A popular toy from the 1990s is making a huge comeback after 28 years – but it’s been given a 21st Century update.
Tamagotchis took the world by storm when they first launched in 1996 and the toy’s creator Bandai reportedly sold 40m in the first two years.
The colourful egg-shaped device housed a virtual pet that owners had to remember to feed and play with.
If nurtured by the player, the Tamagotchi pet would grow older and want to have a baby – but they could also die or run away if neglected.
Despite their huge success in the 1990s and noughties, Bandai struggled to keep up with gaming trends in the 2010s.
The egg-shaped toys took the world by storm when they launched in 1996. Stock photo of the original toys from the 1990s
However, an official relaunch in 2019 has seen the toys slowly starting to take off in popularity again.
According to BBC News, global sales for Tamagotchis doubled between 2022 and 2023.
The brand is so confident in the increasing demand that they’ve now opened their first UK store in London’s Camden Market, which they didn’t do at the height of Tamagotchi fever in the 1990s.
Brand manager Priya Jadeja listed some of the ways in which Tamagotchis have been updated for 2024.
She explained: ‘Now you can connect with friends, you can play on Wi-Fi and download different items, and that’s really combating that sense of fatigue that you might have gotten with some earlier models.’
After hatching a digital creature, users must take care of their virtual pet as it moves through the different stages of life.
Users have to feed it – either a ‘meal,’ consisting of a rice bowl, or a candy ‘snack’ – and clean up after it goes to the bathroom.
If they fail to care for it properly, the pet will get sick and could even die.
Pictured: Gaming fans seen queuing outside Brent Cross shopping centre in 1997 to get a Tamagotchi
The colourful egg-shaped device housed a virtual pet that owners had to remember to feed and play with
If nurtured by the player, the Tamagotchi pet would grow older and want to have a baby – but they could also die or run away if neglected
‘It got such a tremendous worldwide response from fans that were knocking down our door to bring it back to the US, so we brought it back,’ Liz Grampp, Vice President of Brand Management at Bandai America, told Dailymail.com last year.
The toy was released in six different shell designs, from pale orange and see-through blue to boldly contrasting two-tone schemes straight out of the 90s.
Each Tamagotchi included six virtual pets.
‘It’s about resource management, it’s about nurturing, caring for a little virtual pet, and that basic human emotion of taking care of something that I don’t think ever goes away,’ Grampp added.
‘What’s different is our delivery. So, it’s a more classic pixel game, which has a little bit of a trend of its own.
‘I think for kids who have only grown up playing with iPhones and iPads, it’ll feel unique, but the game play will still feel really familiar.’