October 20, 2024
How Long Do Tamagotchi Live? From Hatch to Beyond
Tamagotchis are notorious for dying abruptly when you don’t give them constant care - but how long can they live?
TLDR
Before diving into the mess of real pet cleanup, 90s kids honed their skills with Tamagotchi! From playtime to potty time, discover how to handle digital doo-ty like a pro. Unleash your inner pet caretaker and keep your virtual buddy happy and healthy with our guide on how to clean Tamagotchi poop!
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How Often Do Tamagotchi Poop?
Each version of the Tamagotchi poops on a slightly different schedule, and their waste can serve a few different functions. For example, Tamagotchi Angel only poops after prayer, and the Tamagotchi Tamacom’s poop can be given as a terrible gift.
Typically though, Tamagotchis will poop an hour after you feed them a meal or a snack. You’ll know when you need to feed them when the Tama’s hungry hearts start to deplete (one heart is filled with each feeding), but you should be feeding them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You have to feed the eggs to keep their happiness up, and that means poop cleanup is inevitable.
Thankfully, once it evolves into an adult, it will poop every two to three hours after they eat – cutting down on dirty work significantly. There are special occasions when the Tamagotchi character poops more often, like the TamaTown. On the Tama-go, once the Tama reaches 99 lbs, you can use the medicine icon to cause your Tama to emergency poop, flooding the screen with poos and dropping its weight down to 72 lbs. That’s a pretty neat party trick!
That’s not the only “neat” thing a particular Tamagotchi can do though.
The Funkorogatchi, for instance, likes to eat a very particular type of meal. That Tama is based on a dung beetle, so I think you can see where this is going…
And yes, it’s very gross.
Thankfully, this is the only character that can do this, and it is only an option in the Japan-only Mori de Hakken! Tamagotchi from 1998.
What Does Tamagotchi Poop Look Like?
Now that you know how often your Tama poops, it’s time to explore the fascinating subject of what Tamagotchi poop looks like between versions.
In the original Tamagotchi, poop appears as a small, dark mound with surrounding stink lines and flies positioned on the right side of the screen. Simple and clean considering the subject matter, but this has been adjusted in later iterations of the beloved egg gadget.
For instance, the Tamagotchi Connection Version 5 (in both Tamagotchi House and the Love My Family designs), the poo’s aesthetic remains the same but instead appears at the top of the screen instead of the right side. On the Tamagotchi Smart, Bandai went out on a limb and positioned the poo on the left side. The absolute mad lads.
Don’t fret! Bandai eventually did more than just push the poop around the screen – there are a few versions where the Tamagotchi poo actually looks different. On the Tamagotchi Angel, the poop is solid gold with sparkles instead of customary stink lines and flies. The poop on the Tamagotchi Ocean has no stink lines and appears on the back of the virtual pet until it’s cleaned – which is more than a little upsetting.
Tip
Take note of the color of your Tama’s stool! On Tamagotchis with a color screen, a healthy poo is yellow, but black poo indicates your virtual pet is sick. On Tamagotchi 'Round the World, the pet's poop starts bright blue and gets darker the longer it's on the screen, so prioritize cleaning them first.
Will Tamagotchis Alert You When They Poop?
Usually, when any of these virtual pets need attention (like needing food or wanting to play), it beeps to alert you. However, that is not the case for everything. Your Tamagotchi will not alert you if there is poop on the screen, so you won’t be missing anything if you mute your Tamagotchi. If you want to keep your Tama from getting lost in a poo playground though, you’ll need to check periodically and do your doo-ty!
While the Tamagotchi alert sound can get a little grating, but it’s important to remember that those beeps are your egg-child’s calls for help! Whether they want to play a game or have a snack, those alerts can help you learn the pattern and timing of different events that will keep your Tama happy.
Cleaning Your Tama’s Poop
In the iconic rivalry between Tamagotchi and Giga Pet, there are plenty of similarities. One of those similarities is the process of actually cleaning up your virtual pet’s electronic excrement. In both digital pets, you’ll need to use special icons and commands to get the job done.
