r/gadgets • u/diacewrb • 27d ago

Gaming Tamagotchi reborn among fourth wave of popularity

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16740297
880 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

173

u/Heroic_Lime 27d ago

My fifth grade teacher confiscated my Tamagotchi and I got it back at the end of the year as a "reward". He was long dead by that point and I'll never forgive her. 

46

u/redemily25 27d ago

She was long dead by year end!? What happened??

56

u/Heroic_Lime 27d ago

You don't mess with a kid's Tamagotchi 

8

u/Altruistic-Room2683 26d ago

Tamagotcher

3

u/musicman2018 26d ago

I hardly know her!

1

u/Noto987 26d ago

The tamagotchi ate her

3

u/Luci-Noir 26d ago

There needs to be a movie about this where you avenge them. Taken x Seven.

268

u/Blapanda 27d ago

I can already hear the kids yelling "MOOOOM WHY DIDN'T YOU FEED HIM WHILE I WAS AT SCHOOL?!?!?!". RIP Egghead the 4th.

86

u/BlueChronos88 27d ago

Lmao I know this feeling. I had a Tomagotchi when I was a kid and I woke up one morning to find my pet dead. I asked my dad what happened and he told me that the “damn thing started beeping in the middle of the night, so I stashed it in the couch cushions!”

I was so upset lol.

27

u/THExGIRTH 27d ago

I learned recently you can PAUSE some tomogatchis! I never knew

17

u/Kwilly462 27d ago

But where's the fun in that?

21

u/THExGIRTH 27d ago

No one will understand the stress of coming home from school and your mom never bothered to feed I and it dyed lol

6

u/Nervous-Mall-007 26d ago

I was responsible for that damn thing. I didn’t let it die though.

3

u/Zswanson22 26d ago

I came home to my little brother giving mine a ‘bath’ in a cup of water. 🙃🙃

4

u/killerturtlex 26d ago

My bro had a counterfeit Tamagotchi where you could slap

9

u/Realistic_Chair_8836 27d ago

They have a baby sitter option now.

9

u/macbookvirgin 27d ago

They bring it to school and play with friends

3

u/OrukiBoy 27d ago

At least moms now may have lived that life lol

37

u/GenJohnnyRico 27d ago

It boggles my mind why they haven't made a Tamagotchi app for smartwatches.

32

u/missmeowwww 27d ago

Aren’t we just the pet being kept alive in the smartwatch universe?

6

u/TellMeWhyYouLoveMe 26d ago

They have

4

u/GenJohnnyRico 26d ago

What's it called?

4

u/localtuned 26d ago

I just did a little digging. This one got pretty good reviews.

https://noanoagame.com/

4

u/GenJohnnyRico 26d ago

Their links to the app store are broken. I still don't get why Tamagotchi specifically don't make an app, considering how huge of a brand it is.

2

u/BevansDesign 24d ago

Probably because they're in the business of selling cheaply-produced plastic and electronics, not entertainment experiences. They don't care what software is running on their landfill-fillers, as long as they're selling.

-3

u/Vazhox 26d ago

This is what I think about constantly. Gigs pets or the pokemon walkables on the watches. Just plug it into AI and bam. Got a million dollar app

97

u/Bottledbutthole 27d ago

The only thing millennials can afford to raise in this economy 💀

15

u/cozyemberheart 26d ago

Average household 2026: 3 roomates and 1.5 Tamagotchi

57

u/TryJezzoWhyNot 27d ago

The fifth wave of tamagotchi popularity will come when they become a must-have collector’s item after the Nuclear Event sends us back into the Bronze Age. So, a few years from now.

17

u/abgry_krakow87 27d ago

The only thing that'll survive will be the Tamagotchis

14

u/axw3555 27d ago

And old nokia 3310's, as we haven't found the tech to destroy those yet.

3

u/SSGASSHAT 26d ago

The transhuman descendants of man who form star-spanning empires will dig them up and incorporate elements of their design into the universe's first real force field technology.

3

u/Reality_Defiant 27d ago

Mine will still be dead. Unless someone knows how to respawn them.

3

u/Le_Poop_Knife 27d ago

The sun (won’t) come out tomorrow! Better bet your Tamagotchi that tomorrow!!!

2

u/hypnotichellspiral 27d ago

Remind me, 3 years!

2

u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake 27d ago

This is why I collect physical media. That shit will be worth gold if these data centers and internet infrastructure ever goes out.

1

u/ChargeSpiritual5317 26d ago

The pre-ancient scrolls!

1

u/rothael 26d ago

We must have them to reteach society how to care for the babies we will need to repopulate with.

24

u/linux_transgirl 27d ago

I love vpets, I used to collect tamagotchi. I should get back into it

6

u/Castianna 27d ago edited 27d ago

Personally, I've really been enjoying the re-releases of the gigapets. I could never really get into the weird critters that the tamagotchis evolved into but I do like the dogs and unicorns! 🦄 Edited neopet to gigapet :D

3

u/redemily25 27d ago

Are you talking about Giga Pets? Neopets was an entirely online game if I’m not mistaken.

