Is Tamagotchi Friends worth getting? Recommend?

[Unic0rn]

Hello! Not really a new Tamagotchi owner, but I haven't touched those in a long while.

So, I own a v3, v4.5 and a v5, my fave out of these being v4.5 but I love v3 as well. After rebooting my v4.5 a few days ago, I've been getting cravings to buy a more modern tama to see how they changed and experience some new characters, and so far, Tamagotchi Friends seems like a cool option due to the very low price it has. However, I've seen a lot of negativity surrounding it around the web.

I've got a few questions, I tried my best to research but I am not sure on all of them.

1. How is the maintenance? I am looking for a low maintenance, somewhat simple (I consider v3 to be simple) but not overly boring Tamagotchi. I am an artist and tend to get lost in work for long periods of time, so I'd like something that won't die on me in a short timespan.

2. I've heard you can't name your critters in that version, is that true? I mean, telling your friends Bob just got poop in the mail is oddly amusing even at my age.

3. Do the tamas die or leave in this version? I am rather easily spooked by death (don't judge please, I've had experiences) and the concept of something that's supposed to be cute and fun dying always creeps me out to the point I am too paranoid to look after my critters and end up pausing them often.

4. I've heard there are no items for the lil guys to use, but we get to collect jewellery. Is there a lot of it, is it expensive enough/hard to get so it does actually take some time and effort to collect? I love collecting achievements in games so this idea sort of appeals to me, assuming it's not something that can be done in a day.

Things that I don't care about but saw other people complaining about:

- Size: I have huge hands so bigger might actually be better.

- Sound quality: I keep the sound off at all times so it might as well be awful and I won't mind.

Overall, is it nice? Like I mentioned, I am not looking for something to have a ton of functions. If you don't like this one, what else from the newer stuff you'd recommend? I've always wanted a color one but they're out of my price range so I will say no right away, besides they'd be hard to get due to few sellers from eBay shipping to my country + most of their designs are very sparkly and girly and it would be kinda weird for an adult dude to run around with something like that. Music Star kinda sounds too complicated, with all the band jazz and stuff, no longer like a virtual pet. What about Tama-Go though? That one looks sorta cool, but I hear it has very little content without the figurines.

Sorry for a wall of text and being overly specific, but I just want to make sure what to buy.

 

[TamaTamatchi]

Hi!

I recommend the Tamagotchi Friends: Dream Town version (V9), over the regular Tamagotchi Friends (V8). So if you're looking to get a Friends, I suggest the Dream Town version. It has more destinations, games, different character, and most people would prefer it over the regular TMGC Friends. It is low maintenance, they aren't very needy. Unfortunately, you cannot name them and when you neglect them, they "leave you" rather dying. There are no items, and the jewelry is sort of expensive. But you won't have a problem since the Dream Town ver. has 11 games (over the regular Friends with 4), so you'll be having fun.

Overall, I do recommend you buy it since its a complete departure from the versions you already have.

TamaTamatchi

 

[Unic0rn]

Hi!

I recommend the Tamagotchi Friends: Dream Town version (V9), over the regular Tamagotchi Friends (V8). So if you're looking to get a Friends, I suggest the Dream Town version. It has more destinations, games, different character, and most people would prefer it over the regular TMGC Friends. It is low maintenance, they aren't very needy. Unfortunately, you cannot name them and when you neglect them, they "leave you" rather dying. There are no items, and the jewelry is sort of expensive. But you won't have a problem since the Dream Town ver. has 11 games (over the regular Friends with 4), so you'll be having fun.

Overall, I do recommend you buy it since its a complete departure from the versions you already have.

TamaTamatchi

Thanks! I checked it out earlier, but unfortunately, I don't think buying a Dream Town is an option for me, though. They aren't obtainable in my country and like I say I am not eager to buy from eBay - it would be nearly 4 times the price of Friends due to shipping, and foreign packages tend to get stolen in my country so I am not really looking forward to taking the risk. So I might stick to the idea of getting Friends, indeed.

