One of the big changes, is the pets are much larger, almost filling your palm, vs. the smaller "eggs" last time.

Tamagotchi Plus, once hatched will be male or female, can move from friendship to love, marriage and children. They are now being introduced around the world, with the product to be launched in the U.S. on 15 August 2004.

It takes about ten days for a hatchling to grow to an adult. If you hold two of the pets near each other, one will leap into the other screen and give gifts or flowers. Similar to earlier virtual pets, they are produced in China. Bandai currently forecasts launch year sales of 2 million units in Japan and will be targeting young women and families.

Tamagotchi Plus feature five times the computing power of earlier units, slightly larger LCD screens with double the resolution, and infrared communication with other Tamagotchi. It can also chat with nearby pets, compete in eating contests and other activities.

Gamespot.Com reports Bandai will place large Tamagotchi kiosks in stores where owners can bring their Tamagotchi to download new items. In Japan, Lotteria, a Korea based franchise with over 500 stores will be used. In the original Tamagotchi campaign, Lotteria branded a Tamagotchi milkshake. Tamagotchi Plus will be launched in six colors: white, black, blue, yellow, peach and aqua. Bandai will begin taking advance orders March 1st on its web site and hopes to sell 2 million units by the end of March.

The original Tamagotchi, a huge success with sales of near 40 million units, is said to have created a 6 billion yen loss ($60 million loss) due to inventory problems after the boom. The 5 Feb 2004 Detroit News report stated, Masashi Umeda, a spokesman for Bandai, acknowledged that matching initial popularity of Tamagotchi will be a challenge.

They are currently priced at about $19 in Japan.

You can read more about the original Tamagotchi (1997/1998 era) on our Tamagotchi page.