User:Hwd45/Tamagotchi Connection Template/Tamagotchi Connection

This is a sub-page of User:Hwd45/Tamagotchi Connection Template.

The first version of the revived Tamagotchi series, the Tamagotchi Plus, released as in Japan on March 20th, 2004, before releasing later that same year under the name Tamagotchi Connection in America and Tamagotchi Connexion in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Following the release of the Version 2 in 2005, the Connection became informally known as the Version 1 or the V1.

Developer Functions

ROM Test

To access ROM testing features, the player must hold down the A, B and C buttons in unison and press the reset button. The test begins by testing the screen - all the pixels and icons begin lighting up, and which pixels are displayed will change when pressing the A, B and C buttons in succession; first half of the pixels will light up, followed by the other half, and finally the pixels surrounding the border of the screen will light up. After pressing the A button once more the firmware version is displayed, as seen alongside the different versions below. Afterwards, the words "ROM TEST" will display on screen while the ROM is tested. After a short wait either "ROM ERROR" or "ROM OK" will appear on screen depending on the status of the ROM. Next, the usual connection screen is displayed, and upon successfully connecting to another Tamagotchi the usual "READY" "GO!" screens will display. It hangs on the "GO!" screen momentarily before displaying the word "SLEEP" and finally automatically resetting itself. On the Tamagotchi which connected with the ROM testing device, a new friend is added to the friends list - a nameless boy using the egg sprite.

Performing a ROM Test counts as a hard reset - all save data will be lost.

Debug Mode

As with most versions, debug mode has two main functions:

• When the character is idle, the C button can be used to toggle "hyperspeed", a mode where in-game time moves much more rapidly.
• The user can select any playable character, including unused ones, by scrolling with the A button immediately after the egg hatches. A number of the characters that can be obtained this way are unused and can be seen in #Unused_Characters. The obtainable characters also differs between different versions of the V1 and the poses they make in the character selector also differ between releases.

For hardware reasons, debug mode cannot be accessed on all V1 models - in particular, many of the European models lack the necessary region of the circuit board to allow for this functionality.

Region Change

The region change feature, exclusive to the American models, usually has the effect of switching the ROM version to a version intended for the European market. Curiously, unlike later versions, region changing on the V1 seem to always change the device to a version that was never released elsewhere. Even stranger is the fact that some devices seem to switch to an otherwise unseen English Dekatama version, "3.0 00001". While there were plans for a Dekatama release in the USA, no English language Dekatama ever surfaced - especially not one that used the European date format like 3.0 did. This may have thus been a ROM version that was intended to be used should Dekatamas have been localised in European markets.

More specifically, V1 models installed with ROM version 4.2 are the ones that switch to VER 3.0 00001. Devices installed with version 4.1 will switch to VER 2.3 instead, while devices installed with VER 4.0 switch to VER 2.2.

Regional and Revisional Differences

Due to it being an international release, a vast number of variants of the V1 were released during its lifespan. While many of the changes come as a result of localisation, several changes came as a result of revisional variants and special edition versions of the Tamagotchi. The version number displayed upon performing a ROM test helps identify these variants.

VER 0.0 (Japan)

The initial Japanese release of the Tamagotchi Plus.

• The language is Japanese.
• The date format is Month / Day.
• In terms of the hardware of the device, devices installed with 0.0 had the ability for debug mode to be accessed. It is activated by shorting a small rectangular region labelled "Debug" on the circuit board, unlike the American devices, which instead had a semicircular region.
• 0.0 and its successor 0.1 seem to have some Dekatama functionality installed. Specifically, if the debug mode is used to raise one of the Deka characters and another Tamagotchi V1 connects with the Tamagotchi with the Deka character, the other V1 will receive special items from the Deka character as they would if they were to connect with a Deka Tamagotchi. For more information, read #Dekatama_Functionality.
  • This feature appears to not be present on the American releases - ROM versions 4.0 to 4.2. It is unknown if the feature is present on other releases - 2.0 to 2.4 and 4.3 - as these devices cannot be debugged.

VER 0.1 - GLAY Expo Edition (Japan)

To do: Compare the differing birthday animations

An obscure variant of the Japanese version was given out at the GLAY Expo in 2004. Differing only slightly from VER 0.0, it has a unique birthday animation and features an exclusive character called "Metarutchi", which cannot be obtained but can be presented as a dating partner by the matchmaker.