Due to its low price, I could maybe buy one for a friend too, so I could use the connection features. (I don't see the point in buying 2 for myself, haha)

If they leave instead of dying, that's pretty awesome (though truth be told, I never neglect them anyway, I think I only had 2 die) Same about jewellery, I like having a challenge so that's great in my book.

 

[Eternal Mametchi Fan]

I love the Tamagotchi Friends so much, I have 3 of them. Unfortunately most other people don't like them. Most complaints are about the screen so if you look at pictures and videos on it, you might be able to decide whether or not the screen is too hard to see for you.

Other than that it's a really great version with lots of cute new characters and the games are really fun. The jewellery has really nice sprites and it's a fun challenge to collect them all; you unlock an extra minigame when you reach 30 jewellery items, and then another when you fill up your friendship BFF heart halfway (by connecting to other Tamagotchis). There are 60 jewellery pieces to collect and you can buy them at the shop.

I think the Tamagotchi Friends is equal in entertainment value to most of the Connection Tamagotchis, so hopefully, it should be decent enough for you to enjoy.

 

[Unic0rn]

I love the Tamagotchi Friends so much, I have 3 of them. Unfortunately most other people don't like them. Most complaints are about the screen so if you look at pictures and videos on it, you might be able to decide whether or not the screen is too hard to see for you.

Other than that it's a really great version with lots of cute new characters and the games are really fun. The jewellery has really nice sprites and it's a fun challenge to collect them all; you unlock an extra minigame when you reach 30 jewellery items, and then another when you fill up your friendship BFF heart halfway (by connecting to other Tamagotchis). There are 60 jewellery pieces to collect and you can buy them at the shop.

I think the Tamagotchi Friends is equal in entertainment value to most of the Connection Tamagotchis, so hopefully, it should be decent enough for you to enjoy.

Thanks for the help! And I don't think I should mind the screen very much, I am not nitpicky and Tamagotchis are for fun and not looking crystal clear. So most likely, that shouldn't bother me too much.

60 sounds like a great number to collect, and the fact they unlock a game makes it even more fun. I've heard about unlocking the other game via connecting, hence why I said I might get my friend a surprise gift - she loves TMGC as well and has a few of the older connections too.

Great to hear it's equal in entertainment value! For some reason I've seen everyone complaining about it, but that could be because people are used to the new ones with a lot of features. But so far from the answers, this one sounds good enough for me, especially with the price in mind (it's half the price of my v3 that I've bought 9 years ago.)

 

[Tama4star]

Hello!

Okay, as a fan of Tamagotchi, several years after the originals were made in 1996, I was excited to get the Tamagotchi Connection versions. I have at least one version of each 1-5 versions including 4.5. So I completely understand your curiosity in comparison to Tamagotchi Friends. I came in to buying a friends with hopes that it would share similarities. So the following are answers to your questions and my opinion in relation to the Tamagotchi connection games.

Some have answered your questions, so I do apologize for some of the repeated answers.

1. Maintenance isn't really an issue AT ALL, especially if you simply use something that I've done when I don't have time to look over them. A+B buttons together = PAUSE. Piece of cake! Toddler to teen tamas actually got to bed at 7pm. They wake up at 7am I believe as well.

2. You can't name them as others have stated, which I wish you could. But no, sadly you cannot name them.

3. They don't die, just leave. I admit some older versions it was slightly creepy when they did, so I understand that concern.

4. Okay jewelry. Something that needs to be said, first of all, I LOVED the items you could get in past versions. The tamas could interact with them, which I really enjoyed, aside from the collecting aspect. The jewelry is for the pure sake of, aside from getting a new game with 30 pieces I believe, it's for collection.

Also, they cannot wear anything. I don't like that aspect.

