Tamagotchi

Tamagotchi: Cult Toy & Pioneer

Question: what does a video game need to evoke great emotion? Ultra-realistic graphics? Cinematic production? A polished, twist-filled story with drama and character development? Preferably all of the above? Rubbish! 32×16 pixels (without colours!) are more than enough to evoke really big feelings. The Tamagotchi proved that more than 25 years ago! It should be noted, however, that Tamagotchi are not a pure video game, but rather a mixture of toy and video game. Anyway, in the end, the little eggs with the virtual animals/chicks/whatever are above all that: a cultural phenomenon. And a pioneer in many respects.

Let's briefly get the obligatory part out of the way: a Tamagotchi is a small, egg-shaped toy with three buttons that houses a virtual pet. This little animal wants to be nurtured and cared for. Feed it, play with it, switch off the light and, surprisingly often, clean up its mess. The usual stuff. If you neglect even one of these duties, your pet will die a virtual pet death with deafening beeps and disappear into cyberspace. Forever.

Absolutely avant-garde

Sounds simple and it is. But in 1996 it was an absolute sensation, indeed a cultural phenomenon that has sold more than 82 million copies to date! Above all, Tamagotchi popularised the concept of continuous play. Taking a break? No way! If your pet is hungry, it's hungry! At least in the first versions, because pupils also had to "look after" their Tamagotchi in class, Bandai later introduced variants with a pause function. But the idea of never-ending play is also commonplace today thanks to the Tamagotchi.

But the Tamagotchi was a pioneer in other respects as well. It was one of the earliest video games to cross the boundary between the digital and the real world (like Pokémon Go later on, for example). A kind of virtual reality, then, in which deceased Tamagotchi sometimes ended up in real cemeteries, to name just one (macabre) example. But Tamagotchi are also among the first video games that were primarily aimed at girls! Generously, one could say that Tamagotchi finally brought this huge target group to video games, which had been completely ignored by the industry until then. But we also want to note that it did so, ironically, in the most stereotypical way imaginable. Namely, with the classic role model of a woman taking care of someone.

Animals are work

The Tamagotchi was created in 1996 by Akihiro Yokoi and Aki Maita - for their invention they were even awarded the Ig Nobel Prize, the satirical version of the normal Nobel Prize. We digress: Many stories circulate around the origin of the Tamagotchi. The most common is the one in which Yokoi and Maita saw a commercial in which a mother forbade her son to take his pet on holiday. Which gave them the idea of a mobile pet. Originally, the whole thing was to be a wristwatch, hence the name: "Tamago" is the Japanese word for "egg", the "-tchi" comes either from the English word "watch" or the Japanese equivalent "uotchi".

Even though it didn't end up being a watch, but rather a key ring, one thing was clear to the animal lover Yokoi from the outset: his toy should realistically represent how much work such a pet causes. In an interview he once said that pets are "only cute 20 to 30 percent of the time". The rest of the time, he says, they are mainly annoying. You have to take care of them, feed them, look after their health, train them ... so if the kids wanted a virtual pet, they should really take care of it. And in real time and with all the consequences known from real life, up to and including death.

Cult for the modern age!

Like all great trends, the Tamagotchi was eventually superseded, first by a successor of sorts called Furby. You know, that little overpriced furry animal that could supposedly be taught tiny bits of language. Speaking from today's perspective, we regret the pocket money we had saved up over months, because with Furby we had much less fun and, above all, for a shorter time. But this is not about Furby, it's about Tamagotchi! And unlike many other trendy toys, they have lasted until today! New editions are released every few years, sometimes with quite new (and unnecessary) technology like backlighting or even online modes.

But most importantly, today there are Tamagotchi for all your favourite themes! So why raise any virtual animal over several stages of development when you can do the same with characters from your favourite films and series - which takes the emotional connection to the extreme, so to speak! In our Tamagotchi Shop you will find, for example, Star Wars Tamagotchi, but also lots of variants of Demon Slayer Tamagotchi. All in a design that matches the respective template, without giving up the classic egg shape with the three buttons. And let's be honest: Who wouldn't like to have R2-D2 or Nezuko by their side all the time? No other retro toy offers you more 90s flair! And probably no more fun either.