He needs to be fed, games are an important part of his everyday routine and after eating, he has to go to the bathroom. No, it’s not your after school babysitting job, it’s Tamagotchi, the virtual pet created by the Japanese in the mid-90s.

On May 1, 1997, a company called Bandai released a “pet” from cyberspace that needed a loving owner to take care of it. The new animal, called a Tamagotchi, took about one week to mature from a baby in an egg to an adult character. In the first hour, the infant needed constant attention. After those sixty minutes, he took a nap and only needed attention about every two hours.

Bandai was not the only company to create a virtual pet. Other toys included the GigaPet and the NanoPet, which provided users with the chance to take care of a baby, cat or dog.

Fans across the world have created blogs to record their watch over the small cyber pets, charting statistics like the average growth of the Tamagotchi. One site, www.mimitchi.com, has information on achieving secret characters, a Tamagotchi song and even pictures of the Webmaster’s personal “Tamas,” as he refers to them.

Now, there’s a whole new generation of Tamagotchis. “Tamagotchi Connection,” the newest pets, can interact with each other using infrared technology. Called “Tamagotchi Plus” in Japan, the toys play with each other. Just like in the real world, if the Tamas find that special someone, they can “mate” and make baby Tamagotchis. Aside from being better for the creatures, the most updated version of the toy has improved animation and cooler cases.

This fad has stood the test of time. Just as we thought it was fading away to the recesses of our memories, it has come back with new ways to occupy our time.