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author: admin
generator: pandoc
title: Tamagotchi Hacking
viewport: 'width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes'
---
admin
2013-10-27T09:11:36+00:00
\[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOJfUcCOhJ0?feature=player\_embedded\]
So it turns out that the age-old Tamagotchi uses the architecture from
the 6502! What is even more startling is the discovery about how
Tamagotchi toys actually *work*. The programming of Tamagotchis
revolve *entirely* around one-bit logic: all of the interaction between
a Tamagotchi and the player is controlled through switches, checking to
see if a player has pressed a button at the right time. Further, all of
the data associated with games on the Tamagotchi toy is *bound up with
the frames of animation*.
It&\#8217;s all so simple, despite the need for more reverse engineering
due to the use of mask ROM within Tamagotchis: since the toy manifests
its programming in discrete transistor logic, it notoriously difficult
to 'dump' its data. The author of the presentation hypothesises that if
she can get a hold of the test program associated with the industrial
mask ROM burning process, a program used by the chip company to prove
that hardware errors are not their fault, she might be able to finally
shed light completely on how Tamagotchis work.