VER 2.0 (Europe, Asia-Pacific)

To do: Confirm the character mappings between the Plus and other versions of the V1

The first English language version that was released, mainly in European countries. This ROM version was particularly prominent in shells with the first wave of designs.

• The language of this version was English. As well as a range of changed text, the characters that can be input into the name field were changed to remove the hiragana characters and most of the additional characters (with the exception of the exclamation mark and the question mark) and add the Latin alphabet.
  • Hiragana characters still exist in the device's character list, however, so that names from a Japanese device are mostly presented correctly in the friends list. The alphabetical characters overwrite most of the punctuation symbols, with the exception of the exclamation mark and question mark, though.
• The date format is Day / Month.
• The death animation was altered - instead of showing a grave with an Obaketchi, a generic egg-shaped angel with wings and a halo is shown.
• The bath sprite that adults used was changed. Furthermore, Oyajitchi began using the standard adult bath sprite instead of a unique one.
• The positioning of the number on the ROM version screen was slightly altered.

In terms of the hardware, unlike most European releases, Tamagotchis that were installed with this ROM version actually do have the necessary components to allow for the debug mode to be activated. The debug region is identical to the one on the Japanese hardware. Despite the existence of the necessary hardware, it is unknown if this actually allows debug mode to be activated.

VER 2.1 (Europe, Asia-Pacific)

An updated English ROM version was released with later waves of designs.

• The language is English and the date format is Day / Month, once again.
• On previous versions, an Obaketchi could be received as a gift when connecting. From VER 2.1 onwards, a slightly less spooky ghost is received. Curiously, the ghost bears a striking similarity to Dorotchi, a character that later appeared on the V2.

The circuitry of the Tamagotchi was changed along with the ROM version, so devices that were installed with ROM version 2.1 cannot be debugged due to the lack of a debug region on the circuit board.

VER 2.2 (Europe, Asia-Pacific)

To do: Investigate this version.

File:TamaConnection-Ver2-2.png

VER 2.2 can only be accessed by performing the region change operation on an American device. Specifically, it seems as though this version is only present on devices whose standard ROM version is VER 4.0.

• Once again the language is English and the date format is Day / Month.

VER 2.3 (Europe, Asia-Pacific)

VER 2.3 can only be accessed by performing the region change operation on an American device. Specifically, it seems as though this version is only present on devices whose standard ROM version is VER 4.1.

• Once again the language is English and the date format is Day / Month.
• On previous versions, the Tamagotchi's age counter increases by 1 every time the character wakes up. On this version onwards, the age counter instead only increases every 24 hours that the Tamagotchi has been alive.
• Although the debug mode cannot be accessed, additional unused characters were added to the device. This change can be seen by connecting with one of the new characters - prior to this version, the characters would appear corrupted, whereas they appear normally on VER 2.3. See #Unused_Characters for more information.
• A number of sprites that are displayed on the friends list were changed. Specifically, several characters changed which animation frame was displayed. The change also applied to the character select in debug mode, but as VER 2.3 cannot be debugged this can only be observed by comparing the character list on VER 0.0 with the list on a later debuggable version such as VER 4.0.

VER 2.4 (Europe, Asia-Pacific)

File:TamaConnection-Ver2-4.png

VER 2.4 is a somewhat uncommon version released in Europe and Asia-Pacific regions towards the end of 2004. Differences from prior versions are currently unknown.

• Once again the language is English and the date format is Day / Month.

VER 4.0 (North America)

The first batch of American V1s used ROM version 4.0.

• The language is English and the date format is Month / Day.
• The pause feature was added.
• The angel sprite seen when the Tamagotchi dies was once again altered slightly, removing the halo.
  • Despite this, the halo still appears in images in the instruction manual.
• On previous versions, the character would cry when losing a game. On this version onwards, the tears are no longer displayed.
• Several food sprites were changed, as were the food items that the Deka characters eat. See #Unused_Food for more information.
  • The Deka characters may have begun eating different food in a previous version, but due to the lack of a debug mode in prior releases, this has not been verified.
• Much of the text was altered slightly.

