TAMAGOTCHI PARADISE

i got this for christmas and i've been having a lot of fun with it!

older tamagotchi used to be treated as alien creatures we were simply observing and caring for via the digipets, and the paradise really leans into that! instead of keeping the tamas inside of a generic house, you observe them in their natural habitats, which influences their evolutions.

i really, really like this angle! getting wildly different tama based on where they're raised (plains, underwater, clouds, and bamboo forest) is really fun and makes me actually want to raise 1 billion generations to get every tama i can.

the designs are also some of the best in the series, like come on!!

these are adorable!!! i also really love the fact that there's only really 4 (raisable) returning tamagotchi: pochitchi, mimitchi, mametchi, and kuchipatchi. more returning tama are in this one, but they exist purely as NPCs when you fly to other planets.

oh yeah, you get fuel to fly to other planets via collecting your tamas poop from every field that has them. funny and cute, honestly.

and, yeah! once you raise a tamagotchi to adulthood and want to raise another, your older tama takes up residence in the field you raised them in. this is probably my favorite touch!

TAMAGOTCHI CONNECTION 20TH ANNIVERSARY

i've had a tamagotchi connection for about as long as i've had my tamagotchi angel, but since it's pretty much identical to the 20th anniversary version (my original is a V3 and the remake is based on V3 with elements of the keitai), i'll just lump them together

the tamagotchi connection is so much fun! i love the variety of games especially in the 20th anniversary version. plus the connectivity is a great feature! i don't know what else to say other than this is an incredibly solid tama that i'd highly reccomend for anyone.

TAMAGOTCHI UNI

the uni certainly exists! i don't really know what to say other than that, frankly. i enjoyed my time with the uni, but there were some things that kept me from fully engaging with it. namely, the stroll mechanic.

you can take your tama on walks with you in the uni where the toy basically acts as a pedometer. walks are important in the uni, because they reward you with crafting materials to make DIY projects. i am disabled, so this feature was incredibly annoying at best and exclusionary at worst.

plus the online features and DLC weren't really my thing... i do think being able to upate a tamagotchi is nice, plus USB-C charging is always a good thing.

TAMAGOTCHI PIX PARTY

another one of my least favorites. the camera mechanic really doesn't carry this thing as far as bandai expected it would. it's cute, i'll give it that, but the addition of a camera wasn't that interesting to me? in reality all it did was make the battery life shorter, because i rarely used it.

i do have the pix party though, and i hear that one is better than the original. the touch buttons are more responsive apparently, though they we're pretty finnicky for me. the party mechanic wasn't that fun either. :[

TAMAGOTCHI MEETS / ON

another contender for one of my favorite tamagotchi ever! the standout feature for the tamagotchi on is the ability for tamagotchi to pass down genes to their kids. this leads to some of the most customization in a tamagotchi i've ever seen.

i used to spend hours on r/tamagotchi advertising that i was going to be within the meets app, which was like a social hub you could upload your tamagotchi to in order to play games, meet other tama, and marry! sadly the official app is no longer in service, though there was a fan server ready to go that launched the day the official one went offline.

your tamagotchi could also have a pet in this game, and that pet could have kids that also inherited genes from their parents!

this tamagotchi also has a quite extensive modding scene. there's a program out there known as mymeets that lets you customize your tamagotchi's spouse, and basically acts as a cheat client for the meets.

TAMAGOTCHI 4 U

my first color tama, and my first imported tama! it used to be my favorite for a while, but it is fairly basic now. i did have the app made for downloading DLC onto it, because without that it's kind of limited. thankfully the eng app made for overseas fans lets you get everything for free.

this game does have my favorite tamagotchi (lovesoratchi) and a very unique feature, potty training! you can potty train your tamagotchi so it will take itself to the bathroom when it needs to go.

TAMAGOTCHI NANO

honestly? this is my least favorite tamagotchi product. i say product because they're still making these things, and i have no idea why!! the tamagotchi nano are tamagotchi without gameplay. you don't clean up after it, you don't train it, it just sits there and looks cute. it's more of a digital accessory than a digital pet.

i own two of these things, and i don't even know why. neither are really fun, although the gudetama one is cute...

TAMAGOTCHI GEN 2 20TH ANNIVERSARY

this is pure tamagotchi gaming. it's a remake of the gen 2 tamagotchi that came out for the franchise's 20th anniversary. it's quite literally just a gen 2 tamagotchi, so if you are used to the more modern games, it might seem a bit lacking to you. i love it though!

