Why the world is going crazy for the digital nostalgia of Tamagotchi

A peculiar phenomenon is sweeping the world of gaming — and it’s all part of a wider 1990s revival. PlayStation 5 and Xbox X/S consoles are gathering dust in the cupboard.

- Vicky Jessop

New games and consoles — like the recently launched Nintendo Switch 2 — are going largely ignored in favour of their 1990s counterparts. The signs of a heel-turn are clear: vintage consoles are, once again, the toast of the town. New research from Pringles shows that a quarter of Gen Z now own a retro gaming console. And that’s not the only nostalgic tech they’re buying.

The biggest surprise is the remarkable comeback of Tamagotchi, the Japanese toy that was a must-have in the school playground in the 1990s and early 2000s. Tamagotchis are digital, hand-held “pets” who survive only if you feed them, play with them and even wash them (don’t worry, there’s a keypad). Leave a Tamagotchi unattended for too long and it’ll die.

Sales of the egg-shaped toy more than doubled between 2022 and 2023, and it opened its first-ever store in the UK last October inside the Bandai Namco shop just off Camden High Street.