27 years after it launched in Japan, a Tamagotchi unit has finally given up its final secret.
1997's Mothra Tamagotchi launched in Japan in December 1997 to promote the release of the Godzilla spin-off movie Rebirth of Mothra II. The mystery revolves around two characters known as Moll and Lora, who had previously been featured as nurses who healed your virtual pet.
The pair were previously obtained using a battery glitch, according to the Tamagotchi Wiki, but Discord user rhubarb_pie has discovered the means of getting them through normal gameplay.
"After years of debate whether this was even possible, I have proven that, in fact, you can raise the Twin characters Moll & Lora on the Mothra,” said rhubarb_pie. “The ROM for the Mothra was dumped about a month ago and I figured out how everything worked by studying the code. The way to get them is extremely obscure so I am not at all surprised they were never found until now,” they wrote. “Looking at it now, this looks like a bad schoolyard video game urban legend. But it is real."
The process of obtaining the characters is pretty hard. When raising Mothra Leo, you need to ensure you make no mistakes during your care routine and that you maintain your weight between 70 and 79. According to rhubarb_pie, after around 80 waking hours, an internal flag is activated that allows Moll and Lora to evolve.
"You might be wondering how long this all takes," says rhubarb_pie. "I started my normal mothra run log on May 11th and just got the twins today on June 5th. So it takes about 3 weeks. Absolutely brutal.”
Bandai launched the Tamagotchi virtual pet series in 1996, and it soon became a global hit. It was recently revived by the company.