Chances are, if you were a young Aussie child between the ages of 5 and 14 in the late 1990s, or in lower primary school in the mid-2000s during its resurgence,  you experienced Tamagotchis’s huge ‘plague’ and popularity. Ironically, they also inspired Nintendo’s iconic and hugely popular late 90’s series, Pokémon, which replaced the Tamagotchi fad by 1998 in Australia.
The Tamagotchi craze was so intense that it even affected school life. Many schools had to ban them due to their popularity and the distraction they caused.

Most vintage-era virtual pets take two LR44 button cell batteries. 
The characters were first drawn in heta-uma, a popular style in Japanese teen magazines, and then converted to pixel art. In the initial concepts, they were worn like wristwatches.

At the time, Tamagotchis were so popular in Japan that one woman in Australia bought 120 on the day of release in Australia to ship back to Japan at the Toys R Us at Moore Park.

Knock-off Tamagotchis were often sold at discount variety stores that varied from state to state, such as Clints Crazy Bargains, Crazy Clarks, The Reject Shop, Cunnihams, Cheap As Chips, Chicken Feed, WA Salvage, or local markets.

Some notable ones included 8 in 1 pets, Hitorikko, My Baby, Dinkie Dino, My Kitten, and and rival company Tigers Gigapet range.

Tamagotchi Angel: Released in August 1997 in February 1998, this model features caring for an Angel (the spirit of a deceased Tamagotchi), training them to perform their angelic duties.
Tamagotchi Ocean was released in August 1998; This model features caring for Sakanatchi (fish-like Tamagotchi characters) while keeping them safe. Tamagotchi Ocean was the final model to be released outside Japan before the 2004 reboot.
In October 1997, the Sunday Age reported that over 900,000 had been sold in Australia, with the number expected to reach 1.2 million after Christmas, with many kids who missed out on getting virtual pets throughout the year for the parents who were saving toys for Christmas.

Bandai launched the male-inspired Tamagotchi, Digimon virtual pets in Australia in late 1999, and Cheez TV premiered the TV show on April 27th, 2000. The show and the Digimon virtual pets become increasingly popular from this point onwards, and virtual pets made a bit of a comeback for young Australian millennials. Digimon are very similar to Tamagotchis, except they are hardier and can connect to fight other Digimon virtual pets. The Digimon pet was inspired by the Pokémon franchise, and had several evolution capabilities so that owners could have many different Digimon within one toy.

Did you also know that Virtual pets made a comeback again in the mid-2000s in Australia for Generation Z. TAMAGOTCHI CONNEXION was released in 2004 and is a more modern and improved Tamagotchi. Newer features included adding core features that would carry over to future models, such as connectivity, items, and marriage. This next generation of Tamagotchies proved to be very popular with younger children in Australia around 2004 and 2005.