#tmgcconnection

image source: rocker11220 on Instagram

The fix is here! Bandai Namco US brought the Tamagotchi History display to New York Comic-Con 2022, but with a fix. We reported a few months back that a Tamagotchi Connection V2 was used on the Tamagotchi History display and marked as a Tamagotchi Connection V3.

image source: Coffretchi on Twitter

Well it looks like Bandai Namco US might just be reading our blog, and adjusted the Tamagotchi History display! The updated version that was showcased at New York Comic-Con 2022 featured a V3 (specially the gray shell with black buttons) in replacement of the V2 that was shown back at the San Diego Comic-Con 2022.

image source: rocker11220 on Instagram

image source: Coffretchi on Twitter

The Tamagotchi booth at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con was something we’ll never forget, and the merchandise was just as good! Bandai Namco US did bring the Tamagotchi History display which was customized to include the Tamagotchi releases in both North America, and Japan.

Savvy Tamagotchi fans who attended SDCC spotted something wrong on the Tamagotchi History display, and if you’ve been a fan since the V3 days, you’ll notice it too. It appears that Bandai Namco US used a V2 (specifically the pink came shell that was exclusive to the Tamagotchi Friends True Friends Collection). The V3 was the first version outside of Japan to include a small antenna on the left-hand side, connectivity to TamaTown, and more features. 

Originally re-released back in 2018, there have been a whopping forty (forty two if you could the SDCC shells) Tamagotchi Original shells released to date. When it was originally announced fore re-release back in 2018 there were only sixteen shells to choose, half with P1 programming, and the other half with P2 programming.

Bandai started slowly releasing more shells as the popular of the device took off again twenty years later. Now it appears that Bandai has been releasing three new shells for each of the four seasons. Don’t get us wrong, the shells are beautiful, but besides the shells the programming is identical. We’re not saying that we’re sick of the Tamagotchi Original.

Fans have been extremely vocal about wanting other re-releases. The Tamagotchi Angel, Devil, and even more popularly, the Tamagotchi Connection series. We wonder what Bandai might have in store for us all, could we one day see a re-release of the Tamagotchi Connection? If so, we’d imagine around the twentieth anniversary of the respective versions, so we’ve still got two more years to go until the V1 release which was originally released back in August 2004 in the United States.

The problem with the Tamagotchi Connection series re-release is that once we get to the Tamagotchi Connection V3, TamaTown was a huge feature. Why is that a problem? There are a few reasons. First, Adobe retired the Flash Player program that TamaTown was built for, so it would have to be reengineered for more modern web standards.

Second, the world is mobile today, TamaTown was definitely meant for a desktop grade operating system with a cursor, this would of course require some reengineering. Would it be rereleased as a mobile application for iOS and Android? One can only hope.

Third, costs. No one wants to hear it, but TamaTown was probably not cheap to run. There’s a lot of costs that go into an application like that, and with the popular of Tamagotchi at its peak back in the day the cost was probably more than covered by the sale of the device. Each version released after V3 through the TamaTown Tama-Go worked with a version of TamaTown. Bandai would need to justify the cost of running TamaTown in relation to the potential sales of the devices.

Looking even further back, Bandai didn’t wait long before shutting down Dream Town, which was the interactive game that worked with the Tamagotchi Friends devices. In fact, it almost disappeared overnight and accounts were deleted.

More recently, the Tamagotchi Meets app has been shutdown, and the Tamagotchi On app will soon follow. It’s clear here that even with the popularity of the Tamagotchi Meets application, the application was shutdown after a little over three years of the device being on the market. We’re not going to lie, it was as much of a shock to you as it was to us. The Tamagotchi On app is being shutdown later this year on August 31st, 2022.

Throwback Thursday!

The Tamagotchi Connection V1 Commercial originally aired in the summer of 2004 following the launch of the V1 on August 15h, 2004. This commercial spread the word that Tamagotchi is back in the North American market. The V1 introduced an upgraded display, new characters, more games, and most importantly infrared connectivity. The Tamagotchi Connection platform would be utilized for many versions years after the initial launch.