| ← TamaTown Tama-Go | Tamagotchi Friends | TBA |
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| This article is about an English Tamagotchi release. | ||
This article is about the Tamagotchi toy. For more articles with the same name, please see Tamagotchi Friends (disambiguation).
Tamagotchi: Digital Friend, better known by the simplified name Tamagotchi Friends, is a virtual pet toy of the Tamagotchi franchise released in the UK on December 26, 2013. The RRP is £24.99 (equal to about $40USD). It released in Spain, Poland and the UK in late 2013 and then in Belgium, Germany, and France in early 2014. It released in Russia later on in May 2014.
Bandai will be highly promoting this Tamagotchi on television, online, and more. Along with the virtual pet, the series includes additional merchandise such as toy sets and character figurines. A new website was released on November 23, 2013, featuring character biographies, news, and games.
The US release date is Fall, 2014, while the Canadian release date is August 1st 2014 at Toys 'R' Us, being a Toys 'R' Us exclusive. This is also the time in which the second wave of shell designs will release in the UK.
Features
The bump feature of Tamagotchi Friends.
Tamagotchi Friends' layout is similar to that of the TamaTown Tama-Go. It features the four-shade black and white screen, has the same sound effects (although they are deeper in pitch, the sound is in C# on this version, compared to the Tama-Go's sound (which is in D#). The sound is one tone lower on this version) and similar room backgrounds (there is one default background, and the others are shown on certain dates unlike the Tama-Go, where the player could change it at any time, although there were no 'special' room backgrounds when there are in this version).
Users are able to use Gotchi Points to buy meals and snacks. This version retains the Tama-Go's park feature where a user's Tamagotchi can visit and play with other characters. The only difference is that unlike the Tama-Go, the characters at the park are not raiseable.
There are eight games on Tamagotchi Friends, some of which are revamped versions of games on previous Tamagotchi.
Tamagotchi Friends features a new method of communication called "near field communication" (abbreviated as NFC) that allows two toys to interact when touched back to back. This method is called "bumping." By doing this, players can visit their friend's Tamagotchi, exchange presents, send messages, and earn Gotchi Points. The number of times Tamagotchi Friends can bump with a friend is limited to 5 per day. The number of connections remaining for a day is indicated at the clock screen by the number of hearts appearing underneath the time display.
Jewellery acts as a new secondary currency and can be collected through purchasing it at shops, bumping with friends or when the character evolves. Jewellery comes in categories each with its own style such as tiaras or necklaces.
Only three games are unlocked at the start, the other two can be unlocked by collecting 30 jewelry items and filling the BFF meter to halfway. It is increased through bumping with other Tamagotchi Friends.
The size of the sprites have also changed; the adult characters' sprites are now bigger at 20x20 pixels instead of the previous 16x16 pixels. Also, the Tamagotchi Friends contains 36 characters (including 24 adults), most of them previously only raisable on Japanese Tamagotchis. Tamagotchi Friends is the first and currently the only release that featured Tropicatchi.
Games
North American Version
- Driving: The Tamagotchi gets into a car and drives down a road. An arrow appears (pointing left or right) when coming to curves. Press A to steer left, and C to steer right.
- Dancing: Three open circles appear at the top of the screen. The user must press the corresponding buttons when they light up.
- Find Ice Cream: An ice cream will be put under a card, and it will be shuffled among four other cards. After they're shuffled, the player must select which card has the ice cream underneath, using A to move through the cards, and B to pick one.
European Version
- Drop Catch: Press A to move the open bag left and press C to move it right. Catch the music notes, but don't catch the poops or the game will be over.
- Select Get: Collect the right amount of the given icon. Press A to select and B to confirm, and press C to be given a new selection of icons to choose from.
- Mimic: Another Tamagotchi character will pose, and players must press any button to stop their character at the matching pose.
- Flower Count A car will collect and drop flowers, and players must keep track of how many remain on the bus. Use A and C to change the number, and press B to confirm.
