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The complete guide to Tamagotchi — past, present, and everything in between.

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Your Tamagotchi resource

TamaVault is a fan-built guide site dedicated to everything Tamagotchi. Whether you just opened a brand new Tamagotchi Paradise and have no idea why you keep getting the same character, or you’ve been raising virtual pets since 1997 and want a deep dive into franchise history — this is the place.

We cover the newest devices with the most thorough guides available in English, the history of how Tamagotchi went from a 1996 keychain toy to a 100-million-unit franchise, and every character, mechanic, and secret in between.

Tamagotchi devices you can buy right now

New to the hobby and not sure which Tamagotchi to pick up? Several are on store shelves in 2026, and they play very differently from one another. Here’s a quick rundown — newest to most nostalgic — with a link to our full guide for each.

• Tamagotchi Paradise (2025) — the current flagship and the deepest raising system Bandai has ever made: 68 characters across four explorable fields. New here? Start with the Care Mistake Guide.
• Tamagotchi Connection (2024 re-release) — the 20th-anniversary reissue of the device that defined the 2000s. Link two units over infrared to play together, marry, and pass on a whole new generation.
• Tamagotchi Uni (2023) — a colour, Wi-Fi wrist device with the online Tamaverse.
• Original Gen 1 and Gen 2 re-releases — faithful reissues of the very first 1996/97 Tamagotchis, each with the classic six adults and a hidden secret character.
• Tamagotchi Nano — the pocket-size keychain line, endlessly re-themed (Pac-Man, Hello Kitty, Demon Slayer and more). The simplest and cheapest way in.

Want the full lineup from 1996 to today, era by era? Browse our complete device directory.

New to Tamagotchi? How raising one works

A Tamagotchi is a tiny virtual pet that lives on a handheld device. It hatches from an egg and then grows through life stages — baby, child, teen and adult — in real time, ageing roughly one “year” per day. Your job is simple to learn and surprisingly deep to master: feed it when it’s hungry, play with it when it’s bored, clean up after it, turn the lights out at night, and answer its calls for attention.

The twist that has kept fans hooked for nearly 30 years is evolution. How well you care for your pet decides which adult character it becomes: miss too many of its calls — a “care mistake” — and you’ll raise a different character than if you’d kept it perfectly happy and fed. Modern devices like Paradise add dozens of possible outcomes, secret characters to unlock, and breeding systems that pass traits down the generations. If you’re holding a device right now and wondering why you keep getting the “wrong” character, our Care Mistake Guide explains exactly what’s happening — and how to aim for the character you actually want.

Shell guides

Each Paradise shell starts in a different field and has a different exclusive secret character. Pick yours:

• Blue Water Shell Guide — Water Field, Mermarintchi secret
• Pink Land Shell Guide — Land Field, Chodracotchi secret
• Purple Sky Shell Guide — Sky Field, Yayacorntchi secret
• Jade Forest Shell Guide — Forest Field, Tatsutchi secret

Explore Tamagotchi history

Tamagotchi has been around since 1996 and has gone through extraordinary transformations along the way — from a black and white keychain toy that caused school bans worldwide to a Wi-Fi-connected color device with an online metaverse, and back to a physical dock-and-connect device that honors the franchise’s roots.

• The History of Tamagotchi — the full story from 1996 to today
• Original Era (1996–1998)
• Connection Era (2004–2008)
• iD / iD L / P’s Era (2009–2013)
• Tamagotchi Uni (2023)

TamaVault — the vault is open.