Context	2.0 - 2.4	4.0 - 4.2
Status menu	g	LB
Status menu	STYLE	GENDER
Status menu	GENE.	GEN.
Food menu	FOOD	MEAL
Games	BAD~~	OK
Games	OK	GOOD
Games	GOOD	GREAT
Games	GREAT	EXCELLENT
Dance game	DANCE	WATCH
Connection menu	PROCEED	CONNECT
During connection	ABSENT	AWAY
Discipline menu	PUNISH	TIME OUT
Friend menu	ITEM	PRESENT
Matchmaker	LONELY?	LOVE?

• Furthermore, the text on the ninth menu was made narrower to account for how much wider the word "PRESENT" is than "ITEM"
• Additionally, the appearance of the connection screen was altered.
• The word "SET" now appears beneath the clock when setting the time.
• Gender is now displayed on the hatch screen, beneath the character. The same is also true for the character selector in debug mode.
• The Dorotchi-esque item received when connecting was replaced with a Jack-in-the-box.
• You can no longer receive sickness as an item when connecting - instead, a worm may be received.
• In previous versions, babies would use the toilet if the toilet icon was pressed at the right time. This feature was disabled in this release.

In terms of the hardware, the American releases are similar to the Japanese ones in that they possess the appropriate circuit board features to access debug mode, though this area of the board is now circular instead of being rectangular like the Japanese and European models. Furthermore, the region change feature is exclusively available on the American hardware. Another change which is likely related to hardware changes is a subtle change in the sound effects - the pitch was changed from C key in prior releases to A key. Supposedly some early releases had battery issues - this may have been associated with this ROM version or its associated hardware.

VER 4.1 (North America)

A revised release of the American Tamagotchi Connection, this ROM version would appear in later batches of the first wave of shell designs. The most noticeable change in this version is that babies can now use the connection feature.

VER 4.2 (North America)

Another American revisional release, featuring on second-wave shells. It is not known how this version differs from 4.1.

VER 4.3 (South America)

File:TamaConnection-Ver4-3.png

A Spanish language variant, VER 4.3, released in a number of countries in South America. Aside from using Spanish instead of English or Japanese, it is not known if there are any other differences between this release and prior versions.

Unused Characters

A number of characters are only accessible through debug mode. For each character listed below, their associated Meal and Snack are listed alongside them. A number of these food items are also unused.

All Versions

Image	Name	Description
	Nazotchi	This character appears during normal gameplay as a placeholder when connecting to a different version that has a character not present in the Version 1. In the Japanese release it only has three frames of animation.
	Burgertchi	Characters from the Deka Tamagotchi, a promotional toy featured in a number of Japanese stores during 2004 which could connect to the V1 allowing for a unique character to appear in the friends.
	Capsuletchi
	Maikutchi
	Omuratchi
	Tamagotchi
	Denpatchi	Probably planned to be one of the Deka Tamagotchi mascots, given by how other Tamagotchis interact with it when connecting, but it was never fully realised. Its name was not known until it was found in a Tamagotchi patent document in 2019.
	Tsutatchi	Another Dekatama character. On releases outside of Japan (VER 2.0 onwards), the sprites for this character were replaced with Nazotchi's sprites, creating what appears to be a duplicate entry in the character list. Other properties of the character - such as the food it eats - also differ from the other Nazotchi on international releases. Despite this, Tsutatchi's sprites remain in the code but go entirely unused. On later devices - such as the V2 - you can view Tsutatchi's sprites by having a Deka character use an item. Since the Deka characters are unable to receive items on the V1 and did not receive additional animation frames on the V2, they do not have any item animation sprites, and the result is that some of Tsutatchi's sprites are incorrectly displayed instead.

Version ??? Onwards

The following characters first appeared in VER ???. Although debug mode is inaccessible in some of these versions, the characters can still be seen when connecting to a device with one of these characters.

Image	Name	Description
	Butterflytchi	These characters were later made official in the western-only releases of the Version 2. Out of these, Violetchi is the only character that would make further appearances and be given official artwork.
	Flowertchi
	Kaerutchi
	Toratchi
	Violetchi
	Whaletchi
	ChoHimetchi	These characters originally appeared on the Japanese-only Mesutchi & Osutchi devices released in 1997. They were later released as official characters in the western-only Version 2.
	Marumimitchi
	Propellertchi
	UFOtchi
	Glitch Character	An additional character is found at the end of the list, though all its sprites are corrupted. This character is not present in VER 4.0.

