The new format will allow you to “talk” with your pet and stroke it directly on the screen.
On June 17, the Japanese company Bandai, specializing in the production of toys, announced the Tamagotchi Smart-a new version of an electronic device with a virtual pet inside.
Now the toy is a “smart” watch, allowing the owner to monitor the pet most of the time. The release is scheduled for the 25th anniversary of the original “Tamagotchi”-November 23, 2021.
In the announcement video of the toy, new features are demonstrated. For example, the device is equipped with a speaker and a microphone-they will allow you to control your voice and “talk” with your pet. However, according to the official manual, speech recognition is not provided: “Tamagotchi” will not distinguish between certain commands and will only be able to respond to sound.
The toy supports touch control (the pet can be stroked on the screen), pedometer function and data transfer between different devices. On the side there is a port for special TamaSma cards: you can add new pets and accessories for them.
The device will be available in pink and turquoise colors, and the classic white color will also appear in the limited edition. So far, sales have been announced only in Japan. The price will be 6380 yen for tamagotchi and 1000 yen for TamaSma cards.
The original “Tamagotchi” appeared in 1996 in the form of a game for the GameBoy console, a little later independent electronic toys appeared. In this form, they became popular all over the world from the late 90s to the mid-noughties.
In recent years, the demand for virtual pets has grown again, and since 2019, several new versions of the toy have appeared: a colored Tamagotchi On, a Tamagotchi Pix with a built-in camera, and even a “Tamagotchi” based on the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime.