ROM Versions

[Penguin-keeper]

If you've any questions about what any of the ROM versions listed above are then I'll be happy to answer.

I'm curious about what the Ver: 8.0 00 and Ver: 9.0 00 are from. Those little cat and mouse guys look pretty angry about it.

 

[hwd45]

I'm curious about what the Ver: 8.0 00 and Ver: 9.0 00 are from. Those little cat and mouse guys look pretty angry about it.

8.0 is a first wave Tamagotchi Friends (haven't seen a second wave ROM test just yet) and 9.0 is from the Dream Town Friends.

I guess the character on the Friends screen is some sort of updated Nyatchi sprite, but I'm not certain. I don't have a clue who the mouse is though!

 

[Penguin-keeper]

8.0 is a first wave Tamagotchi Friends (haven't seen a second wave ROM test just yet) and 9.0 is from the Dream Town Friends.

I guess the character on the Friends screen is some sort of updated Nyatchi sprite, but I'm not certain. I don't have a clue who the mouse is though!

Thanks very much!

I can certainly see the cat being an updated look for Nyatchi, but it was the mouse that got me curious, because I couldn't see any root for them, either. All of the other version-number screens use pre-existing Tamagotchi characters, right? That being so, could the angry mouse* have been a dropped character?

*Can we call the two Itchytchi and Scratchytchi?

 

[hwd45]

Thanks very much!

I can certainly see the cat being an updated look for Nyatchi, but it was the mouse that got me curious, because I couldn't see any root for them, either. All of the other version-number screens use pre-existing Tamagotchi characters, right? That being so, could the angry mouse* have been a dropped character?

*Can we call the two Itchytchi and Scratchytchi?

Either a dropped character or an internally designed one that hasn't been made "public" yet!

What I think is particularly interesting is how each region seems to have one character associated with it - America gets Nyatchi, Europe gets Pochitchi, and by the looks of it the Spanish language versions get Tougyutchi. Assuming the same character is used on the Spanish V4's version number screen, the character would have appeared on the V4 before its international debut on the V4.5. The only version that released in Japan that features a character on the version screen is the V5 Celebrity / Royal Famitama, though I've not seen this ROM version screen yet (it might not even feature a character on it).

The other languages that have been used - Portuguese and Russian - haven't had their characters confirmed yet, either.

 

[hwd45]

Performing the region change procedure on a V1 installed with ROM version 4.1 seems to change it to a new version - 2.3. This isn't a ROM version that had ever been encountered before, so it suggests that there might actually be quite a few more versions to encounter. 2.2, for example, is a gap in the version number list which might be filled some time soon. Perhaps there's even a version 2.4? There's been claims in the past of people having a 2.4, but no pictures have ever proven its existence.

There might even be more ROM versions throughout the rest of the series, too. A4.7 E was only recently discovered after months of assuming the version 4 ended at A4.5 E, with maybe an A4.6 for the Spanish language release. Only time - and more ROM testing - will tell!

Speaking of ROM testing, this entire time it's been understood that ROM tests reset your Tamagotchi's data. This isn't untrue, but most of the test mode that people call the "ROM test" actually has nothing to do with testing the ROM - checking the on-screen pixels and the firmware version come before the screen that says "ROM TEST", and as it turns out, if you never progress to the ROM test screen your data isn't lost.

I'll reiterate that - when entering the test most (e.g. by pressing A, B, C and the Reset button) you're brought through a few screens showing various pixels lighting and dimming. After these screens, the firmware version is shown. On this screen, when a button is pressed, the ROM test begins. If, however, you reach the firmware version screen and press the reset button instead of progressing to the ROM test, your Tamagotchi will restart without any data loss. It's the ROM test part of the process that resets the data.

This is obviously still quite risky because accidentally pressing a button on the firmware screen is enough to reset your data. If you don't believe me when I say that reaching the firmware version screen without ROM testing doesn't reset the data, try it out on a device that you wouldn't mind resetting.

