can you explain the pill tamagotchi thing?
This might take a biiiiiit more explaining than I originally thought, here we go:
So when Tamagotchi came back in 2004 as the “Tamagotchi Connection” it introduced the infrared connection feature - that dark red bar on the top that could connect two Tamagotchis together (below is a pic of the difference between the 1996 and the 2004 models)
Now, in Japan there was a special promotional tool for the Tamagotchi Connection, known over there as the “Tamagotchi Plus”, in the form of large “Deka” Tamagotchi stations, which were powered via AC adapters and would be set up in retail stores. Through these, customers with their Tamagotchis could connect to the Store Dekas and have their characters play games with the Deka’s built-in characters (and in later models, receive items)
Dekas didn’t really make it overseas, but they still create versions of the Deka Tamagotchis for both retail and personal use in contemporary Japanese Tamagotchi devices, like the m!xAnyway, Kapuserutchi is a character that appears on the Store Deka, and is technically unobtainable as an evolution on the Tamagotchi itself.
So how do you “dangerously” get this funky little pill man?
On the Tamagotchi Connection / Plus line’s circuit boards there’s a solder jumper with the word “debug” printed over it, when you rub the graphite of a pencil between the two halves it completes the connection, putting the Tamagotchi into “debug mode”
There are two primary effects “debug mode” causes: hyper-speed, which can ‘fast forward’ your Tamagotchi through the regular 3-day growth stages in a matter of minutes, and character selection
The character selection feature lets you scroll through the list of adult characters you can obtain on the Tamagotchi Connection/Plus and allow you to pre-select the adult character you want to raise, rather than have it evolve determined by the type of care you give it
On top of the regular list of raisable characters, this mode lets you raise a list of characters which are only accessible in debug mode, likely coded in during the early development, but scrapped in the final productThese characters include ones borrowed from the Japanese Mesutchi and Osutchi (which actually had an early version of “connection” technology)
New characters that would become raisable on the Tamagotchi Connection Version 2 (only Furawatchi, the last one, was used in the Japanese Keitai Plus)
Characters that have specific uses for the device’s programming - Nazotchi appears in lieu of newer characters that were not coded into the Version 1 when connecting to newer Tamagotchi Versions, and “Three Blocks” has ties to the Deka-mode programming
And finally, the Japanese Store Deka Tamagotchi characters, which were programmed in not to be raised, but so the Tamagotchi Plus could have the Store Deka characters appear properly on the device.
Since the programming of the Tamagotchi Connection Version 1 is essentially identical (save for language / regional changes) to the Tamagotchi Plus, this means these characters still exist within the English device’s programming, though the toy is incompatible with Japanese Store Dekas.
Now, there is a “danger” in activating debug mode: many people have reported that once activated it can be difficult to deactivate (it requires taking apart the Tama and erasing the graphite without damaging the board), some versions become horrifically glitched, the sound breaks, etc.
Overall, with debug mode comes the strong possibility of irreversibly breaking your Tamagotchi, so it’s not a recommended practice within fan circles
It is the price we must pay for the funky little pill man…💔