Dekatama Functionality

Dekatamas are not publicly available anymore and as such many of the features which were available exclusively to those that connected with a Dekatama are not usually accessible to the player anymore.

Connection Features

do not repeat anything that takes place exclusively on the Deka tama device

Food and Items

Each character will award the player with one of the following items, none of which are normally given to the player after a connection.

Unused Food

Not only can usually unseen food items be granted to the player by a Deka Tamagotchi, but each unused character eats its own unique pair of food items, too, despite the fact that the player would usually never be able to raise these characters.

Deka Characters

To do: Confirm whether these foods are also eaten by these characters on the Deka devices.

Some time between Version 0.0 and Version 4.2 the food each Deka character eats was changed. It's hard to narrow down the precise version where it changed, though, as the Deka characters are only accessible with debug mode, a feature that is inaccessible on a number of releases. Many of the food items consumed by the Deka characters can be seen by connecting to a Deka device, but aren't seen otherwise.

Char	Meal 0.0	Meal 4.2	Snack 0.0	Snack 4.2	Notes
	Large Rice	Burger	Sake	Fries	Both items are delivered by Burgertchi from a Deka Tamagotchi, but neither sprites are seen under normal means.
					The meal item is delivered by Capsuletchi when connecting to a Deka device, but the snack is never seen under any other means. Neither sprite appeared in any future release.
		Pizza		Fried Chicken	Both foods are also delivered by Maikutchi when connecting to a Deka device. Pizza is eaten by Gozarutchi and Masktchi but Fried Chicken is not seen under normal means.
		Omurice		Sundae	Both foods are also delivered by Omuratchi when connecting to a Deka device. Sundaes are eaten by Hanatchi and Androtchi but Omurice is not seen under normal means.
		Bread		Cake	Bread is eaten by a wide range of characters, and Cake is eaten by Mametchi and Mimitchi. Neither match the unique items that are given by these characters when connecting to a Deka device.
		Peanut		Cherries	Both items are delivered by Tsutayatchi from a Deka Tamagotchi, but neither sprites are seen under normal means.

Other Unused Characters

Nazotchi and the additional characters introduced in Version 2.x also eat their own food items, many of which are not seen anywhere else on the device and not official used until Tamagotchi Connection Version 2.

Char	Meal	Snack	Notes
	Bread	Candy	The same as the items used by the child and teen characters.
	Flower Drink	Sundae	The Sundae is eaten by Hanatchi, but the Flower Drink is not seen under any other means.
	Tea	Cupcake	Neither item is used under normal means.
	Sandwich	Cheesecake	Neither item is used under normal means.
	Drumstick	Ice Cream	Drumstick is eaten by Tarakotchi and Ice Cream is eaten by Memetchi and Kuchipatchi.
	Cherries	Juice	Cherries may be delivered by Tsutayatchi when connecting to a Deka device, but otherwise both items are unused.
	Shrimp	Fish	Neither item is used under normal means.
	Cracker	Lollipop	Neither item is used under normal means.
	Whole Pizza	Apple Pie	Neither item is used under normal means.
	Beef Bowl	Ice Cream	Ice Cream is eaten by Memetchi and Kuchipatchi but Beef Bowl is never seen under normal means.
	Cheese	Energy Drink	Neither item is used under normal means.

Additionally, the "Glitch Character" eats the seemingly generic food items of Bread and Candy.

Altered Food Sprites

A few of the food sprites were altered between versions.

Before	After	Version Changed	Description
Rice	Bread		Both Rice items were changed to Bread. The change also affected the Rice seen during one of the connection games. Neither rice items were ever seen on an Tamagotchi released outside of Japan again.
Large Rice
Sake	Coffee		Both items consumed by the oldies were changed - in the case of Sake, it might have been changed to avoid references to alcohol. After the change the item was not seen on any Tamagotchi released outside of Japan again.
Fries	Fries		Both items delivered by Burgertchi had their sprites changed between releases. The later sprites were then reused on future Tamagotchi releases.
Burger	Burger