(I'd be tempted to dig out some of my old Tamagotchis to find their firmware versions too, but to be honest, I'd still be a bit concerned about the risk, hahaha)

For those keeping track of where we have to go next, I've compiled a very rough list of the main areas of research when it comes to missing ROM versions. (Of course, we're also researching the versions we do know about to see how they differ from other versions - it turns out the many V1 versions are all very different from one another). Some of the following versions might not actually have a test mode like other devices, but most of them likely do:

V1:
- Spanish language release (this should also give us an indication of other missing versions - for example, if it's 4.4, then there's probably an undiscovered 4.3, too)
- Later EU / AUS V1s (2.3 was recently discovered, so the existence of 2.2 or 2.4 is not totally unreasonable)
- Later US V1s (there might be more undiscovered versions after 4.2)
- Other region change versions (so far, 4.2 has been observed to region change to 3.0, and 4.1 to 2.3 - perhaps there's more region change versions? 4.0 has not been tested yet)

Entama:
- 14.0, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4 (only 14.1 and 14.5 have been observed so far)

V2:
- A.6, A.7 (might be Australian ROM versions)

V3:
- A3 1 (early EU version, potentially could be found through region changing A3 0)
- Spanish language release

V4:
- A4.6 U (late US version)
- Spanish language release

V4.5:
- Spanish language release

V5:
- 28.0, 28.1 (early JP versions)
- Australian versions (might be the same as EU or US though)
- 32.0 (US version)
- 34.0 (EU version)
- Spanish language release

V5.5:
- Japanese version

Music Star:
- 6.0 00 32.0 0 USA (wave 1 US Music Star, though some early US Music Stars mistakenly use the EU ROM)
- Spanish language release

Tama-Go
- Portuguese language release

Friends:
- Wave 2
- Russian language release

Other:
- Store Deka Tamas
- Tamasuku 1/2
- TamagoChu
- Tamafure
- Jukutama
- Tamawalkie

 

[Kuchipetchi]

In case you're curious where we're up to with ROM versions now...

There have been quite a few new version discoveries lately! There's a few gaps in the image where I think there's probably more versions, but it seems to be the case that most have been accounted for, now.

There's a few spin-off devices which haven't been tested yet:

- Store Deka Tamas
- Tamasuku 1/2
- TamagoChu
- Tamafure
- Tamajuku
- Tamawalkie

These are the most likely ones to use the same version numbering that the rest of the devices use (maybe with the exception of the Tamawalkie).

If you've any questions about what any of the ROM versions listed above are then I'll be happy to answer.

I have a tamagotchi suku 1, would you like me to ROM test it?

 

[hwd45]

I have a tamagotchi suku 1, would you like me to ROM test it?

That'd be great, thanks! Since it's a Japanese version the test mode is probably activated with just the B, C and Reset buttons.

 

[Kuchipetchi]

That'd be great, thanks! Since it's a Japanese version the test mode is probably activated with just the B, C and Reset buttons.

Tamasuku 1: 21.2

 

[hwd45]

Tamasuku 1: 21.2

Interesting! Definitely wasn't expecting it to be 21.

 

[hwd45]

Now we're in a place where, by my count, pretty much all Connection / Plus releases have at least one known ROM version associated with them, I thought I'd do a big update on all the known ROM versions so far across the entire Tamagotchi series. I've also got something else concerning the development of Tamagotchis which I'll be making a post about soon, but we'll get to that later.

The Test Mode was actually still present as far back as the Vintage releases (activated by pressing A+Reset on these versions), but the version number was not part of this mode. The first version to present the player with information about the firmware of the device was the V1:

Tamagotchi Plus / Tamagotchi Connection / Tamagotchi Connexion and Deka Tamagotchi
The V1 is probably the version that has been researched the most, due to its wide range of version differences. The following are all the versions that have been observed on a V1 so far, with a description of each version:

0.0 - Tamagotchi Plus
By the looks of it, this is the only ROM version that ordinary Tamagotchi Plus devices use.

0.1 - Tamagotchi Plus GLAY Expo Edition
A special edition of the Plus with a unique character replacing the characters that the Matchmaker normally brings.

2.0 - Tamagotchi Connexion
The earliest wave of European and Australian shells used this version.

2.1 - Tamagotchi Connexion
Later releases used this version.

2.3 - Tamagotchi Connexion
Has so far only been observed via the region change procedure on a device with ROM version 4.1 - it is currently unknown if any devices run this version without region changing.

