Following the success of the original Tamagotchi, Bandai would go on to create other virtual pets of different styles to appeal to broader audiences, with varying degrees of success.
Digimon[]
- For more information, visit the Digimon Wiki.
Digimon (デジモン), short for Digital Monster (デジタルモンスター), is a franchise that began as a Tamagotchi spin-off in 1997, targeted at young boys. Kenji Watanabe, who had designed the original Tamagotchi characters, was also responsible for the Digimon character designs.
The original Digimon virtual pet is shaped like a brick, with three buttons on the right side. In much the same was as a Tamagotchi, the user is tasked with raising a virtual pet to adulthood. However, using the two small, square conductors on top of the device, the Digimon can also connect with other units to battle, and the quality of the user's care and amount of training put in will improve the Digimon's chances of winning.
The Digimon virtual pets would inspire a successful franchise consisting of an ongoing anime, films, video games, collectibles, a trading card game, and many different styles of virtual pets, all of which have enjoyed great success overseas, resulting in Digimon overshadowing Tamagotchi in international markets. However, Digimon has also been the subject of some unfavorable comparisons to Pokémon despite several differing aspects.
Wave UFO[]
Wave UFO (ウェーブユーフォー) is a virtual pet released in 1997.
The device is shaped like a wide oval, with a screen in the center and four buttons underneath. The edge between the front and back halves is silver. The user is tasked with raising an alien creature, and cares for them using food and two built-in games. In addition, the Wave UFO can detect radio waves (such as from microwaves, radios, or phones), and absorbing radio waves allows it to transform into different forms.
The Wave UFO was released in four standard shell designs, with a special edition fifth shell based on the first Men in Black film, which came out the same year.
Magical Witches[]
Magical Witches (マジカルウィッチーズ) is a series of virtual pets released in 1998.
The device is shaped like a spell book, with the front opening to reveal the screen, three buttons below, and one button to the bottom right of the screen. The user is tasked with raising a witch to maturity, with the witch taking on different forms based on their skill mastery. Two units can also connect to each other, and may share items, perform beneficial spells, or attack with harmful spells. Four different devices were produced, each identical in function but featuring different characters and items.
While Magical Witches did not evolve into a major franchise, elements of it would later be incorporated into Digimon. Several character designs also highly resemble Mametchi, Kuchipatchi, Oyajitchi, and Zuccitchi.
Pocket Biscuit[]
The Pocket Biscuit (ポケットビスケッた) is a virtual pet developed and released on June 7, 1997 by Bandai Music Entertainment, a record company owned by Bandai until its dissolvement in 2000.
The device is shaped like two biscuits with cream in between them, with the cookie portion being brown. The top half of the biscuit opened to reveal the interior. The interior came in two variants: one white with brown buttons, and one pink with white buttons, each color with different packaging. Despite being developed by a Bandai subsidiary, the Pocket Biscuit uses none of the classic Tamagotchi technology; while it retains the eight-icon layout of the original, it does not feature a clock, and has a four-button layout instead of three.
The Pocket Biscuit is based on the Japanese band Pocket Biscuits, and features the three bandmates as the characters being raised. The goal is to care for each of the three bandmates, and train them for musical performances. By holding down several buttons together and pressing the Reset button on the back, an alternate mode is activated where the screen's colors are inverted, and the band and character names are changed, but otherwise functions normally.
An alternate version, called the Pocket Seki (포켓젝키), was released in South Korea, based on the boy band Sechs Kies. While functionally identical to the Pocket Biscuit, it features different characters and animations, and the design is changed. It is hexagonal in shape with a plastic frame around the screen. It came in three designs: translucent with white buttons, navy blue with neon green border and white buttons, and hot pink with navy blue borders and yellow buttons.
Human Player[]
Human Player is a virtual pet released in 2007. It incorporates the connection technology first introduced on the Tamagotchi Connection.
The device is rectangular, with a large screen on top, four buttons below, and an infrared port on top. The user creates a person on the device by taking a 50-question quiz, giving the person one of 22 different personality types. The person takes care of itself, and the user can interact with it by watching it perform its daily activities, having it play games, or connecting it with another unit. The user can also add additional people to the device, and two units that connect are able to form relationships.
The Human Player animation style and personality-predicting technology would later be incorporated into the Mirai Scope, a device designed to predict fortunes of people's daily lives.