Tamagotchi is a Virtual Pet series by Bandai. Ever since the toys were relaunched in 2004, there have been tons of other Tamagotchi-related media, such as music, a line of Nintendo DS Licensed Games, and even two department stores in Japan. The franchise also got a series of Animated Adaptations animated by OLM Incorporated.
In its home country, Tamagotchi enjoys success to this day. In other parts of the world, however, the franchise has lost its popularity, slinking back down to post-1998 levels. Bandai attempted to revive the franchise worldwide by releasing it free for Android and iOS devices (in the form of the app Tamagotchi L.i.f.e., now discontinued) before launching the toy line Tamagotchi Friends.
Tamagotchi media with TV Tropes pages:
- Tamagotchi (1996-present): The original Virtual Pet toys. The pets start out as little babies and can grow into a variety of different adult types from there depending on how much the player takes care of them.
- Tamagotchi (1997): A game adaptation of the original Tamagotchi toys for the Nintendo Game Boy. It was followed up by two sequels, Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi 2 and Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Osutchi to Mesutchi for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, respectively, neither of which were ever released outside Japan.
- Tamagotchi Honto no Hanashi (1997): The franchise's first ever animated film, about how Professor Banzo discovered the Tamagotchis. It was shown at the Toei Summer Anime Fair in 1997 alongside a Cutie Honey Flash film.
- Tamagotchi Video Adventures (1997): An American VHS that's mainly about the Tamagotchis finding objects from Earth to use as exhibits for Cosmotchi's museum.
- Manga de Hakken! Tamagotchi (1998-2001): A comic strip about the Tamagotchis living on Earth with humans.
- Let's Go! Tamagotchi (2007): A simple, more or less Slice of Life webtoon series showcasing the adventures of Series Mascot Mametchi and his friends, Memetchi and Kuchipatchi.
- Tamagotchi: The Movie (2007): The first movie. Mametchi accidentally transports a human girl to Tamagotchi Planet, and he and his friends must find a way to get her back to Earth.
- Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe! (2008): The second movie. Mametchi and friends jump into a book titled "The World's Happiest Story" and notice that a page is missing.
- Tamagotchi (2009-2015): A TV anime about the various everyday happenings in the lives of Tamagotchi mascots Mametchi, Memetchi, Kuchipatchi, and their friends on Tamagotchi Planet.
- Eiga Tamagotchi: Himitsu no Otodoke Dai Sakusen! (2017): A Short Film released on April 28th, 2017 alongside the Himitsu no Cocotama movie, marking the franchise's first appearance on the big screen in 9 years. The title means Tamagotchi the Movie: Big Operation Secret Delivery in English. In the short film, Mametchi, Memetchi, Kuchipatchi, Lovelitchi, and Nijifuwatchi (the last of which is a Tamagotchi m!x character who makes her animated debut here) are delivering a package to the Gotchi King when an unusual vehicle with a claw arm appears and tries to steal the package.
Tropes relating to the entire Tamagotchi franchise and Tamagotchi works without their own pages:
- Aliens Speaking English: The various Tamagotchi media are inconsistent about whether the Tamagotchis know Japanese/English or not. According to series lore, they once had a radically different language that sounded like squeaks and beeping before they visited Earth and learned the local language, but besides that...
- In Tamagotchi Honto no Hanashi, Oyajitchi is the only Tamagotchi who can speak Japanese.
- In Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi and Manga de Hakken! Tamagotchi, none of the Tamagotchis speak at all, not even Oyajitchi.
- In Tamagotchi Video Adventures, the Tamagotchis speak an alien language, but Mimitchi realizes the viewers don't understand what they're saying and brings out a translation machine to rectify the problem. Even then, though, only Cosmotchi's speech is converted into English.
- Starting with Let's Go! Tamagotchi, all the Tamagotchis are more consistently portrayed as knowing human speech.
- Allegedly Free Game:
- Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. Tap and Hatch was a free puzzle game that offered in-app purchases. Some of the levels were nearly (if not outright) impossible without buying extra moves and power-ups, the worst offender being Level 59.
- This also happens with My Tamagotchi Forever. If you want to unlock certain items before you reach a specific level, you have to buy gems. There's also a $2 option to remove half of the ads and give you double coins, as well as a VIP club that has exclusive features you can't access otherwise like stickers and items for your house.
- Amazing Technicolor World: Of course.
- Animated Adaptation: The webtoon, films, and show are all adapted from the virtual pets.
- Big Honking Traffic Jam: One episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi is about Mametchi being a traffic cop and features lots of angry Tamagotchis honking their horns when Mametchi's lunch break and sleeping for the night disrupt their driving.
- The Blank: In one of the Sorette, Kuchipatchi. shorts, Kuchipatchi freaks out when all his friends and family don't have their faces (though his parents still have their mouths). It's All Just a Dream, thankfully.
- Bland-Name Product: One Sorette, Kuchipatchi. short has Kuchipatchi dancing to a music video on PatchiDouga, a reference to Nico Nico (formerly Nico Nico Douga).
- The Board Game:
- Cardinal released one in 1997. The game involves caring for your Tamagotchi, like the pets.
- Pressman released another Tamagotchi board game, Grow Your Pet, in 2007. Pressman's game does share some features from the Cardinal game, while adding an electronic pet in the center of the board.