3.0 - Deka Tamagotchi (Unreleased English Version)
Behaves exactly like a Deka Tamagotchi but in English. Can only be accessed by performing the region change procedure on a device with ROM version 4.2.

4.0 - Tamagotchi Connection
Used by the earliest batch of American shells.

4.1 - Tamagotchi Connection
Later batches of the first wave of shells used this version.

4.2 - Tamagotchi Connection
Later waves used this version.

Missing versions
A Spanish version is known to exist, but its ROM version has not yet been identified. Version 2.3 is yet to be observed without region changing, and it is thought that version 2.2 also exists but has not been seen yet. Later batches of European and Australian shells are most likely to feature new ROM versions - in fact, just today I noticed that some European V1s used the same plastic packaging as the V2 while others don't - the only difference is that the V2 packaging has a slightly raised region around where it says "Version 2", while the original V1 packaging does not feature this as there is no corresponding label for "Version 1". The current plan is to keep checking the version on more devices in case any of them feature new version numbers. The original Deka Tamagotchi is understood to have ROM version 1.0, but no device has been checked to prove this yet.

Later International Releases (2005 - 2008)

A.2 - Tamagotchi Connection V2
Early releases of the US version of the V2 - though, for unknown reasons, these devices were released in Europe instead and the US release date for the V2 was pushed from March 2005 to June 2005. In addition, the "first wave" was replaced with a new first wave of shells when the V2 released in the US.

A.3 - Tamagotchi Connexion Version 2
Early releases of the European version of the V2 used this version. Both A.2 and A.3 can be identified by the fact they use different item names - for example, "Honey" was called "Love Potion" on these early versions.

A.4 - Tamagotchi Connection V2
Later US releases of the V2.

A.5 - Tamagotchi Connexion Version 2
Later European and Australian releases of the V2.

A.8 - Tamagotchi Connection V2
Spanish language version of the V2. Interestingly, the shell designs from the "cancelled" first wave of US shells was used for this version.

A2 H - Tamagotchi Connexion Version 2 - PUMA Edition
A unique version of the V2 released in Europe with a different start up animation and egg sprite.

A3 0 - Tamagotchi Connection V3
Early releases of the V3 in the US.

A3 2 - Tamagotchi Connection V3
Later releases of the V3 in the US.

A3 3 - Tamagotchi Connexion V3
Later releases of the V3 in Europe.

A4.2 U - Tamagotchi Connection V4
Early releases of the V4 in the US.

A4.3 E - Tamagotchi Connexion Jinsei Version 4
Early releases of the V4 in Europe.

A4.4 U - Tamagotchi Connection V4
Later releases of the V4 in the US.

A4.5 E - Tamagotchi Connexion Jinsei Version 4
Later releases of the V4 in Europe.

A4.7 E - Tamagotchi Connexion Jinsei Version 4
Later releases of the V4 in Europe.

A4.5-2 U - Tamagotchi Connexion V4.5
US V4.5.

A4.5-3 E - Tamagotchi Connexion Jinsei Plus Version 4
European V4.5.

Missing versions
Spanish versions of the V3, V4 and V4.5 are missing. A.6 (likely a very late US V2 version), A.7 (likely a very late European V2 version), A3 1 (likely an early European V3 version) and A4.6 (likely a late US V4 version) seem to be missing. A4.7 E was only recently discovered, which suggests there may be more rare ROM versions for other releases, too.

Later Japanese Releases (2005 - 2008)
The Japanese releases after the Plus continued the version numbering system it used.

6.0 - Keitai
Early releases.

6.1 - Keitai
Later releases. The Hello Kitty item was replaced with a Bunny.

8.0 - Hanerutchi

11.1 - Ouchi no Dekatama

12.0 - Akai

14.1 - Entama

14.5 - Entama CYOI Change

16.0 - Uratama

18.0 - Hanerutchi 2

21.2 - TamaSuku 1

23.0 - TamaSuku 2

27.2 - TamaFure

0.2 - Oden-Kun
Seems to use its own version numbering, possibly filling the gap of 0.2 that comes after 0.0 and 0.1.

1.0 - Ouchi no Dekatama Game King
Seems to use its own version numbering, with a version screen which differs from previous releases.

