Tamagotchi was a game released in 1997. It worked a lot like an upgraded version of the original toys.
When you start up the game, you get to choose an egg. There are eight different eggs to choose between, but I'm not sure if this has any effect on the character it grows into. The characters from the two original toys are available.
Your egg will soon hatch into a baby Tamagotchi. You can choose to raise up to three Tamagotchis at a time, but I find it easiest to just stick to one.
The icons are laid out a lot like on the original toys. Scroll through them with left and right on the control pad.
The first one is for feeding your Tamagotchi. There are three different foods and two different snacks you can feed it. Different characters have different likes and dislikes, so trying different foods with different characters is important.
The next icon is for turning the light on and off. Turn it off when your Tamagotchi goes to sleep.
The next icon is for games. There are three different games you can play with your Tamagotchi, all of which will help to raise different stats.
The first game is the standard left-right game. Press left on the control pad if you think your Tamagotchi will look left, and press right if you think it will look right. Get three out of five guesses correct to win.
The next two games work a little differently. When you select either of them, you can choose between three levels of difficulty. A is the easiest, B is medium difficulty, and C is the hardest.
In the Study Game, your Tamagotchi has to answer simple math questions. You press a button to see where your Tamagotchi will go. Pressing a direction on the control pad might help encourage it to choose that answer, but it doesn't always help.
The harder the difficulty, the more answers there will be. The math gets a little harder, but not by much. Playing this game will raise its IQ.
I always feel a bit bad while playing this game; my Tamagotchi always looks like its head is about to explode. It's okay, Tamagotchi. I'm not one for math, either.
The last game is a ball-catching game. Balls will fall from the top of the screen, and you have to get to them before they hit the ground. Press left and right on the control pad to change what direction your Tamagotchi is facing, and press the A button to make it hop in that direction. If you leave it, it'll hop along on its own, but its not always good at getting to the balls in time.
Playing this game will raise its Body level.
The next icon is for medicine. Use this if your Tamagotchi gets sick.
The next icon is for cleaning the screen. Use this when your Tamagotchi makes a mess.
The status menu can be found under the next icon. Here you can see your Tamagotchi's stage of growth, hunger, happiness, age, weight, IQ, Body, and Discipline levels.
The next icon is for discipline. You can use this to praise or discipline your Tamagotchi depending on how it is acting.
The last icon, all the way at the right, has a few different uses. Here you can get explanations for different functions, choose a different egg, enter one of your Tamagotchis in special contests, or send you Tamagotchi back to its planet early.
The contests can be entered once your Character is at the Child or Adult type. There are three different types of contests you can enter.
There's a race, which is based on your Tamagotchi's Body level, a math contest, which is based on your Tamagotchi's IQ, and a beauty contest, which seems to be based on your Tamagotchi's overall level of care.
You unlock a few different things when you win a contest: a music test, a sound effects test, a music speed test, and a character gallery. Nothing super-interesting, but it's a nice touch.
This was an interesting game. It was fun to have all of the P1 and P2 characters together in one package, and having the option of keeping more than one pet at a time was nice. The music isn't spectacular, but it isn't really grating, either. The characters are nicely animated. I particularly like the animations for when they feed them a favorite food.
It did manage to introduce some features that would be used in future Tamagotchi versions, like different characters having favorite foods, the option to keep more than one pet at a time, and the option to discipline or praise depending on behavior.
The in-game clock can be sped up or slowed down depending on how much time you have to take care of your pet.
There's one major problem with the game, though. The fun thing about Tamagotchis is that you can carry them with you discreetly and just check on them throughout the day. Barring some of the vintage models, they don't need constant attention.
You just cant do that with this game. You're going to have a system on you that's much bulkier than the original toys, and it's always going to be on if you want to play with your pets. It just seems to go against the design of the original pets in a way. It gets sort of tedious after a while in a way I don't think the original toys do.
Unless you're a collector or just really curious about this game, I'd stick to the keychain toys. There are just so many better options out there, it's really hard to recommend this one.
