Tamagotchi Growth Chart!

What is Tamagotchi? | How does it work? | My history | Growth chart

I recently got back into Tamagotchi when I bought a gen2 tama re-release with tickets I won at Round1! Because I can't be normal about anything, I decided to start tracking my tamas on this device and seeing if I could get all of them, including any secret ones, along with taking notes on how I got said tamas.

Tamagotchis are considered the innovators of the virtual pet craze that hit the toys market in the mid 1990's and lasted pretty strongly until the mid 2000's, with iterations of it still continuing to this day. The very first two generations of Tamagotchis consisted of a black and white 1bit pet that lived in a keychain computer shaped like an egg (in Japanese, the origin country of Tamagotchis, "Tamago" means egg, and "Tomadotchi" means friend - so it's your egg friend!).

Since 1996, Tamagotchis have gone through many iterations - red 1bit screens, full-color screens, video games, devices that link with each other either physically or virtually, and so much more! These little guys have perservered in the virtual pet market, with their latest iteration - the Tamagotchi Uni - being released as recently as 2023!

Each iteration is slightly different, but the overall gameplay loop is the same; you are given a tamagotchi to raise from birth, and you watch it grow through different phases of its life. You can feed them and play games with them, but for the most part, they are pretty independent unless they call for you. You will also have to take care of it if it gets sick by giving it medicine and cleaning up after it if it poops.

Now onto what could be considered something unique to Tamagotchi - depending on how you raise it, it will evolve into different creatures! This gives it its "gamey" feel; you can try different techniques to see what your tama will turn into, such as ignoring its calls for attention, discipling it too much or too little, and not feeding it or playing with it enough. There are even evolutions that are considered "secret" and can only be obtainable by following a certain evolution path.

While I was a huge fan of virutal pets and Tamagotchi growing up, I never actually had a legitimate Tamagotchi. I did own a Giga Pet, which came out in 1997 - released by Tiger electronics and very clearly inspired by Tamagotchi (I had Compu Kitty, of course). I had Tamagotchi-adjacent merch and toys as well, such as the Tamagotchi McDonald's toy line that came out during its height of popularity.

I very recently got back into Tamagotchi, partially because I love revisitng y2k tech and tech from my youth, partially because I watch a Twitch streamer who is super into Tamagotchi (shout out HalfMoonJoe!), and mainly because I saw it at Round1 and bought it with my ticket winnings on a whim (in case anyone is curious, it's the graffiti shell)!

*My totally alive tama that did not leave me to go back to its home planet

Since then, I've come to acquire a few more!

Left to right: gen2 re-release, gen1 re-release, nano SPYxFAMILY Anya, original gen1, uni

Now, without further ado!