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