As innovative as ever, Bandai Namco has made it so that having a Tamagotchi as a separate device is a thing of the past (well, technically, they’re still making new devices such as the Tamagotchi Pix, but you get the idea). Now, you can take care of your very own Tamagotchi virtual pet on your phone with the My Tamagotchi Forever app!
As a tama parent, this game’s for you if you’ve always wondered how your adult tama fares in life after it’s left to see the world. Read on for our review of My Tamagotchi Forever!
First impressions
Gone were the days when your tama looked like a collection of pixels on a black-and-white screen; with this shiny new game, you’ll get to interact and admire your tama in its 3D glory! The game is very polished and well-made while keeping its roots in the original series with its unlockable characters and decor.
Like any Tamagotchi game, you start by picking your desired egg to start your lineage. As soon as your baby tama hatches, you’ll be thrown into the usual tama-parent rhythm: feeding it, keeping it clean, and playing with it.
Decorating and collecting items for your tama is still part of the experience, but on My Tamagotchi Forever, they’ve taken things up a notch by allowing you to collect new town items which you can purchase to use to complete each Tamagotchi’s photo album, which may unlock new clothing or even Coins (free in-game currency) and Diamonds (payable currency).
What makes My Tamagotchi Forever so fun is actually in its name. For most Tamagotchi devices, once your tama evolves into its adult form, it’ll pack up and leave you for good back to Tama Planet. In this game, although your tama grows into an adult, it’s still ‘forever’ by your side, and you can visit them occasionally to leave them goodies and fulfil their wants. How cute is that?
New Ways Of Caring For Your Tama
Taking care of your tama isn’t a far stretch from the OG games. You’ll need to feed it, care for its cleanliness, keep it happy, and put it to bed. While caring for your tama isn’t time sensitive (meaning that your tama won’t run away/ die if you leave it alone for too long), the gameplay has improved to become more personal.
For example, you can now hand-feed your tama by selecting its food and dragging it to your hungry tama. Your tama will either happily munch on its treat or scrunch its cute face in rejection when it’s full or fed with its least favourite food. It’ll even let you know what kind of snack it’s craving through a thought bubble!
Going to the loo is also a rather hands-on experience, where you can give your tama a good full-body scrub or encourage it to go potty. To give your tama a bath, you’ll need to pick up the soap until it’s all lathered up, then give it a thorough rinsing. When your tama looks queasy and jumps around uncomfortably, try giving it a few gentle taps for extra encouragement while seated on the toilet.
When your tama’s energy is depleted, you won’t be able to play with it. Make sure to put it into bed by tapping on the night light, and ensure that you come back when it wakes up, as it would wait all day in bed for you.
Tamagotchi Life Stages, Tama Academy, Careers and Tama Tower
Of course, keeping your tama happy and choosing what food to feed your tama still affects what it evolves into, like the original games. There are four types of babies to hatch, all of which stand an equal chance. From the toddlers, and teens to adult life stages, what you feed it, its happiness bar, and its surrounding decor play a big factor.
One cool thing is that upon achieving player level 9, you’ll unlock Tama Academy, a place where adult tamas can teach toddlers and teenagers in return for rewards and collectables. Each semester’s teacher has a unique class where you can collect cards to obtain certain Tama Academy hallway items (for example, Mametchi’s Science Class unlocks the Mini Lab). It’s a passive process in which assigned Tamagotchis sit in the class to generate study points over time.
Upon reaching adulthood, your adult Tamagotchi could pick a career path, and there will be certain requirements for them to progress. Each adult has the possibility to explore three career paths, and each career objective is unique. Upon completing its career aspirations, you’ll unlock a new outfit for your adult tama!
As mentioned, once your tama becomes an adult and leaves home, you’ll still have the chance to visit it. It’ll move just next door into Tama Tower, where you can still decorate their space and leave them food, and in return, you can continue growing your friendship and get some coins, depending on your friendship level.
The Arcade at Tama Town
Tapping on the game icon above the happiness bar or visiting the Arcade would allow you to play various mini-games to earn Coins. This is where we got our minds blown: these new games aren’t alike the usual games that you’ll get on Tamagotchi devices, and there’s a total of 13 (yes, thirteen!) games to play:
- Bouncy Balls: use a bouncy ball to clear off the tiles before it hits the line!
- Fruit Slice: a Fruit Ninja-esque slicing game where you avoid flaming chillies. Three strikes and you’re out!
- Scoop Tower: catch ice cream scoops falling from the sky and try not to catch any foul-smelling onions
- Bridge Builder: test your spatial skills by extending a bridge for Mimitchi to cross safely (our least favourite game as it’s the hardest!)
- Witchcraft: a memory game where you’ll need to remember the sounds and colours which grow in sequence for each round
- 2048: swipe around number tiles, to sum up two 2s, 4s, 8s, and so on
- Layer Cake: balance your cake and make sure the two slices match each other to keep the cake being layered
- Planet Hop: play as an adorable astronaut Kuchipatchi and hop from planet to planet and collect coins and stars
- Doodle Pairs: another memory and luck-based game where you try to match up doodles in pairs
- Match 3: similar to Candy Crush’s concept, match up three or more icons of the same colours to meet the score requirement within the limited number of moves
- Band Practice: a rhythm tapping game that increases in speed over time
- Hoops: if you’re great at basketball, you won’t break a sweat scoring in this basketball hoop game
- Hide and Seek: the most unique mini-game on My Tamagotchi Forever so far; use your camera to walk around your surroundings and find the hidden Tamagotchis.
Our Verdict
The My Tamagotchi Forever game is a 13-in-1 mobile game that’s surprisingly fun on your phone. It’s a new take on the Tamagotchi franchise — although the game is free-to-play, it isn’t necessary for players to fork out cash to progress and collect all the Tamagotchis. As long as you have the tenacity to play the game on a long-term basis, in-game currency is easy to get by. Yes, although the developers have toned down on one of the more fun aspects of rearing your virtual Tamagotchi pet (having to tend to it once it’s calling for you or risk it getting sick/ dying), we think this game is still well-suited for players who are more casual gameplay experience that still embodies the essence of Tamagotchi’s uniqueness. Would we recommend this game? It’s free and fun, so of course!
Where to play?
Download the My Tamagotchi Forever app for Free on the App Store and Google Play.
