TAMAPHONE / IrDA DEVICE
Something that makes this device a fan favorite is the amount of downloadable content it has. You do not necessarily need a TamaPhone, but I would highly recommend it. I wrote an IrDA/TamaPhone guide on Reddit years ago that I am not that happy with now, but it’s an ok summary of the tech and has a few devices listed that you can use I verified with other community members.
You will use one of these IrDA devices to transfer games, items, and accessories to your Tamagotchi iDL. Some of the built-in games are atrocious and many of these are at least tolerable. There's also community items like EZGotchi, a game that gives you 9999 Gotchi Points, and Deluxe Food dishes that will refill your Friend Level bar completely or fill all 6 hunger slots.
Some Henshin Jo transformations are locked behind these download items.
YOU WILL NEED A SECOND TAMAGOTCHI (eventually)
All three iDL versions have 4 Secret Characters (refer to growth charts) that require you to use another Tamagotchi. It can be an iD, iD Station, iDL, or P’s. You can refer to the growth charts or trackers to see which ones for each device
For One Boy and One Girl
- You will need to connect with 6 different* devices in that generation.
For The Other Boy and Other Girl
- You connect to the same device 30 times when it is a teenager.
WHAT'S THE "RESET TRICK?"
This is how most fans get around the requirement of 6 different devices for the Secret Characters or for the 10 different devices for Himspetchi's transformation.
- Take a Tamagotchi iD, iDL, iD Station, or P's you do not mind factory resetting
- Connect the Tamagotchi in the Connection Icon then factory reset 5 times to make it appear to the Tama as 6 different devices.
- Then factory reset the Tamagotchi that is not the one you are playing on. The one you are OK with factory resetting
Do this by:
- Pressing the reset button
OR
- Pulling the batteries and putting them back in
After the "Digital Friends of the World" logo, there will be two options:
- FIRST ROW: CONTINUE
- SECOND ROW: RESET
- Then select the RESET option
The Tamagotchi will ask:
Are you really sure?
- FIRST ROW: YES
- SECOND ROW: NO
Select YES and your Tamagotchi will be reset
- Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 until you have connnected the number of times needed.
WHERE'S THE SITTER?
Oh you sweet modern Tama player, you don't know how good you've had it.
The sitter was not introduced until the Tamagotchi 4U thus absent from all Tamagotchi iDL versions.
If you have played more recent releases, the child and teen phases will feel like a bit of a chore. They get hungry pretty quickly in these phases and there's nowhere to send them. This can result in racking up care misses really quickly.
You can always adjust the time so they are sleeping. This won't affect their age or evolution timer no matter how many times you change the time.
THE LIVING ROOM SAYS HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUT THE DATE ISN'T MY BIRTHDAY?
All 32 of the Tamagotchis on the device have a birthday.
When it is one of their birthdays, the Living Room wallpaper will be set to a Birthday Banner.
When the clock rolls over to 12:30PM an animation sequence will play wishing whichever Tamagotchi's birthday it is a happy birthday.
This screen will show one of their TamaTomo items.
HOW DO I TURN ON/OFF THE SOUND?
With no icons selected press A + C at the same time and the sound menu will appear.
Use A to switch between each mode.
The top is ON and the bottom is OFF
Use the B button to select the mode or press C to cancel without making changes
HOW DO I CHANGE MY BRIGHTNESS?
With no icons selected, press B to get to the clock screen.
Press B + C at the same time and the brightness menu will appear.
A to lower, B to raise. C to exit the menu.
MY SCREEN IS FLICKERING?
Oh honey, that is out of the scope of this guide but you need to replace your capacitors.