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A new Tamagotchi On variant is heading to North America. Bandai Namco will release Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden, which samples a bit of the Tamagotchi Meets Fantasy model. Essentially, it ditches the Arabian Night and Princess Palace locations and their exclusive characters/items/attractions, but keeps everything from the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland-inspired areas. While it is disheartening to not have everything in the corresponding Tamagotchi Meets, it does build on both the prior Fairy and Magic while playing up its theme.

The first difference starts right when you kick off the Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden life cycle. There are two baby forms different than the ones from Fairy and Magic. All baby boys start out as Hoshinokotchi, which is a little blob in a star-shaped hat. Likewise, all little girls begin their life cycles as Lovekotchi, another new “baby” design.

That’s not the Alice in Wonderland-themed part kicking in early, though. That comes in the child stage, where boys can become the club-themed Mitsuclovertchi or spade-themed Mochispadetchi and girls might evolve into a heart-themed Pureheartchi or diamond-themed Himedaiyatchi. The Queen of Hearts had her card-themed soldiers in adaptations, after all, and this taps into that, with later “teenagers” falling into the shared stages with other Tamagotchi On models and beginning to show genes inherited from their parents.

In your character’s day-to-day life, things are mostly similar to the other Tamagotchi On models. The two new minigames are Dressmaker and Library. The former is a button-mashing game during which you press A as many times as possible to fill a gauge and make a dress. Library has you working in a library and keeping track of how many books have been checked out and not returned yet. There are some new items in the store too, like a 700G Bookshelf Hat, 500G Feather Pen, and a 1300 Alice Picnic room style.

The Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden model’s one new location, Wondergarden, is the clearest reference. After I had reached the third generation of characters and applied the Alice in Wonderland-like Alice Picnic theme to my room, I unintentionally unlocked the new land. I wanted the twins I was raising to visit their pet. Instead, they ended up going to Wondergarden and opening up the town where Yumemi-Alice and Kirarihatter live. As their names suggest, the former is dressed like Alice and the latter as the Mad Hatter.

Wondergarden itself has a Wonderpark area where you meet characters, an Alice Shop with items, and a Card Paint area. The shop has themed items, like a Rabbit Salad, Cat Cake, Wonder Horn toy, and Card Hat. As for Card Paint, it temporarily changes your color, including your outline. This washes off with a bath and isn’t permanent, however. Also, Yumemi-Alice and Kirarihatter’s appearance in the Wonderpark is random, but both are there and waiting to play and become friends (or eventual spouses).

Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden is an update that embraces one theme. Unfortunately, it really only does focus on that one and excludes the others present in the Tamagotchi Meets Fantasy. If someone didn’t grab the previous Fairy or Magic model, it’s a good opportunity to opt into this more advanced line, which involves genetics through breeding with in-game characters or ones met through the mobile app or other Tamagotchi On/Meets models. But people should definitely be aware that it isn’t exactly identical to the similar Japanese release.

Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden will be available on July 26, 2020.

The post Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden Embraces the Alice in Wonderland Motif appeared first on Siliconera.

Tamagotchis are items where the popularity can feel a bit cyclical. While they tend to maintain a constant presence in Japan, they aren’t always assured a release in other regions. That’s been changing over the last few years, thanks to the presence of the Gudetama Tamagotchi Nano, a revival of the original Tamagotchis, and the localization of the Tamagotchi On. Now that the Pac-Man Tamagotchi has arrived and a new Tamagotchi On model is being released outside of Japan, Siliconera caught up with Tara Badie, Senior Director of Brand Strategy at Bandai America, to talk about the virtual pets and how models get localized.

Jenni Lada, Siliconera: Do you notice any interesting responses from specific demographics regarding Tamagotchis? Do people of certain ages seem more vocal about specific models?

Tara Badie: Our original Millennial fans are still our most vocal fans and we love to hear from them. Our research shows we have multigenerational fans on each of our items--just the mix being different depending on the item. 

For instance, Tamagotchi On is about 60% kids and 40% adults, where the original Tamagotchi is the opposite. The Tamagotchi has such mass appeal that it’s been amazing to watch the cross-generational play between parents and kids.

