Picture	Year	Developer	Platforms	Features
	(JPN) July 12, 1997 (US) Fall 1997	Tom Create/Bandai	Gameboy	has contests and stats (set this standard for tamagotchi games!)

tamagotchi gameboy being the first ever tamagotchi video game puts it in such an interesting spot, considering it was made in probably around less then 8 months of time! from all the discussions of the game ive seen and heard it's the most known vintage tamagotchi game since it was the only game translated to English officially during that era which is interesting! on the surface it is an adaptation of the mechanics of the regular tamagotchi toy but added the ideas of contests along with additional stats, which mentioned in the table became a very important part of tamagotchi video games! tamagotchi gameboy is a really really great first experience to tamagotchi since it does work as a sort of standin for the P1 and P2! its a really great gameboy game which is why it got two follow ups!

tamagotchi gameboy works as a good look as a baseline tamagotchi pet care experience, most of it being based on the original pets with additional features! i think the way tamagotchi pet care works is pretty simple to understand so its easy to just start and take alright care of a tamagotchi! a fun feature of the game is there is a small included guide where you can get some information about tamagotchi raising tips, but the explantations given by professor banzo are very short and are also not translated the best so they do really only work as tips... the game does introduce quite a few new mechanics along with the basic pet care, such as including multiple food options, adding to the discipline option and the contest relevant stats! contests are a concept mostly exclusive to the tamagotchi console games, especially in the vintage era. along with the introduction of the contests came with new stats specific to them! these are actually carried throughout the console games and are usually an intelligence and strength stat! these stats are raised by playing some sort of minigame specific to them, the gameboy game having a math based one for intellgience and one where your tamagotchi has to catch falling baseballs for the strength one! both of these games have some sort of control over them, though the control in the math game is vaguely suggesting which answer is right to your tamagotchi which sometimes they wont listen to! a thing i think is exclusive to the gameboy games version of these type of minigames is the different tiers of the game, which works like how you would expect with 3 different difficulties of the game. as your tamagotchi becomes more skilled if you try to play a lower tier they might just refuse!!

onto the actual contests, theres 3 available! usually in the rest of the console games the theme of 3 contests is the same, but they tend to vary in at least 1 of them! the 3 available in this one is a race, a math contest, and a beauty contest. the stats the first 2 use is very apparent but the beauty one is interesting! the results of the beauty contest depend on quite a few stats in the game, including even which tamagotchi character you have! every contest you clear places a little mark on your tamagotchis profile and when all three are won it changes into a crown! doing this allows for your tamagotchi to be placed into the hall of fame after they die, which the sequence is also different and much less scary if you clear all 3 contests!

with the game being on the gameboy it allows for sound, music and much higher resoultion sprites than on the original toys! i really really like the sprites for the gameboy game...! they usually arent super animated but the way the characters emote is very fun and just all of them are really well drawn! this part is sort of me just saying how much i enjoy the gameboy game but it is really nicely made! also the music is very fun and fitting for tamagotchi! a note about the enhanced graphics and music is important to the death sequence i mentioned earlier. tamagotchis death sequences on the original pet is impactful and scary in a lot of ways, and the fact tamagotchi for gameboy goes to lengths to replicate and improve it makes it a very well known part of the game! talking about tamagotchi gameboy in public knowledge is interesting, since as mentioned earlier it the only tamagotchi game translated in the vintage era! it was even covered in nintendo power at the time so i think its! very fair to say its probably the most well known one considering the surprise ive seen at the other games even existing!! i think another interesting thing to cover about the game is its localization and translation which i mentioned a bit throughout...! tamagotchi in the US had a pretty different art style in a lot of ways, so i think its interesting that this game released with! banzo and mikachu still in it front and center and with just a few sprites altered..! fun fact about banzo in the US version of tamagotchi, americanized art of him actually does exist! it's pretty rarely used though did make an apperance in the october 1997 nintendo power article where tamagotchi gameboy was covered! take a look!

...he looks pretty different! this artwork only appears at the start of the article, later on they just use the japanese artwork. this banzo design is actually the only us artwork in the article, it uses the japanese art for the tamagotchis mainly which is interesting! maybe that's just what nintendo power was provided?

tamagotchi gameboy i think is a wonderful little tamagotchi experience, its such a charming and fun little adaptation of the toys that feels packed with care for the original toy! i think even in the face of a lot of the later games with unique gimmicks and ideas this one is a great tamagotchi game! next up is its sequel, focusing on the tamagotchi ocean and morino and with quite a few new surprises!

--i still need to write this part!!--