*~*~*~*~*
When you start up the game, you get to choose an egg. There are eight different eggs to choose between, but I'm not sure if this has any effect on the character it grows into. The characters from the two original toys are available.
*~*~*~*~*
The icons are laid out a lot like on the original toys. Scroll through them with left and right on the control pad.
The first one is for feeding your Tamagotchi. There are three different foods and two different snacks you can feed it. Different characters have different likes and dislikes, so trying different foods with different characters is important.
The next icon is for turning the light on and off. Turn it off when your Tamagotchi goes to sleep.
The next icon is for games. There are three different games you can play with your Tamagotchi, all of which will help to raise different stats.
*~*~*~*~*
The first game is the standard left-right game. Press left on the control pad if you think your Tamagotchi will look left, and press right if you think it will look right. Get three out of five guesses correct to win.
The next two games work a little differently. When you select either of them, you can choose between three levels of difficulty. A is the easiest, B is medium difficulty, and C is the hardest.
In the Study Game, your Tamagotchi has to answer simple math questions. You press a button to see where your Tamagotchi will go. Pressing a direction on the control pad might help encourage it to choose that answer, but it doesn't always help.
The harder the difficulty, the more answers there will be. The math gets a little harder, but not by much. Playing this game will raise its IQ.
I always feel a bit bad while playing this game; my Tamagotchi always looks like its head is about to explode. It's okay, Tamagotchi. I'm not one for math, either.
The last game is a ball-catching game. Balls will fall from the top of the screen, and you have to get to them before they hit the ground. Press left and right on the control pad to change what direction your Tamagotchi is facing, and press the A button to make it hop in that direction. If you leave it, it'll hop along on its own, but its not always good at getting to the balls in time.
Playing this game will raise its Body level.
*~*~*~*~*
The next icon is for medicine. Use this if your Tamagotchi gets sick.
The next icon is for cleaning the screen. Use this when your Tamagotchi makes a mess.
The status menu can be found under the next icon. Here you can see your Tamagotchi's stage of growth, hunger, happiness, age, weight, IQ, Body, and Discipline levels.
The next icon is for discipline. You can use this to praise or discipline your Tamagotchi depending on how it is acting.
*~*~*~*~*
The last icon, all the way at the right, has a few different uses. Here you can get explanations for different functions, choose a different egg, enter one of your Tamagotchis in special contests, or send you Tamagotchi back to its planet early.
The contests can be entered once your Character is at the Child or Adult type. There are three different types of contests you can enter.
There's a race, which is based on your Tamagotchi's Body level, a math contest, which is based on your Tamagotchi's IQ, and a beauty contest, which seems to be based on your Tamagotchi's overall level of care.
You unlock a few different things when you win a contest: a music test, a sound effects test, a music speed test, and a character gallery. Nothing super-interesting, but it's a nice touch.
*~*~*~*~*
This was an interesting game. It was fun to have all of the P1 and P2 characters together in one package, and having the option of keeping more than one pet at a time was nice. The music isn't spectacular, but it isn't really grating, either. The characters are nicely animated. I particularly like the animations for when they feed them a favorite food.
It did manage to introduce some features that would be used in future Tamagotchi versions, like different characters having favorite foods, the option to keep more than one pet at a time, and the option to discipline or praise depending on behavior.
The in-game clock can be sped up or slowed down depending on how much time you have to take care of your pet.
There's one major problem with the game, though. The fun thing about Tamagotchis is that you can carry them with you discreetly and just check on them throughout the day. Barring some of the vintage models, they don't need constant attention.
You just cant do that with this game. You're going to have a system on you that's much bulkier than the original toys, and it's always going to be on if you want to play with your pets. It just seems to go against the design of the original pets in a way. It gets sort of tedious after a while in a way I don't think the original toys do.
Unless you're a collector or just really curious about this game, I'd stick to the keychain toys. There are just so many better options out there, it's really hard to recommend this one.
This looks like a really fun game to play. If I had a copy of this I'd mess around with it! Great review Erin!
ReplyDeleteYay! Thanks! :)
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