Demon Slayer Tamagotchi. Evangelion Tamagotchi. Gudetama Tamagotchi. Hello Kitty Tamagotchi. Original Tamagotchi. PAC-MAN Tamagotchi. Star Wars R2-D2 Tamagotchi. New Tamagotchi Electronic Pet Toy Virtual Cyber+Dinosaur Egg Nostalgic Xmas Gift. Pet JAPAN Used w/ batteries and instructions. Tamagotchi Connection.
January 1, 1998
From Virtual Pet to Virtual Pit Bull: Fighting Cyber Toys
By MATT RICHTEL
| Related Articles Tamagotchi Diary: Week 3 — Requiem for a Digital Egg (May 24, 1997) The Tamagotchi: Toy Life-Form Invades the U.S. Coming Soon to the Virtual Pet Store: 'Creatures' Who Live, Eat and Reproduce |
I offer one final reflection: Who's bringing the snacks? This is going to be great!
Before you surrender me to the police, the ASPCA or the local anti-cockfighting hot line, there's something you should know. This creature merely is a virtual pet, but it is one you may soon be hearing more about — when all the children you know start clamoring for their own.
The creature is called DigiMon, short for digital monster, and it will soon be heavily promoted at a retailer near you. It is the sequel to Tamagotchi, a primitive digital chicken that sold a blazing 40 million copies last year and inspired international devotion among youngsters not seen since the heyday of Menudo.
Like Tamagotchi, the computerized DigiMon appears on a small LCD readout device attached to a key chain. And like Tamagotchi, it beeps when it wants food and attention. But there is one key difference from its more passive progenitor: DigiMon is designed to fight, and your job is to prepare it.
Bandai, the makers of Tamagotchi and DigiMon, is not the only toy company to make a foray into digital Darwinism. In fact, this may be the year of the virtual gladiators, creatures children nurture and love and then, like any proud parent, send out to kick some serious byte.
n late November, Tecmo Inc. held its U.S. launch of Monster Rancher, an arcade game for Sony's PlayStation. It already has been on the top 10 chart for six months in Japan and has shipped about 600,000 copies.
The game includes more than 220 monsters, which are created in unusual fashion. After loading the game, a player puts an ordinary compact disc into the PlayStation — anything from a rock music CD, to Microsoft Office or Excel. The game then reads the CD and creates a monster based on the coding of the CD.
Is the idea of raising a creature to send it out to fight a little perverse? 'At first I had an emotional attachment toward my monster and I felt bad about having to send it out to fight,' Shannon said. 'But after the second or third fight, he was doing well. I was proud of him. It's not like the lions and the Christians.' Besides, you couldn't hit the 'reset' button on the lions.
Meanwhile, Nintendo plans this year to introduce the U.S. market to Pokemon, which is known in Japan as the wildly popular Pocket Monster. The game is for Nintendo's GameBoy, the portable hand-held video game system.
As with DigiMon, the idea behind Pokemon is to raise and nurture monsters for battle. It is also popular in Japan to trade Pokemon species, of which there are more than 150. In November, about 200,000 children reportedly crashed Nintendo's trade show to get the code to release the 151st monster. (One hopes their parents had properly fed, nurtured and trained them to fight.)
Finally, Tiger Electronics Inc., which competed against Tamagotchi with its own virtual pets, called Giga Pets, plans to release Giga Fighters, according to company a spokeswoman, Lana Simon.
Lee Isgur, a consultant and venture capitalist who has studied the virtual pet industry, said the advent of smaller, less expensive memory chips will lead to increasingly exotic, functional pets. 'With voice recognition, you'll be able to tell your pet, 'step back, uppercut, jump,' Isgur said. 'You'll find an awful lot of nine-year-olds that say, 'that's a heck of a lot better than what we have now.'
s for my little prize fight, Bandai sent me a pair of DigiMons. This way, I would have the opportunity to raise two of them, let them do battle, and see just what happens when these creatures engage in a violent digital bloodbath. I named them Timmy and Al.