And, YOU CANNOT BUY ALL THE PIECES! From bumping to another Tama or buying in shop there are only 51 out of the 60 pieces available. The remaining 9 are pure exclusive items, used with the SECRET option in connection with not another tamagotchi, but a kiosk. Which, I think, is only in Japan and I don't know if there is any other way to get them. So I was also upset at this.

More info- The games are interesting, but there are only 4. Unlike older v versions which I believe Tamagotchi connection version 3 introduced included school and work. Both of those features I really enjoyed and added additional games. Tamagotchi Friends took this idea out, and only added it back to Tamagotchi Friends Dream Town which I was unhappy with because I didn't get a DreamTown at all (still haven't). Would I have bought it if I had known all of this?

Perhaps for collection sake, because it is always fun to play with a new Tamagotchi but compared to past versions I feel like this one is definitely lacking. But I want to cover positives and negatives so in saying that.

Some New Features- When the game first starts you have a choice out of 3 eggs to choose which one you want to start the game with. I am at generation 11 so I completely forgot about this till a few days ago. There are 4 games total. You will start the game with 2.

Tama Park- Now, you can take your Tamagotchi to the park in Tamagotchi Friends which is kinda neat. At the park you will either see your Tama play with another tamagotchi or it will make a sad face because no one showed up. The interactions at the park have nothing to do with your tamagotchi or it making friends. It's just something to do and "may" help with the social personality, but most of that trait I believe comes from another new feature.

Txt Message (kinda)- You can "txt" message. Write up a small message and then save it. When connecting to another Tamagotchi you send it.

Bumping- There are four options in connecting. And you can only connect 5 times each day, versus in the past bumping was unlimited.

The BFF bump either gives you jewelry or it shows a slot machine. (I believe this option also helps fill up the heart icon which later gives you a game). Different combos from the slot machine give you different amounts of Gotchi points.

You can visit the Tamagotchi friend. You will either eat at the host's house, or go to the park together. Marriage is not an option rather if two tamagotchis of opposite genders have four hearts and are at least 6 days old when visiting each other a wedding ceremony just happens.

You can, like past games, give your friend food, message, or a jewelry piece.

Secret- this option is for kiosks only. This gives you the exclusive jewelry pieces

New Tamagotchis- There are also different ways to try to get different characters based on care and if you give your tamagotchi personality. (This I am still trying to figure out. I usually get the same Tamagotchis, but a lot of the personality part is only defined during the teen stage it appears.)

Though, I am not as pleased with Tamagotchi Friends, it still is pretty interesting. However, from the versions you particularly listed 3 and up this may not be as ideal for a Tamagotchi that you would enjoy for a longer duration. Hope this helps! Tama onward!

Here is the growth chart for Tamagotchi Friends if you are curious. https://natashenka.ca/tamagotchi-friends-growth-chart/

 

[Unic0rn]

Whoa, first of, thank you a lot for an in depth answer. I appreciate it!

1. Maintenance isn't really an issue AT ALL, especially if you simply use something that I've done when I don't have time to look over them. A+B buttons together = PAUSE. Piece of cake! Toddler to teen tamas actually got to bed at 7pm. They wake up at 7am I believe as well.

Haha, I've always paused my tamas a lot and still do it (I have a messed up sleep schedule, I tend to work on my freelancing stuff at night and go to sleep around 5AM - and I am not a fan of changing the clock on my tamas due to them acting as a pocket watch for me.) 7AM is way too early for my tastes so they will definitely get paused a bit, but I am glad the function is still there.

3. They don't die, just leave. I admit some older versions it was slightly creepy when they did, so I understand that concern.

Yeah, it absolutely creeps me out to this day even though I am an adult. It's more stressful than fun at this point, which I've noticed while running my v4.5 - Whenever I check on it, I am afraid to see it dead, especially since I am aware of the random death glitch in those versions. I think I will drop running this version altogether due to that and go grab my v5. Weird reason, I know, but some things just make me uneasy. I personally think it's great that Bandai made the new versions leave instead of dying, imo a cute toy like this is a tool to unwind and putting a grim aspect into it is something I have never liked. I've got enough stress in real life haha.

