Tamagotchi Paradise: Embrace Tranquility, Not Stress, in This New Virtual Pet World

Tamagotchi Paradise: Trading Stress for Tranquility

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday, I found myself the proud, if a little overwhelmed, caretaker of a brand-new planet. This isn’t just any planet; it’s a world born from our collective love for Tamagotchis, past and present, and it’s unlike any virtual pet experience I’ve had before. An egg hatched, a planet sprang forth, then another egg gave birth to a charming critter on its surface. In the weeks since, my planet has blossomed into a lively hub of adorable alien life, home to a rotating cast of creatures across three distinct virtual habitats.

The biggest revelation of Tamagotchi Paradise is its fundamental shift in philosophy. While classic Tamagotchis challenged players to keep individual characters alive and thriving for as long as possible, Paradise encourages *population*. You’re rewarded for nurturing a steady stream of new characters, ultimately releasing them into a peaceful wild. It’s a complete reimagining of the classic toy, moving from a demanding pet-keeping game to something akin to wildlife conservation. And honestly? It’s incredibly cool.

Tamagotchi Paradise also brings some significant hardware and UI changes. The device itself features a new egg-like design, complete with a prominent dial that has a stopwatch-style button. It’s a substantial gadget, bringing back AAA batteries instead of USB-C charging. A flip-open top reveals a docking port, a nostalgic nod to ’90s designs, allowing you to physically connect with another Paradise device. The entire user interface has been overhauled, too. It’s a lot of change all at once, and some aspects hit better than others. I anticipate it will be a polarizing entry among long-time Tamagotchi fans, but count me firmly on “team Paradise.” I’m completely captivated.

The Dial: A Spin in the Right Direction

Among the biggest new features is the dial. Its primary function is to let you zoom into your planet, observing all the bustling activity, but it also serves to scroll through menus and plays a role in some games. While the initial thrill of spinning and clicking was immense, it’s now simply an intuitive part of the device. It still feels satisfying to fidget with, and I’m just relieved it actually works well.

After the frustrating, non-responsive buttons of the Tamagotchi Pix, I was nervous the dial might be another gimmick that causes more headaches than it solves. Thankfully, that’s not the case. It took a little practice to get the hang of how far to spin to navigate different views (planet level, surface, one-on-one with your Tama, individual cells), but now it’s smooth sailing. In fact, it’s an improvement! You can finally go *back* to a menu option you accidentally skipped, rather than having to cycle through all remaining options. Plus, you can still manage everything one-handed, though perhaps less comfortably than with the old three-button layout. Overall, the dial performs as intended and adds a charming touch of whimsy to the experience.

A More Relaxed Approach to Caretaking

Tamagotchi Paradise takes a more gamified approach to raising your Tamas. When you first start, things move a bit slowly, as much of the content is locked until your planet levels up by reaching certain milestones. You’ll have access to some basic mini-games (for Gotchi Points) and “Play” options (to boost happiness), along with shopping, but the bulk of the content is initially hidden.

Whether you have a Land, Sky, or Water device, you’ll eventually unlock all three environments as different “Fields” on your planet, each supporting unique characters. However, you won’t have all three Fields until Level 6, which requires raising two Tamas to adulthood – a process that takes several days per character. So, it could be almost a week before you get there. Once you hit Level 10, after your sixth adult Tama, everything becomes available. It’s a bit of a grind, but I actually enjoyed how it spaced out the discovery of new features, reminiscent of the Tamagotchi On’s unlockable areas.

This leveling system encouraged me to play differently. On other recent color Tamagotchis, where you could care for characters indefinitely, I would usually aim to keep each one for weeks or months. With Paradise, I found myself raising new characters back-to-back-to-back. Only now that I’ve passed Level 10 have I started to focus on characters I want to spend more time with.

