My full collection

Before they decided to feature my collection on TV, the woman who organised the segment asked me to send in some photos of my whole collection. thought since I already have the photos should put them up on my blog.

To give the pictures context they were taken on my three seater lounge suite, its about 6 feet long and about 2 feet deep. See what interesting pieces you can spot amongst the crowd in there. Got a few rare ones happening in there. I'll take a few pics of them all on display in my little office and put them up too. The collection has grown a heap since I took these photos but they do still give a good example of the magnitude of my collection.

I might have a chat with the folks at ABC and see if they will let me embed my interview and stuff on here too!

Tamagotchi collection on TV.

About a month ago now a friend of mine told me about a TV show that had put call out for tamagotchi collectors, but couldnt remember which one. I googled it and found out, to my surprise it was Good Game, a popular video games review program on ABC 3. I thought for sure that someone with a bigger collection would answer the call but thought I might aswell let them know about my collection.

To my surprise they contacted me back and asked some questions about my collection and decided my collection was perfect to showcase on their program.So yesterday I was lucky enough to film for national television in Australia (I'm pretty sure that the ABC uploads episodes to the web for my overseas subscribers.)

It was great, I love to show off my collection and now I get to show it off nation wide. No air date as of yet but I will no doubt keep blogging about it . I will get back into reviews soon. -Meg

The ever growing collection!

While it hasn't been long since I last Posted the number of Tamagotchis I had, the number has grown in leaps and bounds! At the moment I have more than 200 Virtual pets in my collection, with the number growing by about 10 units per fortnight. Most of this I get from eBay which lets me get many more, of different varieties, for much cheaper than if I were to buy them retail.

I sware my neighbours think I'm doing something illegal with all the suspicious overseas packages arriving every other day!

Some of my most notable recent acquisitions were the holy grail of most collectors the bandai "Devilgotchi". For a while there it was impossible to find, with one cropping up on ebay every few months and they were snapped up in minutes! Most recently there is a spate of sellers on eBay. Ive spotted 5 in the last three months, and if i had the cash I would have bought them all, But alas, I must settle for the one I have for now.

I also purchased a Arukotchi pedometer pet, but due to recent tragic events in Japan I am unsure of if I will ever get that one. :(

I also go to a local retro toy dealer, a little more expensive than ebay but for the convenience of being able to pay cash and have the unit in my hot little hand immediately is worth the couple of extra dollars.

Another recent purchase is I bought 2 Tamagotchi Connections from Canada (eh?). As here in Australia we only have the Tamagotchi Connexion available, it was cool to be able to get these. While most people don't know the difference, the US and Canada Connection units are different in a few ways, but the difference I was most interested in was the Connection has the Debug option.

For those who are unfamiliar with Debug or Debugging, this is the process of modifying your tamagotchi by opening it up and tinkering with the circut board in such a way that that the "junk" programming left over from the early stages of the Connections production become available and playable. Sounds awesome but the downside is that if its not done right you can fry the board and make is unusable, this is why i have purposly left out the instructions ( I dont want the blame for people cooking their tamagotchis). Plenty of good instructions and demo videos can be found on the web.

Anyway I managed to get my tinker on and now have a debugged tamagotchi. Its pretty cool as i picked an adult character to start with, which means I could have it with me at work and it wasn't as demanding as if had started it from the baby stage. I will have to buy a few of the other debuggable versions and have a bit of fun with them .

Within the next week or so I plan to review one of the many Giga pets variety of pets, which will be interesting as it will be my first review of an American made pet and the Devilgotch (or Devilgotchi) and maybe do a comparison between the Angelgotch and the Devilgotch!

