If you were born in the 90’s, the likelihood is that at one point in your childhood you would have owned your own electronic pocket pet that demanded a lot of your attention in order to stay alive.
Released in the US in 1997, with a Tamagotchi you could hatch your own pet that you had to name, feed care for by pushing buttons that would fill up its hunger meter, pet it and even clean up its mess. The newborn pets that were properly cared for would eventually turn into adults, but this took a lot of patience and dedication. Since then, the Tamagotchi has gained somewhat of a cult status with toy collectors.
Bandai Namco, the firm responsible, has now re released six of the original pets still with the familiar low resolution graphics and egg-shaped device. At present, these are on sale in Japan for 1,920 yen ($17/£13).
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These new Tamagotchis still come with the same purpose in mind. Player’s must keep up with the needs of their digital pet by feeding and petting, otherwise your pet will face an untimely death. However, there are some new changes. According to The Verge, these new devices will be only half the size of the originals, have a square LCD screen rather than a rectangular one and be lacking in icons that help the user identify the needs of their pet.
At present, it’s unclear as to whether or not this 90’s revival will travel outside of Japan but considering the wave of retro nostalgia that comes with them, it’s likely that there will be a demand elsewhere.