4. Okay jewelry. Something that needs to be said, first of all, I LOVED the items you could get in past versions. The tamas could interact with them, which I really enjoyed, aside from the collecting aspect. The jewelry is for the pure sake of, aside from getting a new game with 30 pieces I believe, it's for collection.

Also, they cannot wear anything. I don't like that aspect.

And, YOU CANNOT BUY ALL THE PIECES! From bumping to another Tama or buying in shop there are only 51 out of the 60 pieces available. The remaining 9 are pure exclusive items, used with the SECRET option in connection with not another tamagotchi, but a kiosk. Which, I think, is only in Japan and I don't know if there is any other way to get them. So I was also upset at this.

I like the items in the older versions, but something that has always bugged me was the storage limit - so in the end, I couldn't collect them all. I like the idea of collecting something that has slots defined to it and is like unlocking achievements.

Ah well, that's a shame, but I can live with it and just claim 51 as the number to collect. Actually, I believe there was a Deka Tama with those pieces in my country, as I've saw an advert for it, but that was obviously forever ago when those came out. I don't think Japan even got TF by the way.

More info- The games are interesting, but there are only 4. Unlike older v versions which I believe Tamagotchi connection version 3 introduced included school and work. Both of those features I really enjoyed and added additional games.

If they are good, the number doesn't matter! V5 has 4 too but they're rather boring, while the TF ones seem pretty cool (it has the v3 game and that is nostalgia points for me.) v4 was the one to introduce school and work, v3 doesn't have these actually. I like that option too, a lot, but on the other hand, I feel like it sort of takes away from the "pet" aspect. Like, there is a bit too much going on. So I do kind of like the fact that TF isn't overcomplicated with things like that.

Tama Park- Now, you can take your Tamagotchi to the park in Tamagotchi Friends which is kinda neat. At the park you will either see your Tama play with another tamagotchi or it will make a sad face because no one showed up. The interactions at the park have nothing to do with your tamagotchi or it making friends. It's just something to do and "may" help with the social personality, but most of that trait I believe comes from another new feature.

This sounds really neat. Something I'll definitely enjoy.

Though, I am not as pleased with Tamagotchi Friends, it still is pretty interesting. However, from the versions you particularly listed 3 and up this may not be as ideal for a Tamagotchi that you would enjoy for a longer duration. Hope this helps! Tama onward!

Here is the growth chart for Tamagotchi Friends if you are curious. https://natashenka.ca/tamagotchi-friends-growth-chart/

Thanks once again! Well, from what you said in your post I am really liking it so far, actually. Like I mentioned above, I think simplistic is cool and while the school/work feature i ssomething I enjoy it feels a bit too much at once. So enjoying a low maintenance, simpler tama would be definitely up my alley.

I've seen the chart before and the characters are pretty cool. I am a bit bothered by the famale ones all looking nearly identical, but at least they're cute.

Thanks for all the replies so far! I am still interested in hearing more, I've been learning a lot about this tama thanks to this thread.

 

[Tama4star]

You are welcome! I'm a writer, so I worry sometimes on my extended responses. xD

There is actually a mini tamagotchi is extremely low maintenance. But it was made in the early 2000s. It's a small key chain, I don't know if Amazon or e bay would sell it. But it only came in a few colors, and I think you basically just feed it. If you didn't take care of it (and I would go days maybe even weeks and this thing was completely not eating) I just saw a Tama Planet when it left me. It was meant to be more of an accessory piece.

Okay, nvm...it's $34 on Amazon to the U.S so yeah, don't get that! But that was the most basic tamagotchi I've ever had.

I think you will probably enjoy this one from what you've said. I wanted to be as thorough as I could.

