OM21: A reminder about Tama-Go Gotchi Figures

I may have messed up in my previous post about Gotchi Figures, so let me clear up some confusion.

There are two types of Gotchi Figures:

• Type A : (seen above) These are the ones that come with the Tamatown Tama-Go when you first purchase it. They only include one game; they do not unlock any new foods or items, and you don't see the character while you play.
• Tybe B: These are the ones sold separately. They include not just a new game, but also foods and possibly items. If you connect one of these to your Tama-Go and go to Tamatown.com, special features are unlocked.

Currently, three Type A figures exist: Mametchi, Memetchi, and Kuchipatchi. But these three characters are also available as Type B figures. To tell the difference, Type A will have a clear base, while Type B will have a colored one. Also, the poses for the character on top will be slightly altered.

In this image, Type A is the first row, and Type B is the second. What startles me is Kuchipatchi; the only difference in his pose is that Type A just has him squinting...

I hope that clears up any confusion. :)

OM21: Binary's Tama-Go Experiment!

So Binary of Tama-Zone was running some experiments on his Tamatown Tama-Go, and came up with some interesting findings!

http://tama-zone.com/index.php?showtopic=23596

It's possible to raise an Umino Tamagotchi (Japanese version of a Tamagotchi Ocean) from hatch to adulthood without ever feeding it a meal.

So far I haven't fed any food (meal nor snack) to my Tama-Go Gen 4 character, at any growth stage. Hungry hearts have always been empty. Happy and Friendship hearts were filled by playing the built in games.

Because I never fed him, he acquired many care misses during each growth stage.

The findings were the following:

Hungry / Happy hearts:

If you don't raise a Hungry or Happy heart when your Tamagotchi calls for it (meaning zero hearts), it will feed itself after the icon vanishes. For Hungry, it will select a random meal from your selection of food. For Happy hearts, it'll pick a random snack food.

Friendship level:

If you let the friendship hearts drop to zero, but don't raise them quickly enough, the Tamagotchi's "death" screen appears: they show up with a big bag and prepare to walk out the door.

It looks like there's a lot more to the Tama-Go than previously thought...!

OM21: And more Tama-Go information!

First, I would like to mention that I have recently spotted the new Tamatown Tama-Go! It was at a Toys-R-Us store in Buffalo, NY, and in a Walmart in Coral Springs, FL. Unfortunately, I did not buy one on either occasion, because I am a poor college student that has no spare money. :( But I will soon, hopefully, get my hands on one! Also, the packaging seems a lot smaller than I assumed it was...weird how pictures do that.

Also, the Tama-Go will be in New Zealand soon, for those of you in the Oceania and Asian regions, keep an eye out! Keep in mind, too, that the Tamagotchi has a different name; it will be called Tamagotchi Connection Version 7.

http://planetfun.co.nz/toys/brand.asp?bid=49

http://planetfun.co.nz/toys/product.asp?pid=262

Gotchi Figures!

So as it turns out, some of the Gotchi Figures have a special function: items!

First, when you plug in the Figure, a box appears in the background of the screen. When Mametchi's figure is in, it's a toy chest; when Memetchi's figure is in, it's a wardrobe. Something different for every character.

Once it's there, you can use the Tama-Go Figure icon to access the shop to buy the items. The shop will only have a maximum of four figures at any given time.

After you buy the items, you can play with them!

I honestly don't know if you keep the items after the Figure's taken out, or if they're only available when it's plugged in. If you own a Tama-Go, please post a comment and verify!

Again, with much thanks to Ra of Tama-Zone for the wonderful images! Check out his Tama-Go logs for even more pictures!

http://tama-zone.com/index.php?showtopic=7566

OM21: Lots of Tamatown Tama-Go Info!

So it's been an exciting few weeks over at Tama-Zone. Ra, a moderator, and Binary, an admin, were both sent the new Tamagotchi directly from Bandai, and have both been keeping logs of them. There's a whole lot of fun new features on the Tamatown Tama-Go, and it's certainly shaping up to be interesting for both old and new fans...

Toilet Training

A feature fans have begged for finally arrives! Through the Tamagotchi's life, they will need to be punished or praised, which brings up their "Training" meter. Though now, if you catch your Tamagotchi about to use the bathroom, selecting the "Toilet" icon right before will increase training too. Once your Tamagotchi makes it to adulthood, they'll be able to go to the bathroom all by themselves!

Overfeeding

A rather humorous nod to the Mesutchi and Osutchi, as well as the Family pets (V5, Celebrity, Royal). Ra describes it as such:

Another interesting thing is, I decided to try and see what would happen if I maxed out her weight. Her weight was already pretty high, so I kept feeding her snacks to bring it up. A really funny thing happened as soon as it reached 99! She started shaking, and suddenly bloated up! Then she just sat in the middle of the room with her enormous belly, drooling out the corner of her mouth, and refused to do anything!

I was starting to get a little nervous, as I didn't know how I was supposed to get her weight down. She wouldn't let me click the door icon, nor the discipline. In desperation, I started to try and click all the icons, and finally the medicine icon worked. She began shaking again, and pooped her weight down!