- Cake Catch: Pick up the correct cake. Press C to scroll through the cakes faster and press B to lower the claw.
Characters
The Tamagotchi Friends has 3 eggs, 2 babies, 4 children, 6 teens, and 24 adults.
Babies
Children
- Petithanatchi
- Terupotchi
- Turtletchi
- Mitsumarutchi
Teens
Adults
- Kuchipatchi
- Mametchi
- Coffretchi
- Himespetchi
- Julietchi
- Kiramotchi
- Kiraritchi
- Pianitchi
- Memetchi
- Patitchi
- Yumemitchi
- Righttchi
- Acchitchi
- Charatchi
- Knighttchi
- Monakatchi
- Spacytchi
- Tacttchi
- Wagassiertchi
- Furifuritchi
- Hoshigirltchi
- Decoratchi
- Harptchi
- Tropicatchi
Non-raiseable/Other
Design
Pink Tamagotchi Friends
The design of Tamagotchi Friends strongly resembles the Tamagotchi iD L. It comes in twelve different designs in all. The first six design include: plain red, plain blue, plain purple, brown-spotted white, heart-print pink, and animal-print blue. Each device has a Tamagotchi Friends logo above the screen and the A-B-C buttons below the bottom. The device is somewhat large compared to the other Tamagotchis and has a weight ranging between that of the Tamagotchi iD L and the TamaTown Tama-Go. It is about the same size as a Tamagotchi Plus Color except its back is round instead of flat. The game also requires two AA batteries to operate.
US Design
It was revealed at a Toy Fair that six new Tamagotchi Friends designs will be available for the US. The designs are: Blue with a white starry faceplate, pink with a black and white dotted faceplate, purple with a jewelry-themed faceplate, and three new iD L-like designs. The iD L-like designs now have silver faceplates with a painted rim that is a darker shade of the Tamagotchi's shell color.
The US design also contains a different background; there are colored patterns behind the icons. The Russian release has the colored icon background as well.
The six original designs have also been seen containing the new background. The Russian release has the colored icon background as well.
Icons
- Stats: View the Tamagotchi's hunger and happiness, age, weight, and generation. Users can also view the character's name, how many Gotchi Points they have, and the "BFF Points".
- Food: Feed the Tamagotchi meals or snacks. The default meal is bread and the default snack is milk. More food can be bought at the shops.
- Toilet: Clean up the Tamagotchi's mess.
- Door: Includes games, shop, park, and PC. Chuukatchi's shop sells meals, Cafe Mama's shop sells snacks, and Kiramamatchi's shop sells jewelry. The park is where users can play with other Dream Town characters that are not raisable on the Tamagotchi Friends.
- Connecting: Interact with another Tamagotchi Friends using the "bump" feature. Users can only bump 5 times a day and it is counted on the clock screen with 5 hearts; one heart disappears with each bump.
- Mail: Send or receive messages, and view the inbox and drafts.
- Chest: View jewellery that has been bought from the shop.
- Book: View the friends list and history.
- Medicine: Cure the Tamagotchi when it is sick
- Attention: Lights up when the Tamagotchi needs care.
DekaTama
The Tamagotchi Friends DekaTama is a large device for use with the Tamagotchi Friends virtual pet devices. It is a Deka Tamagotchi device that can provide accessories for their Tamagotchi Friends egg device. The DekaTama was first revealed on the Polish Bandai website and is already available in Russia. Users can bring their Tamagotchi Friends to participating stores and connect to the DekaTama by using the "special" option under the bump icon. The user can choose any accessory to send to their Tamagotchi device for free. Connecting to the DekaTama uses up bump hearts. Thus, users can obtain maximum five accessories per day.
Merchandise
There will be collectible Tamagotchi figures and playsets soon to release in the UK, and they will release in the US later in 2014.
