It's an exciting time to be a Kingdom Hearts fan, as series fanatics are celebrating the series' 20th anniversary. After all these years, the game franchise is extremely popular, and fans eagerly await any new arrivals.While the future of the Kingdom Hearts franchise is a bit of a question mark at this moment, the series has had no shortage of merchandise and tie-ins with other games recently. While Sora joining Smash Bros. Ultimate was a really big deal, players who are less interested in combat but might want to carry around their own Kingdom Hearts characters in a virtual buddy form will soon be able to do so.RELATED: Kingdom Hearts Dark Road Final Update DelayedVirtual pet Tamagotchi are now getting a Kingdom Hearts twist in celebration of the game's anniversary. Tamagotchi, for anyone not in the know, are handheld electronic toys that originally premiered in the 1990s. The general premise of original Tamagotchi is that players receive an egg which hatches into a baby Tamagotchi, and can then be raised through its life into varying branches of development. Of course, with Kingdom Hearts being the theme for these, the system is a little different.

The Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi come in two different variants; a light mode version and a dark mode version. Like with prior Tamagotchi anime and game tie-ins, players will be able to raise a variety of different characters from Kingdom Hearts. Everyone from iconic protagonist Sora to Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Aqua will be available, with twenty characters in all currently teased. At the moment, the company is also deciding on two additional Heartless characters that will be selected based on fan votes.

The Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi will be quite affordable at $20 a piece, and Premium Bandai is currently taking pre-orders through May 5. They're set to release in October of this year. However, there currently isn't a way for fans to order the Tamagotchi directly via the English website. It's likely that a translated version will be produced later, but barring an announcement to that extent, fans will have to either import the item or buy it from a reseller further down the road.

While Tamagotchi isn't as well known as Kingdom Hearts these days, it was massive in its heyday, with tens of millions of units having sold over the years. Its lasting impact can't be denied, either, with prior collaborations from recent history including Tamagotchi reproduced on sneakers, and even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare referencing Tamagotchi back in 2019. Pairing Tamagotchi and Kingdom Hearts is likely to delight fans who grew up with both.

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