Kerro kerro Keroppi

To begin with I got both my Keroppi pets from separate sellers on Ebay, I got one brand new in packet for about $10 Australian, the other out of pack for $5 australian. This is a bargain for just about any V-pet, but as these have become rarer in the past couple of years the ones i have seen listed recently on eBay sell for around $60. I must warn anyone who wants to buy this pet that it is only available in Japanese. However translated instructions are available online and it is pretty easy to work out how ton play it just by trial and error

Name: Kerro kerro Keroppi

Manufacturer: Yujin
Produced: 1998
Country of origin: Japan

Aesthetics:
This is a pet more likely to appeal to lovers of the Sanrio brand, its bright and cute and features Keroppi, the little frog boy of Sanrio fame. The Kerro Kerro Keroppi pet comes in two different colours , a baby pink opaque plastic shell and a clear light green shell ,both with a little picture of Kerroppi himself and yellow buttons. This pet is interesting in that while most have a nice coloured backing picture, this one does not. This I because the Character takes up most if not all of the screen at any given time in is lifecycle. At the top there is a small loop with a ball chain to attach to keys etc. The shape of the shell is also notable, in a time where a majority of pets were egg shaped this one is shaped nicely to both hold and for play.

*Creatures*
The Keroppi pet has as the name suggests Kero kero Keroppi from the Sanrio franchise, this is interesting as most Sanrio pets feature Sanrio’s most famous character Hello Kitty, In this way this pet is quite unique. There are only 4 available characters to end up as and all are Keroppi side characters. The characters only become separate in the final stage so there is not a lot of change in what character you may end up with. The animation for the character is also limited to only its face. There are also some guest appearances by non playable characters den-den and teruteru. These characters are very cute but don’t realy change much throughout the life cycle.


*Icons*
The icons for this pet run across both the top and the bottom of the screen. The LCD for them is quite thin and can be at times hard to see. They are the basic pictograms but can be a little hard to interpret, which is difficult when the game is only available in Japanese. After a while you realise that the rice ball is food etc. It just takes a little bit of exploring to remember which does what.


*Sound and Sound quality*
This is pet is one of the more quiet I have played the beeping isn’t exactly loud, you can’t hear it if it is in your pocket or in your bag. This i feel is why you need to invest a lot of attention into this pet as if you do not check regularly there is a big chance you may have missed its call beeps. The sound is nice and cute though, not too high pitched or annoying like some pets can be.

Game-play:
Game play for the Keroppi pet can be a little difficult, The rate of growth of the character is determined by a pie graph and its demand calls. When you first pick your egg you will need to feed it, exercise it and to alter the water temperature etc. Each of the options will increase the percentage on the pie chart, do nothing or drop the percentage on the pie chart. Choosing right often makes the difference between advancing the character and starting with a new one. It takes a few go’s to learn what works best in which stage. For each time the pet calls out you can only adjust each different option once (i.e only feed it one lot of food, don’t feed again if the meter doesn’t advance until next time it calls) or else your meter will drop. The game is great for people who can only invest one day per week into playing with the pets as the short lifecycle. Unlike most digital pet this pet only allows you to play with the pet to entertain it once you have already raised it to its adult stage.

* Life stages*
The Keroppi pets life stages are very unique to this pet. The Keroppi pet plays out one full life cycle in one day. It goes from Egg to tadpole to tadpole with legs to your final character within one 12 hour cycle. At the beginning of the day you will pick one of 5 available eggs, picking the egg randomly selects what characters you are more likely to get. Be very careful in the Egg stage as i find this is when your character is most likely to die without any warning. The characters appearance doesn’t really change that much until you get your final character. The final character will end up as either Keroppi himself, Ganta , Kyorosuke and Noberun.

*Buttons*
Keroppi pet plays with the usual 3 button format, however it is a little confusing, while most three button pets run with A to scroll through selection, B to select and C to cancel selection, the Keroppi pet uses B to cancel and C to select. Being that I am so used to the usual system I would get frustrated as I would frequently have to scroll back through the icons as I had cancelled out of something i wished to select. The buttons are otherwise great, nice and responsive.


*Resilience*
Keroppi is a pet you have to invest a lot of attention into, It will not stand up to even the slightest of neglect. As only one character can be raised per day the risk of running out or time to raise a character is high if you continuously let your character die. This is one you are better off playing when you have time to care for it.

Additional features:

Clock-Yes
Connectability-No
Sound on/off-Yes
Pause-No

All together I like the Keroppi pet for the fact that it is a good pet for the day off or weekend. You don’t need to invest a week trying to get a character but it does require you to have the spare time to be looking after it. It can be difficult to raise a character but it is quite rewarding when you do manage it.

May also enjoy: Hello kitty metcha esute
Doremon:the story

Returning after long hiatus!

