Some questions about a 1997 tamagotchi packaging

[eXtremeDevil]

Hi guys, yesterday I just bought a 1997 P2 tamagotchi with an apparent USA packaging on a second-hand shop on my city, and the back of the package is in half english, half japanese (or chinese, I wouldn't know the difference).

There are two instructions papers, one is in english and the other one in japanese, and the tamagotchi's back says "Made in Malaysia". The tamagotchi screens are in english.


Here's a pic of the back of the pacakge:



Where is this tama from? Which country? I thought it could be american but I'm not so sure anymore. Apparently they are like american versions sold in Japan, so those text are japanese after all? Are they rare? I'm looking for the "true" american version and packaging, and I'm considering returning it, what do you guys think?

I need some answers / info ASAP because I don't want to wait long for returning it, as the second-hand shop has a bad reputation and I don't wanna give them any excuses to refuse the return.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Knighttchi's Ballad]

I think this is a legitimate P2 as I did some digging and found two genunine original tamagotchis that said "Made in Thailand" on the back and "Made in Malaysia" on the back. I presume that genunine P1s and P2s can be made in countries other than China. Another member also mentioned having a legit P2 that said "Made in Malaysia" on the back, as this topic notes.

I wonder if you might actually have a Hong Kong P2 that was meant to be completely in English. The strongest evidence for this is that there was a specail edition version of the P1 made for Hong Kong that had English programming and the back half of the packaging is in both English and Japanese:


Additionally, this video shows that this P1 came with bilingual instructions. There was an exhibit in Hong Kong that featured an English packaging Tamagotchi to represent the Original Tamagotchi. Perhaps this indicates that original Tamagotchis were availble in Hong Kong in that packaging. This could, however, be a coincidence. Another member thought Hong Kong may have had American-style packaging on English P1s, as stated here.

Bizzarely, it appears the standard Hong Kong Tamagotchi packaging was in Japanese but has English programming. In this thread, a person dscovered their original 90s P1 was an English P1 in Japanese packaging and this was identitified as a Hong Kong English P1. There is more evidence for Hong Kong Tamagotchis having a history of having Japanese packaging and English programming. Apparently, it was common for video games in Hong Kong to have Japanese-style casing and packaging but English text, as this topic notes.

Yet, there are some Tamagotchi releases from Hong Kong that might have been semi-bilingual. There was a specail edition 2-pack V3 set released in Hong Kong that came with English packaging but both English and Japanese instructions, as this topic notes. For the Connections, apparently it seems like Hong Kong recieved Japanese packaging on English Tamagotchis and places like New Zealand and Austalia recieved English packaging and English devices, based on the quote below from this topic.

Bandai Asia distributes to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

The packages that look like the Japanese ones, were probably for the Hong Kong market. The packages that look like the North America / European ones, were probably for New Zealand and Australia.

The Tamagotchi Plus / V1 was released in Japan and around the world, but I imagine any sold outside of Japan would be English. Since it was available in both Japanese and English, there would be no reason to sell the Japanese one (vs the English-language one) outside of Japan.

So, all that to say, your 1997 Tamagotchi is likely to actually be an English-packaged Hong Kong P1 based on the evidence. However, there is only confirmed evidence that Hong Kong at least had Japanese-packaged originals for standard released Tamagotchis. As for the rarity of such packaging, I have no idea as perhaps Hong Kong had English-predominate packaging and then Japanese-perdominate packaging but I wouldn't know how common this is.

 

[eXtremeDevil]

I don't think is that rare, yesterday I searched on eBay and a few came out. I will keep it then, since it is an original and somewhat "special" packaging, nor 100% japanese or 100% american. Probably a Hong Kong release as you said.

Thank you very much!