Tamagotchi Smart English Firmware Patch in the Works
If you’ve had your eye not he Tamagotchi Smart for some time, but haven’t purchased one due to the language barrier, you’re not alone. Having a Tamagotchi in your local language makes for a better user experience. StuddedNET, a Reddit user who belongs to the Tamagotchi Reddit page has been working on an English firmware translation which they claim is still a work in progress!
StuddedNET posts a brief 2 minute video showing off their Tamagotchi Smart in the English language, although some items are still in Japanese as indicated the firmware is still a work in progress. How awesome is it to see the Smart in English? The post gained more attention than the original poster anticipated, which lead to additional information being provided.
They elaborate that this English firmware already has the menus and games translated, but there is a lot of dialogue to work on. StuddedNET does not know the Japanese language which makes this project a but more difficult. As you can imagine several members of the community are already chipping in, don’t you just love the Tamagotchi community? We are a family! There are now six members total working on the translations.
Without Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, how exactly will a firmware patch be installed on a Tamagotchi Smart? StuddedNET elaborates in the comments of the post which contains the video that it needs to be installed via a custom Tama SmaCard which must be able to hold the firmware which comes at a size of 16MB. The custom TamaSma card is actually a W25Q128 chip wired to a microSD breakout. This involves a good deal of soldering and some manual work too. It permanently patch the Tamagotchi firmware, so you cannot revert back, but regular TamaSma cards would still work even after the patch.
How can you get a custom TamaSma Card that contains StuddedNET’s English patch? Well it’s not quite done yet, but that hasn’t stopped them from providing a custom TamaSma Card to some friends on Discord. StuddedNET has only charged them for shipping and the cost of parts. StuddedNET further elaborates in the comments that this is merely a passion project, and they’re not looking to make a profit.
We’re really optimistic about this passion project! Imagine a Tamagotchi Smart in the English language? That would be awesome! StuddedNET will provide further updates on the Tamagotchi Reddit page including the major milestones within this passion project. Be sure to check out the thread here!