The Family Album of a Weird Little Ninja and a Very Fluffy Rabbit - Penguin-keeper's Virtual Pet Log

[Penguin-keeper]

I /SCREAMED/ when I saw Blobtchi, that is hilarious!

So did I, I assure you! Then I struggled to hold my camera still because I kept laughing while I was trying to take a photograph of him.

I didn't even know the gene pool could result in such a blank slate like that! 

Nor did I, and I'm still baffled by how it happened. Now, admittedly, I only check in on logs here on TamaTalk so I haven't seen what sorts of evolutions might've been posted elsewhere, but I haven't heard anyone else report anything similar coming out of nowhere like this.

 

[Ginjirotchi_lover]

i actually had something similar happen on my m!x before, except on Mimitchi's body (i dubbed the result "Kuchipatchi Snowball"), i think it's prone to happening with Kuchipatchi's genes because the lips take the genetics slot where ears should be, and then any simpler Tamagotchi that doesn't have any lower body genetics (Kuchipatchi, Mametchi, Memetchi, etc) instead carries the chance of blanking those out, so you can end up with just Kuchipatchi lips on whatever body type you end up with and that's all, it's pretty funny

 

[Penguin-keeper]

i actually had something similar happen on my m!x before, except on Mimitchi's body (i dubbed the result "Kuchipatchi Snowball"), i think it's prone to happening with Kuchipatchi's genes because the lips take the genetics slot where ears should be, and then any simpler Tamagotchi that doesn't have any lower body genetics (Kuchipatchi, Mametchi, Memetchi, etc) instead carries the chance of blanking those out, so you can end up with just Kuchipatchi lips on whatever body type you end up with and that's all, it's pretty funny

AHA! That explains it - thankyou so much for the insight, as I love this sort of oddball emergent behaviour in video games and life-sims, too.

It's so strange in this case, though, as Blobtchi's mother had the Kuchipatchi face and the Mochiusatchi ears and body, so the loss of ears seemed really weird given that.

 

[Ginjirotchi_lover]

AHA! That explains it - thankyou so much for the insight, as I love this sort of oddball emergent behaviour in video games and life-sims, too.

It's so strange in this case, though, as Blobtchi's mother had the Kuchipatchi face and the Mochiusatchi ears and body, so the loss of ears seemed really weird given that.

i think the explanation for that happening is just that some of the body types (like Kuromametchi's, Mochiusatchi's, Lovelitchi's, etc) have little stub ears built into the body so that even if you end up with genetics that don't give them ears or cover where they would be, it still looks like they have them

it's sort of strange that Mametchi's body is just completely bald if it doesn't end up with ears, though, were Mametchi's ears just a hat the whole time?

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Here's something a bit different for the log: A little bit of coverage of Little Friends: Dogs & Cats - a title by Imagineering which is the first, and currently only, virtual pet/life-simulator game of any sort on the Switch. It seeks to fill the gap left by Nintendogs not (yet?) having a Switch installment, though unfortunately it falls a bit short.

Compared to Nintendogs (which is something that I will have to do several times here, since it's still the best-in-breed pet simulator for consoles of any sort ), some of the models and movements are unnatural and occasionally uncanny, and sometimes animals will run right through each other. They also won't respond at all if you accidentally poke them in the eye or the nose - ouch!

The flow of the game is unnatural, as well. For example, Nintendogs is a game that has a slow pace, where you can easily slot quick bursts of play into your daily routine alongside, say, Animal Crossing and Brain Training, because all of them run in real-time and are designed for that. Meanwhile, Little Friends: Dogs & Cats is a victim of "Achievements" culture - everything seems to revolve around getting stamps and bits of text that say that you did something or went somewhere, and earning enough money to collect various types of items (whose effects and looks aren't as differentiated or well-detailed as what you would find in Nintendogs) and outfits (which all look a bit awkward when worn by your pets). You get text notifications rather than actually seeing gradual progress and behavioural changes - for example, you don't teach your dog to sit, you'll just randomly be told by a text pop-up that they learned it, after you've carried out several unrelated activities. It also constantly breaks immersion by having on-screen counters for marking and searching spots during walks, and by occasionally displaying giant, brightly-coloured "LEVEL UP!" text above your dog. It doesn't run in real-time, either.

Still, on the plus side, the game is cute, so here's a look at my German Shepherd, Donna;

Different developers will always take different approaches to the same concepts, and there's nothing wrong with that (after all, I bought this one to see how the devs had approached the concept that Nintendogs popularised, since it's seeking to plug that gap in the Switch's library), but in this case I would recommend waiting for Nintendogs to show up if you want a proper life-simulator for the Switch.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is great fun, but it turned out that there's not really anything in it that I could cover in this log, so I haven't done so. However, my Pac-Man Tamagotchi has now arrived with me, which definitely works! I haven't started it up yet, as it's quite late in the day now, but I have taken some pictures. I already posted the images showing the packaging and the device itself over in the Pac-Man Tamagotchi reveal-thread, but I saved a couple of extra pictures for my log, too.

This is my first Tamagotchi Nano-based, uh, well, Tamagotchi. My first impressions are that it's super-cute and a little bit weird, and I'm looking forward to starting it up!