Timmy's outer-casing is blue; Al's is brown. Inside the casing, each of them look like a tiny Pac-Man, whose triangular mouths open when they eat. I tried to raise them as equals, to play no favorites, to feed them identical amounts of food and vitamins, subject them to the same training regimen, and to warn each of them about the evils of watching too much television.
Turns out, it's not particularly exotic to nurture or train them. Once they hatched from an egg, I repeatedly punched the food button on the side of the LCD readout. An icon indicated they were full. Then I started pressing the vitamin button. As I did so, they started gaining weight rapidly, each going from a virtual 1 pound to 80 pounds in a matter of minutes. The vitamins, I decided, were like steroids and, in the Olympic spirit, I kept pumping them in.
According to the instructions, a DigiMon must 'sleep' at least one night in order to have the energy to fight another. When they awaken, I will hook the two units together. According to Bandai, the pair will shoot fireballs at each other's screen, or growl or throw things. Then, within five seconds, I will know which one is the fittest, whether Little Timmy or Adorable Al will meet his maker.
I hope someone brings snacks.
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- Bandai Co. Ltd.
- Tecmo
- Nintendo
- Tiger Electronics, maker of the Giga Pets
- The Tamagotchi Mini is a very simple virtual pet, and it's perfect for a busy person. It's easiest to think of it as a classic Tamagotchi that's been cropped down to just the window where the character lives. There are no menus, no games, no shop, no stats. The Tamagotchi.
- Tamagotchi does fight over the controls though, that makes it hard! In level A you need to catch 5 out of 10 balls, level B, 7 out of 10 balls, level C, 9 out of 10 balls. The Study and Sports game raise the intelligence and body meters of your Tamagotchi, respectively.
BANDAI'S OFFICIAL. Now that you have your Tamagotchi, you must do these three things: 1) Wake up Tamagotchi from its million light-year sleep by removing the insulating sheet (pull paper tab from side of body).
Tamagotchi Connection
Instructions
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Tamagotchi Connection Instructions is part of the Tamagotchi Connection Information Center.
The Instructions below are for the Tamagotchi Plus, very similar to Tamagotchi Connection and were provided by Bandai in their Japanese 3 Feb 2004 press release.All functions above are controlled from the three buttons below the screen.The 'left' button is called 'A', the 'middle' button is called 'B' and the 'right' button is called 'C'.
'A' lets you scroll clockwise thru icons at the bottom of the screen to select a function.
'B' is used to select a function once you highlight it with 'A'. It also scrolls through the informationin each function and is used to set the time and date.
'C' is used to return to the main screen from within a function or to unselect all functions in the main screen.
The 'skull icon' means your Tamagotchi is ill and needs at least one dose of medicine.
You can connect your Tamagotchi Connection to another one (if they are both old enough) by using the 'A' button to select the 'heart' icon in the top right corner of the screen. Point the keychain end of each Tamagotchi at each other, then press the 'B' button twice. When you get them connected,they will automatically play games with each other, or visit and leave presents.
Be sure to turn out the light when your Tamagotchi sleeps at night, he will automaticallyturn it on when he wakes up.
Up to fifty friends can be stored along with the level of friendship: aquaintance, buddy, friend,good friend, best friend, true partner (indicated by the number of smiley faces).
TamagotchiSquare offers some tips from translations of two Japanese books providing hintsfor raising Tamagotchi Plus (the Japanese version of Tamagotchi Connection).The books are Bandai's Tamaplus Raising Guide (Japanese title is 'Kaettekita TamagotchiPlus Suku Suku Sodatekata Guide') and the Bandai Playing Book (Kaettekita! Tamagotchi to Asobu Hon').
Tamagotchi Plus has meters for Hunger, Happiness and Discipline. The books speculatethere are three other variables of importance (Luck Level, Body Needs, and Heart/Spirit).
