In case you don't remember, the original Tamagotchi were small, plastic eggs containing a tiny computer with a simple black and white LCD screen. Below the screen were three buttons. The egg was attached to a keychain, to encourage owners to always keep their Tamagotchi close by. The eggs have different colors and designs on them, making them a collectors' item.
Caring for the Tamagotchi was fairly simple. A tiny egg appeared on the screen after the unit was turned on. After setting the time and waiting for exactly five (or one, depending on what version you had) minutes, the creature would hatch. Using the three buttons, the owner could feed the Tamagotchi, turn the 'light' in the unit on or off (Tamagotchi had an hour when they would wake up and an hour when they would go to bed, necessitating such a function), play a game with it, give medicine to it when sick, clean its living quarters, check its status (age, weight, discipline, hunger, and happiness), and discipline the Tamagotchi.
An eighth function could be used by the Tamagotchi to call on its owner. Each one of the functions had an influence on how well you were taking care of the Tamagotchi and determined what kind of creature it would be in its teenage and adult years. They were extremely popular in Japan (launched back in 1996), with sales of about 40 million units, and invaded the playgrounds of Europe in considerable numbers also.
Bandai hopes to release the Tamagotchi game for the DS in September in Japan. No plans for a North American or PAL release have been announced, but we imagine if Nintendogs does well here, a Tamagotchi DS release won't be far behind.
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