So for those of you planning on stuffing your Tama with snacks to keep it happy... be careful! :P

Shop

Just like in the Music Star, Nazotchi runs the shop. The TMGO does not feature any items at all. However, it does offer a variety of foods and home renovations.

Home remodeling not only changes the living room, but the rest of the house as well! It's an actual improvement over the Tamagotchi Plus Color, where each room would be a separate cost.

Marriage

If your Tamagotchi marries a character from the Dating Place, the partner will move in. After 24 hours, a new baby will be born, and the parents will leave the following night, leaving you to care for the child.

Age Counter Glitch

One slightly unnerving issue has come up with the TMGO: the age counter. Changing the time on the clock screen will reset the internal age counter back to where it was from the beginning of the day, and connecting the toy to TamaTown.com for an extended period of time freezes the counter. In both cases, the age number remains the same while the Tamagotchi itself continues to age.

While this doesn't affect the Tamagotchi's growth, it prevents the "Dating Place" from appearing when the Tamagotchi reaches adulthood. Typically, a Tamagotchi adult is ready to marry after 72 hours, or 3 years on the age counter. But with the age counter frozen, the Tamagotchi will have to wait longer to marry, and risk evolving into Ojitchi or Otokitchi.

Videos!

Want to see the Tamatown Tama-Go in action? Check out the awesome videos below!

Links!

Ra's Tamagotchi Logs - lots of detailed information on the Tama-Go, and first-person accounts on it. With much credit to him for most of the images you see above! :)

Binary's Tama-Go Logs - details and pictures, and even includes a pic of the TMGO taken apart!

Bandai's Official Tamagotchi Page - recently updated for the TMGO, with more coming soon, including a wiki!

OM21: Tamagotchi Tamatown Tama-Go Information

So Tamapalace.tk has recently gotten a hold of one of the new Tamatown Tama-Go toys courtesy of Bandai America. Sad to say, however, their coverage on the toy itself has been incredibly poor. I've decided to compose as much information and images as I can on the new toys, perhaps to give Tamagotchi fans out there a better sense of what the Tama-Go is and what it does before it hits the shelves this summer.

First off, the Tamatown website has been updated with the new "Swirly Sweet City" and, like the Music Star before it, there's a section in your apartment that lists all of the Tama-Go characters you've logged in as previously. The images are all in silhouette, but the owner of Tama-Yama-Wuv (along with several others) traced the shadow images back to other Tamagotchi artwork, eventually uncovering all of the characters.

From what it looks like, the Tama-Go cast will be a mix of the Tamagotchi Plus Color and Tamagotchi iD, along with some Bandai improvisation as per usual. It also seems to turn Ringotchi, ChaMametchi, Nonopotchi, and Kikitchi into adult characters, which is actually somewhat unnerving. The iD at least excluded the Senior and Special stages and called it the "Friend" stage, instead of adult, to avoid this kind of confusion..

And if you're wondering on the size of the new toy, look no further than this particular image posted by TamaPalace:

It's HUGE.

Yup, it's the same dimensions as the Tamagotchi iD! Supposedly this is because of the new figurines that get attached to the top of the device, but other than that, the HUGENESS of the toy seems rather unnecessary. The iD at least had an updated color screen, leading me to my next topic. Images once again courtesy of TamaPalace.

(Admittedly, the "Welcome!" would have looked better if it didn't have the shade of gray and instead just had white...)

Instead of just the typical black-and-white screen, we now have what Bandai America describes as a "four-gray scale display". In other words, shades of gray have been added to give a better illusion of the Tamagotchi world inside your toy. Thanks to this, you can now see the actual background of your Tamagotchi's home, hinting that like in the Plus Color, you will be able to refurnish your home (maybe rooms too?). Again like the Plus Color, you can name yourself and when your Tamagotchi calls for attention, it will say your name in a speech bubble. Up to 8 letters can be used! A big improvement over the 5 letters on previous versions.

Also, what in the world is that fifth icon supposed to be? I think it's meant for the figurines, but doesn't look anything like them to me. Unless it's supposed to be an icon of a sitting Mametchi on a little black platform? Is that what it is?

The other icons are: Health Meter, Food, Bathroom, Door (hopefully will be identical to the Plus Color and iD), Training, Medicine, Connecting, Friendlist, and Attention. Noticeably absent is the Item Trunk icon. Maybe it's been merged with the 5th icon? I'm not sure. We'll have to wait and see for somebody to either show us or scan an instruction manual.

Now onto the packaging, with images provided by the Administrator of TamaTalk (click for more images):

Much like the toy itself, the box of the Tamatown Tama-Go is massive. My biggest problem with it, other with the amount of huge unused space? It goes on to describe the accessories and web site much more than it describe the actual toy and what it does. The last thing the target audience needs to think is that the toy is completely useless without the aid of a figurine and Internet connection.

Also, the box reveals the Tama-Go takes 2 AAA batteries, which are not included. Never, EVER have I seen a Tamagotchi that couldn't be played with right out of the box. Even the iD and Plus Color came with the necessary batteries. Why now exclude them?

