iOS App Review: Tamagotchi

I read this article the other day about the Top 10 obsessions from our childhoods, and, as well as chatter rings, yoyos and those little skateboard things you played with with your fingers, Tamagotchis were on the list! Remember those key chain-sized digital pets that you had to feed, bathe, give medicine to and play with?

I remember buying my first Tamagotchi from Deka (yep, Deka!) and it was $20, which a huge amount back in my day for a toy. I saved for my Tamagotchi, that’s how awesome they were. I had a purple one and it was a baby. Like an actual baby, not a baby animal. It was so cool. The day the toy broke and was no longer useable was a very, very sad day.

But alas, nearly 20 years later, I have a new Tamagotchi. Right here on my phone.

I was a bit silly and paid the $5.99NZD for the app. I couldn’t help myself. It would be worth the money. And it was.

The app downloaded and there was my little egg. You can view your Tamagotchi in two ways: either by the classic view where you have the shape of the old physical toy on your screen and everything is black and white, or you can opt for the upgraded view and have everything in colour. I started off with the classic view for nostalgia reasons, but I quickly changed to the colour version as my Tamatgotchi got bigger because I wanted to see it more clearly and see what colour it was.

It’s exactly the same as the old digital toy. You feed it when it is hungry and play with it when it us unhappy, to fill up its hearts. When it goes to the bathroom, you press the button that cleans it up. If you’re a bad mumma and leave it lying in its own filfth, your Tamagotchi will get sick and you have to give it medicine.

You receive push notifications when your Tamagotchi is calling you. It will call you if it is hungry or bored, or if it wants you to turn out the light when it wants to go to sleep. Sometimes it will call you just to be annoying and you will have to “discipline” it. The guidelines tell you that if you don’t discipline your Tamagotchi, it will grow up to be ugly. And no one wants that.

My first Tamagotchi grew up to be a weird blue bird that looked like it was sitting on a plant or something. Obviously the graphics aren’t too hot.

Then suddenly, my Tamagotchi was gone and I had a new egg. Ok then.

Now I’m a bit bored. I don’t like responsibility. My Tamagotchi calls me all the time and it wants to play the same old game over and over and over and then it is hungry and then it needs to poop and man can I please have some peace and quiet!