Tamagotchi Paradise looks like the most exciting virtual pet toy in years

You've got to hand it to the Tamagotchi team for continuing to find new ways to spin a toy that is now pushing 30 years old. We've seen a Tamagotchi with a built-in camera, a Tamagotchi watch with a touchscreen so you can pet your virtual pet and another one with its own Tamaverse. Sometimes these experiments don't work out as well as we'd like them to — the flat buttons introduced with Tamagotchi Pix were kind of terrible in practice — but they keep the franchise feeling alive. And alive seems like the best way to describe the newest member of the Tamagotchi family. Tamagotchi Paradise looks like it's absolutely bustling with life.

Bandai first teased the upcoming Tamagotchi Paradise in a comic for Free Comic Book Day at the beginning of May, but it's now official: we're getting a Tamagotchi that's equipped with a zoom dial feature to observe the critters up close (like, even down to the cellular level) and from afar. It'll bring back gene-mixing, too, meaning you'll be able to create unique characters through breeding. Tamagotchi Paradise will also be able to physically connect to other devices with a docking port on the top of the egg.

There is a lot of information to unpack in the Tamagotchi Paradise announcement. For one, instead of starting off by hatching a Tamagotchi character from an egg, players will hatch an entire planet in an Egg Bang (get it?) event. You'll be able to view the planet from space, and zoom in to observe what's going on down at the surface. Your mission is to "enrich your planet and make its Tamagotchi population flourish." The device will come in three shell designs — Pink Land, Blue Water and Purple Sky — and whichever shell you have will determine which location you start in. It appears that you'll be able to unlock all three areas eventually no matter what device you have.

Bandai

As always, you'll have to raise Tamagotchi characters from babies to adults and do all the usual caretaking tasks, like feeding them and cleaning up poop. But for once, you'll be able to put all that poop to good use by turning it into biofuel for space travel. When a Tamagotchi gets sick, you'll use the dial to "zoom in and treat them at the cellular level." There are a total of 25 different care menus according to Bandai, including shops and mini-games.

Tamagotchi Paradise introduces a ton of new, more animal-like characters than we've been seeing in recent years, and they're really cute. (Don't worry, Mametchi, Mimitchi and a few other existing favorites will still be there too). There are also three secret characters that haven't yet been revealed. 

Bandai

It looks like it's packed with activities, which would be really nice coming off of the Tamagotchi Uni, a device I've loved in the two years since it was released but still can't help but feel like it's a bit boring compared to others. Tamagotchi Paradise goes back to AAA batteries, which should be good for longevity. And it'll be cheaper than other recent flagship Tamagotchis, at $45. Pre-orders haven't opened in the US just yet, but the device will ship on July 12 according to the Japanese Amazon listing. The wait might actually kill me.

Once Tamagotchi Paradise arrives, there will be pop-up Tamagotchi Labs in some as yet unannounced stores where you'll be able to connect your device to access exclusive items and experiences. Tamagotchi Uni owners will be able to get a taste of all this ahead of the release as well if they buy the Tamagotchi Lab Tamaverse ticket, which comes out on July 3.

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