Hello Kitty has no mouth, but she’ll still help feed your Tamagotchi milk and apple pie!
Bandai America is bringing the handheld virtual pet back to its roots with an extra dose of cuteness from Hello Kitty as she helps kids take care of their Tamagotchi character because everyone needs a helping hand sometimes.
Recommended for kids ages 8 and up, the Hello Kitty Tamagotchi is keeping its core features and adding some updates, such as new characters and different games and foods. The Tamagotchi pet still hatches out of an egg and grows from a baby into an adult. How players take care of their Tamagotchi determines which character it grows into, and if users prove to be really good parents, the grown Tamagotchi pet might even get to wear Hello Kitty’s signature bow.
The update doesn’t have as many functions as the original Tamagotchi, but there are two new food items that players can feed their pet (Hello Kitty will enter the screen to feed it apple pie or milk) and two new mini-games kids can play. In the piano game, hearts fall onto a keyboard and players must press a button to turn them into music notes before they hit the bottom of the screen. In the balloon game, players can make Hello Kitty fly through the air and maneuver her to collect balloons and avoid crows.
In addition to keeping the Tamagotchi pet happy and fed, kids can also nurture it when it’s sick and put it to bed at night. There’s also a Sanrio mouse character named Joey who enters the screen whenever he wants and makes a mess of the room. Players can call Hello Kitty to help clean up, because you know how much cats love to get rid of mice!
It seems like the Hello Kitty Tamagotchi is less demanding than the original version, so it won’t put as much pressure on kids to be at its beck and call. While there are fewer responsibilities to worry about, the Tamagotchi pet can still die or run away if kids neglect it too much. Once the Tamagotchi character is fully grown, it will exit the game to go on a journey to London with Hello Kitty (way less morbid than dropping dead and growing angel wings like in some of the older versions), and kids can hatch a new egg to start over with a new character. And the whole time, Hello Kitty will be at their side as the best virtual pet babysitter around.
The Hello Kitty Tamagotchi officially launches on Dec. 1 and you can preorder it now on Amazon for the perfect stocking stuffer surprise this holiday season.
