PixlBit

Remember those Tamagotchi virtual pet keychains that were super popular in the late 90s?  Well they’ve never really gone away.  In fact, back on the Nintendo DS, they had a series of games called Tamagotchi Corner Shop, and there were three of them!  You ran little shops and would play touch screen mini-games to serve and help out other Tamagotchi customers.  My brother Jeff and I were weirdly obsessed with those games back in the day, probably because we did like those virtual pets (Jeff was even a Tamagotchi for Halloween one year when he was little).  Well, Tamagotchi Plaza is the sequel to those games, so of course I had to get it.  There are a dozen shops for you to run, and two more if you have the Switch 2 version.  I thought it might be fun to run through the shops in this game, so let’s go!

Dentist

I think this game was in one of the original Corner Shop games as well.  Two can play at the same time, too.  I’m not sure if I’d want two people messing in my mouth, though.  It kind of reminds me of those creepy dentist games you can download on mobile devices now.  But considering this game came out before cell phone games were popular, it doesn’t feel as creepy when you look at it like that.  You’ll work on the teeth of several Tamagotchi characters, using a cursor to drill and replace teeth, take out little germs, fill in cavities, and brush.  Don’t forget to give them pain medicine if they have tears in their eyes, and rinse out their mouth if saliva starts to build up.

The Night Pool

Tamagotchis want to hang out at a pool at night, and it’s your job to serve them drinks and give them accessories like sunglasses and pool floats when they want them.  They’re really impatient, though, so you have to be fast about it.  More of them show up in the harder levels, and it can be tricky to keep up with everything!

Manga Store

Tamagotchi characters come in wanting to read a two panel manga strip and you ‘draw’ one for them.  Only two panels?  Either these critters are not very smart or easy to please.  Anyway, you are given a selection of backgrounds, effects, words, items, and characters to place wherever you want.  The Tamagotchi will ask for a character in some kind of setting, and as long as you get that right, you’ll get a good rating.  The challenge here is remembering the names of the Tamagotchi characters they ask for.  I had to go online for a lot of them.  In the harder levels, they’ll give you a panel and you’ll have to make another one to follow it, which I actually found easier since you don’t have to remember names.  They’re really not picky and this is just mostly an exercise in creativity.  But considering this game is made for younger players, that’s perfectly fine.

Afternoon Tea

Like the Manga Shop, this is mostly an exercise in creativity.  At first I had trouble because I have no idea about tea stuff.  But usually, as long as you have enough decorations on the table, you’ll do well.  Sometimes they get specific, like wanting a grape themed tea party, so just make sure you have lots of purple treats and grape themed decorations.  This one may not seem very much fun, but little kids do like to have tea parties, and table place setting competitions are actually a thing, so I guess that’s why this one’s valid.

Tailor

Customers will come in, wanting an outfit and you have to make one for them.  Just follow the picture and you’ll be fine.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell the pattens and textures they want, though.  You get a selection of shirts, sleeves, collars, shorts, pants, pattens, and more.

Bicycle Repair

Riders will come in wanting to repair and customize their bikes.  Just follow the pictures to give them the right accessories, tires, paint, decals, and more.  Repair parts that look broken (usually lopsided handlebars), and fill up flat tires.  Harder levels have you do more stuff, but it’s all pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

Galette Shop

I had no idea what a “Galette” was before playing this game.  So video games can teach you stuff.  Turns out it’s kind of a French pastry, and one of the things you can make here are crepes, which I think is a popular snack in Japan as of late.  You can make sweet crepes with fruit and icing or savory galettes with meat and cheese and veggies.  Just follow the pictures the customers provide and it’s usually pretty easy. 

Eyewear Shop

Make glasses for Tamagotchis!  First you’ll check their eyesight on an eyechart, then follow what type of glasses they want with different colors and styles of frames and lenses.  The only thing that threw me off was that you have to grind the lenses by making sure you don’t go over a line.  I just didn’t know that’s a thing you have to do when making glasses.  But as soon as I got that down, it was mostly pretty easy.

Rap Battle Venue

I never considered a rap battle as a shop, but here it is.  Two Tamagotchis will rap to each other, and you must play a simple music rhythm game where you time button presses as they go past a line.  Only problem is it’s pretty simple and repetitive.  They needed more songs and such.  Two can play this one at the same time, too.

Personal Training Gym

This shop is run by a shark Tamagotchi!  The clients will come in, tell you what parts of their body they want to work on (harder levels means more parts), and then you do some exercises.  These involve you pressing the L and R buttons alternately and you must press them slower or faster depending on how the client is feeling.  And if you do this correctly long enough, they’ll get results!  Also in harder levels you must press a button to wipe the sweat off the Tamagotchi!  If anything, your fingers are going to get a workout!  At the end, they’ll show a before and after picture of the Tamagotchi and some of them are hilarious.  If you want your Tamagotchi virtual pets really buff, just have them come see me!

Glasses Galette Shop

I THINK I remember that in one of the later Corner Shop games on the DS, you could combine shops to make some pretty wacky things, and I guess that carried over to this one.  So this combines the Galette pastry shop with the glasses shop.  Customers will come in, tell you what they like on an eye chart, then you make a glasses shaped galette for them.  They’ll come out of the shop wearing the pastries on their face!  They’ll burn their face off and won’t be able to see anything, but hey, you do you.  This one’s pretty easy though.

Afternoon Pool

The other combined shop mixes the Afternoon Tea and Night Pool stores.  Customers will want a pool party and you design one around the theme they want.  It’s still pretty easy and just an exercise in creativity, and as long as you do what they ask for, you’ll get a good rating.

Shuriken Show

The Switch 2 versions of this game have two extra shops that use the JoyCon 2’s mouse controls.  And they’re both run by a ninja Tamagotchi.  In this first one, you hold the JoyCon 2 upside down and aim at the TV screen.  Then you swipe your other hand over the top like how ninjas throw shurikens to hit targets.  But since the JoyCon 2 mouse controls suck, this one doesn’t work very well.

Sushi Restaurant

The other exclusive Switch 2 shop is a sushi restaurant.  You use the mouse controls to serve customers sushi.  Only problem is they don’t give instructions on how to play, and I’ve never made sushi myself so I couldn’t figure this one out.  That’s the only problem with this game is that they don’t give you instructions to play the games, but luckily in MOST cases it’s pretty easy to figure out.  But I will say that if you want to get this game, you’re just fine getting the regular Switch version.  You’re not missing out with the secret Switch 2 shops.

And those are the shops.  The other thing you can do is use the money to upgrade shops and the 3D plaza they are in that you can walk around. They say the game is compatible with the Tamagotchi Uni, which is the newest form of the virtual pet toy I guess.  I thought about getting one of those but when I looked it up, they’re 60 to 100 bucks and more like smart watches now!  So no thanks.  Whatever happened to them being cheap keychain toys?  Anyway, a lot of game reviewers really bashed this game, but I dunno, I didn’t think it was THAT bad.  It was clearly made with young kids in mind, and like I always say, kids deserve good games, too!  --Cary