prototype tamagotchi sprites found in sengoku turb F.I.D

[liltwinstars]

the title says it all, a sega dreamcast came published by NEC and developed by qnep(members of BIO_100%, an indie dev sharewaregroup)containing sprites from tamagotchi prototypes. on mimitchi.com and the tamagotchi wiki there's a page, albeit really short with 1 image. now keep this in mind, one of the people behind the original tamagotchi was Yoko Kuroyanagi aka nanoray/nanorayspex; little is known about her other than she worked with Wiz and Bandai before being fired("1995 In charge of planning, development and design of hyper-interactive digital pet "Tamagotchi" (portable training simulation game) at Wiz Co., Ltd." google translated from her profile on the qnep website.).. so what does this have to do with Sengoku Turb? well, a mini-game follow up was released and in the Himitsu Lab section with two characters Nano ray and Himitsu there was these flying graphics.

if you remembered the tamagotchi prototypes you'll know a number of these were from the proto tama! someone on tumblr ripped the textures from the game, you can view that specific sprite sheet in the hot link. suffice to say its incredible that a defining part of Tamagotchi history is in an obscure rpg.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

What a fantastic find! Many thanks for posting it here.

Would I be correct in presuming that, aside from their presence in it due to the involvement of Yoko Kuroyanagi, the game itself isn't otherwise related to the Tamagotchi? That is to say, I assume that it doesn't contain any virtual pet elements, putting aside these historical sprites? Or is there more to this than just these sprites being there?

I've got to say, the sprites look quite nice in green - they look like something that wouldn't be out of place on an old-fashioned computer terminal or a modern terminal emulator.

 

[liltwinstars]

What a fantastic find! Many thanks for posting it here.

Would I be correct in presuming that, aside from their presence in it due to the involvement of Yoko Kuroyanagi, the game itself isn't otherwise related to the Tamagotchi? That is to say, I assume that it doesn't contain any virtual pet elements, putting aside these historical sprites? Or is there more to this than just these sprites being there?

I've got to say, the sprites look quite nice in green - they look like something that wouldn't be out of place on an old-fashioned computer terminal or a modern terminal emulator.

you would be absolutely correct in assuming Sengoku Turb having nothing to do with tamagotchi(its an rpg that originally was on the PC-98), afaik there are no pet raising sections in F.I.D; though i have to ask people as information about ST is very sparce and hard to come by in english and japanese. if i get an answer i'll reply back asap but for now we at least have a part of Tama history finally available albeit only in image form.

 

[OldSchoolVPQ]

I did some reading up on the game both on qnep's site and bio_100%'s, and it appears to be a pure Action RPG based on "movement" that has you pitting a large army of cats (up to 37, apparently) against a huge army of sheep. There's no hint of virtual pet raising elements whatsoever...unless you count leveling up your cat army's stats through RIGOROUS BATTLE!

 

[KuchipatchiPod]

Quite interesting!

 

[bunbun]

it's wonderful that we're still piecing together history from the early days of tamagotchi (tentatively), i was familiar with the team/figures behind sengoku turb including yoko kuroyanagi but i never read too much in depth about the matter. extracting the sprites through a relatively niche pc-98/dreamcast rpg from bio_100% is quite something, goes to show stuff will pop up in the most unlikeliest of places although there is an obvious connection between designer. i'm relieved information regarding this gem remains preserved.. it's fascinating that there's no evidence of nurturing virtual pets.

sengoku turb might be relatively unknown, but iirc it has garnered a cult following through recent years..? reading about this makes me want to immerse myself in the low polygon world. it's definitely up my alley and i'm an avid fan of pc-98, older personal / home computers. though so far i only own a MSX physically

 

[OldSchoolVPQ]

Someone poke me at some point to translate the bits about her contributions to Tamagotchi development from Akihiro Yokoi's memoir...apparently she's quite the character

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Someone poke me at some point to translate the bits about her contributions to Tamagotchi development from Akihiro Yokoi's memoir...apparently she's quite the character

I'm poking you now, because I'd love to know more about this.

 

[hwd45]

I’ve been meaning on making some sort of record / archive of each of the places we’ve seen pre-final sprites and prototype designs before, so this does a good job at filling another gap on the Tamagotchi prerelease timeline. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[OldSchoolVPQ]

@hwd45 Do you have the photos from the Tamagotchi Tanjouki and Tamagotchi Kenkyu Report books yet? If not, I've got your hookup.

 

[hwd45]

@hwd45 Do you have the photos from the Tamagotchi Tanjouki and Tamagotchi Kenkyu Report books yet? If not, I've got your hookup.

I’m pretty sure I do, buuuut it wouldn’t hurt to see them again just in case I’ve lost the images at some point!

 

[Neo_Mametchi]

I’ve been meaning on making some sort of record / archive of each of the places we’ve seen pre-final sprites and prototype designs before, so this does a good job at filling another gap on the Tamagotchi prerelease timeline. Thank you so much for sharing!

I would love to see that. Would also be cool if we could get a full collection of all the Iyatchi (いやっち) characters and missing info on the Tamagotchi RPG mobile game.

@hwd45 Do you have the photos from the Tamagotchi Tanjouki and Tamagotchi Kenkyu Report books yet? If not, I've got your hookup.

Are these first 2 what you were referring to? If so it would be awesome if we could get better scans of the pages.

Also a beta character sprite someone shared for the Osu&mesu. I think it was OsuMesu21 who shared this a little while back

 

[OldSchoolVPQ]

Yes they are! Maybe next weekend I'll hook up my scanner.

 

[TamagotchiLover16]

I would love to see that. Would also be cool if we could get a full collection of all the Iyatchi (いやっち) characters and missing info on the Tamagotchi RPG mobile game.


Are these first 2 what you were referring to? If so it would be awesome if we could get better scans of the pages.

Also a beta character sprite someone shared for the Osu&mesu. I think it was OsuMesu21 who shared this a little while back

In the second picture, it seems like the chart had Beta versions of Mametchi, Babytchi, Kuchipatchi, and Kusatchi

 

[divino]

Brilliant find, I love how we still find new parts of the mysterious tamagotchi history to this very day!

 

[hwd45]

I would love to see that. Would also be cool if we could get a full collection of all the Iyatchi (いやっち) characters and missing info on the Tamagotchi RPG mobile game.


Are these first 2 what you were referring to? If so it would be awesome if we could get better scans of the pages.

Also a beta character sprite someone shared for the Osu&mesu. I think it was OsuMesu21 who shared this a little while back

Ah yes, the sprites from the patent doc. Interestingly enough, the V1 patent doc also has sprites of the P1-style Masukutchi in place of the Connection series Masktchi. I believe Tarakotchi was also seen using a different idle sprite on the US box art and on the website, too - I often wonder if many pre-production devices were made, using prerelease builds.
Certainly even that only scratches the surface of cut, changed, unused and redesigned concepts that there’s been over the years. It’s a deeper rabbithole than you might expect it to be!