These things have names and people actually know them?
It’s amazing still seeing relevance in the Tamagotchi brand. I’m unsure whether it’s because of nostalgia or the fact that collaborations with other IPs possibly gave the virtual pet makers some renewed relevance, but it’s definitely a brand I’ve come to have a lot of respect for. I’ve even bought a couple of eggs for my girlfriend that she really enjoyed, so when I saw that Bandai Namco was publishing a Tamagotchi game, I thought I’d dive in to see what it’s all about.
In Tamagotchi Plaza, you’re tasked with helping Tamahiko Town win the right to host the upcoming Tamagotchi Festival. To do that, you have to help each of the town’s shops and businesses achieve “Royal” status simply by constantly engaging with each one of them. After a “brief” discussion with the mayor (it’s actually longer than it has any business being), you then choose one of the many Tamagotchi mascots to be your assistant who also doubles as your main character of use, and from there, you just have at it.
If you haven’t played with a Tamagotchi, or mini-handheld virtual pet for that matter, they’re just there to be figured out. Unless you read the instructions (and they don’t exist for this game), there’s really no explanation to what needs to be done. You just do what you have to do. Play with the pet, feed the pet, let the pet go to the bathroom, and all that before eventually losing interest.
It’s the same way with Tamagotchi Plaza in all the worst ways.
To improve the outlook of the shops and businesses in Tamahiko Town, you have to play their minigames and absolutely none of them explain the rules or how to play them. It’s a problem throughout. What follows are just a couple examples of the dozen or so minigames in Tamagotchi Plaza.
Once you actually figure out how to play this game, it can be fun. Can be.
I was playing the game with my girlfriend, and the first business we wandered into was a dental office. There, we were thrown into various procedures with an endless amount of patients. Depending on what you see in your clients’ mouths, you’ll do things like brush away plaque, fill cavities, apply suction, and a plethora of different things that are second nature for dentists. But again, nothing is explained. Nobody tells you that in order to brush away green plaque, you have to use the green toothbrush. Nobody tells you that you have to drag the tooth decay monster into a cage that randomly shows up. Nobody tells you that the tool to fill cavities looks more like a suction than the actual suction does.
Eventually you’ll come to understand how to do everything, but the clients don’t stop coming and they don’t stop paying no matter how well of a job you do. You stop when you want to stop, and this becomes a very common theme.
Upon leaving the dentist with several clients still in line for dental work, we went to the night pool. Here, you have to act as a host or server for three customers at the same time as they prepare to hit the lounge pool. You have to serve drinks to their tastes by choosing the correct glass, the right beverage, along with other details like whether or not you include a cocktail umbrella, straw, ice — or that kind of thing. Then they head to the pool and you have to tend to various prop needs like provide floaties or sunglasses upon request. The guests you’re serving can change their mind at any time, which adds stress and difficulty to the minigame. Once you’re fed up with it and satisfied with the amount of coins you made, you can leave.
Another shop and minigame that I really like, yet suffers from the same problem, is the galette shop. All you do is here is cook galettes that follow the client’s order. You start off with a mixing bowl, making sure you have the right pastry mix before rolling the batter into a crêpe. Then you choose the protein and greens before folding the galette and adding whatever finishes and seasonings you want to the plate, but here’s the kicker — the seasoning doesn’t even matter. You can add as much or as little as you want to the final galette, but it affects nothing. Upon finishing, as with every other minigame, you’re given a rating and some coins.
Tamagotchi Plaza is a game that was obviously designed with kids in mind, but like an actual Tamagotchi pet, they’ll probably lose interest fast. I only talked about three out of a dozen minigames in the package (there’s actually three of them exclusive to the Switch 2 version that you unlock as you play the game), and I would consider those three some of the good ones. There are some really rough ones in here.
This is one of the best minigames in the game, but I’m biased because I love galettes.
