Tamagotchi 4U and 4U+ a failure?

[Dizzie]

I really think Tamagotchi 4U and 4U+ killed the community. I was obsessed with my tamas for a good long time then when I got the 4U and 4U+ I played them for about a week then put them away. They were just disappointing. Now that I've come back for the Mix I feel like others did the same in shutting off the 4U and 4U+. They were just too dependent on being IN japan.

Now Im sad to see how sparse the community seems to be now, and hope the mix will get some of the other tama fans back into it again. Part of the fun of these things is talking to you guys about them and trying to figure out how to get certain tamas etc.

 

[TamaMum]

I don't think disappointment in the 4U and 4U+ killed the community (but this is just my opinion of course)

I can understand how you might think that because you lost interest and only came back for the M!iX you also believe that others did the same, but in the past we've found that general disappointment about a new release usually stimulates quite a lot of discussion about the pros and cons (sometimes pretty heated!) but members don't just abandon the community and blame it on a specific release

I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that if (like me) members find a new version disappointing they generally turn to other versions that they find more rewarding - either researching versions they don't have and might want to try out but usually keeping contact with the tamagotchi community.

If the tamagotchi community seems rather sparse to you that's probably because over the past 10 years or so interest in tamagotchis has increased and decreased in cycles.

There are some members who have been active through the quiet times and the busy times, others who just lose interest in tamas altogether and find other forums and communities to connect to.

We still see a small increase in activity and participation not just when there's a new release due out but also during summer months when many members have a break from studying and find more time to get back into their tamas.

Everyone changes over time and tamagotchis are not the high interest "must have" toys that they were in the 90s and during the re-launch in 2004/5. So no matter how much some of us might wish it, this site and others like it are not going to be the busy places they were 10 years ago.

I think I keep visiting TamaTalk regularly because there are a lot of members here whose knowledge of tamas I respect and because there are a lot of friendly folk here who are happy to share information, ideas and advice - that remains true whether I love or hate the latest tamagotchi release

Perhaps that's where we're different? The community is more important to me these days than my feelings about the latest release.

 

[Popgotchi]

Yeah the 4U and 4U+ was probably the worst out of the Japanese Tamas, but for someone that has it as their first colour version might think a little bit differently.

I found it to be quite entertaining for the first 2-3 weeks, then it was just repetitive. I don't know if this applies to the other colour Tamas, but the items from the shops were very limited. The consequences of not having a NFC capable device put off a lot of people...granted, it would have been worth it to buy a compatible device, but all that for one version of the Tama?

Any Tamagotchi forum/fanbase will be low in numbers and quiet because of how the general interest has faded over the past 20+ years. People that have just had only one during their childhood and didn't have much interest in them have abandoned the brand a long time ago. We still have a lot of enjoyment from them though. Even with the mixed reputation of the 4U/+, there's still a bunch of other Tamas to turn to and talk about.

 

[AwesomeGotchi]

The only other colour version I had before purchasing my 4U was the IDL. I'll admit, it was a step down but I wouldn't go as far to say it killed the community. The biggest downgrade would have been the built in characters. They were underwhelming to say the least compared to nearly all other colour releases. I do actually have an NFC device but even after transferring over items etc. it still felt like I'd seen it all before. Even living in Japan for a while didn't provide me with any more satisfaction, as I never once saw a NFC machine.

I did however, enjoy the faceplate feature. Reminds me of the Tama-go.

 

[Dizzie]

I think the NFC feature was neat but they did not implement it well. They could have made the base content more, then paired the NFC with a phone app game so they didnt neglect customers not near the big cities and over seas. Plus an active phone game would be neat. Like pairing it with a GeoApp instead of having daycare, so you could nfc bump the tama into idle on the egg and it could pick up gotchi points and rare food items when you pass landmarks. (Like pokemonGo or ingress) then bump the nfc to collect your stuff at the end of the day.

 

[ksh12july34]

While I agree the 4U was very lacking and quite boring for someone like me who has no interest in getting an NFC device (I still don't have a 4u+ and probably never will) I do think the tama online community natrually goes down and rises back up without the help of whether the newest product was amazing or terrible.

Like me sometimes theres a great interest in tamagotchi and sometimes there is not

 

[ichiro.malfoy]

I don't get the hate with the 4U/4U+ series. Peace out, lovely people!

It was made barebones in mind as it was designed to be "customizable" in a sense that they can "download" items based on real-life items by tapping their devices on an NFC-enabled 4U terminal or even something as simple as a product poster. It worked well in Japan because they actually had touch spots all over the place, some of which are actual real-life products/items and lets you download them to your device.

Of course for those kinds of things we folks from overseas will get the short end of the stick as it was never meant to be released elsewhere to begin with.

But the thing is, it's been almost 3 years since the 4U (2 years for 4U+) launched and the m!x is now the latest product and naturally, Bandai had to move on.

 

[Fae Kizunatchi]

I don't get the hate with the 4U/4U+ series. Peace out, lovely people!

It was made barebones in mind as it was designed to be "customizable" in a sense that they can "download" items based on real-life items by tapping their devices on an NFC-enabled 4U terminal or even something as simple as a product poster. It worked well in Japan because they actually had touch spots all over the place, some of which are actual real-life products/items and lets you download them to your device.

Of course for those kinds of things we folks from overseas will get the short end of the stick as it was never meant to be released elsewhere to begin with.

But the thing is, it's been almost 3 years since the 4U (2 years for 4U+) launched and the m!x is now the latest product and naturally, Bandai had to move on.

Yeah I feel like this was one of the original Poke'mon Go kinda concepts. I feel like this was a really unique & clever feature. Anyway if you download content won't it be almost as good as being in Japan? It wouldn't be as fun as getting out and about and exploring then suddenly discovering a touch spot...but you'd still have heaps of content.

Anyway I'm interested in a 4U out of curiosity as I have a P's, M!X & iDL and just like learning about all the colour ones. I am watching for affordable ones in FB groups. There was someone in a group who had a whole collection of Tamas and loved the 4U the most. She really sold me on it.

I feel like it's truly subjective as e.g. I prefer the P's but my boyfriend thinks the M!X is much better. It just depends what you enjoy. For me I'm all about variation in minigames as Gotchi points are essential to eat and buy items...so you have to like whatever you are going to play over and over.

 

[groovytime_rocks]

I got a 4u+ in Japanese and it was hard to care for I paid a lot for it and was disappointed. The only feature I liked was the babysitter when I was at work and fact it was in color. I put it away on shelf after 3 days

 

[Doobytchi66]

Hmmm, I like the 4u tamas a bit, I am collecting the characters and like the school and skill training. I have a cheap NFC phone coming and I will probably put them into English. I am still missing the goal of finding the TamaTomo in the M!X, I do find the Sanrio more interesting though. I am still surprised by Bandai never releasing a color version internationally, the bigger disappointment to me is the Friends Tama, everybody though it would be color, instead it was actually B&W and even harder to see. The Friends is a Dog compared with its NFC counterpart the 4U.

 

[Stephenos]

I am new to Tamagotchi and was considering getting the 4U for my first Tama. I liked being able to customize it and it seemed like a good one to start with. Coming into the fanbase, I didn't want the M!x to be my first Tama because it is impossible to have a purebred character after the first generation. I am also going to get an ID or ID L for the same reason as the 4U but now after reading this, I'm concerned about getting the 4U.