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.