Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi (Game Boy, Japanese Import) - Authentic Bandai White Cartridge, Tested
The 1997 Tamagotchi craze on a Game Boy, released while the real toy was sold out all over Japan. 1.45 million shipped, in a white cartridge. Japanese needed: very little.
$22.00
How I grade condition: every grade is tested and plays; grades differ only in looks.
Want to see the exact copy you'd get, inside and out? Ask me for photos, board included.
The craze, on a cartridge
In 1997 the Tamagotchi was chronically sold out across Japan. Bandai’s first-generation pets went on to sell about 40 million worldwide, and their creators collected the 1997 Ig Nobel Prize in Economics. Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi arrived that June as the first home-game version, while the toy was still hard to find, and it shipped 1.45 million copies.
It comes in a white cartridge, not the usual gray, and the box came with stickers to dress up your Game Boy as a Tamagotchi.
How it differs from the toy
You start from eight egg patterns, raise up to three pets at once, and play minigames and contests; a contest winner produces stronger offspring. The big difference from the toy: it does not run in real time. Your pets only grow while the Game Boy is on, which, depending on how your 1997 Tamagotchi met its end in a backpack, is either a mercy or a cheat.
One difference from the English version: when a pet dies here, its ghost wears the white triangular headband from Japanese funerals, where the Western release gave it angel wings.
About the Japanese
It is icon- and menu-driven, and an English version exists as Tamagotchi, so you can follow along. It gets Super Game Boy enhancements on a Super Game Boy, and the battery save that keeps your pets is tested and replaced below 3.0 V. A good gift for anyone who had one in 1997.
Its yellow-cartridge sequel, Tamagotchi 2, never left Japan. Tamagotchi is still a live Bandai brand, with Tamagotchi Plaza on Switch in 2025.
Specifications
| Authenticity | Authentic original Bandai cartridge (DMG-ATAJ-JPN) in its white shell - not a reproduction |
|---|---|
| Condition | Graded on my condition scale - every copy is opened, cleaned, and tested by playing before it ships. |
| Gameplay | Virtual-pet raising sim, 1 player |
| Includes | Loose cartridge only (no box or manual) |
| Language | Japanese, light: icon- and menu-driven, and the West got an English version as Tamagotchi |
| Region | Japanese release. Region-free: plays on any Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance or Super Game Boy (enhanced on a Super Game Boy) |
| Save | Battery save. Tested, and replaced if it reads under 3.0 V |
| Title Full | Game de Hakken!! Tamagotchi / ゲームで発見!!たまごっち (Game Boy, Bandai, Japan, 1997) |
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