Missing versions
Other Dekatama versions (Dekatama Shop, Tamatama Market, Royal Market, Game Center, Jukutama) are missing. It may be the case that there exist other versions before or after those listed above, like 14.0 or 16.1.

Tamagotchi Connection V5 / Tamagotchi Familitchi Connexion / Famitama

28.2 - Famitama
Japanese release, first wave version.

28.3 - Famitama
Japanese release, second wave version.

32.1 - Tamagotchi Connection V5
US release.

34.1 - Tamagotchi Familitchi Connexion
European release.

36.0 - Royal Famitama
Japanese release.

36.0 USA 00 - Tamagotchi Connection V5 Celebrity
US release.

36.0 ESP 00 EU - Tamagotchi Connection V5 Celebrity
Spanish language release.

Missing versions
The Spanish language version of the V5 is missing. 28.0, 28.1, 32.0 and 34.0 may also exist. There was also a special Otokitchi dating station in some Tamadepa stores, but it is likely that these are no longer accessible to anyone.

Later International Releases (2009 - 2015)

6.0 00 32.0 0 USA - Tamagotchi Music Star
Wave 1 US release, later batches - early batches were mistakenly given the European version. This screen is not pictured above as I have not yet seen a photo of its version screen.

6.0 00 32.0 0 EU - Tamagotchi Music Star
Early European releases.

6.0 01 32.0 0 USA - Tamagotchi Music Star
Wave 2 US release.

6.0 01 32.0 0 EU - Tamagotchi Music Star
Later European releases.

7.0 01 32.0 USA - Tamatown Tama-Go
US release.

8.0 00 USA - Tamagotchi Friends
Wave 1 release (often called "European", but the version is a USA version)

9.0 00 USA - Tamagotchi Friends Dream Town Digital Friend
US release.

Missing versions
Spanish Music Star, Portuguese Tama-Go, Russian Friends and wave 2 Friends.

Tamagotchi Plus Color, Tamagotchi iD, Tamagotchi iDL and Tamagotchi P's (2008 - 2013)
Later Japanese releases seem to use a build date instead of a decimal point sub-version.

40; 08-10-22 - Tamagotchi Plus Color

40; 08-11-14 - Tamagotchi Plus Color

42; 09-06-11 - Hexagontchi

43; 10-02-25 - Tamagotchi iD

49; 10-09-09 - Tamagotchi iD Station

50; 11-01-14 - Tamagotchi iDL

53; 12-04-30 - Tamagotchi iDL
English language release. I don't know why the screen is green on this version.

54; 11-09-05 - Tamagotchi iDL 15th Anniversary

55; 11-12-22 - Tamagotchi iDL Princess Spacy Version

56; 13-01-06 - Tamagotchi P's

Missing versions
iD Spot, Conan iD, Lovely Melody iD, iDL Spot, other firmware versions of the above releases.

Tamagotchi 4U, Tamagotchi 4U+, Tamagotchi M!x and Tamagotchi Meets (2014 - 2019)
The version numbering was reset from 001 in the Tamagotchi 4U.

001; 14-08-14 - Tamagotchi 4U

014; 16-08-04 - Tamagotchi M!x - Melody M!x

015; 16-09-26 - Tamagotchi M!x - Anniversary M!x

021 - Tamagotchi M!x - Gift M!x
I don't yet have the ROM version screen for this version, so I'm not sure what its build date is.

030; 18-10-19 - Tamagotchi Meets - Fairytale Meets

031; 18-10-19 - Tamagotchi Meets - Magical Meets

Missing versions
4U+, Spacy M!x, Dream M!x, Sanrio M!x, M!x Station, Pastel Meets, Sanrio Meets, Fantasy Meets, Meets Station, Tamagotchi On, possibly more firmware versions for each?

Other Devices
Many other devices have firmware version numbers that do not fit the numbering schemes of the main series.

0 - P1 2018 Rerelease, Japan

1 - P1 2018 Rerelease, USA

3 - P2 2018 Rerelease, Japan

5 - P2 2018 Rerelease, USA

71.9 - Tamagotchi Nano V1

72.0 - Tamagotchi Nano V2

No, I don't know why they use these numbers, either.

11.1 - Pocket Usatama
I don't currently have a photo of this screen.

