Ah, the 1990s were a simpler time, weren't they?

Life was easier, the toughest choice you had to make was which Spice Girl you liked the most; Turkey Twizzlers were a dietary staple and the Freddo was re-launched in 1994, after a 15-year break. They were good times. Optimistic times. In fact, we had so little to worry about we felt the need to burden ourselves with little robo-pets.

The Tamagotchi, which was released in 1996, was the ideal pet for anyone who wanted to be bossed around by a bit of plastic - which turned out to be a lot of us.

I remember my older brother getting one of these for his birthday and I cried for 36 hours straight. until my mum relented and got me one too.

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I'm going to assume you're all familiar with the concept of a Tamagotchi - it was a little egg-shaped device that you had to 'feed' and 'clean up' after. It was like a cyber goldfish, people went wild for them; they sold out across the world. In fact, there was that one kid in every school who collected the full set of them, even though they were basically all the same.



What was it about this wonderful little things that catapulted them top the top of every kid's wish list?



Peter Jenkinson, editor of Toyologist told LADbible: "It was the first truly 'real time' toy - you didn't need to make IT do stuff, it did stuff that you then had to react to. It was always on, always with you, you had little/no control over it and it was without doubt the first truly virtual pet that behaved like it had its own personality/destiny. In a way, a very early example of how AI might pan out.



"It was ahead of its time and although tech has evolved hugely this past two decades our love of nostalgia hasn't diminished, in fact, there is an upsurge of nostalgia everywhere - boardgames, beards, cereal cafes bringing back favourites, retro merchandise and gifting all over the place, old-films getting CGI updates, bloody hell even Mary Poppins is being upgraded!"



Toy fads come and go, but the Tamagotchi will always forever hold a place in the hearts of millions of 90s kids.

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Peter continued: "At its heart Tamagotchi hasn't really dated has it? Pretty much everyone remembers what happened to their Tamagotchi or it being around, stealing their siblings - it really is only natural now that adults will tap into that nostalgia again."

Fans who are hoping for a trip down memory lane can now get their paws on a re-released Original Tamagotchi. AND I NEED ONE.

Credit: PA

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I'm guessing this is going to be a bit like when Pokémon Go came out and we all reverted to kids again.

They're currently only available in Japan and are retailing for around 2,000 yen (£14) but for such a low price, its tempting to just get one shipped over, isn't it?

If you don't want to pay the import costs on the retro toy, then you can head to eBay where people are selling them for as little as a tenner. Although, if you're after one still in its packaging, expect to pay closer to £60. Totally worth it.

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Credit: eBay