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Penguin-keeper

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When promoting the original Tamagotchi in the West back in 1997, they specified that if you didn't take good care of it, your Tamagotchi could grow up to be "mean or ugly". This was in reference to the likes of Nyorotchi and Tarakotchi. And even then, they're a cute, goony sort of ugly, more than anything legitimately unpleasant.

But over time, these "ugly" types appear to have been being phased out. As far as I know, Tarakotchi, Nyorotchi, and their ilk, haven't appeared on a new device in years! Other characters sharing their aesthetics and characteristics have been gradually disappearing, too.

It seems to me as though these "ugly", short-lived evolutions, and other penalties for poor care, largely stopped existing at some point in the Connection era, and are even less prevalent nowadays - and the "poor care" creatures of today provide no real visual indication of them being such. This appears to have coincided with a shift from these creatures being pitched as virtual pets to instead being promoted as virtual friends (who can get a job and raise a family, but who still poop all over the floor), which seemingly brought about the removal of this particular game-mechanic.

I know that it's just due to the trends of the times, but does anyone else miss these "ugly" Tamagotchi characters being a key part of the Tamagotchi experience?

 
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Yeah, definitely! I've noticed the features part, but you pointing out the fact that bad care characters don't really look like bad care characters these days is pretty true too! I miss the cute, simplistic designs - everything is hyper-detailed and cutesy, you know? Female characters are bland, male characters are shoved down to being exclusively ""ugly"", and it sucks that there really isn't anything unique nowadays. :( That's why I bought the 20th Anniversary Mix, just to get a small taste of what it could've been, even if it really didn't try to get these characters back in a sense.

All I wish for is some diverse, non-humanoid Tamagotchis. Isn't it easy enough to do? :/

 
Man, you all know I've been preaching this since I got on these boards. XD

Don't get me wrong, I like my M!xes and the different things you can do, but as my Avatar shows, I definitely prefer the more out-there designs.

I think PK hit the nail on the head talking about how stuff changed from virtual pet to virtual friend. I feel like for me the first one where that really starts to show up is the V5. Granted, I haven't played anything between the Connections and the Mixes, but I specifically haven't because I just don't like the growth charts I've seen. They just all look like little chibi people instead of cool alien pets.

I think Jhud pointed out that Tamagotchis have always supposed to be sentient and basically alien people anyway, but why not still have them look like Maskutchi or Kusatchi or whatever? Aliens shouldn't just look like people!

And while the aspect of trait-switching could only work on the M!x because of similar body types, they were able to add in Maskutchi and Oyajitchi in the 20th Anniversary version, so that's kinda out the window. Maybe it's just that--in general--Tamagotchi seems to have gotten a lot more 'cute', both from the shell designs to the character designs to the gameplay, and so snakes and duck plants and whatever didn't really fit that brand, but yes, I agree, having strange characters is a necessary to the tama experience. I hope eventually it goes back to that.

I don't mind the job stuff and family stuff. That's all fun. I love the traveling to different cities and items in the M!x, and the trait-switching aspect is a HUGE draw for me (I'd love it more if it worked a little better), but there's no reason you couldn't have all of that and more varied design.

 
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Something that may have played a part is a change in tamagotchis direction. First, they now are marketed at being accessories and pets second. Especially 4U and 4U plus.

 
Something that may have played a part is a change in tamagotchis direction. First, they now are marketed at being accessories and pets second. Especially 4U and 4U plus.
It's because 4U was actually an attempt at marketing the toy to adult women.

 
Hmmm I think the level of care determines the evolution in the V1 and V2 as well, and there are "ugly" characters like Kusatchi, Zuccitchi etc, so this wasn't completely lost with the Connections. However, since they don't live shorter lives than the good care characters, the difference is only in appearence. I don't have much experience so I don't know if they behave differently or get sick easier, I think they're more or less the same, correct me if I'm wrong.

 
I don't have much experience so I don't know if they behave differently or get sick easier, I think they're more or less the same, correct me if I'm wrong.
From my experience with the connections, bad care characters tend to lose happy and hungry hearts much quicker than good/excellent care characters. This is what makes it worthwhile to raise your tama with love and care instead of neglect on the connections. However, neglecting your tama seems to be encouraged with the color versions because neglect gets you different characters that act no different from the good/excellent care ones. Their appearances are also not as "ugly" as the old bad care characters, which kind of makes good/excellent care obsolete on the color versions.

I think that Tamagotchi characters looked the best from P1-V4/V4.5. I feel like all these versions had a good variety of "cuter" and "uglier" characters and they all still seemed more like pets. The V5-current doesn't seem to have such a variety in the characters. Most of them are just cute now. I don't mind too much (seeing as I still buy just about every new tama that comes out :p ), but it has become a more prominent thing in each new version.

 
now you get less stressed out to get good care gotchis only.

i dont think the new designs lack variety, they just have a different kind of variety thanks to more detailed sprites and color displays, its true that they all have a similar tone ("being cute") though.

looking up old charts made me remember a feature i also miss - different characters for even/uneven gens so you dont get the same 2 times in a row.

 
Maybe cute's the wrong word... humanoid? They look more like little people than little alien pets. Jhud did point out in my log that all tamas are supposed to be basically sentient and intelligent on the level of people, but I think even with advanced sprites, something like the My Tama Forever app shows us that old designs work just as well in these new settings. You could still have all the same features of things like the M!xes and whatever else, but have more design diversity so that not everything looks like a little person.

 
Maybe cute's the wrong word... humanoid? They look more like little people than little alien pets. Jhud did point out in my log that all tamas are supposed to be basically sentient and intelligent on the level of people, but I think even with advanced sprites, something like the My Tama Forever app shows us that old designs work just as well in these new settings. You could still have all the same features of things like the M!xes and whatever else, but have more design diversity so that not everything looks like a little person.
i prefer that, for some reason. Maybe its because i like cuter things

 
Yeah, I imagine most people in Japan who buy tamas prefer cute things as well, so that's probably why it's gotten progressively more like that and progressively less snakes and duck plants. =/

 
As I mentioned before it's mostly because of the anime influence. Tamagotchi had a long running anime series with well over 400 full time episodes total (as far as I know for now there's no new series currently?), and making the characters looking like cute mascots to have both the anime and toys be aimed at girls just... worked. If kids weren't interested in the toy itself they were interested in the anime and bought merch from it, including the tamas. If you know what the anime is like you can REALLY tell its made to be anime merch rather than just a virtual pet.

 
Release a new Tamagotchi with every single generation type inside. The original Masktchi, plus new version. Tarakotchi, Nyorotchi and all the others. They should never, ever remove anything from an evolution sheet, just add to it.

 
Maskutchi is literally my favorite character and I'm so upset he's not in more tamagotchi's... I know he's "ugly" (when I first saw him i hated him, i hated his teeth and the way he ate SO MUCH) but like.. I've grown such a fondness for him.... I want him in more things, haha. He's adorable! I love all the ugly tamas so so much... Duck plants and snakes, gosh they're wonderful. Wish the Tamagotchi's were more like the little aliens they are, but I guess it just, happens.

 
Maskutchi and Masktchi aren't the same character, I think. They do have the same name in Japanese but their personalities are different- also the "modern" one is a girl.

And, well... They're stil aliens, they live on a different planet, they've just become less diverse.

I forgot the main reason why characters on modern tamas are more humanoid- color versions starting from iD L and ending on 4U+ have an option for the character to wear clothes. I forgot that they removed it in the M!X, so a lot of people with nostalgia for old versions might not know that.

 
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