Well after my loooong break from blogging I'm back and I've got a whole bunch more Digital pets to review! My collection has steadily grown since my last post and my collection has grown to beyond 170 individual pieces, including several rare and expensive pieces.

I'll be recommencing my reviews at once per fortnight, as once a week worked out to be just a bit too much for me to manage. I'll be starting back up with the kerokero keroppi pet from sanrio!I've started it up as of today and will be reviewing it this week.

If anyone as a specific pet they would like top see reviewed I'm sure I probably already have it in my collection and will gladly to reviews on request. To let me know just comment on this post and I'll let you know if its possible.

Cheers and expect to see more in the future!

Review Tamagotchi mini

First of all, sorry for the late update, Ive had night duty so its thrown my while schedule off. Now for my little intro. I got this tamagotchi in a lot of 4 off ebay. Picked it up for a steal when you consider all the other pets I got with it.

Name:Tamagotchi mini (AKA chibi)
Manufacturer: Bandai
Produced:2004
Country of origin: Japan


Aesthetics:
This pet is definitely one that will appeal to the old school collectors, the look of this one hearkens back to the early days of tamagotchi. My unit is one of the variations of the original clock face design. This one has has the pink and blue clock face. When seen next to the original tamagotchi once thing becomes really clear, just how small the mini actually is.

The background is again another throwback to the P1 with the same pink and blue checkers design, just in miniature form. The mini was available in lots of designs ranging from those from the original tamagotchis to newer colours and paint jobs.

*Creatures*
The tamagotchi mini sacrifices some of its functionality with the loss of size, this is why only a handful of characters are available. As a result the Mini only has 4 potential adult stages. For those who know them by character names they are Kuchipatchi, Mametchi, Masktchi,and Nyorotchi. Ive been running this unit while Ive been at work so, with the sound off i tend to ignore it a bit so i seem to get nyrotchi pretty regularly. For those who don't know the character names, its the most unhealthy potential adult.
Because this is more of a tribute to the older generation tamagotchi, its unfair to judge this tamagotchi on the originality of its characters. However as far as a faithful representation of the older gen characters, they are perfect down to the pixel.


*Icons*
As part of making the screen as small as possible, the icons are completely gone from this unit, instead all control is performed with the first button its used to feed, clean and medicate the pet and will respond differently depending on what is on the screen ( if the pet has made a mess, push the first button and it will clean it, if it is sick it will medicate and if it has neither, it will bring up a two option food/snack menu.


*Sound and Sound quality*
The sound is pretty nice on this pet. Similar to the original tamagotchi for button push noises but without the games there's not a lot of variation in the sounds.



Game-play:
Game play in the mini is pretty straightforward care, The mini was more sold as a fashion accessory so the care for the Mini is really easy,as I previously stated. Entertainment isn't really needed in the same way it is in the P1 but happiness is needed in the form of candy the same as the P1 and P2.

* Life stages*
The tamagotchi mini has the shortest life cycle of any of the tamagotchis, going from hatch to adult in 24 hours, and has a lifespan of up to 2 weeks.This makes it the ideal V-pet for someone who only wants to run one on weekends or days off.
Because there is no meter to show how full or bored feeding and cleaning on demand is the only real way of getting the favourable characters.

*Buttons*
Tamagotchi mini keeps with the same old design of the 3 button unit, Whats interesting is the


*Resilience*
Because the Mini was marketed more of an accessory than a toy the pet will take a pretty big slog of neglect before it will die. I personally have left it approximately 10 hours only to find it so overfilling with mess and it very ill but not dead. It takes a heap of neglect, but Like any V-pet it does eventually die. I found that this is a bit better for those who don't like to invest a lot of time in a v-pet, particularly for those who find them hard to maintain.

Additional features:

Clock-Yes
Connectability-No
Sound on/off-Yes
Pause-No

The tamkagotchi mini is fun with little commitment to care required. Its great for short term care and for those who like the old school P1/P2 feel. I loved the ease of care and just the novelty of having this tiny little functional tamagotchi. Great way to introduce a V-pet to a child not quite ready for a more complicated V-pet.

