[App Review] Hatchi
As hard as it is to believe, it has been over fifteen years since the launch of the virtual pet, Tamagotchi and, odds are, that if you were a kid in the mid nineties that you owned your very own virtual pet that you took care of and loved (or tormented and abused). [...]
As hard as it is to believe, it has been over fifteen years since the launch of the virtual pet, Tamagotchi and, odds are, that if you were a kid in the mid nineties that you owned your very own virtual pet that you took care of and loved (or tormented and abused). Like you, the folks at Portable Pixels Limted are nostalgic for the days when video games only had eight bits and anything portable came with a screen with only two colors. With their release of, Hatchi, you can now relieve those olden days with your very own digital pet that takes up residence in your favorite Android phone.
| RATING: (326) 4.5 UPDATED: August 2, 2012 CURRENT VERSION: 1.03 REQUIRES ANDROID: 2.1 and up SIZE: 5.9 MB PRICE: $0.99 USDReview Device Samsung Galaxy Nexus rooted |
Hatchi is very simple to learn and you’ll master it easily. When you first launch the game you’ll be prompted to name and hatch your brand new pet. Unfortunately for him/her you have to pick the name before you get to see its gender so my girl Hatchi is named Bob.
Taking care of your pet is a breeze. Across the top of the screen is a row of gauges that, at a glance, give you the current condition of your Hatchi. The gauges will fill or deplete over time, and using the the buttons at the bottom of the screen you can set your pet’s world right again.
The first opens a sub-menu where you can feed your Hatchi from a selection of healthy and not so healthy foods. The baby icon 
allows you to clean up your Hatchi when it goes doody. The next two buttons allow you to take care of your Hatchi’s education and physical development and the light bulb allows you to put it to bed.
If your Hatchi falls ill you can always give it a shot from the doctor’s bag and finally, the ‘i’ button allows you to access settings, statistics, and share your Hatchi on various social networks.
The simplistic nature of your interaction with the Hatchi keeps it from becoming a big hassle to take care of it. When your Hatchi needs attention, it will send a notification to the status bar so that you know it is time to feed or change it.
It takes only a few minutes a day to care for a Hatchi and, though I’ve only had one so far, the developer tells me that depending upon how you care for your pet, there are many different forms that the Hatchi can take.
For anyone who grew up with a virtual pet or love of retro-gaming, Hatchi will make an excellent addition to your Android phone. The app has beautiful retro-graphics and, even though it is always in the background, I have not noticed Hatchi having any impact on my battery life.
Rating:
James Forestier
Latest posts by James Forestier (see all)
- Green Throttle Adds New Games to the Arena – Thursday, April 25, 2013
- Pocket for Android Updated with new Friend Share feature – Wednesday, April 17, 2013
- Android Breaks Away from the Pack – Friday, February 15, 2013
- LG Optimus LTE and Nitro HD added to the CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies list – Tuesday, February 5, 2013
