Franchise / Tamagotchi

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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 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, a short 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 anime 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 Friends (2009-2015): Known as Tamagotchi! outside of those specific dubs, this is a TV anime about the various everyday happenings in the lives of Tamagotchi mascots Mametchi, Memetchi, Kuchipatchi, Lovelitchi, and their friends on Tamagotchi Planet.
• Ouchi Mainichi Tamagotchi (2012): A licensed game for the Nintendo 3DS, based on the 2009 TV show. The game is a life simulation where you take care of Tamagotchis in a customizable dollhouse.
• Eiga Tamagotchi: Himitsu no Otodoke Dai Sakusen! (2017): A Short Film released on April 28th, 2017 alongside the Kamisama Minarai: Himitsu no Cocotama movie, marking the Tamagotchi franchise's first appearance on the big screen in nine years. In the short film, Mametchi, Memetchi, Kuchipatchi, Lovelitchi, and Nijifuwatchi are delivering a package to the Gotchi King when an unusual vehicle with a claw arm appears and tries to steal the package.
• Tamagotchi Official Shorts (2024-present): The first animated content for the franchise in seven years. These shorts are primarily uploaded to the franchise's social media accounts, mostly focusing on the life of the tamagotchis and their caretakers.

Tropes relating to the entire Tamagotchi franchise and Tamagotchi works without their own pages:

• Adhesive Bow Tie: Multiple characters, among them Yumemitchi, Yumecantchi, and Lovelitchi prior to a Significant Wardrobe Shift in the 2009 series, wear ribbons without a strap.
• Ageless Birthday Episode: The Flash animations made for the Korean Tamagotchi Connection website include one where Robotchi's birthday is celebrated. Robotchi's age is never stated.
• 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.
  • 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. 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.
• All Planets Are Earth-Like: Tamagotchi Planet supports life like Earth does, has Earth-like trees, grass, and flowers, has water like Earth's, and has aliens who can speak human language with no problem.
• 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.
  • In 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.
• Anachronic Order: The first OLM adaptation released was Let's Go! Tamagotchi, which was followed by Tamagotchi: The Movie. Chronologically, the movie comes first; it shows Chamametchi being born, while she is already a young girl in Let's Go! Tamagotchi.
• Animated Adaptation: The webtoon, films, and show are all adapted from the virtual pets.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Tanpopo from Tamagotchi: The Movie and Tomomi from the 2009 series have no problems breathing the atmosphere of Tamagotchi Planet, despite being Earth humans.
• 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 Douga.
• The Board Game:
  • Cardinal released one in 1997. The game involves caring for your Tamagotchi, like the toys.
  • Pressman released another Tamagotchi board game, Tamagotchi: 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, in a perfect circle.
• Character in the Logo: The logo of Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom has two curved ears on the top of the "o" in Tamagotchi, making it look like Mametchi's head.
• Chubby Chef: Shakertchi is noticeably pudgy compared against the other Tamagotchis, to the point where her head and the rest of her body are melded together unlike the other Tamagotchis who tend to have a more defined head. She works as a chef in her appearances in the 2009 series and Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom, specializing in using a shake maker to conjure up some food and drinks.
• The Colored Cross: Tamagotchi Hospital and its ambulances have pink crosses on the TamaTown website and blue crosses in depictions starting with the 2009 anime, as opposed to red crosses.
• Continuity Nod: In Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom, in-between Cowtchis West Road and Guruguru Town is a roundabout with a statue of the Legendary Lifeform from the 2009 Tamagotchi! anime. Based on Adventure Kingdom having the anime art style up to and including a modified version of the anime's English logo, it's implied that the statue is in reference to the anime's finale (namely, the Legendary Lifeform takes the Tamagotchi children to space to help cheer up Tamagotchi Planet).
• 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 promptly 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.
• Dressed to Cook: Shakertchi, a chef Tamagotchi, wears her white chef cap and apron including outside of when she's cooking.
• Exposed Animal Bellybutton: Gamanosuke, a giant toad-like Tamagotchi who debuted in the 2009 anime, has a yellow bump for a belly button.
• Flying Broomstick: Violetchi's Henshin Jo transformation, Magical Flower, is a witch who flies around on a broomstick. In the 2009 series, the transformation is shown as an alternate-universe version of Violetchi, and is also seen flying on her broomstick there.
• Grows on Trees: Musical notes grow on trees in Melody Land. The 2009 anime shows Melody Land to thrive with more unusual plant growths than just that; namely, musical instruments like horns and bells.
• Human Aliens: Unlike other Tamagotchis who are more humanoid than human, Rolatchi is completely indistinguishable from a normal human, being deliberately made to look like the celebrity Rola.
• 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. The official Japanese website is called "Net de Hakken! Tamagotchi", a title of which remains to this day.
  • Every episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi has a title consisting of two words, the first being a repetitive Japanese onomatopoeia and the second being a focus character. For instance, the third episode is titled "Bakubaku Nyorotchi", "bakubaku" meaning chomping, referring to how Nyorotchi pesters Mametchi by repeatedly eating his food.
• 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.
• Midair Bobbing: The OLM adaptations generally depict flying characters bobbing up and down when they are staying put in midair. Hapihapitchi, Super Chama-Girl from Let's Go! Tamagotchi, and Kizunatchi from the 2009 TV show are among the characters who have demonstrated this at least once.
• 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.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Deviltchi are known to harass young angels and perform evil deeds. Clione Deviltchi prefers to fulfill achievements angels do, and is noted to be a lot more earnest and helpful than them.
• 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.
• No Mouth: Mr. Turtlepedia's mustache obscures his mouth.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: For the most part, the OLM, Inc. animated films and series don't show any of the characters growing older, even though they have birthdays. "Eiga Tamagotchi: Himitsu no Otodoke Dai Sakusen!", the continuity's last work, released about a decade after Let's Go! Tamagotchi which started that continuity, but there is no difference in Mametchi, Memetchi, or Kuchipatchi's age in either.
• 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.
• Polar Penguins: Tamagotchi Planet's snowy north pole, officially known - at least in Japanese - as North North Point, has a few Tamagotchis inhabiting it who have penguin-like bodies and beaks. Among them are skateboard-loving Sunopotchi and his cousin Nonopotchi, the former of whom is one of Mametchi's classmates in the 2009 anime (which, in at least a couple episodes, features North North Point as an important location).
• Primary-Color Champion: Herotchi's superhero-like outfit consists of a blue suit, a yellow mask, and a red cape, invoking the primary colors common to protagonists. He does not fit the heroic personality, as the 2009 anime shows; he's willing to work with his sister to sabotage TAMAX-TV shows to get what they want - the spotlight.
• Recycled Title:
  • A variation of "GO-GO Tamagotchi!" has been used twice in the franchise, once in the manga GOGO♪ Tamagotchi! and again in the 2009 series' tenth and eleventh seasons, collectively called GO-GO Tamagotchi!. "GO-GO Tamagotchi!" is also the name of the 2009 series' original theme song, which is reused (as a new cover, done by hitomi) in the tenth and eleventh seasons.
  • Tamagotchi Friends is both the name of a Tamagotchi toy and a bunch of dubs of the 2009 series meant to advertise that toy.
• Sentient Vehicle: All of the vehicles have Tamagotchi faces. The rocket ship from the first movie and the Lovelin Tour Bus are two of the major ones.
• 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.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Melodytchi's parents, Melopapatchi and Melomamatchi, have quite the size contrast, with Melopapatchi being so short compared to Melomamatchi that he has to stand on top of a sentient speaker to match her height.
• Visible Odor: In the first episode of Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi, the Tamagotchis produce poop that emits a wavy line odor.
• 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 Guruguru 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.