May also enjoy: Tamagotchi P1 and P2
Pokemon Pocket Pikachu

3-in-1 Chicken Review

Here's my usual little intro for this pet. I'd never seen or heard of this pet before I purchased it from a stall at a local market. As usual it was more of an accident that I found it, but picked it up cheap I only paid maybe $5-$6 Australian.


Name: 3-in-1 Chicken
Manufacturer: Unknown
Produced:Unknown
Country of origin: Unknown


Aesthetics:
This Pet is in one of the cutest shell designs I've come across. Its a Little half hatched chicken design, with a comb from its head and little feet sticking out the bottom.The eggshell is white, with green speckles and pink buttons. The pink buttons always seemed out of place with the green, but this doesn't detract much from the visual appeal of the pet. This she design is available in another colour, with red speckles.

The background is a bit plain,with green bands along the top and bottom of the screen along where the icons are, but considering the colours of the rest of the toy, this it quite fitting. It was also available in 2 other shell designs with a penguin and a dinosaur.As was popular with V-Pets of the 90's it has an attached ball chain loop at the top to be attached to keys or other handy items.

*Creatures*
The characters in this game are cute but sometimes a little ambiguous as to what they are, partially because of their simplicity, partially because I'm not sure if the creatures are linear in their growth i.e the bird looks like a bird through all its life cycle (as i thought i had a bird but all of a sudden it changed to a dinosaur).
There are 15 available characters , 1 for each life stage of each of the three choices of egg. The three potential final characters are a penguin, a dinosaur and a chicken.


*Icons*
These icons are the standard pictogram's you find with any pet. They do have a fair bit of detail though, the alarm clock representing the "call" icon has little increments on the clock and even the bells and ringer have tiny little sticks attaching them.


*Sound and Sound quality*
The sounds are possibly the biggest downfall of this V-pet, Ive found they are a bit monotonous, and are a very dull sounding beep.Its a bit loud and thankfully it has an included sound off function, the main problem with this sound off function is that the pet when waking up with automatically turn it back on again and beep like crazy.



Game-play:
The game play is about standard for most V-pets of the 90's. It has one really interesting part of its game play, its the clock function. For this game the clock looses an hour overnight, and you have to put it back an hour when the pet awakes. Ive found that it can be a bit annoying, especially if like me, you use your V-pets to keep time.

I personally think this part of the game was because the clock function was designed a bit dodgy.
The games for keeping up the "Mood" gauge are a basic guess the direction game and a little more difficult "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game.
The gauges that show the standard of care have an interesting addition, as this includes the pet needing regular water.

* Life stages*
Upon starting up the choice of three eggs is given, you pick an egg and it will hatch into a standard little black blob character for the first stage of any of the choices, again this is a demanding stage and close attention it required.It needs food, water and play regularly, as well as one short cycle of sleep requiring you to put the clock back.

At any stage, playing with the v-pet is very easy particularly where you must push the button in relations to what direction the pet is facing, this is very very easy as the pet is slow moving and you can win it almost every time. The rock,paper scissors game is harder as you have to hit the button in time to stop the hand icon of the right choice to beat the stationary hands choice. The game play is pretty standard and doesn't change as the pet grows.

*Buttons*
This V-pet is a traditional 3 buttons unit, the first being menu, the second being confirm and the third being cancel. the first and third buttons double as directional buttons in the direction game.


*Resilience*
This pet is pretty difficult to kill, I did manage to neglect it to death once, but this was due to its clock function being out for a few days and it waking up in the night and not being checked and eventually dying. It is more demanding in its baby stage and therefore more susceptible to neglect. Any of the other life stages are a little more hardy and give you quite some time between getting sick and dying.

Additional features:

Clock-Yes
Connectability-No
Sound on/off-Yes
Pause-No

I really like the 3 in one chicken, its a bit more relaxed than most pets and I could take care of it at work on breaks and it would still be fine. Its a very cute, good quality pet and besides the clock and annoying sound, care of this pet is enjoyable.
Sound can be turned on and off but its a bit unreliable if you are up early and forget to wake the pet up and turn the sound back off. The fact that the pet has a max age of 119 makes it fun if you like a longer term V-pet.

May also enjoy:Tamagotchi P1
Nano pets
Gureichi alien