Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop

Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop was a game released for the Nintendo DS in 2006.

This differs a bit from Tamagotchi-themed games that had been released previously. Rather than being focused on taking care of your Tamagotchi friend, the goal of the game was to build up shops in various towns by playing mini-games.

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Once you've chosen a file, you are prompted to name yourself and choose a Tamagotchi partner. From here, you're able to choose which area you want to go under: Shops, Care, or Demo.

When you choose Shops, you'll be given a choice of three cities, one of which will have two shops already unlocked. This differs depending what partner you chose at the beginning. All of the shops will be unlocked by the end of the game, however, so this only really matters at the start.

The shops are where you'll be spending most of your time. There are eleven different shops, each one with a different mini-game. By completing them well, you'll make your customers happy and earn Gotchi Points.

While each game is different, the overall goal of each shop is to serve a lot of customers and to upgrade the shop level. There are three levels of upgrades for each shop. The first two upgrades are unlocked by a 'mysterious' Tamagotchi in disguise. This character differs depending on the partner you chose at the beginning, but will be 'revealed' by the end of the game. The last upgrade is always performed by Princess Tamako, who will upgrade the shop to the 'Royal' level.

When your shops are upgraded, you have a chance of unlocking new shops, outfits, foods, or decorations for your partner's room.

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Care is where you can take care of your partner. This is a lot more simplistic than with the actual virtual pets. You can feed your partner a number of different foods, dress them up, or decorate their room. It doesn't have any effect on the main game, and you can really ignore this part entirely if you
don't want to use it.

Everything under here is bought with the Gotchi Points earned by playing mini-games in the shops.

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The last option is for sending a demo to another Nintendo DS over wireless connection. Pretty self-explanatory, it lets a friend try out some mini-games without you having to hand over your copy.

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Ultimately, it's a fun distraction. I prefer this game to Corner Shop 2, but I don't like it quite as much as Corner Shop 3. If you enjoy playing with mini-game collections or have an interest in Tamagotchis, I'd suggest taking a look at the mini-games featured in each one before ultimately deciding.