Although I was the perfect age to get into Tamagotchi on its release in 1997, I was never a fan of the pets. Instead, I threw myself headlong into Digimon with its first game, Digimon World. Tamagotchi was a pioneer in its early years, but many of the games didn’t release outside of Japan until 2006. Regular releases in the west would start with the Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop series, which the latest game, Tamagotchi Plaza, is a part of.
At the time, the Corner Shop series was more like a collection of mini-games, and for the most part, Tamagotchi Plaza carries on that tradition. While some were party games, there was an attempt to bring the virtual pet to the home screen. On the surface, Tamagotchi Plaza appears to have a specific goal in mind apart from being a mini-game collection, but the question is: can it be enough to keep your interest?
Tamagotchi Plaza Abducts You for Love
Tamagotchi Plaza opens on Prince Tamahiko abducting you for the Tamagotchi Fest, a festival that the Gotchi King has decided to hold. Prince Tamahiko wants Tamahiko Town to win to prove himself worthy of being king. He tasks you to choose a partner and raise up the town as the perfect candidate for the Tamagotchi Fest.
This plot is rather bare but cute enough, and I found myself smiling at times as the initial plot unfolded. However, it quickly falls apart, as the plot fades away in favor of mini-games. I even found that the in-game social media announces shop openings and not much else. The issue is that these shops won’t open until you play that mini-game for the first time. So, essentially, I am being fed information that I already know about, making the entire process redundant.
Instead, the story will begin to progress after achieving your goals, which all involve the shops. For example, the first goal is to upgrade each shop into a “Metchi Shop.” This will just make the shop bigger and the mini-game slightly more difficult. There’s also the added effect of having more Tamagotchi roam Tamahiko Town as the shops improve. However, there isn’t much to do with them outside of a small quest, which the game will conveniently show.
In some of these quests, NPCs will ask to play hide and seek with you. Usually, a mini-game like this can be annoying, but the game makes it very easy for you. Unfortunately, there’s barely any rewards to show for during these quests other than a new picture for your Tamagotchi codex and some reputation gains. At the very least, these quests offer a break from the mini-games.
Run Your Shop With Style
You will be treated to several mini-games in Tamahiko Town: Dentist, Galette Shop, Tea Shop, Bike Shop, Manga Shop, Night Pool, Personal Gym, Eyewear Shop, Tailor Shop, and Rap Battle Venue. In the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition version, there are exclusive shops that use the new control schemes of the console, as well as combo shops.
I won’t spoil the combo shops or secret shops in case you want to discover them for yourself, but I didn’t enjoy many of them after unlocking them. The Switch 2 version’s mini-games are fun, but the gimmick quickly grows old. The combo shops feel ridiculous, considering that you will need to put in hours with specific mini-games before you get the option to unlock them. Although I don’t find them any better than the base games that are unlocked from the beginning.
My favorite shops are Galette Shop, the Dentist, and the Bike Shop. These offer simple and fun mini-games that just require you to fill out your customers’ orders. You figure these mini-games out as you go, and it can be quite refreshing and fun, even if your customer looks at you like you’re crazy. However, once you realize how simple they are, it turns into a matter of repetition.
For example, the Dentist shop requires you to fix a Tamagotchi’s teeth as quickly and accurately as possible. After spending an hour or so in this mini-game, I’d multitask by listening to a podcast or audiobook while waiting for Prince Tamahiko to show up, since he offers a rank-up exam of sorts for a shop upgrade. However, this exam just requires you to play the mini-game and complete it, which allows you to spend your hard-earned Gotchi Coins on the expansion.
Repetition is the Name of the Game
This is the basic pattern that all mini-games follow, and the worst offender by far is the Manga Shop. Each customer will walk in and tell you what manga they want to read. This could be a simple Memetchi’s Beach Party, which requires you to simply create a two-panel comic with what’s given to you. The issue here lies in the fact that there are so many different Tamagotchi that it can be hard to remember all of them. In fact, I would keep my laptop or phone handy to Google whichever Tamagotchi I didn’t know or hadn’t met yet. Once doing so, all I needed to do was major sure some of the appropriate objects were in the panels, even if the comic doesn’t make sense.
The other games have similar issues. The Night Pool follows a simple, unchanging pattern. The Rap Venue is a rhythm game follows the same exact beat each time; the Bike Shop simply has you recreate the bike that the customer wants; the Tailor shop tasks you with recreating clothes; the Galette Shop’s ingredients are so simple with repeatable dishes; the Gym is the exact same mini-game no matter what the customer wants whether it’s to bulk up or slim down. The point is that it’s very repetitive. Upgrading the shop will add just a bit of complexity to each game, so I wasn’t having fun here, especially since it takes longer to reach the next upgrade.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Tamagotchi Plaza is a hard sell for most people, especially for the price of admission at $39.99 on Switch and $49.99 on Switch 2. Normally, I would say this game is meant for kids. While this is abundantly true, I feel like I would have been disappointed by this title even at a young age. Yes, there is a lot of content here, and you will spend hours playing through the game. Whether you take something away from this game or have fun is up to you, especially if you already are a Tamagotchi fan.
Once more, the mini-games are redundant, and it will take many hours to fully upgrade the shops to complete the game. The story is sparse, and while it can be charming at times, the charm doesn’t stick around for long. At times, the game feels like it’s just holding your hand so you can go back to the mini-games even faster. I would say to save your money and get any other game on Switch or Switch 2. There are many other games worth your time and money.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided a Nintendo Switch 2 copy of Tamagotchi Plaza to Final Weapon for review purposes.
