Tamagotchi World (or Discovered at 64! Tamagotchi Everyone at Tamagotchi World for the full translation of the name) is a board game-based video game. Players take turns rolling dice, land on spaces which help or hinder progression and every now and then take part in solo or 4 player minigames. It sounds a lot like Mario Party, but before Mario Party – it’s even made by Hudson Soft.

This isn’t just about moving around the board, you have to raise your Tamagotchi as well. After your move, you can input options based on the classic devices such as feed, play, heal and clean poop. You need to maintain your Tamagotchi’s status bars as well as gain points to level up – reaching the max wins you the game.

Sometimes your Tamagotchi will refuse what to do, so you’ll need to discipline them. You also have limited credits, which are refilled once you get back to the starting point. It’s an interesting mechanic that gives you a lot more to think about other than rolling and moving.

When players land on certain spots, a minigame will be triggered. There are only 10 minigames, but they wouldn’t feel out of place in Mario Party (one even has you spinning the analogue stick as fast as you can).

This is an interesting precursor to Mario Party, and the Tamagotchi elements, while still entirely luck based, make it more than just a roll and move game.

Fine

The signature part of the game is that your blobs are vital to success, but a but independent. Innocently they spread distress, dozing all the way through your turn, pouncing on each other’s food, falling violently ill at precisely the wrong moment and generally demanding attention unreasonably.

Jonathan Nash, N64 Magazine #12. Review Score: 79%

Remake or Remaster?

I feel like this is an interesting little bit of video game history and should be preserved – a Tamagotchi game collection, perhaps?

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to play Tamagotchi World