One minigame I found absolutely diabolical was the Manga Shop. In this one, you’re tasked with creating manga to the clients’ requests by dragging and dropping the right art for each page. One client asked me to create “Pariparitchi’s Starry Party.” Who? So with the blank canvas you’re given, you have to add a character and other elements to the page based on the assets you’re given. I had no idea who Pariparitchi was, so I failed that one quick. Are there even kids in America that actually know those Tamagotchi names by heart? It’s all good, though — I got 30 coins.
Another rough experience was the afternoon tea shop. Here, you have to create an afternoon tea display at the request of each customer. At your disposal you have different stands, flowers, and other table fixtures in addition to the beverage options, but it’s also afternoon tea so you have little sandwiches and stuff to add to the table as well. I was so overwhelmed by everything that I forgot what the order was… and the prompt was gone. Turns out the client wanted matcha, and I put a bunch of rose tea on the table.
The core loop to Tamagotchi Plaza is visiting every business and playing minigames to the best of your ability, garnering enough coins to upgrade everything in town, including the businesses themselves. Businesses become upgradeable once the prince shows up as a client and you do well with his request. This is what’ll eventually trigger the festival to come to town… if you even get to that point.
Since none of the minigames offer any sort of explanation and there’s no real fail state despite knowing you did really bad at a task, there’s really nothing to motivate you here at all. When I got the code to review the game, I thought it was something my girlfriend would find intriguing because she enjoys cutesy stuff like this, but in between every minigame we played, she asked when we’d be switching to Mario Kart World. I’m 100 percent certain that children would lose interest much in the same way.
So as far as value goes, it just isn’t there at $40, and the $10 upcharge for the Switch 2 version for the three minigames that use mouse controls don’t feel quite right either. Even at half the price, the better value might be an actual Tamagotchi handheld. The only way I’d find value in this game is if it comes out for $10 on the PS5 so I can pursue what would hopefully would be an easy Platinum trophy.
Consider Tamagotchi Plaza an easy skip unless you or someone you know is the most hardcore of fans who can tell their Memetchis from their Kuchipatchis. Even then, I don’t see them playing this game for more than a couple hours.
It’s amazing still seeing relevance in the Tamagotchi brand. I’m unsure whether it’s because of nostalgia or the fact that collaborations with other IPs possibly gave the virtual pet makers some renewed relevance, but it’s definitely a brand I’ve come…
These things have names and people actually know them?
It’s amazing still seeing relevance in the Tamagotchi brand. I’m unsure whether it’s because of nostalgia or the fact that collaborations with other IPs possibly gave the virtual pet makers some renewed relevance, but it’s definitely a brand I’ve come to have a lot of respect for. I’ve even bought a couple of eggs for my girlfriend that she really enjoyed, so when I saw that Bandai Namco was publishing a Tamagotchi game, I thought I’d dive in to see what it’s all about.
In Tamagotchi Plaza, you’re tasked with helping Tamahiko Town win the right to host the upcoming Tamagotchi Festival. To do that, you have to help each of the town’s shops and businesses achieve “Royal” status simply by constantly engaging with each one of them. After a “brief” discussion with the mayor (it’s actually longer than it has any business being), you then choose one of the many Tamagotchi mascots to be your assistant who also doubles as your main character of use, and from there, you just have at it.
If you haven’t played with a Tamagotchi, or mini-handheld virtual pet for that matter, they’re just there to be figured out. Unless you read the instructions (and they don’t exist for this game), there’s really no explanation to what needs to be done. You just do what you have to do. Play with the pet, feed the pet, let the pet go to the bathroom, and all that before eventually losing interest.
It’s the same way with Tamagotchi Plaza in all the worst ways.
To improve the outlook of the shops and businesses in Tamahiko Town, you have to play their minigames and absolutely none of them explain the rules or how to play them. It’s a problem throughout. What follows are just a couple examples of the dozen or so minigames in Tamagotchi Plaza.
Once you actually figure out how to play this game, it can be fun. Can be.
I was playing the game with my girlfriend, and the first business we wandered into was a dental office. There, we were thrown into various procedures with an endless amount of patients. Depending on what you see in your clients’ mouths, you’ll do things like brush away plaque, fill cavities, apply suction, and a plethora of different things that are second nature for dentists. But again, nothing is explained. Nobody tells you that in order to brush away green plaque, you have to use the green toothbrush. Nobody tells you that you have to drag the tooth decay monster into a cage that randomly shows up. Nobody tells you that the tool to fill cavities looks more like a suction than the actual suction does.