TAMAGOTCHI ANGEL

i adore the angel tama. it's probably one of my favorites, if not my favorite. the designs are perfect, the plot is perfect, everything!!!

the angel tama was made as sort of a response to kids being sad when they accidentally kill their tamagotchi. in this game, you care for angel tamagotchi who have come back to earth to visit their caretakers and spend more tiime with them. isn't that precious?

these are not to be confused with the standalone game and DLC for the tamagotchi uni, angel festival. this is a separate game!

DIGIMON X VER.20TH

without a doubt, the DMX is my favorite digitama i've played. it has slots for 3 digimon that you can swap between at any point, power ups, daily events, a built-in pause feature, and a whole quest mode with 30 levels to it!

the one thing i will say about digimon is that they stay up incredibly late. i had to set my DMX back a few hours because according to an online guide i found, lilithmon falls asleep at midnight. i simply do not stay up that late!!

DIGIMON VER.20TH

i haven't played this one in a while, but the last time i did i got my favorite digimon (monzaemon) and an ogremon!

that does lead me into my one problem with the DM20. simultaneously taking care of two digimon is pretty overwhelming... much less trying to get two specific digimon for jogress/DNA digivolution. still haven't even attempted to do that.

in the future, i plan to get a neon yellow DM20 because it has one of my favorite digimon lines (lunamon) on it!

hoshi de hakken!! tamagotchi

a lot of tamagotchi video games aim to simply re-create tamagotchi gameplay on other platforms for those who (for some reason) don't want to get a standalone tamagotchi. not hoshi de hakken! well. kind of hoshi de hakken!

in hoshi de hakken, you play as mikachu, assistant to dr banzo, a tamagotchi researcher. one day, mikachu and dr banzo travel to the tamagotchi planet and crash land, stranding them. dr banzo then tasks you with finding, befriending and caring for all the tamagotchi you can get your hands on!

there are 94 total tamagotchi you can collect and raise, all scattered around a large, open world. the actual care aspects of the game take place in a screen very similar to how the GB game de hakken games look. actually, this is basically game de hakken with an open world?

i mean, makes sense seeing as mikachu and dr banzo are old, game exclusive characters. you even play as mikachu in game de hakken 2, and dr banzo is who gives you tamagotchi eggs to raise in both games!

digimon world: next order

i was gifted this game for my birthday, and i haven't been able to put it down since!

i've always loved the digimon games, though not many of them focus too heavily on the pet sim aspects of the series. but the ones that do are among my favorites.

my only experience with digimon world prior to next order was the PSX original, which... is aged, to say the least. digimon world: next order improves pretty much every aspect of digimon world 1 that i had any issues with.

the biggest being that DW1 has no way of letting you know which digimon can evolve into what, and how. it's purely guesswork if you aren't using some form of guide. DWNO on the other hand ties your digimon's affection into the digivolution mechanics in a really interesting way; the more you praise your digimon for being good, the more you'll learn about their possible digivolutions and their requirements.

plus i just love how chill this game is. it forces you to slow down in a way. if your digimon aren't ready for a certain area and you throw them in with no backup, you're basically screwed.

nekotomo & kumatomo

these two are some of my favorite digipet games that i don't see anybody talk about. which is honestly sad, they're really fun and wholesome games if you can play them!

kumatomo, or teddy together in english, is probably the most easily accessible if you only speak english (and have a hacked 3DS, but at this point who doesn't?). the story is about you, the player, receiving a mysterious package with a talking stuffed bear and a strange key. you must bond with you bear and figure out what the key unlocks!

fun fact! did you know kumatomo had a crossover with the tamagotchi 4U in japan? you could download and raise the bear from the game!

nekotomo is very similar to kumatomo, but this time you raise two kittens who can speak with humans! your goal is to keep them happy and answer any questions they might have about what humans call things, how you speak, etc.

unlike kumatomo, nekotomo never got an english release. the only ways you can play it are on 3ds and nintendo switch. i would reccomend the switch version for less experienced japanese learners, since unlike the 3DS version, it includes furigana!

fun facts! did you know that a preorder bonus for the switch version of nekotomo included outfits for nekoko and tomomo that look like the bear from kumatomo?

did you know that nekoko and tomomo feature in taiko no tatsujin drum 'n' fun for the nintendo switch? the main theme of nekotomo is a playable song, and nekoko and tomomo are playable characters. this is actually how i first learned of the series, since i'm a huge taiko fan!

wappy dog

this game is like a mix of furreal friends and nintendogs, and it's quite interesting! it comes with both a game and a physical robot dog that you control via your nintendo DS!

wappy dog has two modes, one where you interact with the physical dog via the DS, and one where you transfer the dogs heart (i.e. relationship data) into your DS so you can play with it when you're not near it. or, if you just can't play with it physically.

that being said, you can't play wappy dog at all if you don't have the physical toy. they are a bit hard to find, but i believe the japanese 3DS version is easier to get than the american DS version. plus, if you prefer, the japanese 3DS wappy dog is pink!

