Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi

Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi is a collaboration between Kingdom Hearts and Bandai's Tamagotchi toys, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts series. Tamagotchi are a type of toy that allows people to raise a virtual pet. For the Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi, the pets have been replaced with Sora and other characters.

The Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi were announced on March 28, 2022 on the Japanese Kingdom Hearts Twitter account. They were released in October 2022 in Japan, and December 2022 in other regions.

Development

Alongside the announcement, a website was created where people could vote on one of ten Heartless to become a character, with the top 2 Heartless being added to the Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi. The candidates were the Soldier, Large Body, Red Nocturne, Darkball, White Mushroom, Darkside, Guard Armor, Trickmaster, Parasite Cage, and Phantom. The voting period ran from March 28, 2022 to May 5, 2022. White Mushroom was the winner, with Darkside as runner-up.

Design

The Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi comes in two versions: Light Mode and Dark Mode. Both versions are egg-shaped devices with three small round buttons underneath a square display. Both versions have a golden outline, the heart and crown logo at the top, and the name KINGDOM HEARTS at the bottom. The Light Mode version has a white case and white buttons. The background is blue with golden sparkles, and features a Dive to the Heart station. The Dark Mode version has a black case, dark blue buttons on a gold background, and the background features a gray checkers pattern with various symbols in light gray.

Features

On starting the device, after setting the time, the Gummi Ship appears and Sora jumps out.

Food

Whenever Sora appears hungry or cranky, he can be fed food from the menu. From the FOOD menu, you can select a paopu fruit to satisfy his hunger, or a sea-salt ice cream to cheer him up. When the character is a Heartless, the FOOD menu is replaced by the HEART menu, and the paopu Fruit and Sea-salt ice cream are replaced with a heart and exclamation mark, respectively. Sora cannot be given food when he is tense, sleeping, or when enemies are around. When Sora is full, you cannot give him any more paopu Fruit.

A paopu fruit
Sea-salt ice cream
A heart

Enemies

At regular intervals, an enemy will appear on the screen. The enemy that appears is either a Shadow, a Dusk, or a Flood. When an enemy appears, the player must press the A button to repel them. Enemies cannot be repelled when Sora is asleep or tense.

A Shadow enemy.
A Dusk enemy.
A Flood enemy.

Mini-games

From the GAME menu, players can select three different mini-games to play.

Gummi Ship is a mini-game in which you control the Gummi Ship, and you have to avoid meteorites by moving up or down. Dodging 5 meteorites gives you a perfect score, while hitting a meteorite causes you to fail.

Pink Agaricus is a mini-game in which you must press the A button in quick succession for 10 seconds to attack a Pink Agaricus.

Coliseum is a mini-game in which you must press the buttons shown to defeat enemies. Once an enemy appears, Phil shows which button(s) to press. Pressing the correct button(s) allows Sora to defeat the enemy. Five enemies appear in a row, and defeating all five of them gives you a perfect score. Pressing the wrong button or not pressing any buttons causes you to fail. Enemies in this mini-game include the Powerwild, Bandit, Behemoth, Cerberus, and Rock Titan.

Phil giving instructions in the Coliseum mini-game.
Powerwild from the Coliseum mini-game.
Bandit from the Coliseum mini-game.
Behemoth from the Coliseum mini-game.
Cerberus from the Coliseum mini-game.
Rock Titan from the Coliseum mini-game.

Memorable Sights

Occassionally, a scene from Sora's memories is shown. You can check through memories by pressing any button.

Tense

Neglecting to take care of Sora, or failing to repel enemies causes Sora to become tense. When tense, actions like feeding and mini-games are unavailable. Pressing the A button repeatedly causes Sora to get back in a good mood.

If Sora remains tense, he will say goodbye and leave. The screen will show a white heart logo on a black background, after which you can start over.

Leaving on a Journey

Continuing to take good care of Sora will cause him to leave on a journey. Certain characters have special departure scenes that can be watched. After leaving, the screen will show a black heart logo on a white background, after which you can start over.

Characters

Playable

A total of 28 different characters are available, including Sora's alternate forms. Kingdom Hearts Sora is always the initial character, and when certain requirements are met, he can evolve in various other characters. Each character can only evolve from one specific character; for example, Axel can only evolve from Kingdom Hearts II Sora.