Review: I Wish There Was More to Tamagotchi Plaza

The Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop series are a staple that kids worldwide grew up with if they had access to Nintendo systems. From the original game on the DS in 2005, released worldwide, to five later 3DS entries that didn’t make it outside of Japan, they showed up as handheld minigame staples. Tamagotchi Plaza is a revival of of the series appearing worldwide and, while it does fill an early launch niche for the Switch 2, I can’t help but feel like this installment is lacking. 

Tamagotchi Planet Prince Tamahiko abducts the player from Earth in Tamagotchi Plaza for a very important mission. His Tamahiko Town is competing to be the host of Tamagotchi Fest. It’s a bit run-down, with shops not really catering to and pleasing visitors as they did in the past. To help bring the event home and help bring peace to Gotchi King (who is a giant egg) and his family, you need to revitalize the shops via playing minigames tied to them to properly serve customers and upgrade them. You can also upgrade parts of the town square to make the town more appealing.

There are 15 shops in the Switch 2 version of Tamagotchi Plaza, with five locked away until you essentially perfect other shops. Given we have ten right away and three of these extra shops are combination ones that combine elements from two existing experiences, not getting immediate access isn’t too bad. I will say that I wish Hyde and NicoLabo made the two Switch 2 exclusive Sushi and Shuriken Shops available immediately. Given they’re tied to a paid Upgrade Pack and might be the reason someone picks one version over the other, it feels like there shouldn’t be any additional gatekeeping. Also, I found the Sushi Shop is one of the most clever and best paced inclusions, and hated that I needed to spend so much time even getting it.

While Tamagotchi Plaza is a minigame collection, it doesn’t exactly function how ones you might expect would work. Aside from the Switch 2 Sushi Shop and Shuriken Shop, which both use mouse controls either for assembling and surving sushi or tossing shuriken at targets, these don’t feel very gimmicky. There’s no overuse of motion controls. There aren’t guaranteed multiplayer experiences. If anything, many of them feel like they should all use touch-screen controls like the DS Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop series or mouse controls. Like the Dentist Shop involves selecting the tool, then using the joystick and A button to brush, drill to drill, tweezers to pull out bugs, and fill them. The Manga Shop means fulfilling requests to create two panel stories customers request. Galette Shop involves looking at the crepe ingredients and making orders. There are a lot of shops that involve selecting items from menus, possibly moving or arranging them, and hoping you did the right things.

I say hoping, because there are no instructions for shops. Once you visit one for the first time, it “reopens.” You’re then thrust into assisting customers. Some situations are very self-explanatory. The Night Pool has you wait for a visitor to request an item or drink. You make it or get it in the menu, then hand it to them. The Rap Battle is a brief rhythm game. The Personal Trainer minigame is something of a button masher that involves going at the speed the customer needs by checking responses. The Tailor means matching parts and patterns to the example. But some of these do involve some nuance, like the Eyewear Shop or Dentist. And the Manga Shop will straight up have a customer ask for a manga featuring ________ character, but there are no labels on any of the possible images! So good luck if you can’t recognize Gozarutchi or Violetchi on sight! 

A lack of tutorials and instruction is a common theme throughout Tamagotchi Plaza. You’re told in the beginning you can swap your chosen partner at any time. The game never tells you how. If you don’t go to places like the Committee Room or investigate, you might not realize you can customize areas and develop the town square. It’s also a bit user friendly in other ways, as you need to walk to every shop. No clicking a location on a map and immediately being able to head into that minigame!

Tamagotchi Plaza also suffers from the past Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop issue of the quality of the minigames widely varying. Manga Shop is a novel idea, but can take far too long to complete a request for the amount of money you get. The Night Pool is more boring than entertaining. Dentist is probably one of my favorites, but that’s because it doesn’t deviate much from the original. Rap Battle has potential, but it’s incredibly short and the actual raps both aren’t that clever and don’t really involve any “battling.” You can get gotchi currency to upgrade elements, but none of the customization items feel all that exciting. It can feel more tedious than entertaining, and I feel like adjustments to minigame execution, some design changes to improve pacing, and more motivation to take part could have helped.

It isn’t necessarily that Tamagotchi Plaza is bad, as I do think it could be fun for kids or someone who really loves Bandai Namco’s virtual pet line. There are just some awkward decisions made that make it a little uncomfortable to play at times. And even if you do overcome that and work things out, it can feel like there’s not too much to do. Especially since you can’t even bring it out as “the early Switch 2 multiplayer minigame collection” due to how few games actually involve more than one person. For the right person, it could be fine, but it caters to a very specialized (and probably forgiving) audience.

Tamagotchi Plaza is available on the Switch and Switch 2.