0 20.1 - Gudetama Tamagotchi, Japan

2 20.2 - Gudetama Tamagotchi, USA

0 30.1 - Eevee Tamagotchi

1.0 - Tamagotchi Chibi, Japan
and
1.0 - Tamagotchi Chibi 2017 Rerelease, Japan
The characters differ between the different releases of the Mini, so I'm not sure why they use the same version.

2.0 - Tamagotchi Mini 2017 Rerelease, USA

1.0 - TamagoChu

And, possibly my favourite ROM version screen:

TAMA・P V1-00 - TamaWalkie
Perhaps the P is for Pedometer?

Missing versions
Other mini / chibi versions, the 2019 Usatama and Usapiyo, and perhaps there's other devices too.

I think I need to go and lie down after all that. I hope you all find this interesting! I'll be making the next post soon - we'll be taking a look at some Tamagotchi design documents.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

I think I need to go and lie down after all that. I hope you all find this interesting!

I certainly did - thankyou very much for your continued work on documenting these things.

I'll be making the next post soon - we'll be taking a look at some Tamagotchi design documents.

Oooooh, now that's going to be fun to see! Where did you find those?!

 

[hwd45]

I certainly did - thankyou very much for your continued work on documenting these things.

Oooooh, now that's going to be fun to see! Where did you find those?!

A user in the Tamagotchi discord recently found some Tamagotchi patent files and digging through them revealed quite a number of interesting things!

 

[Penguin-keeper]

A user in the Tamagotchi discord recently found some Tamagotchi patent files and digging through them revealed quite a number of interesting things!

Oh niiiice! That sort of thing is always fun reading, at least for folks like us. I'm really looking forward to your post about that.

 

[hwd45]

A small update (sadly not the long post about patent documents that I'm planning, I'll get round to that soon!)

Apparently, the second wave of the Tamagotchi Friends is version 8.5 00 USA, instead of being something like 8.0 01 USA. Who'd'a thunk it?

Furthermore, I've been thinking about serial numbers - apparently, there are some correlations between the number that's printed on the back of the device and the firmware version. This is something I'd look into further, because it's much more easy to convince someone to look at what serial number they have than to ask them to go to the test mode, lmao. Any pairs of ROM version number and serial number that any of you have will be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I've produced a document based upon the full version list I made a few posts back. Here, I'll keep a list of all the versions without too many of the actual differences between the versions (that information will go elsewhere), as well as a few pages describing the different developer features that Tamagotchis have as well as how to perform them. Those of you looking to get into this sort of thing - or are hoping to help contribute - may want to use the document as a reference. You can find it here.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Any pairs of ROM version number and serial number that any of you have will be greatly appreciated.

Presuming that the serial-number is the one that's embossed on the back of the outside of the battery-door, I'll just re-use my photographs from back in January, here, and add in the numbers as captions underneath;

Silver V2: 82705

Blue with Flames V4: 0012507

I hope this helps!

 

[hwd45]

I hope this helps!

It does help! And with a few serial codes I think I've already figured out what they mean. And I think it's really, really cool.

Let's look at a few I've collected for V1 and V2, along with their version numbers:

V1
50504 - ??? - EU Wave 1 - Yellow w/ Arrows
21804 - 4.1 - US Wave 1 - Valentine
72804 - 4.1 - US Wave 1 - Purple Spots
03804 - 4.2 - US Wave 1 - Orange Bursts

V2
01305 - A.2 - US Wave 0 - Milky Blue
10305 - A.2 - US Wave 0 - Milky Pink
10305 - ??? - US Wave 0 - Milky White
92605 - A.4 - TF Wave 1 - TF Flowers Yellow
92605 - A.4 - TF Wave 1 - TF Flowers Orange
82705 - A.5 - EU Wave 2 - Silver w/ Black

Now for each of these, notice all the V1s - released in 2004 - end in 04, while the V2s - released in 2005 - end in 05. Notice how the middle number seems to increase with the version number too, and the second number seems to always be 0, 1, 2 or 3.