In Tamagotchi Generation 1 and 2, you’ll have to use the Duck icon to flush the screen and clear your Tamagotchi’s poop. To do so, simply press the ‘A’ button until the icon is highlighted, then hit the ‘B’ button to clean the poop. This process is the same on the Tamagotchi Connection, except the icon is, more appropriately, a toilet.
On the Tamagotchi Pix, the process of cleaning up poop is slightly different since there are no standard buttons like on other versions. This version also features a touch screen, so many commands can be fulfilled through swipes. If you want to poop-scoop on Tamagotchi Pix, you’ll have to get your hands dirty by swiping from left to right after selecting the Clean option.
Just… make sure you wash your hands after.
How Do I Make My Tamagotchi Poop in a Toilet, Instead of the Floor?
Ever wondered why your Tamagotchi character can’t just use a toilet like the rest of us? Well, they thought of this when making the Game Boy version.
In that version, you can use the Toilet command to compel your Tama to use the toilet if you catch them before they leave a mess on the floor!
After that, the alien Tama’s seemed to take a hint, and the bathroom function has appeared on every subsequent version – starting with Tamagotchi Plus. So, in most Tamagotchis since, you can make your Tamagotchi use the toilet by pressing the ‘A’ button until the Bathroom icon is highlighted, then you simply press the ‘B’ button to have it go about its business.
This adds another level of play to the already engaging Tamagotchis, and it makes the overall experience better by, you know, not having to pick up fecal matter.
What Happens if You Don’t Clean Up Tamagotchi Poop?
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any old-school Tamagotchi lover, but if you neglect cleaning up your pet’s poop, it’ll start accumulating all over the screen. That’s not healthy for anyone, including your defenseless Tama!
If you leave your Tama to roll around in its own waste, it’s not hard to guess what will happen…
It will eventually get sick.
This will hamper your Tamagotchi’s health and growth into more mature stages, and can even cut your Tamagotchi’s lifespan short! Why is Tamagotchi death programmed into this kid’s game? That’s anybody’s guess, but it sure does raise the stakes.
If you want to keep cheering on your Tama to evolution and beyond rather than watching them die, make sure you’re ready to care for them and clean up after them.
Which Tamagotchi Mini-Games Feature Poop?
In the world of Tamagotchi, poop isn’t just a nuisance; it’s part of the gameplay!
On Tamagotchi Connection Version 3 and Keitai Katsura Tamagotchi Plus, the first game has the user avoiding falling poop while trying to catch music notes. Talk about suffering for art! The opposite goes for Akai, a Japanese version of Tamagotchi, where the user avoids falling money while catching poops of different sizes in a trash can.
On Tamagotchi L.i.f.e Tap and Hatch, poop is used as a stage obstacle in one game, preventing falling blocks from passing through. The only way to clear it was through a Potty Bomb or clearing the block directly.
In Tamagotchi ‘Round the World’, poop is used as plant fertilizer. The pet may also poop, but if it does so near a geyser, the creature must do a rain dance to remove it.
Fact
Did you know a few Tamagotchi characters actually feature poop in their design? Unchi-Kuhn and Super Unchikun look like golden poop, but with limbs and a face. Washikitchi is a toilet with a large poop on its back!
Are There Any Tamagotchis That Don’t Poop?
Most versions of Tamagotchi go to the bathroom, including the Tamagotchi Nano. However, most of the licensed versions of the nano exclude pooping (probably to preserve character integrity) and instead replace it with an obstacle that needs to be cleared away. For example, hairballs, instead of poop, appear on the screen of Eevee X Tamagotchi.
Just like with all pets, being a successful Tamagotchi parent means you’ll need to clean up. Luckily, Bandai doesn’t make it too hard for you to keep your Tama in hygienic conditions, but you’ll have to stay on your parental A-game!
Lee Davey
Lee is curator of nostalgia and a long-time collector of loveable junk. An 80s baby, 90s kid, he knows he had it good when it came to Saturday morning cartoons. Spends his life trying to recapture the dopamine hit of playing Game Boy for the first time and believes Beanie Babies will make a fortuitous comeback. Obsessed with everything (and anything) retro, he is your trusted guide to a world of 90s toys, games and collectables.