Luck Level ranges from one to five. If Tamagotchi's Luck level is high, they will beoffered more disciplined (higher discipline level) parters in arranged marriages. Luck Levelis fixed at birth and never changes, but marrying a higher Luck Level partner increasingLuck Level of the resulting offspring.
Body Needs are food, health and discipline.
Heart Needs are happiness, sleep and comforting.
Reacting to all calls within 15 minutes, turning light off within one hour of going to sleepat night and sucessfully playing at least 20 steps in the games (hurdles or dance) help Body Needs and Heart Needs.
Tamagotchi Connection has three buttons just like the original Tamagotchi. They generallyoperate the same way. Several years ago, we posted the original Tamagotchi instructions in four parts:
Return to our coverage of Tamagotchi ConnectionReturn to Virtual Pet Home Page
BANDAI'S OFFICIAL
INSTRUCTIONS
Now that you have your Tamagotchi, you must do these three things:
1) Wake up Tamagotchi from its million light-year sleep by removingthe insulating sheet (pull paper tab from side of body).
2) Set the tamagotchi communication screen (Reset operation). Pressthe reset switch on the rear of the egg with a pointed object. NOTE:Remember not to press the reset switch too hard when using a sharp rod,pencils, sharp pens, etc.
3) Adjust the time difference between Tamagotchi's planet and earth(Timer set). First press the middle button (B) to bring up the timer screen.Use the left button (A) to set the hours and the B button to set the minutes.Once you have set the correct time, press the right button (C) to set thetimer. Next, return to the main screen by pressing the B button again.
When you have completed these three steps, a pulsating egg will appear.Tamagotchi will hatch in about 5 minutes.
NOTE: During this time only the timer and reset functions areavailable.
As soon as Tamagotchi hatches, it will beep at you for attention. Thisis where the health meter comes in handy. You can determine the mood, healthand behavior of Tomagotchi with the health meter. Tamagotchi will needto be fed and played with soon after it hatches. In order to start Tamagotchion a good growth path, you must take good care of Tamagotchi right fromthe start.
FEED: Press A button until knife and fork icon is highlighted,then press B. Select either Meal or Snack by pressing the B button to feedTamagotchi. Be careful not to over feed Tamagotchi; if you do it will refuseto eat.
LIGHT: Press A button until the light bulb icon is highlighted,then press the B button. Select either On or Off by pressing the A buttonto move the arrow, then press the B button. The light should be turnedoff when Tamagotchi is sleeping, or it might get restless! Tamagotchi willautomaticlly turn the light on when wakes up.
DUCK: Just like real pets, Tamagotchi goes to the bathroom. Ifdroppings appear on the screen, it must be cleaned up right away or Tamagotchiwill get sick. Press the A button until the Duck icon is highlighted, thenpress the B button to flush the screen. Tamagotchi will be very happy afterthe mess is cleaned up.
HEALTH METER: Check Tamagotchi's health, by pressing the A buttonuntil the Health Meter icon is highlighted, then press B button to checkTamagotchi's age/weight, discipline, hunger and happiness. After you havechecked all the screens to see if Tamagotchi needs anything, press C toreturn to the main screen. You should also check this screen if Tamagotchibeeps at you and the 'attention' icon is highlighted.
PLAY: Press A button until the bat and ball icon is highlighted,then press B button to begin the game. The object is to guess which wayTamagotchi will turn. To choose left, press the A button, to choose right,press the B button. If you choose the correct direction, Tamagotchi willbe happy. There are 5 chances in each game to match Tamagotchi; the moreyou match, the happier Tamagotchi will be. To stop the game press the Cbutton. After playing, check the happiness meter to see if it went up ordown.
MEDICINE: If a 'skull' image appears, Tamagotchi issick and needs medicine. Press A button until the medicine icon is highlighted,then press B. Sometimes 2 or 3 injections are needed before Tamagotchiis well.
ATTENTION: When this icon is highlighted, Tamagotchi needs something.Check the Health Meter, to determine what Tamagotchi needs. If Tamagotchidoesn't need anything, it must be disciplined or the Attention Icon willstay highlighted.