For each of the shells above, I'm gonna reverse the first two digits, represent the digit as a date and then list the date that particular wave of shells released next to it:

V1
05/5/04 - ??? - EU Wave 1 - Released June 2004
12/8/04 - 4.1 - US Wave 1 - Released August 2004
27/8/04 - 4.1 - US Wave 1 - Released August 2004
30/8/04 - 4.2 - US Wave 1 - Released August 2004

V2
10/3/05 - A.2 - US Wave 0 - Released April 2005
01/3/05 - A.2 - US Wave 0 - Released April 2005
01/3/05 - ??? - US Wave 0 - Released April 2005
29/6/05 - A.4 - TF Wave 1 - Released ~July 2005
29/6/05 - A.4 - TF Wave 1 - Released ~July 2005
28/7/05 - A.5 - EU Wave 2 - Released September 2005

To me, this looks like pretty solid evidence that for at least some versions the serial number is actually just a date with a couple numbers tweaked - most likely the build date. Notice in particular that the US V1 Wave 1 shells don't use the earliest firmware version - those using version 4.1 would have been an updated version made around the time of the V1's release, while devices running version 4.2 began production somewhere between the 27th and 30th of August 2004, possibly in response to some of the battery problems people were already experiencing. Note also that the second wave was initially supposed to release in early September 2004 - I wonder if this played a part in pushing the date back.

Pretty cool stuff! This should help identify the build dates of all the different versions of the Tamagotchi firmware, as well as help figure out how some of the versions were split into separate waves.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

To me, this looks like pretty solid evidence that for at least some versions the serial number is actually just a date with a couple numbers tweaked - most likely the build date.

So the numbers are basically the date of the manufacturing run? That is an awesome find.

How do things look with the other versions, then? I can see the date format in the V4 serial-number that I wrote down, but it's got a couple of extra 0s at the front of it - are those used for anything?

 

[hwd45]

So the numbers are basically the date of the manufacturing run? That is an awesome find.

How do things look with the other versions, then? I can see the date format in the V4 serial-number that I wrote down, but it's got a couple of extra 0s at the front of it - are those used for anything?

So far it looks like all V3s, V4s and V4.5s have those extra zeroes, so I'm not quite sure of their purpose. Aside from the zeroes they seem to use the same format as the rest - an example being 0031308, which, when read backwards, reveals the date 2008/03/13. This is actually pretty late for a V4 considering that both the V4.5 and V5 had already been out at this point, but the test mode reveals the version is a surprisingly late A4.7 E. This seems to be why some versions are particularly rare - they had continued to produce them well into the lifespan of the proceeding version. Funnily enough, while we had speculated that there might be very late versions of the V1, even V1s produced several months into the V2's lifespan used version 4.2, which seems to disprove the existence of later US versions. Later European versions are still not off the table though and the existence of some variants of the V1 containing V2 assets (the V2 close up animations) makes a lot more sense when you take into account the fact that they were still producing the V1 even after the V2 was out the door.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Later European versions are still not off the table though and the existence of some variants of the V1 containing V2 assets (the V2 close up animations) makes a lot more sense when you take into account the fact that they were still producing the V1 even after the V2 was out the door.

Now I'm curious: Do those V1s containing V2 assets behave any differently when connected to a V2, or do they still just display Nazotchi if the creature on the other device isn't one of the V1's characters?

 

[hwd45]

Now I'm curious: Do those V1s containing V2 assets behave any differently when connected to a V2, or do they still just display Nazotchi if the creature on the other device isn't one of the V1's characters?

Not sure. The problem is that so far we've only seen these V2-asset V1s in a few pictures, and we only know they exist because Kuchipatchi is seen to use his V2 closeup animation (it's possible the other characters do too but we've not proved that yet). Figuring out which ROM version they use seems to be the biggest unsolved mystery of the V1 since they're rare enough that we just don't seem to encounter them often. Plus, close up animations can be easily missed so the easiest way to find this version is literally just to use the test mode on lots of different V1s until we find something new. Maybe using the manufacture dates will make things a little bit quicker since V1s with unusual dates are good candidates.

But to sort of half-answer your question about V2 characters, if a US V1 is debugged and given one of the V2 debug characters, when connecting with another V1 it will respond differently depending on the version - a 2.0 will display a glitchy mess in place of the character (instead of Nazotchi!) while 2.3 shows the character correctly (confirming the characters are present on the 2.3, even though it can't be debugged). Not sure about 2.1 yet. It'll be exciting to see how many of the V2's assets were carried over to the V2-asset-V1.