Tamagotchi, but with a computer: the bizarre story of one of the weirdest video games in the world

On November 23, 1996, Tamagotchi made its appearance in Japan, and soon went on to conquer the world, but it was not -by any means- the first virtual pet from the Japanese country. Before that, in fact, there were several, but they were dogs or cats, nothing like strange creatures that came from outer space. However, Tamagotchi soon found rivals of all kinds, from the classic Digimon to infinitely stranger versions… Like the one we bring you today. Have you ever heard of Fin Fin on Teo the Magic Planet?

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This is the End (End)

Fin Fin was a game created by Fujitsu (when they decided to create games) in which the protagonist was Fin Fin, a creature half bird and half dolphin with which one could communicate both by talking to it (through a microphone that was included in the pack) and by letting it see you thanks to the SmartSensor, which, despite its fancy name, was essentially a webcam that indicated to the pet when you were in front of the computer.

And why all the fuss? Well, because Fin Fin responded to the “owner’s” voice. Not to what was said (of course not), but to the tone and volume of the voice. Does it sound strange? Well, wait, because there’s more: if you didn’t feed him or play with him, Fin Fin would end up getting angry, becoming sad, or even leaving.

The game is not very complex: it’s simply about being its friend. To do this, you can press the keys from 1 to 5, which will make different sounds that will attract it, or you can talk to it through the microphone. Even, why not, at this point, record your voice to assign it to the keys from 6 to 0. Believe it or not, more than 30,000 copies were sold, and Fujitsu took seven years to manufacture it. Throughout the game, you could meet Fin Fin’s family (his wife, his child, other various animals), see eclipses, and, in general, marvel at the future that was right in front of us.

Although it couldn’t compete against Tamagotchi, it still had a musical spin-off, TanTan TEO, a point-and-click graphic adventure, To Teo and back with Jack, and was even close to having an adaptation for Nintendo 64. But, for whatever reason, they considered it too costly for what it could actually do. And you, are you up for playing with FinFin? I hope the answer is “no,” because second-hand it costs a fortune.

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