The Egg That Contains Everything I Ever Wanted

If you had a remotely decent childhood, part of it involved staring at a small egg-shaped plastic device and watching a pixelated alien either thrive or slowly perish from neglect. Not the Chinese knock-off with the dog or the cat—the real Tamagotchi, with the actual alien, the one that in the best case stayed with you forever and in the worst case flew back to its home planet because you’d left it sitting in its own filth for a week. Which happened every time. The first thing most of us were ever responsible for, and we killed it without exception. Classic.

Two things fit together as naturally as me and Selena Gomez: Tamagotchi and Pokémon. Say it slowly. The combination should have been obvious to someone years ago, and the fact that it wasn’t represents a genuine failure of collective imagination. But a leak in a Japanese magazine suggests that gap in history is about to close—the people behind Tamagotchi and the people behind the Pokémon phenomenon are apparently working on a crossover device.

Which means you’ll soon be able to carry Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur around in a little plastic egg and love them and feed them and watch them die. Where Pikachu goes after you’ve let it sit in its own waste for two weeks is unclear—presumably back to the Pokémon universe, which is either a mercy or a damning verdict on your caretaking abilities. No release date yet, but start preparing your excuse now. There will come a moment when you are a fully grown adult at work or school, reaching into your pocket for a small round device you love more than most of the people around you. Nobody forced you.