- Boomerang Comeback: In one Sorette, Kuchipatchi. short, Kuchipatchi throws a bag into the air. It circles Tamagotchi Planet and hits Kuchipatchi right on the back.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Incredibly difficult levels in Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. Tap and Hatch could be beaten in seconds with the in-game purchases.
- The Cameo:
- Mario and Wario are two of the possible "Special Adults" from the Nintendo 64 game 64 de Hakken! Tamagotchi Minna de Tamagotchi World.
- In the
Japan-only Sega Saturn game Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park, there's a family of raiseable Tamagotchis all based on Sega characters (Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd, Opa-Opa, Flicky, and Pengo).
- Captain Obvious: The Corner Shop video game says stuff in this way when a minigame starts or before the rating when one ends.
- Cartoon Juggling: In Tamagotchi: Party On!, landing on an Event space has a chance of making your player character volunteering for a senior center. The player character and one of the seniors are shown juggling in the "shower" fashion.
- Cypher Language: The 90's era had Tamagotchimoji, a series of squiggly symbols that each represent a Japanese character. There are no kana to alter other kanas' pronunciation, nor is there a distinction between hiragana and katakana (so for example, "Tamagotchi" would be read in Tamagotchimoji as "Tamagotsuchi"). Digimon later used the language itself, albeit with slightly altered letters.
- Delicious Distraction: The Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi! episode where Ginjrotchi goes to Fluffy Cloud Heaven has him distracted by some food that appears on the cloud ground and flying over to it. The food is a trap set up by demons who are promply scared away by a Chestnut Angel.
- Downer Beginning: There is an episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi where Ginjrotchi dies and goes to Heaven. The episode begins right with the ambulance arriving at the hospital and the other Tamagotchis mourning Ginjrotchi's death.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Something like this. While this wasn't guaranteed for all Tamagotchi works from the era, when the franchise released installments in the late 90's, it had a tendency to have Japanese-exclusive ones include "[x] de Hakken! Tamagotchi" (meaning "Found in [x]! Tamagotchi") in the title, with the "[x]" representing the medium the work was in. Examples include Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi, Manga de Hakken! Tamagotchi, 64 de Hakken! Tamagotchi Minna de Tamagotchi World, and Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park. Even the official Japanese website is called "Net de Hakken! Tamagotchi", a title of which remains to this day.
- Impairment Shot: One episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi is about Ginjrotchi doing a twirling dance and impressing a bunch of Tamagotchis. The crowd wants to see him do the dance so badly that he tires himself out, and a shot from his point of view shows said crowd blurry from him being so tired.
- Item Crafting: Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom allows Mametchi to craft things from blueprints using materials found in stores and around Tamagotchi Planet. Several of the game's sidequests require you to have Mametchi craft items to complete them.
- Kappa: Kappatchi, a character exclusive to the licensed game 64 de Hakken! Tamagotchi Minna de Tamagotchi World, is a green-colored kappa Tamagotchi.
- Loud Gulp: Kuchipatchi's father makes one in a Sorette, Kuchipatchi. short where he's scared to try Kuchipatchi's disgusting-looking food.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi has the characters Speaking Simlish, and the only actual Japanese in each episode is on-screen text.
- The Movie: There are two of them. The first, simply titled Tamagotchi: The Movie, was released in 2007. The second, Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe!, was released a year later in 2008.
- New Job Episode: One episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi has Mametchi taking up the position of a traffic cop. He winds up interrupting everyone's driving twice - once when he takes a lunch break and again when he goes to sleep for the night. While he's still at the intersection.
- Parasol Parachute: In Tamagotchi: Party On!, one of the possible games you play upon landing on a Gotchi Game space has you pressing a specific button at just the right time to make a falling Tamagotchi open an umbrella they're holding and use it as a parachute.
- Short Film: There are two of them.
- Tamagotchi Honto no Hanashi, the toys' first ever animated film from the 90's, is about nine minutes long.
- Eiga Tamagotchi: Himitsu no Otodoke Dai Sakusen!, the Tamagotchi short that screened with Kamisama Minarai: Himitsu no Cocotama's 2017 movie, is around ten minutes long.
- Species Title: Tamagotchi is the name of the franchise and the name of the alien species it focuses on.
- Solid Clouds: "Mametchi's Picture Diary", an original animation short based on the series, shows Mametchi and his friends having fun hopping on clouds in the sky. They eventually come across the Flying Library as they jump around.
- Super Title 64 Advance: The Nintendo 64 game 64 de Hakken! Tamagotchi Minna de Tamagotchi World and the Sega Saturn game Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park.
- The Unreveal: One episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi is about a few of the Tamagotchis wondering what Zuccitchi looks like without his mask and trying to unmask him. Turns out he wears a seemingly infinite supply of the same mask over his head so that it takes forever to completely unmask him.
- Wish Upon a Shooting Star: The beginning cutscene in Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom explains that Mametchi wishes on a shooting star he sees while he and Chamametchi are looking at the stars. His wish is to travel around the world. Said star turns out to be a Tamagotchi itself, Meteoritchi, and crash-lands on Tamagotchi Planet, triggering the events of the game and granting Mametchi's wish by forcing him to travel around Tamagotchi Planet to close the geysers that Meteoritchi creates.
- World Tour: In the licensed game Round and Round Tamagotchi!, the player visits various Tamagotchis all over the world and plays specific minigames with them, such as (to name a couple of examples) helping Pianitchi to ice skate in Russia and playing a game of soccer with Kuromametchi in Brazil.