in japanese, wappy dog is called heart energy poochi (ハートエナジープーチ)

game de hakken!! tamagotchi 1 & 2

these are straight gameboy ports of the first couple of tamagotchi digipets with a few extra features. i only own the japanese versions of both games, but i do know that the first game got an english release.

the main feature separating the GB tamagotchi from the regular digipets are tournaments, special events that adult tamagotchi can enter. tamagotchi in the GB games also have stats that can be raised via the new minigames which help with your odds of winning tournaments.

unlike the regular games, which have never let you raise more than a single tamagotchi (in the meets you could have twins but they act as a single tama), the GB games allow you to raise up to 3 tamagotchi at a time.
it's really hectic!

the GB versions also are the easiest and most accessible ways to play tamagotchi like the umi and mori de hakken games. umi was released as tamagotchi ocean in america, but have fun finding one for a decent price! mori was planned for release as tamagotchi garden, but was cancelled.

the GB series also allows you to play osutchi and mesutchi, which were also never brought to america and are quite rare now.

giga pets

giga pets were tiger electronics answer to tamagotchi. instead of original designs made for the toys themselves, giga pets allow you to take care of animals (mostly). there are some that let you raise unicorns, pixies, dinosaurs, aliens, etc. but most giga pets are based on actual animals.

the gameplay is honestly more similar to the gameboy tamagotchi games than the standalone digipets. you're able to train giga pets which works differently than simply scolding or praising them like a tamagotchi.

there's also more than one minigame per pet that is usually tailored to which one you have, which i like!

pretty cure digipets

the pretty cure series has a surprising amount of digital pets! there is one for almost every season. i don't have many, but the ones i do have i am incredibly happy to own!

heart cure watch

like the card commune, the heart cure watch is a combination of delicious party precure's transformation item and digipet. in it, you take care of komekome as she grows from a baby fox to a girl as old as her friends!

and like the twinkle book, taking care of komekome is very easy. there is even a feature where you can leave her with rosemary if you don't feel like or can't take care of her, but it also locks you out of a lot of the watch's functionality.

interestingly enough, the watch has a camera which is used to scan this seasons collectables, the recipippi. the watch i got came with a good amount of them, including the okosama lunch from the movie!

pretty commune

i almost hesitate to put this here because it's not exactly a traditional digipet, but its also not an activity toy like i thought it would be before i got my hands on one. you raise porun in the pretty commune, and the goal is to max out his friendship. the pretty commune also can act as a digital collection of all the pretty cure cards you own, which i love!

card commune

this is the one i am most proud of having. the card commune is a combination of the transformation toy for futari wa pretty cure as well as its digital pet! the card commune allows you to choose either mipple or mepple to care for, and you do so by swiping cards to fulfill their needs. your chosen fairy will also talk to you and ask questions that they will remember and bring up later!

i have the original japanese version, but i really want an english one someday...

if you own a card commune, you can actually let mipple or mepple visit porun by connecting the two devices! you can also exchange short messages between the two, and other things. i really like this feature

osewashite fuwa twinkle book

star twinkle is among my favorite seasons of precure, so i was incredibly happy to get my hands on a twinkle book!

this one is a more traditional digipet with aspects of the season it's from, namely the ability to use the star color pens to unlock different food items and toys for fuwa.

it's also very much an activity toy first, digipet second. fuwa is not hard to take care of and there is no penalty for just ignoring her. this is common with precure digipets since they're aimed at much younger children.

pocket pikachu & pikachu 2 GS

do you remember the pokewalker? the pedometer game that came with heartgold and soulsilver? well, this is its grandpa. the original isn't much more than a pedometer with a pikachu theme, but your goal is to befriend pikachu by using watts obtained by walking, so it counts. it even has a slots minigame!

the second version, the pocket pikachu 2 GS, is more like the pokewalker's father. your goal is still to befriend pikachu by using watts obtained by walking around with the device, but you can directly transfer items obtained from this one to pokemon gold and silver!

fun fact? if you walk a total of 1 million steps with the original pocket pikachu, pikachu will leave you.

pocketstation

this is technically just a PS1 memory card with extra features, but let me have this...

as said above, the pocketstation is a special PS1 memory card that can download minigames from games that support it. though, pretty much the only games that support the pocketstation are japanese.

the reason i am listing it among my collection of digital pets is that, well, a few of the games that support the pocketstation have a digital pet as their minigame! a few japanese versions of digimon games support it, as well as probably the most well known one, doko demo issyo.

the gameplay is not very complex for any of these, but in the case of pocket digimon world, you are able to transfer items you obtain within the game to your actual copy of digimon world.