ROM Versions

[hwd45]

Would you like me to ROM test my "Haneru no Tobira" tamas? 

Also I'm glad I'm not the only one fascinated by early versions and builds of things. This is really refreshing. Thought I was weird for that interest. TCRF is the best website

If you wouldn't mind ROM Testing it then I'd be really interested in seeing the results! Keep in mind that you'll lose all your progress though.

 

[Kuchipetchi]

If you wouldn't mind ROM Testing it then I'd be really interested in seeing the results! Keep in mind that you'll lose all your progress though.

it doesnt look like i can do it, my version is the haneru no tobira entama, its not working.

 

[hwd45]

it doesnt look like i can do it, my version is the haneru no tobira entama, its not working.

It took me a few attempts tbh, it's pretty tricky. Just make sure you're holding down all three buttons for a little while before and after pressing reset, and it should bring up a black screen. Press A, B, C and then A again and it should bring up the version number.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Also I'm glad I'm not the only one fascinated by early versions and builds of things. This is really refreshing. Thought I was weird for that interest.

Not at all! It's human nature to be curious about creative processes, really - that's why they examine old paintings to see what's beneath the paint, too, after all.

TCRF is the best website

I've lost count of how many hours I've sunk into reading random things there.

 

[hwd45]

Not at all! It's human nature to be curious about creative processes, really - that's why they examine old paintings to see what's beneath the paint, too, after all.

I've lost count of how many hours I've sunk into reading random things there.

I've sunk pretty deep into researching stuff from Spyro 3 to put on TCRF and I've ended up losing hundreds and hundreds of hours to it. It's just so deeply enthralling and interesting. I love being able to share the findings I come across with people, too!

Another ROM version update, courtesy of rjalda100: the Hanerutchi 1 has a ROM version of 8.0. I assume this was the only ROM version associated with this release.

 

[rjalda100]

I'm not sure if it's like this for all Japanese connections, but when I ROM tested both my Keitai and Hanerutchi 1 (which is based on the Keitai's programming), holding all buttons while resetting didn't work for me. I had to hold only B and C while pressing the reset button. It might just be a quirk with the Keitai line but I'm not sure.

 

[hwd45]

I'm not sure if it's like this for all Japanese connections, but when I ROM tested both my Keitai and Hanerutchi 1 (which is based on the Keitai's programming), holding all buttons while resetting didn't work for me. I had to hold only B and C while pressing the reset button. It might just be a quirk with the Keitai line but I'm not sure.

I feel like I've heard somewhere before that that's the case. I had a bit of trouble ROM testing my Entama too, it took a few attempts before I got what I was looking for. I guess that's something to test out.

 

[Hoky]

Sometimes it takes years for prototype toys or games to surface again after being seen at trade-shows or in other venues, but they may very well do at some point. These things certainly aren't always lost.

Absolutely true. You see it all the time in my other hobbies. Just a couple years ago, someone who used to work for hasbro came out of the blue and started putting thousands of dollars worth of unreleased Generation 2 Transformer prototypes on ebay. I'm sure if we wait long enough, we'll see those tama-gos pop up. The one tricky thing will be that they'll probably pop up on a Japanese site. XD

This is a really cool thread. I'll have to check the rom versions on my connections the next time I run 'em.

 

[hwd45]

While we're on the subject of prototype Tamagotchis I thought I'd talk a little bit about the cancelled version that was to be released in 2009.

The Music Star World Tour Edition was revealed early in the year and was said to be the next iteration upon the Music Star. Planned to be released in the summer of 2009, it was assumed that the World Tour Edition would be like a "V6.5", which everyone sort of expected after the V4.5 and the V5 Celebrity.

Nothing ever came of the announcement. After the press release, Bandai went completely silent on the project's progress. It wasn't until around July that emails to Bandai were being answered with the phrase "Unfortunately, the Music Star: World Tour Edition was never produced". We never found out anything more about what this version would've included - new music genres? New characters? More online features? New items?



