Stephen Silver
The Tamagotchi "digital pets," first prominent more than 20 years ago, will make a comeback on the iPhone with "My Tamagotchi Forever."
"My Tamagotchi Forever" had a soft-launch in select countries at the end of 2017, and is set to arrive on both the App Store and Google Play worldwide this spring. The game's website asks users to sign up in advance of the March 15 launch date to get a chance to become the inspiration for a brand new character, which will be added to the game.
Tamagotchi is a cultural artifact of the '90s. First introduced in Japan in 1996, the Tamagotchi was a "digital pet," which existed as a pocketable electronic device that the user had to "feed" and otherwise keep alive. The product made its way to the rest of the world the following year, and remained popular into the early years of 21st century.
The Tamagotchi brand has survived in the years since, with various releases for such systems as the Nintendo Wii and DS, although most of those releases have been Japan-only. But with another Japan-derived phenomenon of the 1990s, Pokemon, now into its third year as a mobile app colossus, Tamagotchi is headed to the iPhone as well.
"20 years since the West first fell under the Tamagotchi spell," says the website. "The phenomenon is spreading love to a whole new generation of caring fans with its first ever free-to-play mobile game."
The minute-long trailer for the game positions it as "the classic game for all generations," while showing one particular player playing the game as a child in 1997, as a preteen in 2004 and now as an adult, along with her look-alike daughter, while making clear that the quality of the graphics has improved dramatically the last two decades.
Chip Loder
Sponsored Content
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Marko Zivkovic
2 Comments
Anyone remember the Tamagothi app? I had a version of this on the Mac in the 90's:
http://studiohunty.com/tamagothi/
Your Tamagothi has many different fun and exciting features:
Speed: If your Tamagothi becomes sleepy or lethargic, just give him a nice jolt of effedrine! Mmmm!
Smack: On the other hand, if your Tamagothi gets too perky, a nice dose of smack is just the thing to keep him mopey and content!
Lights: When your Tamagothi goes to sleep, the lights go on! When he wakes up, it's lights out! This keeps your Tamagothi dazed and grumpy, and gives him that attractive "restless" look!
Meter: Use this tool to find out how your little friend is doing! If you keep him tired, hungry, and on the verge of suicide, you might end up with the best Tamagothi yet!
Beat: Every growing child needs a good beating now and then! If your Tamagothi starts getting uppity, and begins to believe that he might be able to change the world instead of just mourning it, then you should beat him right back down into submission!
Angst: This indicator goes on when your Tamagothi wants love and attention. The more you ignore it, the better your Tamagothi will turn out! He might even write some dismal poetry!