What led to Bandai Namco deciding to bring the more modern Tamagotchi lines to North America? For example, why was the timing right now for the On/Meets model, but not for the ID or 4U?

Badie: We decided to bring a more modern Tamagotchi to the US and Canada as we felt we had an item that made sense for a new generation. Tamagotchi has been in the Japan market for most of the 23 years where here in the States it has been more sporadic as we look for the device that we think would work in our market based on the environment and competition.

Which Tamagotchi On model ended up being most popular in North America so far? How will this influence future products?

Badie: We launched last year with two different themes--Fairy and Magic--and four different colors. [Editor’s Note: There are actually five colors, as Amazon had an exclusive white Magic model.] Research showed us that people were happy with their theme and color they received, with the themes being mostly split 50/50. 

We’re excited to launch the new Wonder Garden theme where we’re introducing a new Town to visit, exclusive characters, new games, accessories, and items. It has the same core play, just a new way to play it.

How active is the community in the Tamagotchi On app?

Badie: Per our research, 89% visit the APP weekly. Unfortunately, I don’t have the specific numbers.

Only two themed Tamagotchi Nanos have launched in English so far, the Gudetama and the Pac-Man. What did the localization and licensing process look like for the Gudetama model, since it came over from Japan? How did that differ from the Pac-Man model, since it was a North American exclusive?

Badie: Programming, design and development were all done in Japan, so the process wasn’t too much different. The only difference is we’re brought into the process earlier on Western launches. 

For the Gudetama Tamagotchi, we worked with the local Sanrio team on the packaging, though we all agreed to closely follow what they did with the Japanese version. For Pac-Man, as the licensor is a sister company, the two brands worked together in Japan and kept us in the loop.

Demon Slayer, Eevee, and Neon Genesis Evangelion Tamagotchis were and are huge sensations in Japan at the moment. How likely or unlikely would worldwide releases be for each one?

Badie: As we do with every product, we review and decide the level of interest in our market and decide which items to bring to the US and Canada. Each territory makes the decision based on their market.  

What does the consideration process look like when any Tamagotchi model is created? Are more crossover models, along the lines of the Demon Slayer and Pac-Man varieties, being considered?

Badie: It takes about 12-18 months to bring an item to market, and I can say I’m presently working on various items for the Tamagotchi brand. We have exciting products coming!

This interview has been edited for clarity.

The post Bandai America Talks About Tamagotchis and the Localization Process appeared first on Siliconera.

Another one of the more elaborate Tamagotchi models will be released outside of Japan. This time, it is the more elaborate Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden variant of the Fairy and Magic models. It contains elements from the Tamagotchi Meets Fantasy model, which was released in Japan in July 2019. Preorders for the $59.99 device are open now, and it will be available in stores on July 26, 2020.

The Tamagotchi On line are currently the most advanced models available worldwide. Each one allows a player to care for virtual pets in their home, but also unlock and visit virtual locations. Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden is notable for adding new places to visit not available in the previous models and multiple version-exclusive characters to marry. You can also change characters’ colors in-game, buy them different toys and movies, get them their own pets, and play different minigames. The new ones here are a logic puzzle called Library, in which you have to how many books haven’t been returned, and Dressmaker, where you button-mash to sew a dress.

One of the draws with the Tamagotchi On line is the ability to basically build a dynasty. While you start with a basic character, you can marry them off to the characters in your game, the ones from other Tamagotchi On models over infrared, or characters online through the mobile app via Bluetooth connectivity. You can keep track of a character’s full family tree in the app and the level of care you provide as a character grows determines the different genetics that will be ed on to the next generation. (For example, fullness and happiness could determine if the father or mother’s traits will be dominant in the child.)

Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden will be available in North America on July 26, 2020. Lavender and teal models will be available. Other recent released include the Pac-Man Tamagotchi in North America and the Neon Genesis Evangelion Tamagotchi in Japan.

The post Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden Will Bring the Tamagotchi Meets Fantasy Version Westward appeared first on Siliconera.