We do at least have some idea of what might been planned. Firstly, Music City had featured an "under construction" area since it first released. All that was known about the area was that supposedly if you donated enough gotchi points to Prince Tamahiko, you might have the area named after you. The area was eventually released in the summer of 2010 as the immensely underwhelming "Flower Hills Park". There wasn't really anything special about the area and the donation incentive was never mentioned again. I mean, you could still donate, apparently, but it's not like it was going towards anything. It seems like a reasonable assumption to me that their original plans were more closely tied to the then-upcoming World Tour Edition, so when the version was cancelled a more generic location associated with the Tama-Go took its place.



Curiously the Music Star itself provides us with additional evidence of potential features of the World Tour Edition - world tours! The Music Star has a bunch of unused ticket items - specifically an NY Ticket, a Tokyo Ticket, a London Ticket and a Sydney Ticket.



Here's the sprite for the Tokyo Ticket. You can actually still obtain these items by getting lucky on the item password screen (it's a lot easier than it sounds, trust me!) but there was never any method to obtain the items using the website. The items themselves aren't that exciting - they function identically to the concerts that play out during the day (so I guess it's an extra opportunity at getting trophies). It's not really very clear why these items were never intentionally made obtainable, but it seems like an obvious choice that they'd be included on WTE.

It's still a mystery just how much of the version was developed, so I can only hope we'll find out more about this elusive Tamagotchi, some day.

 

[Jhud]

Oh man, I remember being so disappointed when World Tour Edition was cancelled.... That's very interesting.

 

[hwd45]

Oh man, I remember being so disappointed when World Tour Edition was cancelled.... That's very interesting.

Funnily enough while looking for info on the WTE to refresh my memory I found a thread we'd both commented in, lmao. We were both pretty disappointed.

 

[Kuchipetchi]

good news, i was able to ROM test my Hanetobi entama. VER 18.0 and my Uratama is VER 16.0

 

[hwd45]

good news, i was able to ROM test my Hanetobi entama. VER 18.0 and my Uratama is VER 16.0

Thanks for the help! I wonder why all the version integers have been even so far? Maybe the odd numbers are reserved for prototype builds.

What shell designs do they have?

 

[Kuchipetchi]

What shell designs do they have?

the hanetobi shell is the white and red dragon(they only came in two colors of the same shell type) my Uratama is the Pink frill design with a character and it says "ura" on top.

 

[hwd45]

the hanetobi shell is the white and red dragon(they only came in two colors of the same shell type) my Uratama is the Pink frill design with a character and it says "ura" on top.

Thanks for the help! If there are any version differences between different waves then maybe we'll find them.

---

Here's the ROM version list so far, as well as any other known version differences:

Kaettekita! Tamagotchi Plus / Tamagotchi Connection / Tamagotchi Connexion (V1)

0.0: The original Japanese release.
2.0: An international release, probably European. Features a multitude of changes from the previous version.
2.1: Seems to be present in both European and Australian models, so both of those regions probably used the same ROMs. Differences in this version are unknown.
2.4: Apparently, the time during the day at which the Tamagotchi's age number increases was changed in this version.
4.0: Probably the first US release. Main differences are in the form of text changes.
4.2: Apparently, the connection feature cannot be used while the Tamagotchi is a baby on any version prior to this one. This is the version this feature was changed.

There's also a rare "GLAY Expo Edition" that probably uses another ROM version.

Keitai Kaitsuu! Tamagotchi Plus (Keitai)

The only known version is 6.1, currently.

Haneru no Tobira Tamagotchi (Hanerutchi)

The only known version is 8.0. Given that this version was a sort of spin-off and only had a single wave, I think it's likely that this is the only version.

Keitai Kaitsuu! Tamagotchi Plus Akai Series (Akai)

Currently no ROM versions are known.

Chou Jinsei Enjoi! Tamagotchi Plus (Entama)

The only version currently known is 14.1. The ROM versions of the CYOI Change models are currently unknown.

Ura Jinsei Enjoi! Tamagotchi Plus (Uratama)

16.0 is the only known version as of yet.

Haneru no Tobira Tamagotchi 2 (Hanerutchi 2)

The only known version is 18.0. Given that this version was a sort of spin-off and only had a single wave, I think it's likely that this is the only version.

Oden-Kun no Tamagotchi (Oden-Kun)

No ROM versions are currently known.

