones to care for. As a baby, it loses a hungry and happy heart every one or two minutes. Luckily, feeding it meals and snacks doesn't have an effect on its weight on this stage.

Even once it's grown up a little more, it still loses hungry and happiness more quickly than in previous versions. Because of this and predator attacks, it isn't really a Tamagotchi that you can leave alone for work or class and expect it to be okay.

The endings of the Japanese and US versions differ in that the Japanese version shows the normal death scene at a grave, while the US version shows the Tamagotchi returning to the Tamagotchi Planet in a submarine, implying that it is now an adult and able to take care of itself.

Due to its neediness, the Umi no can be hard to raise into adulthood. It might not be a good pet for you if you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to taking care of it. Despite this, it's still a lot of fun, and a Tamagotchi I would highly suggest obtaining if you have the chance.

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Pros:

• A more pleasant, musical beep than the P1 and P2
• Cute, fish-themed characters and icons
• A fun, fast game
• Faster moving, no delay in movement like previous versions

Cons:

• Needy, won't live if left alone for long
• Game has a chance of lowering happiness and water quality
•  Predator attacks can easily kill the pet if missed

Thoughts on the Umi no Tamagotchi
Umi no Tamagotchi Growth Chart