DISCIPLINE: Tamagotchi needs discipline if it:
Tamagotchi Connection Controls Manual
1) beeps even though it is full and happy
2) won't eat when it is hungry
3) won't play games when it is not very happy. If you neglect to disciplineTamagotchi when needed, it might grow up into an unattractive, bad manneredalien.
HAPPINESS AND HUNGER STATUS CHECK
There are a total of 4 hearts on the 'Happy' and 'Hunger'screens and they start out empty. The more hearts that are filled, thebetter satisfied Tamagotchi is. You must feed or play with Tamagotchi inorder to fill the empty hearts. If you keep Tamagotchi full and happy,it will grow into a cute, happy cyber creature. If you neglect Tamagotchi,it will grow into an unattractive alien.
DISCIPLINE STATUS CHECK
As the meter moves towards the right, it indicates you are raising awell-behaved Tamagotchi.
The higher the discipline scale the less trouble and better behavedTamagotchi will be. The key to increasing the discipline meter is to makesure you scold Tamagotchi when necessary. If Tamagotchi beeps at you forno reason, you must discipline it.
Tamagotchi needs discipline if it:
- beeps at you even though it is full and happy
- won't eat when it is hungry
- won't play games when it is not very happy
AGE AND WEIGHT CHECK
Converts and displays Tamagotchi's growth information in earth units.
BIOLOGY
- One earth day is equal to about one year for Tamagotchi.
- Tamagotchi will change appearance several times before it reachesits adult form.
- It seems that the shape, personality and life of each Tamagotchi isbased on how well you take care of it. Each time you hatch a new Tamagotchiit could grow up to be any one of several adult forms. Tomagotchi willalways return to its home planet. How well you care for it helps determinehow long Tamagotchi will stay on Earth. When it is time for Tamagotchito return to its home planet, there is nothing you can do. But, don't worry,you can always hatch another egg.
WILL YOU BE A GOOD CARETAKER FOR TAMAGOTCHI?
0-5 YEARS: Try harder next time
6-10 YEARS: Room for improvement
11-16 YEARS: Good job
17-22 YEARS: Excellent
23+ YEARS: Amazing!
In order to hatch another Tamagotchi, press the A and C buttons simultaneouslyand a new pulsating egg will appear. In about 5 minutes a new Tamagotchiwill be born. Maybe you will raise a different version of Tamagotchi thistime. Try it and see.
TIMER FUNCTION
When you want to know the time, press the B button when no icons arehighlighted and the time will appear on the screen. To return to the mainscreen, press the B button again.
In order to re-set the time, press the B button to bring up the timer.Press the A and C buttons simultaneously and the word 'SET' willappear on the screen. Then follow the same instructions used to set thetimer. Press C button again to return to regular time. Press B again toreturn to the main screen.
NOTE: Timer cannot be adjusted if Tamagotchi is preparing toreturn to its home planet.
WHEN TO RESET
- When you want to let Tamagotchi return home
- When you have changed batteries
- If Tamagotchi is not functioning properly
- When you want to begin raising a new Tamagotchi
NOTE: Remember, do not press the reset button too hard when usinga pointed object.
SOUND
After Tamagotchi has hatched, the sound can be turned off by pressingthe A and C buttons simultaneously. To restore the sound, press A and Cagain.
BATTERIES
Replace the batteries if the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is weak.
1) Loosen the screws on the back side. Remove the cover together withthe screws.
2) Take out the old batteries. Insert 2 new LR44 batteries, making sureto match '+' and '-' signs properly. Be sure to useboth new batteries, do not mix old and new batteries. Do not mix ALKALINE,STANDARD or RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES. Dispose of used batteries properly.
3) Replace the cover and tighten the screws.
Tamagotchi Connection Ds
4) Reset the timer and a new Tamagotchi will hatch in 5 minutes.
Tamagotchi Connection Website
Copyright Bandai 1996-1997.
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