Imagine this: you’re out and about on your everyday routine, and as you check your smartwatch for the time and the steps you’ve taken, you’re greeted by the cheeky smile of your Tamagotchi on your smartwatch. Feeling fuzzy yet from its cuteness? Well, your daydream is here, thanks to Bandai’s truly innovative take on the latest generation of Tamagotchi – the Tamagotchi Smart!

These Tamagotchi virtual pets (fondly known as tama) now reside on your wrist, so how is the gameplay affected, and is it actually fun and useful? We played it to find out!

Device Overview

It’s small, it’s compact, and now – it fits on your wrist! Bundled with a matching wrist strap, the Tamagotchi Smart is the first-ever virtual pet device by Bandai that has a touch screen, acts as a ‘smart’ watch, and is wearable on the human body. This pioneering design is the first of many firsts for the Tamagotchi lineage, and it’s no wonder why this virtual pet device has taken over Japan since its release in November 2021.

Fitted with speakers, a microphone, a rechargeable lithium polymer battery, and a 4-panel LCD touchscreen, interacting with your Tamagotchi is now more intuitive than ever and up-to-date with current tech! With a push of the middle button (the left and right buttons are just for show), you can wake your coloured screen to greet your tama; swiping towards the left or right rotates between the clock face with your step count and your tama’s backyard.

Caring For Your Tama

Most things have stayed the same in the ways of caring for your tama on the Tamagotchi Smart, as compared to the original Tamagotchis. With this new generation, your tama now has its very own ‘smartphone’ in which you can help it access various functions – from ordering delivery and remodelling your tama’s room to online shopping for new accessories and even matchmaking. That’s right – even our tamas our keeping up with the trend of finding their happily ever after through online dating.

With TamaSma cards introduced, the gameplay gets more entertaining with more food choices to feed your virtual pet, cute animations to watch as your tama plays with special items, and interesting room remodelling options to fit its aesthetic. Regarding the neediness of tamas on the Tamagotchi Smart, we found that once you get over the infancy stage, your tama is alright on its own, even if you just check it every few hours or so.

Interacting with Your Tama

Gone are the days when caring for your virtual pet is a one-sided relationship – now, on the Tamagotchi Smart, your tama can interact with you! Simply tap on your tama while it’s idling on the bottom right corner of the screen, and it’ll come running up to you. You can perform four types of actions – petting it, talking to it, chatting with it, or checking its current mood.

Petting your tama is simple. Just rub your tama from side to side to fill up it’s happiness bar! Remember though, your virtual pet won’t like it if you poke it, rub it from top to bottom, and in circles. Talking to your tama on the Tamagotchi Smart is still rather primitive, as it can’t detect speech and just detects any sound input into the microphone and generates a generic answer.

Chatting with your tama is a better option – it will ask you questions to get to know you, and you may answer based on the options provided. We’re not complaining, though – the animations when petting your tama are very cute, and the ability to finally interact this closely with your tama is a great start!

Exploring with Your Tama & Going to Work

Once your tama becomes a kid, it’s able to go outside and explore! Tapping on the door icon allows your tama to visit the Park or earn some Gotchi Points (currency to spend) at TamaWork.

The Park plays host to various seasonal events that occur throughout the year. Here, you’ll be able to meet other characters and enjoy snippets of their conversation (albeit in Japanese). Oftentimes, your tama would be invited to participate in various mini-games at the Park! These games vary by season, and it’s a quick way to earn Gotchi Points, exclusive items, and even TamaSelfie frames (used when taking photos of your tama, which will be kept in their Memories).

Cash-strapped for Gotchi Points? Head over for a part-time job at TamaWork! There’s four base minigames to play, and an additional game is available depending on which TamaSma card is loaded onto your device. Excellent performance on the job would easily land you 300 Gotchi Points, and even if you don’t do well, there’s no need to worry. You’ll get 10 Gotchi Points as a consolation.

TamaSma Cards

What’s cool and defining about the Tamagotchi Smart is the ability to add new game content with TamaSma cards! In a nutshell, TamaSma cards are memory cards that contain additional Tamagotchis to raise, food options, accessories, play items, games, and clock face wallpapers.

Friends cards come with additional characters to raise alongside more items and wallpapers. Check out the different types of Friends cards available:

Change cards offer a different skin to current obtainable Tamagotchis that are pre-loaded on the device and come with special items and wallpapers. Here’s a list of all the Change cards on sale:

• Sanrio Characters: Sanrio-themed makeovers for pre-loaded characters and items

• Marine Change: Mermaid and summer-themed transformations for pre-loaded characters and items

• ONE PIECE Friends: Base characters are dressed up like characters from the One Piece anime and manga series

• PUI PUI Molcar Friends: Adorable Pui Pui Molcar hamster-car hybrids paired with each pre-loaded Tamagotchi

• Magical Change: Halloween-themed transformation card with base characters dressed up in monsters and magical costumes

• Pixar Friends: Bandai’s latest release for the Tamagotchi Smart series, themed after popular movies based on Pixar animation studios

Various Releases of the Tamagotchi Smart

Other than the standard Coral Pink and Mint Blue versions, Bandai has released various versions of the Tamagotchi Smart via collaborations and limited releases! But wait – how are they different from the standard versions? Well, it’s just the shell colours that are different and the additional freebies that come in the bundle.

The 25th Anniversary Set is the most exclusive Tamagotchi Smart available via lottery purchase. It features the signature all-white body with black buttons of Generation 1 of Tamagotchis and a money-can’t-buy 1996 Friends TamaSma card.

The NiziU set features an all-white body with an ombre faceplate and comes with the NIZOO Friends TamaSma card and collectable photo cards of the J-pop girl group NiziU.

Splashed in pastel pink, the Sanrio set sports Hello Kitty’s signature bow on the face plate. Sold exclusively at Sanrio Puroland in Japan, this super kawaii version comes with the Sanrio Characters TamaSma card and a matching lanyard.

This one’s for the boys (or girls!) – the One Piece Tamagotchi Smart has a striking black wristband and a firey red faceplate with the manga series’ protagonists’ iconic straw hat. The device comes packaged with a One Piece TamaSma card and a matching lanyard as well!

The special edition Anniversary Party Tamagotchi Smart sports a jelly-purple wristband and a glittery purple-green face plate with a pastel purple shell! As this is a commemorative edition of the Tamagotchi Smart, it’s apt that it came with an exclusive Tamagotchi 25th Character Special Book with illustrations of all Tamagotchis.

Our Verdict

With Bandai taking a bold step towards innovating the cult-favourite Tamagotchi to match current-day technology, we can’t help to say that we highly recommend getting yourself a Tamagotchi Smart to play! Of course, as the first iteration of a touch-screen, wearable Tamagotchi device, there are some things that can be improved.

The touch screen isn’t as reactive as compared to smartphones and can be hard to use if you have adult-sized fingers. Charging the device is rather finicky – you can only use the charging cable that it comes with, and you must charge the device via a computer or any of the approved charging adapters (which are mostly only available to purchase in Japan, other than this). Moreover, the Tamagotchi Smart device is only available in Japanese. Don’t fret, as it’s easy to manoeuvre through the menu options with the help of Google Translate or with the help of this guide.

That being said, the Tamagotchi Smart is still a nice option for those who love having a compact virtual pet companion that can easily be a keychain, fit on a lanyard, or be worn on your wrist. Although the overall gameplay is still akin to its predecessor, the ability to buy TamaSma cards offers a breath of fresh air for players to add new content to prolong replayability.

Where To Buy?

The Tamagotchi Smart is available on Amazon for $54.90.

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