Tamagotchi Friends is the latest Western release of the Tamagotchi series. Bandai is heavily promoting this release in celebration of Tamagotchi's 17th anniversary. This edition drops the infrared communication in favor of NFC technology. Six designs were released in Europe in December 2013, and six new designs were released in North America in August 2014 as a Toys R Us exclusive (later to be made available in Europe, as well). The sparkle design featured on many of the shells is reminiscent of that of the Tamagotchi iD L. Released in April 2015, the third wave, called the Dream Town line, has new characters and games, and features design elements of both the Tamagotchi P's and the Tamagotchi 4U. |