Character Packs
The character packs contain a single figure with a moveable head. The SRP is $3.99USD. There are six to collect:
Character Plus Packs
The character plus packs contain a single figure with a moveable head, and a few small play pieces which match with each character. The SRP is $5.99USD. There are four to collect:
- Yumemitchi - comes with a Yume Kira Bag, a bag with a yellow ribbon, and a bag with a purple ribbon.
- Amiamitchi - comes with a sewing machine, a teddy bear, and a bunny plush
- Chouchoutchi - comes with Chobitchi, Rinsutchi, and Makimotchi
- Julietchi - comes with a jewelry box with three pieces of jewelry inside
Dream School Classmates Multipack
The Dream School Classmates Multipack consists of exclusive figures with moveable heads. Each character represents a class of Dream School - Music, Beautician, Robot, Chef, and Performance. The SRP is $16.99USD. The packaging allows storage of the figures and it also serves as a carry-case. There are five figures in the multipack:
Dream Town Music Café Playset
The Dream Town Music Café Playset is a large toy building based on Music Cafe. It comes with various play pieces such as toy tables, chairs, dishes, and a smapi. There is a chair that can hold two figures, and moving the music note-shaped lever will make the chair swing. The playset also comes with an exclusive Pianitchi figure.
Dream Town Playsets
The Dream Town playsets are smaller than the Music Cafe playset. There are two different ones, each containing an exclusive figure and a few play pieces.
- Performing Arts Stage - Comes with a Yumemitchi figure, but in this case she is wearing her idol outfit. The playset also includes a microphone and a keyboard.
- Tamamori Accessory Shop - Comes with a Kiramotchi figure, and three Tamamori accessories.
Apps
An app and interactive clothing line called Tamagotchi Friends: Gotchi-fy! was created by Bandai America and Sync Beatz Entertainment. It will release in the United States and Canada later in 2014.
The Tamagotchi Friends web site also mentions that there will be future apps.
Website
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The login screen on the website.
- Main article: Dream Town (game)
The Tamagotchi Friends website has character profiles, news, products, and webisodes based on the Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream anime. It will also have mini-games and a new TamaTown based on Dream Town.
Webisode Series
- Main article: Tamagotchi Friends (anime)
A webisode series of Tamagotchi Friends is also available. The series is mostly based on the second Japanese Tamagotchi! anime, Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream. The majority of the webisodes featured portions of major scenes from the anime put together. The webisodes are available in three languages: English, French and German. They are also subtitled in Spanish.
List of Webisodes
- Episode 1 (November) - Welcome to Dream Town
- Episode 2 (December) - Kiraritchi and Yumemitchi
- Episode 3 (March) - The Arrival of Himespetchi
- Episode 4 (March) - Dream Town Tour
- Episode 5 (April) - Choosing a Dream Class
- Episode 6 (April) - Tea Robot
- Episode 7 (May) - YumeKira Transformation
- Episode 8 (May 30) - Where's the Tool?
- Episode 9 (July) - Study Group
- Episode 10 (August) - Cooking Class
- Episode 11 (September) - Introducing Kiramotchi
Gallery
Trivia
- The number of available female Adult Stage characters is slightly higher than the number of available male Adult characters, with the male to female ratio being 10:14.
- The five starting games were retained from the Tamagotchi Connection series.
- The near field communication is a common wireless feature mostly seen on smartphones.
- Some characters' names have been changed on this version.
- While most countries have the English Tamagotchi Friends, the Russian release has been translated to the Russian language.
- The Tamagotchi Friends is abbreviated as the "TF" or "TMGC Friends".
External Links
- Tamagotchi Friends US Website
- Tamagotchi Friends online Instruction Manual (different to the instruction manual that comes with the Tamagotchi Friends and more informational)
- Tamagotchi Friends at the 2014 Toy Fair
- Details about the upcoming Tamagotchi Friends merchandise
- Gallery containing Tamagotchi Friends products at a 2014 toy fair
- Tamagotchi Friends US on Facebook