So, is the Tama-Go worth the new $20 price tag? Are the $7 figurines worth it? There's still not enough information to tell for either. I'd like Bandai America to convince me how wonderful this new toy is and how the figurines make it even better, but all of the advertising seems to be geared toward the new face decals of the toy and the Tamatown website. And TamaPalace, who happens to own the toy, aren't answering key questions and updates on the Tama-Go are few and far between. I'm sitting on the "wait-and-see" fence; once it's released and more personal information can be shared, I'll decide if I'd like to get my hands on it.

- OM21

OM21: Tamagotchi Angel - Secret Character Discovered!

So on the Japanese edition of the Tamagotchi Angel (better known as the Angelgotchi or Tenshi no Tamagotch), a secret character exists known as Lucky Unchi-Kun. To get him as a character, you have to raise the baby, but there's a chance that instead of evolving into Marutchi Angel (Maruten), it continues its life. It will go on walks and call for phrase like any normal adult Angel, until finally one day, it evolves into Lucky Unchi-Kun; a sparkling gold poop with a face. Incredibly weird, I know, but still very rare.

For a long time, it was believed that this character was removed from the US edition of the toys, but as the below video shows, this appears to not be the case!

OM21: Favorite Tamagotchi Characters?

There are so many Tamagotchi creatures that you can raise! Currently, without including special Tamagotchi versions such as Angel, Ocean, etc., there are 323 characters - some of which have never appeared on the English toys! Above, you can see many, many, many Tamagotchi characters...how many can you name?

So, Tamagotchi fans, we're curious......Do you have a favorite character? If so, who? Remember, you're not arguing over who's the best - you're describing your favorite!

- OM21

OM21: Tamagotchi Music Star Item Generator!

Here it is, folks, the code generator to end them all.

This magical website will allow you to gain any item available on your Music Star toy, including incredibly rare items such as the Destiny Stars, Wild Guitar, Dream Mic, Mega Drum, and more!

Just click here and follow the very simple instructions:

http://musicstargen.site40.net/

OM21: New Tamagotchi "Tama-Go"

Hello, everyone! Great news for those living in North America: there's a brand new Tamagotchi toy heading our way!

This new Tamagotchi's going to be called the "Tamatown Tama-Go". From the looks of the images, it appears to be a black-and-white version of the Tamagotchi Plus Color. However, to spice things up, there's also a "Tama Figure" feature. These are little plastic toys that attach to the top of the unit, and unlock new games, items, and foods.


From the looks of things, it seems that Bandai really, REALLY wanted to bring the TMGC+C to America, but knowing it would be a huge monetary risk, they decided to get as close as they could, while introducing a new feature to keep things fresh. One screenshot even shows Belltchi in a living room with a fireplace! Personally, I've got mixed feelings for this new toy; while the figurine concept is definitely interesting, I'm not personally too keen on the shell designs, and the idea of forking over $20 for a black-and-white version of a toy I already have. But I'll most definitely be getting one to give it a fair chance. :)

Images are all property of Engadget, so click here for even more pictures!

The new toys were officially announced on February 12th, but a release date has yet to be mentioned, so stay tuned!

~OM21

OM21: Tamagotchi Flashback: Mesutchi and Osutchi

Hello, everyone! With the launch of the Tamagotchi Movie in the US and the Tamagotchi iD in Japan, I thought it'd be nice to go over some of the Tamagotchi history that made the toys what they are today.

To start, I'd like to talk a bout about the Osutchi and Mesutchi toys, which were released only in Japan. These were fairly popular and, while sold separately, they were made with matching pairs in mind. They laid the basic groundwork of what would become the Tamagotchi Plus (aka Tamagotchi Connection / Tamagotchi Connexion) nearly 7 years later. Like the modern toys, they had 10 icons and could mate and produce offspring, leading into more generations.

The Osutchi was the "Male" egg and the Mesutchi was the "Female". The baby and child characters were the same for both genders, but teen and adult characters had many differences to make them stand apart, yet resemble a "couple". There were four groups of characters (TMP1, 2, 3, and 4), and each group had their own unique characters and foods. There were also three "neglect" characters: Debutchi, a character so fat that he filled the whole screen; Sutebotchi, the male neglect character who can never fall in love; and Tsuketchi, the female version of Sutebotchi.



The game (shown in the video above) was a very basic version of the "Flag" game, which would later appear on the V3 and V4. The toys did not have any money involved, but did require discipline and keeping weight low. These toys were definitely not as forgiving as modern Tamagotchi toys.

Also, a prime difference between these and the modern Tamagotchi was how they connect. The Osu/Mesu could only connect when it was time to marry, and used a metal port instead of the modern Infrared port. Also, the marriage and birth process was far more detailed and exciting than the modern process. I'll get a video up as soon as I can.

If you'd like to see the Osutchi and Mesutchi characters, look down below! This was the very first growth chart I've ever made. Alternatively, you can check out Binary's chart on Tama-Zone which includes character artwork and updated names.