An R2-D2 Tamagotchi is coming from Bandai and Disney, giving you your own pixelated droid companion to love and care for.
A new post on the official Star Wars site reveals the new virtual pet toy based on everybody's favorite Astromech droid is coming to stores on November 11, with the Amazon listing revealing a planned price of $19.99 (and yes, you can pre-order right now if you already know you're going to want one). The R2-D2 Tamagotchi will be available in an opaque white shell with blue accents, or a hologram-inspired transparent blue shell with white accents, though the actual virtual pet part is the same in both models.
Speaking of which, while you probably won't have to worry about scooping up little pixelated poos like you do with organic Tamagotchi pets, you will need to keep R2-D2 charged up and clean (presumably with an occasional oil bath). He can be trained across 19 different skills, and players will be able to keep R2-D2 in good spirits by playing minigames including holochess and firefighting with him. If R2 didn't have somebody else's fire to put out every now and then he probably wouldn't know what to do with himself.
If you neglect your droid care protocols, R2-D2 won't starve and go to Tamagotchi Heaven or anything like that… but he will be in danger of being hauled off by Jawas. So unless you want to make a trip to the Sandcrawler with your credit savings in hand, you'd better stay on top of things.
Retro Gamer recently charted the history of Star Wars video games from Dark Forces to Battlefront, and came to the conclusion that R2-D2 may be the real hero of the galaxy.
