For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we’re rewinding time just fifteen short years back to 1996. A time when the Macarena was on top of the charts, the Olympics were in Atlanta, and fanny-packs were still moderately socially acceptable. We’re talking toys, and today we’re talking about Tamagotchis.
First sold in 1996, Tamagotchis were portable, digital pets often seen dangling from keychains and backpacks. Before you could care for Sims on your PC, you could purchase a Tamagotchi from your local toy store, activate it, name it, and care for it from its infancy all the way through its twilight years. The more love and affection you doted upon your digital pet — by feeding it, playing with it, and picking up after it — the better behaved it was (meaning: the less time you had to spend with it; ironic we know). Neglect your little, digital friend and it would die. The Tamagotchi came in a host of different forms: dogs, cats, zoo animals, humans — you name it and you could virtually care for it. Parents and parent groups were enamored with the toys; thinking they were an excellent way to teach children responsibility and hard work… or something like that.
How about it? What was the name of your Tamagotchi?
BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.