Games- Oh right games! CORRECTION! Total games you can get is FIVE! (So I think you may begin with three games??)

The first game is called Driving. You will use buttons A and C to direct your Tama which way to go. You need to hold the buttons down while it advances forward rather than press.

Second game is Dancing. Three buttons are above your Tama representing which button you need to press. If two buttons are highlighted together, you need to press both buttons at the same time.

Third game is called find ice cream. Your tamagotchi will pick an ice cream at the beginning of each level and you need to remember it. It will then be hidden with others and switched around. Remember where it went and select. The more correct you are the faster the movements of ice cream.

Fourth game (my favorite) is called Cake Catch- It's pretty much like a claw machine. So on a moving table little cakes are moving toward the left. At the end of the left side is a crane that will move down. The goal is whatever cake shows up on the box by your Tama is the cake you need to select with the crane.

Fifth game (this has been in other v versions) Flower Count- Flowers get on and off the bus. You must remember the amount of flowers that stay on the bus.

 

[Unic0rn]

You are welcome! I'm a writer, so I worry sometimes on my extended responses. xD

There is actually a mini tamagotchi is extremely low maintenance. But it was made in the early 2000s. It's a small key chain, I don't know if Amazon or e bay would sell it. But it only came in a few colors, and I think you basically just feed it. If you didn't take care of it (and I would go days maybe even weeks and this thing was completely not eating) I just saw a Tama Planet when it left me. It was meant to be more of an accessory piece.

Okay, nvm...it's $34 on Amazon to the U.S so yeah, don't get that! But that was the most basic tamagotchi I've ever had.

I think you will probably enjoy this one from what you've said. I wanted to be as thorough as I could.

Games- Oh right games! CORRECTION! Total games you can get is FIVE! (So I think you may begin with three games??)

The first game is called Driving. You will use buttons A and C to direct your Tama which way to go. You need to hold the buttons down while it advances forward rather than press.

Second game is Dancing. Three buttons are above your Tama representing which button you need to press. If two buttons are highlighted together, you need to press both buttons at the same time.

Third game is called find ice cream. Your tamagotchi will pick an ice cream at the beginning of each level and you need to remember it. It will then be hidden with others and switched around. Remember where it went and select. The more correct you are the faster the movements of ice cream.

Fourth game (my favorite) is called Cake Catch- It's pretty much like a claw machine. So on a moving table little cakes are moving toward the left. At the end of the left side is a crane that will move down. The goal is whatever cake shows up on the box by your Tama is the cake you need to select with the crane.

Fifth game (this has been in other v versions) Flower Count- Flowers get on and off the bus. You must remember the amount of flowers that stay on the bus.

No worries. I appreciate long replies. xD

Haha, I like simple but not too simple! Mini is definitely something very boring in my book (I've read about it before) and so would be the vintage tamagotchis. But things like v3 and Friends seem juuust right. I got paid today so as soon as the money arrives in my bank, I might actually order TF, the blue one.

Oh wait, these games, I think they're for the US version? I am from Europe and I've heard the ones here are different. Like the note game from v3 instead of Driving. The US ones sound a little more interesting maybe, but I loved the v3 one so having that on a newer tama would be great. 5 games is really good though, I mean, v5 only had 4 I think. I know the last one is unlocked by bumping, but I might convince my friend to buy TF or buy one for her next time I have some money to spare.

Thanks for being thorough, you helped a ton!

 

[Unic0rn]

Ok guys, here comes the ultimate plot twist and I can't believe I did it: I actually... bought a P's right now, included with a Love & Melody pierce.

I got lucky with my business and with those funds was able to afford it, plus I've found a reasonably priced offer. I've wanted a color Tama ever since I was a teen, so I am pretty excited. Was really iffy about buying from Ebay but now I just pray the parcel makes it to my house.

Reaaally excited to play with it! Still, thanks for all the help and I still might look into getting Friends one day - I still like it a lot from what I've seen.