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Well, it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot to log with the Pac-Man Tamagotchi!

I started it up yesterday evening, and with relatively little effort it's already a Mametchi today! This feels less involved than even the Mini does.

That said, I picked this up primarily because it's the weirdest Pac-Man 40th Anniversary merchandise that I've seen, so for me it's not disappointing, but for others it definitely would be. Your mileage may vary.

Some thoughts;

1: The games are alright, though the second one, which uses all three buttons, is very fiddly to play due to how tiny the buttons on the Nano are.

2: The graphics are cute, and they're not downsized like those on the Mini are.

3: The sound-effects are nice to listen to - and yes, they did include the Pac-Man theme-tune from the original arcade game.

4: I think that the real challenge with this one will be getting anyone other than Mametchi, as I didn't even tend to it for most of today and I still got him far too easily. It's very low-maintenance.

 

[#mybroisthealolachamp]

You know the green penguin in one of the pics? That is what my guy turned into!

 

[Penguin-keeper]

You know the green penguin in one of the pics? That is what my guy turned into!

As the caption for that picture notes, that Tamagotchi character is Kuchipatchi. You can learn more about the Tamagotchi characters here: https://tamagotchi.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Tamagotchi_characters

 

[Penguin-keeper]

I was running my Pac-Man Tamagotchi again (May 22nd was Pac-Man's 40th anniversary!), and funnily enough...

... I got Kuchipatchi.

 

[Tamacass]

This blog is really nice and charming! I was honestly thinking about getting a Pac-Man tama as they're super cheap down here (compared to every other tamagotchi being sold online ;w and i'd like to give the Nano formula a go + have a low maintenance version for once. Also, Pac-Man is cool as heck! Even though it's not much, I feel it's good to at least see it blogged, and I just really like the charm of it (and the bug feature!! that's honestly such a cool shoutout). Either way, this is a pretty sweet blog and I can't wait to see the next post.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

This blog is really nice and charming!

Aww, thankyou very much! I'm glad that you've enjoyed it.

Even though it's not much, I feel it's good to at least see it blogged, and I just really like the charm of it

So do I, and I think that it grows on you the more that you run it. I would definitely pick up another themed Nano again, if they release more that fit my interests.

(and the bug feature!! that's honestly such a cool shoutout)

They can actually die to this if you leave them with it for too long, and it's mildly creepy (I mean, listen to this, it sounds like it came from a creepypasta ) - you'll find them fallen over with the bug surrounding them, and when you press the button to call Pac-Man to rescue them like he normally would, the bug consumes the fallen Tamagotchi and then the entire screen, and it all goes black before you see the final grave scene!

Honestly, I think that creepy bad endings like this can be pretty cool, and this one is done really well.

Incidentally, the grave screen in this version has one of the Pac-Man ghosts hanging around next to Obaketchi, which is a neat touch.

Either way, this is a pretty sweet blog and I can't wait to see the next post.

Again, thanks very much. It's kind of on a semi-hiatus at the moment as I ran out of batteries for the Meets and haven't felt like running much other than the Nano which isn't especially loggable.

This kind of reminds me, though, that I need to look into the Giga Pets AR line (the recent Giga Pets remakes), as they're apparently going to be releasing a bug-fixed re-issue wave sometime soon, and I don't have one in my collection yet. I was holding out for the penguin one that they teased right at the beginning, but at this point I might just get the unicorn and call it a day.

 

[Tacoburritotchi]

Cute logs! 

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Cute logs! 

Haha, thanks very much! I do intend to resume at some point. I really should restock on batteries sometime soon!

 

[Tacoburritotchi]

Just use rechargeable batteries. I'm planning to use them, hopefully when i get an On And Wonder Garden...

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Just use rechargeable batteries. I'm planning to use them, hopefully when i get an On And Wonder Garden...

Unfortunately, the original Japanese releases of the Fairy and Magic Meets devices don't handle rechargeable batteries very well - they're glitchy devices as it is, and it appears that rechargeables make this worse. This was apparently amended for the Tamagotchi On.

I just make sure that my batteries get recycled - it's the best that I can do when a device hasn't been designed to handle rechargeable batteries properly.

 

[Tacoburritotchi]

Ah man... What happens if u use rechargeables on the Meets?

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Ah man... What happens if u use rechargeables on the Meets?

From what I was able to find, it appears that it might increase the chance of the known glitches occurring (in particular there's a good theory about the "Peter Pan Glitch" possibly having a higher chance of occurring due to the faster voltage drop-off of rechargeables, since it's believed that this glitch hinges on the device doing a final save and then failing to notify users that new batteries are needed). With several generations behind me now, and some amusing potential in the gene-pool, I don't want to risk it.

Again, though, I gather that this isn't the case for the Tamagotchi On.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

I just found a CR2032 that I put aside the last time that I ran one of my retro reissue Tamagotchis - how fortunate! So, I'm running my purple Tamagotchi Original right now - one of the Gen 1 remake units.

I won't be using the clock-pause trick during this run, which I sometimes do if I'm busy, so I'll just go with the flow this time and see what I get.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Oops.