Tamagotchi Connection Version 2 / Tamagotchi Connexion Version 2 (V2)

Three versions - A.3, A.4, and A.5 - are known. The differences between them are not currently known, though it is known that some versions of the V2 featured a variety of different item names, and there are differences between the US version and international versions of the V2. Whether or not these versions correspond to one of the three known ROM versions is unclear, but it does seem to be the case so far that the first wave of V2s in the USA was split into two groups - an earlier group and a later group - where the most noticeable difference is subtle changes in how the packaging looked. The later group were the ones most seen in promotional material for the V2, and it seems as though the earlier group - what I'm calling wave 0 - was probably like an initial production run that was merged with another group of shell designs for unknown reasons (perhaps they anticipated that more people would buy the V2 than they were expecting so they expanded the lineup somewhat). It seems to be the case that some of the wave 0 models were given the earlier ROM version featuring the earlier item names.

There's also a PUMA Edition that probably uses another ROM version.

Tamagotchi Connection Version 3 / Tamagotchi Connexion Version 3 (V3)

The only known versions are A3 0 and A3 2 and their differences are unknown. A3 0 seems to be the US release so A3 2 may have been the European or Australian release.

Tamagotchi Connection Version 4 / Tamagotchi Connexion Jinsei Version 4 (V4)

A4.2 U, A4.3 E and A4.5 E are the only known versions. It seems to be the case that U models are the USA versions and E models are European. The main differences between them are probably bug fixes.

Tamagotchi Connection Version 4.5 / Tamagotchi Connexion Jinsei Plus Version 4 (V4.5)

A4.5-3E and AUV4.5-.2 are the only known versions so far. I'm not so sure about the latter one, I feel like it was probably meant to be A4.5-2U but it was written wrong. The letter at the end seems to represent exactly what it did before.

Tamagotchi Connection Version 5 / Tamagotchi Connexion Familitchi / Family Iro Iro! Tamagotchi Plus (V5)

34.1 is the only known version so far, and it corresponds to a European model. This was the first international model to receive a release in Japan since the V1, so there's a number of different versions of the V5. Main differences include language changes and changes to the Unchi-Kun item.

Tamagotchi Connection Version 5 Celebrity / Yume no Royal Family Tamagotchi Plus (V5.5)

No known ROM versions yet. The English version apparently had two more games than the Japanese version, though, and some of the parent characters changed between versions.

Tamagotchi Music Star (V6)

6.0 00 32.0 0 and 6.0 01 32.0 0 are the currently known versions. The latter was a wave 2 model, so they probably correspond to the two waves of the Music Star. Region functionality seems to be separate from version numbering, now (the ROM test screen lists the region separately). Known differences between versions include changes to how much money is passed down each generation (if I recall correctly, no money is immediately passed down upon starting a new generation on the original models, whereas half the money is passed down on the first generation only on the wave 2 models) and also changes to how expensive the Wild Guitar item is (from 100,000,000 points to 40,000,000).

Tamatown Tama-Go (V7)

7.0 01 32.0 is the only known version.

Tamagotchi Friends (V8)

8.0 00 is the only known ROM version, though it's known that international releases of the V8 featured different games to the US version. There's rumours of a Russian language version, too.

Tamagotchi Friends: Dream Town Digital Friend (V9)

No ROM versions are known yet.

I think this covers everything so far! It should also give us an idea of where to look for more information.

 

[Kuchipetchi]

What's interesting about the "diet soda" item is that not only is the name different, it also looks different which is actually pretty cool. The earlier version has what looks like a scale in the middle while the later version just has the regular bubbles.

​

The left one is my early wave, different item name V2. The right one is presumably from a later batch. I actually like having the quirky one in my collection because it's kind of unique, haha.

They seem to be really rare too! I really don't know that many people that own a V2 like this.

I may have found where the diet soda came from. This item on the keitai called "diet pills" this was the Japanese equivalent to the v2. 

 

[rjalda100]

Oh that's very interesting! That further proves my theory that the V2 I have is from a very early wave (I haven't seen too many V2s out there like mine, so the batch with the different names must have been pretty limited) .That item must have been directly translated from the Keitai, and I do wonder why it was changed in the later, more widespread release. Either way, it's quite cool.

Anyway, I was able to ROM test my CYOI Entama (the character on it was already dead, so no tamas were harmed in the process):

It's ver. 14.5. I'm assuming that's the only ROM version for the CYOI since it only had one wave and three shells.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

That item must have been directly translated from the Keitai, and I do wonder why it was changed in the later, more widespread release.

