Virtual Pets: Raising Your Own Best Friend

A thing I've noticed about some of the Japanese media I've consumed is how enduring it is. Pokémon was labeled as “just a fad” when it came out, but here we are, the better part of 30 years out from its debut, and it's still the top-grossing multimedia franchise worldwide. Sonic the Hedgehog is looked on as a joke, but I'm pretty sure plenty of other media would wish they could do as “badly” as Sonic has and still remain culturally relevant for such a long time. But the real fun bit is discovering stuff you didn't know was still relevant. For example, did you know Bandai hasn't stopped producing Tamagochis in Japan since their creation in 1996? And that you can still buy them in the US?

Much like Pokémon, virtual pets became all the rage in Japan in the late 90s, and achieved similar fame in the US upon being imported. Millions were sold, competitors popped up, and everyone joked about how hard it was to keep one of the little buggers alive regardless of how much you fed the thing. Bandai kicked off the trend: a series of LCD toys that simulated raising an alien hatched from an egg, their “Tamagochi” (a pun based off of “tamago”, for “egg”, and the Japanese loanword for “watch”) enraptured kids and adults alike with its interactivity. You fed, played with, and cleaned up the fecal matter of your little alien buddy until they either grew into rare and bizarre older forms or died. The kind of care you gave your Tamagochi determined its form, with rarer and more exotic forms requiring greater diligence—or purposefully treating your pet bad enough while not killing it outright. Animated specials, spin-offs, and updated versions of the pet followed, with many operating off of themes, such as designs based on bugs, or being able to raise angels.

Where success goes, imitation follows, and plenty of American companies soon joined in. Tiger Electronics—yeah, the guys that made the crappy LCD games—produced the Giga Pets line of virtual pets. These set themselves apart by being based on realistic animals like dogs, cats and a T. Rex instead of the abstract mascots from Tamagochi. Giga Pets also managed to maintain relevance by producing a line of pets based on the special edition Star Wars films being released at the time. Don't ask me how the logistics of “raising” R2D2 or Yoda work; they just did.

Even video game publishers got in on the fad. Nintendo cashed in on both Pokémon's wild popularity and the virtual pet trend by producing the Pokémon Pikachu, a virtual pet where players could raise a Pikachu and interact with him with points earned by triggering the built-in pedometer. They also took the Pokémon Pikachu one step further with the sequel device, which not only boasted a full-color screen but also an infrared communicator that allowed it to link up to the Pokémon Gold and Silver games to unlock in-game goodies. Later in the 2000s, Nintendo would revisit the idea with the PokéWalker and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver; but it would take Bandai a few years until after the Pokémon Pikachu 2 to adopt similar features with the Tamagochi Connection line of virtual pets, which allowed pets to trade data, become friends and even marry to spawn hybrid offspring.

Now, you might be thinking that connectivity between pets leads to a lot of other fun things, like trading pets or even battling them! But battles are not quite Tamagochi's vibe, and let's face it: Tamagochi mascot Mametchi doesn't exactly look like he hits the gym on a regular basis. Bandai thought the same, and wishing to appeal to a more stereotypically-masculine fanbase, they decided to make a tougher and scarier version of Tamagochi with designs inspired by kaiju or superheroes. The underlying systems would be functionally identical to the Tamagochi, only with the pets' “Fun” meter replaced with “Training” and snacks replaced with protein pills. In addition, electronic docks were added on top of these pets, allowing for data exchanges through which battles between pets could be carried out. Now all they needed was a catchy name for these funky little digital monsters that kids carried around in their pocket. A pity “Monster In My Pocket” was already taken...

Ah, that'll do nicely!

For such a transparent rebrand, Tamagochi's Digital Monster line of virtual pets was every bit as successful as the original Tamagochi pets. Five versions of the original virtual pet were made, each with their own unique and exclusive monsters—though only two were brought to America. There was new incentive to taking care of your pet, as better care ensured stronger evolutions. It also allowed Bandai to dump some old unused assets from branded virtual pets they couldn't otherwise produce—the official art for Raremon, Tuskmon, Devidramon and Dark Tyrannomon did a lot of heavy lifting to divorce their pixelated sprites from their resemblances to Hedorah, Space Godzilla, Destroyah and Mecha-Godzilla.

The Digital Monster line was successful enough that Bandai even produced an animated series based off of the toys, and the Digimon anime went on to rival Pokémon at its height. Like many other kids, I was a huge fan of the show and discovered it on Fox Kids shortly after having gotten a Digital Monster pet of my own. In retrospect, a lot of the show's content touched on the mechanics for the pets. For example, the Digidestined learned early on that their partners could only digivolve if they'd eaten enough first—just like how your pet grows hungry after lots of battles. But they also later learned that overfeeding can cause them to turn into “evil” forms, much like how overfeeding your pet counts as a care mistake that can cause a growth into a less-than-ideal form. Many of the Digimon that appeared in the show were based off of the rosters for the original line of pets, but just as many Digimon or evolutionary paths were invented for the show or to tie into newer devices that never came to the United States. I imagine many kids were confused when they raised a Gabumon on their virtual pet and found it turning into Kabuterimon instead of Garurumon. The reveal of Apocalymon also casts the pets in something of a dark light, considering Apocalymon is an amalgamation of all the dead Digimon in the world who only wished to grow stronger but died in the attempt. Sure, it's supposed to be the bad guy, but who's to say that Numemon you let starve to death isn't a part of him, metaphorically shaking his fist at you as he curses having been marked to die while other Digimon were allowed to live. Why did you let your fancy MetalGarurumon eat pizza while your poor Numemon only got the crust?

