The favourite toys of the 90's make a strong comeback - first shop opens in the UK!(0)

One of the favourite toys of the 90s is making a comeback and opening its own shop in the UK.
Certain generations will remember their first virtual pet, the iconic Tamagotchi.

There have been several attempts to reignite the egg-shaped toy over the years, and the effort now appears to have paid off for the Japanese owner Bandai Namco.

Tamagotchi relaunched in the UK in 2019 and has been growing since.

The Tamagotchi Official Shop has now arrived at the Bandai Namco Cross Store in Camden Market, London.

There was no Tamagotchi shop in the UK at the height of the franchise in the 1990s.

The new toy looks much the same as the 90’s version, but it is also different in many ways.

‘Now you can connect with friends, you can play on Wi-Fi and download different items, and that’s really combating that sense of fatigue that you might have gotten with some earlier models,’ Tamagotchi brand manager Priya Jadeja told the BBC.

‘When we relaunched, we thought it would be a very millennial-focused relaunch,’ Ms Jadeja says.

‘But it’s being introduced to kids who’ve never had this sort of device before – it’s really exciting to see them embracing it.’

There are now a number of other virtual pets available on the market.

Punirunes has a popular feature where you can place your finger inside the toy to ‘stroke’ your virtual pet on the screen.

For example, Bitzee, made by Hatchimals, uses a flexible display that responds to your touch, and reacts to tilt-based movement.

There’s also Digimon virtual pets – another 1990s throwback – but these are also owned by Bandai Namco, and were originally designed as Tamagotchi for boys.

Though these gender lines were drawn at the time, Jadeja says there doesn't seem to be any real difference in the people who buy these toys now.