Tamawalkie Review

So, I finally got around to writing this review. There will still be a blog post tonight.

   Tamawalkie combines virtual pet and pedometer qualities quite nicely. I recommend getting one, if you just want a Tamagotchi to sightsee North America, or if you are a Tamagotchi fan looking to lose weight.

   Exterior: the Tamawalkie has a plastic shell much like any small Tamagotchi. It has rubber buttons and has a clip on the back so you can wear it while you walk. This clip doubles as a stand. The Tamawalkie kind of looks like a UFO.

   Your Tamawalkie can be a character of your choice: Mametchi, Memetchi, or Kuchipatchi. (I chose Memetchi.) Because this Tamagotchi release coincides with that of the V5 (The story is: a Tamagotchi character was trying to get to the V5 Tama and Earth expo, but its UFO crashed. Fragments of the UFO are scattered across North America. The object of the pedometer game is to gather all the UFO pieces and return to Tamagotchi Planet.), the bad care characters are the same as those of the V5.
Overfed characters will become Osumotchi from the large family.
EDIT (August 27, 2013): I discovered that when you leave your Tamagotchi character uncared for (underfed, unhappy, etc.) for a while, it will evolve into Osumotchi once you feed it. The other characters are not verified, so I crossed them out for now. underfed ones will become Puchiputchi from the petite family, and unhappy characters will become Gozarutchi or Kunoitchi from the Ninja family. As on the V5, these growths can be reversed using certain foods, which I found on TamaTalk: Osumotchi + healthy drink = normal (found on TamaTalk more than once)  

Gozarutchi or Kunoitchi + energy drink = normal (found on TamaTalk; not sure if it's true)

Puchiputchi + steak = normal (found on TamaTalk; not sure if it's true)
Please leave a comment if you've verified the above information to be true. I haven't experienced the bad care characters other than Osumotchi on my TamaWalkie.

   The TamaWalkie counts both your steps taken and the steps required to reach the next city. Unfortunately, it does not actually calculate how far you have walked.

   You can  buy vehicles for your Tamagotchi character, which lessen the steps necessary to reach the next city. I currently have a skateboard and a bicycle. I know the Tamawalkie can buy a car, and I think a helicopter, but I have seen a motorcycle and running shoes available as well. Better vehicles are more expensive, and I don't have a lot of mile points right now. Motorized vehicles require fuel, which can be purchased at various gas stations throughout. In different cities, fuel price varies. Vehicles cannot be used when in a city; you instead must walk.

   There are 4 games available on the Tamawalkie: jump rope, count down, treadmill, and fishing. All these games except count down (which can only be played using the buttons) can be played either using buttons or by "oscillatory input" as the broken English instructions say. It means "shaking." Playing these games allow you to earn mile points (which are also earned by entering a city), which can be used to purchase vehicles, food, fuel, and vehicle repairs. Also in the game menu is a stopwatch, which goes up to 5 minutes, and as the instructions say, "it is not a game."

   Right before you leave a city, you will have your picture taken with an important monument of that city and be given a souvenir. For example, when I visited New York City, I got a bagel and a picture of Memetchi next to the Statue of Liberty. A few minutes of walking later, you are told to select your next destination. You are also given the option to return to the city you were just in. My current destination is Montreal.

   TamaWalkie is much better than Arukotch (from what I've read about Arukotch). TamaWalkie is a journey through North America, while Arukotch (I hear) is just a trampy girl looking for a boyfriend. If you want a TamaWalkie and see it for a good price (mine was $24.99 on eBay, I haven't seen that price since it came out, I got really lucky), buy it, because these pedometers are now rare--released 4 years ago!--and are not going to get any cheaper.

Other info:

TamaWalkie has no clock and no toilet.

The screen shuts off after a few minutes. Don't worry, it's just a screensaver mode and is still counting your steps. It will beep and the screen will come on if it needs something or gets somewhere.

You can turn the sound off by pressing buttons A and C and then selecting "off," just like a normal Tamagotchi.

You can't get great vehicles until you've gone pretty far and gotten lots of mile points. My Memetchi skateboarded to 3 cities before finally upgrading to a bicycle.

Tamawalkie uses one CR2032 battery like other Tamagotchis, and, like other Tamagotchis, comes with the battery already installed.

The instructions were definitely not proofread, and therefore were cryptic.

Shaking your TamaWalkie to get it to its destination is SO cheating!

Hope this review helped!

Amat

PS: most of this information is gathered from experience, but some is gathered from extensive online research of the very little information available about TamaWalkie. If you find any imperfections in the information, or would like to add something crucial, do not hesitate to leave a comment here, and I will edit the review again. It's frustrating how little is shown on the internet about this awesome pedometer pet!