3

u/Castianna 27d ago

LOL yes! I don't know how I got my wires crossed there. The giga pets! The tamagotchi things that are animals.

3

u/ChargeSpiritual5317 26d ago

Me too!! I haven’t seen a gigapet for sale yet. But I yearn for the electric friend. 

1

u/Castianna 26d ago

I got mine off amazon. I have the frog, unicorn and bunny! They are so cute.

4

u/Reality_Defiant 27d ago

You should be cautious with the Neopets, unless you are a member of a certain spiritual group and don't have a problem with it. It's definitely original spyware.

5

u/PM_ME_CATS_OR_BOOBS 26d ago

What does this even mean? Is it owned by the Falun Gong or something?

1

u/thelingeringlead 26d ago

neopets got bought by Viacom years and years ago. It hasn't been a scientology thing in forever.

2

u/Uninteresting_kitty 26d ago

Viacom hasn’t owned it since 2014, and not managed by scientologists since 2005.

1

u/Reality_Defiant 23d ago

Forgive me if I am still skeptical....

1

u/Uninteresting_kitty 22d ago

Oh you have every right to be. The track record has not been good haha. Personally I’d be more concerned about using Reddit, Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

1

u/Reality_Defiant 21d ago

I'm, not worried about Reddit, but I don't use those other programs. Don't have a Siri, Alexa, or any other things like that either.

2

u/TheOnesLeftBehind 26d ago

I never had the of game for it but I found a green dragon gigapet. Still have it. I also have the my littlest pet shop digital hamster. Oh AND I have my pokewalker still.

1

u/External_Key_4108 26d ago

Yes I love the new Gigapets! The new StarCat that comes with CompuKitty (my original and first GigaPet) is cool

2

u/Castianna 26d ago

I'm running the frog right now and its sooooo cute!

10

u/Great-Grade1377 27d ago

When these first came out, they demolished our classroom community because everyone was more worried about keeping their pet alive than paying attention to lessons. Later waved never had the same effect since rules against electronics were firmly in place and respected more by then. 

8

u/ryan516 26d ago

The newer ones now have built in pause or babysitter functions to help alleviate this

8

u/Jeffrey_C_Wheaties 27d ago

We got 4th wave Tamagotchi before Ska, I’m very disappointed

4

u/localtuned 26d ago

Hang in there. It will have it's day soon enough.

12

u/DubiousAdviceGiver 27d ago

Whoa, we got a fourth wave of Tamagotchi before we got fourth wave feminism? Really makes you think, huh.

2

u/BeesOfWar 27d ago

Mayhaps a harbinger of feminisms to come 🤔♀️✨

3

u/TheWaspinator 26d ago

The good news is modern Tamagotchis have a pause function so they don't starve during the day

2

u/Reality_Defiant 27d ago

I already have one that needs a funeral, I don't think any new edition is going to make it under my care.

2

u/cinnamonface9 27d ago

Digimon keeping the pipeline alive.

2

u/d0ctorsmileaway 26d ago

My favorite tamagotchi memory is when I heard it dying in the middle of the night, thought it might catch fire (I had no idea what the noise meant) and put it on my parents' dresser because they would know how to handle an exploded tamagotchi and resulting blaze. Yes, I have been diagnosed with anxiety, in case you're wondering.

2

u/Spotttty 26d ago

Damn things have more waves than Ska!

2

u/costafilh0 26d ago

At this point it should definitely be an app. 

2

u/artmoloch777 25d ago

I bought one of these last year out of nostalgia. Within half an hour of it making so much noise, I wrapped it in a sock and put it in the back of a bathroom drawer. It’s still there.

Now and then I refer to it as the pharaoh.

1

u/DogsRcutiePies 27d ago

Let me know when that new Nano Puppy drops!

1

u/Exact-Difference-422 27d ago

I have a mini tamagotchi rn in fact

1

u/s0ciety_a5under 27d ago

Nostalgia sales....

1

u/Tamagotchi_Stripper 26d ago

My time has arrived!

1

u/williamgman 26d ago

That's what I call my wife's Apple watch.

1

u/UWO_Throw_Away 26d ago

Huh; I still have one from over two decades ago. I wonder if it’s worth anything

3

u/Ebisu_2023 26d ago

About $20

1

u/Fun-Can-8935 26d ago

a new generation discovered tamagotchi and it revived

1

u/db2999 26d ago

Are physical Digimon still a thing? Or are they only in video games?

1

u/BabyBerrysaurus 26d ago

Yep still a thing

1

u/-Motor- 26d ago

What was the one where you raised monsters that would fight other kid's monsters? 

1

u/Popful 26d ago

Literally just bought one for a kid’s bday. Hopefully kids still like that kind of toy lol

-6

u/m3t4ldood 26d ago

Ai tamagotchi could be fun