Case Study: The Resurgence of Nostalgic Toys

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Tamagotchi was one of the biggest toy fads that had a grip over children in Japan and in the United States. This phenomenon began on November 23rd, 1996 when Bandai released their first Tamagotchi in Japan.

It originally consisted of a 32x16 pixel screen and three buttons to be used to take care of the Tamagotchi - the name of the creature and the device it was in. These buttons controlled simple tasks such as playing games with your pet, feeding it, or turning the lights on/off in its room. If you failed to complete these tasks, the Tamagotchi you raised would end up dying.