My best guess here would be that someone figured that "Diet Pills" probably wasn't the best idea for an item-name on something aimed at kids.

 

[hwd45]

Oh that's very interesting! That further proves my theory that the V2 I have is from a very early wave (I haven't seen too many V2s out there like mine, so the batch with the different names must have been pretty limited) .That item must have been directly translated from the Keitai, and I do wonder why it was changed in the later, more widespread release. Either way, it's quite cool.

Anyway, I was able to ROM test my CYOI Entama (the character on it was already dead, so no tamas were harmed in the process):

It's ver. 14.5. I'm assuming that's the only ROM version for the CYOI since it only had one wave and three shells.

Woah! We're really filling in the gaps in our data now. I wonder if there were any versions between 14.1 and 14.5?

 

[hwd45]

One more ROM version confirmed: the Oden-Kun uses version 0.2.

Little bit surprised, really. So far the Japanese versions have been going upwards in a mostly linear fashion (0.0, 6.1, 8.0, 14.1, 14.5, 16.0, 18.0), so I wonder why they started so low for this version? I assume it's because it was such a dramatic departure from the previous Entama versions that they felt it necessary to start from 0. But why 0.2?

I think I'm probably gonna start doing some more research into the V1 if possible. I really want to figure out what the differences between all those different versions are! If you've got a V1 and you know its ROM version you could be of a lot of help to me - there's a bunch of differences I wanna check.

---

Did you know? The Tama-Go has a whole bunch of unused characters.

If you go back to threads from 2010, you might find people talking about characters appearing on their Tama-Go that weren't raiseable. If the figure is incorrectly placed on top - for example by putting on the figure, quickly taking it off and switching it out for another one, the data corrupts and you start seeing sprites that you're not supposed to see. As it turns out, a lot of those sprites are of characters other than the ones normally obtainable wearing the items of clothing that some of the figures offer.

When Natalie Silvanovich dumped the Tama-Go's ROM as well as a few of the figure ROMs, it was discovered that the Tama-Go contains a full set of animation sprites for 18 unobtainable characters, on top of the 36 normal characters and Nazotchi. Every figure contains all the sprites necessary for these characters to use the features of the figure. The characters are as follows:

 Pachikutchi

 Pichikutchi

Hanepatchi

Sakuramotchi

Obotchi

Ojyotchi

Sukatchi

Togetchi

Debatchi

Androtchi

Paparatchi

Kabukitchi

Mimitchi

Maidtchi

Yattatchi

Pukatchi

Masktchi

Ponytchi

Why are these characters even here? There's a few possibilities - first off, these could have been characters that were planned to be used but got cut. When looking for secret characters in the code of the Tama-Go, Natalie noted the following:

I suspect these got removed at some point late in development (maybe they weren’t working), because there’s a lot of situations in the evolve function where a condition branches to the same function regardless of what it evaluates to, which seems like a ‘quick fix’ to remove characters.

So, there's some evidence in the code that maybe these characters were used at some point but cut from the growth chart. As far as I know though, the characters are not raiseable via debug mode - unlike every other character, none of their character names are contained in the sprite set. Even Nazotchi's name has its own sprite.

In fact, this sprite is duplicated for some reason. Maybe if the unused characters are accessed they use the duplicate Nazotchi label?

On the other hand, the characters could have been planned to be on a "Tama-Go 2", or a V7.5. Including the sprite sheets in the Tama-Go would mean it wouldn't need to use Nazotchi sprites when connecting with a future version containing these characters (though this doesn't explain why the Tama-Go contains sprites for animations that it'll never need to show, like the close-up animations).

Furthermore, the figures could contain the sprites to future-proof them - the figures need to contain the sprites of whatever Tamagotchi character is going to be using its games and items. If it doesn't, the figure won't be compatible with that character, and by extension it probably won't be compatible with that version.

Indeed, there are even sprites in the Tama-Go which would've been used had more figures been released after the V7:

Apparently this would show up occasionally if the figure isn't working properly.

While looking through the sprites I found this, too, which I assume is unused:

Pause-debug perhaps?

The Tama-Go continues to fascinate me with its mysteries! What thoughts do you have about why these characters might be here?