Bandai is Bringing Tamagotchis Back After a 20 Year Hiatus

Following the wave of success enjoyed by Pokémon GO and the subsequent release of Pokémon related merchandise, perhaps we shouldn’t be entirely surprised that Bandai Namco is choosing this moment to re-release the Tamagotchi. Like Pokémon, Tamagotchi are digital pets that were first popularised in the late nineties, and if you were still in school you probably owned one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV_24hXdbOU

Owners of the tiny egg-shaped device were required to pour hours of energy into making sure their pet received constant attention, was fed adequately, and given enough sleep so that it could ‘evolve’ into the next stage of its life cycle. The re-released version of the Tamagotchi comes with original pets and features, a miniature keychain, and spans a range of six colourful designs. However, there’s a big difference in size – the new Tamagotchi is roughly half the size of the original and has a square LCD display instead of a rectangular one. The Japanese advertisement encourages users to take their Tamagotchis everywhere, with one notable exception being work meetings.

Currently, the newest iteration of Tamagotchi is Japan exclusive, but if you’re willing to fork out extra for shipping costs you can purchase one through Amazon for￥1,898 Japanese Yen (roughly $17 USD). Just hope it doesn’t reset on you.