In the last chapter of millennial nostalgia, the popular toy from the 90s returns 23 years after it was first released in the US.
No, not Skip-It and, no, not Sega Game Gear. Tamagotchi electronic pet, a highly coveted egg-shaped toy from Japan whose colorful shells – and which are often sold in toy stores – will soon launch a new product in North America.
Called Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden, the $ 59.99 gadget went down on July 26, with online pre-orders available now Amazon, Target, Walmart and GameStop.
“It’s amazing to see people who remember the original Tamagotchi from the 90s pickup, Tamagotchi On, as well as watching young users fall in love with virtual pets,” the word Tara Badie, director of brand strategy for toy company Bandai America, said Thursday in a statement.
The new On series correctly incorporates modern updates to Tamagotchi, which in the 90s had a simple black-and-white screen that showed a young chick that – if a user fed it and cleaned its droppings – grew bigger and lived a digitally happy life . In 2020, Tamagotchi will display enhanced graphics in color – and handheld toys can be connected to mobile applications.
Back in the day, pets were solely on a single tile patterned screen. Now the world is bigger. CNN business reports that new pets can leave their homes, celebrate their owners’ birthdays with colorful balloons and a song, and travel. But in a rather spooky update, the pet can now also meet couples, have children, raise them to be adults and spread a family tree full of these digital species.
One more update: Unlike the original Tamagotchi, which requires constant nuisance to prevent pets from dying, the On series allows busy users to drop off pets at a hotel for child care services. But the user must still eat and be entertained; when something is needed, and even when the screen is off, the toy beeps.
“Through research, we have found that 67% of users play their Tamagotchi On device with a friend and that 96% of all Tamagotchi users like the device so much that they will likely buy a new version,” Badie said.
This is not the first Tamagotchi in the United States to return since the madness of the 1990s. The original 90s version returned to North America in 2018 (although, before that, the original version was available through online portals such as eBay), with an updated version that followed in 2019. Bandai America will not share North American sales figures with CNN, but said that he had sold north of 82 million toys worldwide in 2019.
Meanwhile, in his native Japan, there is the usual Tamagotchi launch, and it is considered a staple toy for children.