Digimon became successful enough that it eventually shrugged off the Tamagochi branding and became a franchise all its own. Several shows followed, as well as new lines of Virtual Pets released throughout the 2000s like the Digital Monster Pendulum series, the Digital Monster Mini, and the Digital Monster Accel. And none of these pets were brought over to the United States even though the anime were localized! It wasn't until 2019 that we in the US saw a new Digital Monster pet release: the 20th Anniversary edition. Thankfully, Bandai was nice and also released the Digital Monster X model in the summer of 2020, and this March sees the release of the Digital Monster X2 line in the US. I'm still quite bummed that we never got the Pendulum Zs and I'm hoping we get the Digital Monster X3 line (because I'm a total mark for Justimon X. Come on Bandai hook a guy up).

Tamagochi, for its part, has fared a lot better in the United States. While there was a gap of releases in the US between 1998 and 2004, there have been regular releases of new Tamagochi models in the US like the advanced Tamagochi Pix, which boasts not only a full-color screen but also a built-in camera for taking pictures. 2015 also saw the release of updated versions of the original Tamagochi virtual pet, which came with five different minigames for playing with your blobby buddy. But the real fun of Tamagochis has always been the branding potential: In recent years, Bandai has seen fit to produce Tamagochi toys based on popular anime and video games, and even more surprisingly, many of these have come to American store shelves! Famed egg-mascot Gudetama was a perfect crossover, giving the world the—wait for it—Gudetama-gochi. And as long as you don't stop to consider the logistics of it, the Pac-Man Tamagochi was also a lot of fun. But then you have even more surprising releases like the Evangelion line of Tamagochis based off of Asuka, Rei, Shinji and Kaworu. These had shells colored after their corresponding Evangelion mech, and the death animation was triggering Third Impact. Fun! There were also Tamagochis based on the kids from Demon Slayer (hey, gotta keep Nezuko fed while she's in the wooden box), while this past February saw the release of the Kamen Rider Tamagochi, in commemoration of the famed kung-fu bugman's 50th anniversary in 2021. It included all of the protagonists of each series stretching across the Showa, Heisei and Reiwa eras, even including both Kamen Rider Revi and Kamen Rider Vice from Kamen Rider Revice. That's 47 Riders you can raise, feed curry, and take for a motorcycle ride!

I've talked a lot about the history of these devices, but I'm sure you're wondering: “What's the appeal?” These things are loud, needy, poop a ton and run off of those annoying watch batteries that you need a tiny screwdriver to install. And sure, if you have an actual pet like a cat or a tank of shrimp, a virtual pet is nothing more than a bizarre toy. But I like toys! And virtual pets make fun little companions. I got back into the DM20 and DMX fairly hard this past summer, and it's been a total nostalgia bomb. When you're at work and your brain is fizzling out from emails, it's nice to look over at the tiny LCD screen and see your little buddy puttering from side to side. The tiny sprites are surprisingly detailed and characterful for how small they are, waving at you with their little canned animations and stomping their feet when they want me to turn the lights off and tuck them into bed. There's a sense of pride of seeing your LCD friend grow from a tiny blob to a rusted-over war machine. And even if you don't care to get the coolest, toughest monster, there's a desire to see each one live as long as possible. Once you figure out how the systems work and how much to feed or engage with your virtual pet, you'll find yourself a little bummed out if they should pass on before two weeks is up (my personal best is 20 days). Also, being toys, it's easier to sneak a virtual pet to work than it is to sneak a Transformer. But most importantly: they're also low-commitment. Worst case scenario, if you get frustrated and leave your pet in a drawer somewhere for a few weeks because you spent a week raising a pet only for it to die on you, all it takes to get back into it is a new battery. A virtual pet asks nothing of you but a few minutes of attention every hour or so.

There is also a thriving community of virtual pet collectors on the Internet where folks trade strategies on raising pets, raise monsters together in themed “hatches”, or trade and collect virtual pets. Whether you want to get yourself a Deep Savers-themed Digital Monster pet, or just looking for someone who can customize your Tamagochi shell to rep your favorite band's logo, these are great places to start. And hey, you might even make a new friend or two.

Back in 1997, nobody could have expected virtual pets to have survived the year as a passing fad. With their fickle life spans, short battery lives, and the ever-mercurial interests of children, it wouldn't have been a surprise if they remained an oddity of the 90s. But as 2022 wages on, it looks like there are only more and more virtual pets to look forward to. And with all of us older and wiser, it's easier to figure out just what a pet really needs to stay alive. Whether you decide you need every last color variant of the brick-faced Digital Monster pets or just want a Tamagochi Pix as a cute keychain, you might find your day brightened by having one of these critters beeping at you every so often.