Eventually you’ll come to understand how to do everything, but the clients don’t stop coming and they don’t stop paying no matter how well of a job you do. You stop when you want to stop, and this becomes a very common theme.
Upon leaving the dentist with several clients still in line for dental work, we went to the night pool. Here, you have to act as a host or server for three customers at the same time as they prepare to hit the lounge pool. You have to serve drinks to their tastes by choosing the correct glass, the right beverage, along with other details like whether or not you include a cocktail umbrella, straw, ice — or that kind of thing. Then they head to the pool and you have to tend to various prop needs like provide floaties or sunglasses upon request. The guests you’re serving can change their mind at any time, which adds stress and difficulty to the minigame. Once you’re fed up with it and satisfied with the amount of coins you made, you can leave.
Another shop and minigame that I really like, yet suffers from the same problem, is the galette shop. All you do is here is cook galettes that follow the client’s order. You start off with a mixing bowl, making sure you have the right pastry mix before rolling the batter into a crêpe. Then you choose the protein and greens before folding the galette and adding whatever finishes and seasonings you want to the plate, but here’s the kicker — the seasoning doesn’t even matter. You can add as much or as little as you want to the final galette, but it affects nothing. Upon finishing, as with every other minigame, you’re given a rating and some coins.
Tamagotchi Plaza is a game that was obviously designed with kids in mind, but like an actual Tamagotchi pet, they’ll probably lose interest fast. I only talked about three out of a dozen minigames in the package (there’s actually three of them exclusive to the Switch 2 version that you unlock as you play the game), and I would consider those three some of the good ones. There are some really rough ones in here.
This is one of the best minigames in the game, but I’m biased because I love galettes.
One minigame I found absolutely diabolical was the Manga Shop. In this one, you’re tasked with creating manga to the clients’ requests by dragging and dropping the right art for each page. One client asked me to create “Pariparitchi’s Starry Party.” Who? So with the blank canvas you’re given, you have to add a character and other elements to the page based on the assets you’re given. I had no idea who Pariparitchi was, so I failed that one quick. Are there even kids in America that actually know those Tamagotchi names by heart? It’s all good, though — I got 30 coins.
Another rough experience was the afternoon tea shop. Here, you have to create an afternoon tea display at the request of each customer. At your disposal you have different stands, flowers, and other table fixtures in addition to the beverage options, but it’s also afternoon tea so you have little sandwiches and stuff to add to the table as well. I was so overwhelmed by everything that I forgot what the order was… and the prompt was gone. Turns out the client wanted matcha, and I put a bunch of rose tea on the table.
The core loop to Tamagotchi Plaza is visiting every business and playing minigames to the best of your ability, garnering enough coins to upgrade everything in town, including the businesses themselves. Businesses become upgradeable once the prince shows up as a client and you do well with his request. This is what’ll eventually trigger the festival to come to town… if you even get to that point.
Since none of the minigames offer any sort of explanation and there’s no real fail state despite knowing you did really bad at a task, there’s really nothing to motivate you here at all. When I got the code to review the game, I thought it was something my girlfriend would find intriguing because she enjoys cutesy stuff like this, but in between every minigame we played, she asked when we’d be switching to Mario Kart World. I’m 100 percent certain that children would lose interest much in the same way.
So as far as value goes, it just isn’t there at $40, and the $10 upcharge for the Switch 2 version for the three minigames that use mouse controls don’t feel quite right either. Even at half the price, the better value might be an actual Tamagotchi handheld. The only way I’d find value in this game is if it comes out for $10 on the PS5 so I can pursue what would hopefully would be an easy Platinum trophy.
Consider Tamagotchi Plaza an easy skip unless you or someone you know is the most hardcore of fans who can tell their Memetchis from their Kuchipatchis. Even then, I don’t see them playing this game for more than a couple hours.
by Danreb Victorio
