Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi

The Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi (also known as the Shortcaketchi (ショートケーキっち) in Japan) is a licensed Tamagotchi Nano release based on American Greetings and WildBrain's Strawberry Shortcake franchise (more specifically, the 2003 cartoon series). It was released by Bandai on March 11, 2023 in Japan (the same day as the 2003 series' 20th anniversary) and later in North America on August 28 of the same year. 
== Design ==
The Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi's design is similar to that of the Pac-Man and Hello Kitty Tamagotchi Nanos beforehand as it uses larger, more detailed sprites compared to other previous monochrome releases. For shells, it had two: A pink shell with strawberries on it and a purple shell with stars on it.
== Functions ==
=== Hatching and Growth ===
After the user sets the time, Strawberry Shortcake and her friends give the player an egg, which will hatch after five minutes. Much like other nanos, the Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi contains two stages (baby and adult) but unlike other nanos, the unit features 10 possible adults to obtain.
After 24 hours, the baby (either Tamapatchi or Tamabotchi) will evolve into one of the 10 adults, the adult you receive depends on how well you care for it. Every adult stage can also wear a costume based on a Strawberry Shortcake character after another 24 hours if perfect care is maintained.
=== Buttons ===
As there are no on-screen buttons, the unit's buttons serve as replacements:
*Pressing the A button will reveal a two food options: An apple for regular food (fills out the hunger meter) and a slice of cake for a snack (fills out the happy meter). Some adults the player can get depends on how many snacks you feed them. If your Tamagotchi is full or sick, they reject apples.
*Pressing the B button will either close out menus (if one's currently being displayed) or open a stats menu. On the stats menu, pushing A will allow the player to see their Tamagotchi's hungry and happiness stats.
*Pressing the C button will trigger a C-reaction. The reaction varies on the Tamagotchi's stats. If the Tamagotchi's hunger is low, then they will be shown sulking, but if the Tamagotchi's happiness is low, they're seen crying. If neither of them are empty, then the Tamagotchi smiles at the player.
*Pressing A and C will mute (or if the pet died) reset the unit.
=== Minigames ===
The Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi features two minigames:
*Berry Find - Similar to the card minigame from Game De Hakken!! Tamagotchi 2, player sees three bushes and pressing one will reveal a berry, nothing, or in the last round a Berry Bird. If at least one (two if a berry bird is encountered) berry is found, the player wins. If no berries are found and the berry bird is encountered, the player loses.
*Cake Minigame - The player has to build five cakes within a period of time. If the player is too slow when constructing a cake, the Pie Man will burst out if it, marking a loss. If the player has built three cakes out of the five, the game is won.
=== Berry Splatters and Sickness ===
Every few hours, a Berry Bird will arrive and drop a rotting berry on to your Tamagotchi's room. Pressing the A button will cause Margalo B. Berryglow to clean up the mess. If the space remains dirty for a long duration of time, the player's Tamagotchi will become sick. A Tamagotchi can be seen sick if they appear sad with a skull appearing on either their left (if female) or right (if male) side. Pressing the A button will have the player's Tamagotchi drink medicine and become better.
=== Death and Departure ===
The Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi has three death sequences:
*Death: When a Tamagotchi is sick for long enough, a Berry Bird will arrive, signaling the player to try and chase them away by repeatedly pressing the A button. If the player doesn't appear in time, Sour Grape will arrive and take the dying Tamagotchi away, leaving a gravestone and a berry bird surrounding it.
*Departure: After a week of good care, your Tamagotchi will stand happily as it preforms one final C-reaction. After the reaction, a Sleepbug will arrive and pick up the Tamagotchi, resulting in a screen where your Tamagotchi is seen happily riding a Sleepbug across the night sky.
*Running Away: If an adult stage is neglected with their happiness stat, there's a chance the player's Tamagotchi will run away in sadness (or in the case of Silvertchi, a fit of anger). When it occurs, then the player is left with a note that reads "bye-bye!". Among all three sequences, pushing A and C will restart the unit.
== Trivia ==
*The Strawberry Shortcake Tamagotchi is the second Tamagotchi to be based on a greeting cards franchise with the first being the Care Bears Tamagotchi.
**One a related note, it's also the fourth nano to be based on an American animated television series and one of the two to be released outside of Japan.
*Originally, Melodytchi and Bokudoritchi were originally included on this Tamagotchi's roster, but the two were replaced by Ichigotchi and Ginjirotchi respectively.
Category:Crossover
Category:Fan Made Tamagotchi Physical Media
Category:Fan-made Releases
Category:Virtual Pets