Despite the high turnover, I’ve found Tamagotchi Paradise to be surprisingly low-maintenance. Beyond the baby stage, it doesn’t demand constant attention to keep your Tama alive and happy. This might disappoint those who crave a more demanding challenge, but for me, the easygoing nature has been incredibly refreshing.

Even food gathering and feeding feel more forgiving. It’s easy to feed your Tamas for free (without forcing them to eat something they dislike). You can send them on daily egg hunts for ingredients, which you can then use to cook meals, or they can simply consume the raw items. You can also buy prepared dishes from the shop. It’s fantastic, as is the ability to hold more than three of a given food item in your inventory.

Of course, the heart of any Tamagotchi experience is its characters, and Paradise shines here. You’ll recognize beloved characters from older devices, but there’s also a wealth of fantastic new ones. Even the one that’s literally a rock is so cute it makes me want to squeal!

For the first time, care factors (which determine your Tama’s adult evolution) are visually represented. Icons show you exactly how many care mistakes you’ve made, how often you’ve filled the happiness meter, and more. This removes the guesswork and potential disappointment of not knowing why you didn’t get your desired character.

When you’re ready for a new egg, you release your current Tama to a Field, where it continues to live in the background. Each Field can hold four released Tamas before older ones start to disappear. I adore seeing my old Tamas playing in the virtual wild. However, this brings me to my biggest critique: you can only care for one active character at a time. This feels like a huge missed opportunity, especially since promotional materials hinted at simultaneously raising a character in each Field. If that had been true, this would be the ultimate Tamagotchi.

I also wished for more complex gene mixing, similar to other devices where offspring could be a delightful (or delightfully disturbing) blend of their parents’ traits. In Paradise, gene mixing only affects body color and eye design, which are then applied to an existing character. It still creates some fun combinations, but I’d love a bit more “mad scientist” potential. Customization of the Tamas themselves is also limited; you can’t name them or dress them up. You can, however, decorate their environment and accessorize the planet. What you *can* do is change your characters’ color and mood by buying specific snack items, which I really enjoy. It helped me create a perfect pink and yellow version of the adorably goofy Elizardotchi, one of my new favorites.

Is it Worth It?

Tamagotchi Paradise is packed with content. It offers a solid selection of games, blending old and new, all with multiple difficulty options that increase Gotchi Point rewards. Every time you harvest enough poop to fuel a rocket (yes, that’s a feature!), you can travel to seven other themed Tamagotchi planets, each gifting you special items. While I wished these worlds offered more activities like themed games or shops, it’s still a nice way to keep unlocking new things.

Emergency events pop up unexpectedly, adding a thrilling sense of urgency. Miss an alert, and your planet might face meteorites or stampeding birds! These moments, contrasting with the game’s usual chill vibe, provide genuine heart-pounding excitement. I love them, even if I felt terrible seeing my little Tama’s beat-up state after a Dododotchi herd stormed through.

Paradise also includes nearly two dozen “missions” – achievements for completing tasks a certain number of times, like cleaning 500 poops. Similar to the care icons on the Tamagotchi Uni, these give you goals to work toward even after everything else is unlocked, appealing to the completionist in all of us.

The Connection feature, requiring a second device, is a fun way to swap items, experiment with gene mixing, or simply watch two Tamas interact. While there’s no Wi-Fi, you can still get new items through off-device methods and download codes. The official Tamagotchi website has already released some, and given the two years of continued content for the Tamagotchi Uni, I’m hopeful for similar support for Paradise. Lab Tama, in-store installations offering exclusive games and items, are less widespread, meaning many owners will rely on online communities for those precious download codes.

All things considered, Tamagotchi Paradise feels more complete than the Tamagotchi Uni did at launch, before all its downloadable content arrived. At around $45 (if you can find it in stock at retail price), it’s also surprisingly less expensive in the US than the Uni, Pix, and On. There’s a lot of joy to be found here, as long as you’re open to a little (or a lot of) change and ready to embrace a more tranquil, conservation-focused approach to virtual pet parenting.