The colour-screen leap — and the first Tamagotchi you could download content to.
What Is It?
The iD / iD L / P’s era is where Tamagotchi jumped from the monochrome Connection toys into the modern colour age. The Tamagotchi iD (2009, Japan) was one of the first colour releases and the first Tamagotchi with downloadable content — items, accessories, wallpapers and games. The iD L (around 2010–2011) refined it, and the Tamagotchi P’s (“Piece,” November 2012) added swappable physical accessories. The era was Japan-focused; the iD L saw a limited English Bandai Asia release, while the P’s relied on a fan English patch rather than an official localisation.
Key Features
Downloadable content: using infrared and home stations, you could pull new items, characters and games onto the device — a first for the franchise.
Wearable accessories & Photo Studio: dress adult characters (one accessory at a time) and stage photos. The era also tied into the Tamagotchi! anime, introducing characters like Lovelitchi and Melodytchi.
P’s Tama Deco Pierces: the P’s headline feature — small swappable pins that each unlock new characters, transformations, games, locations, food and clothing. The P’s also added personality traits (smart, fashionable, charismatic, gourmet, athletic), part-time jobs and school.
Characters & Raising
This era runs on the TamaTomo (Tama-Friend) collection system: rather than simply breeding, your goal is to “collect” adult characters by earning their friendship stamps through favourite foods, items and clothing, with the final stamp earned by keeping the adult for a couple of days. A notable softening of the formula: on the iD and iD L, adults no longer die from neglect — instead they run away and leave a goodbye letter (younger stages can still die).
Connectivity & Games
Infrared links units to each other, to the download website (via an IR-capable phone), and to home stations such as the “More iD!” station and iD/iD L SPOT devices. The P’s can connect to the Yume Kira Bag and to up to four Tamagotchis at once for cooking and games. Built-in games include Gogo Slot and Koretotte, with more available to download.
Where It Sits in the Franchise
This era is the foundation of the modern colour Tamagotchi. Its downloadable-content model — website plus figure and pin accessories — directly anticipates the download ecosystems that followed, and the TamaTomo collection mechanic persisted all the way to the m!x. Compared with the app-connected Paradise, this era’s “downloads” were hardware-bound (an IR phone, in-store stations, physical Pierces) rather than cloud-based.
At a Glance
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Released | iD 2009 · iD L ~2010–2011 · P’s Nov 2012 (Japan-focused) |
| Screen | Full colour |
| Connectivity | Infrared + home stations / download site |
| Key mechanic | Downloadable content; P’s Deco Pierces; TamaTomo collecting |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Availability | Secondhand (Japan import) |
This era bridged the Connection era and the genetics-driven m!x / On devices. See the whole timeline in our device directory, or jump to the newest device, Tamagotchi Paradise.
Individual Device Guides
Dig into each device in this era: