It has been 50 years since the original Kamen Rider series premiered in Japan and 25 years since Bandai launched the Tamagotchi line of digital pets. To celebrate, these two franchises teamed up on a digital toy line that allows players to train their own Kamen Riders.
According to Crunchyroll, the Kamen Rider toys will come in 'Legacy Gold' and 'Genesis Green' versions and will include a pair of mini-games -- Rider Kick and Challenge Ride, where players can train their own young Riders how to fight bad guys and ride a motorcycle. There will be a total of 40 unique Riders -- including seven secret Riders -- from the Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa eras of the Kamen Rider franchise available to players to raise and train.
The digital toys retail at 2530 yen, which totals approximately $22.95 USD, not including the cost of shipping. The Kamen Rider Tamagotchis are currently available to pre-order on the Bandai website until Aug. 17, with shipping scheduled to begin in Dec. 2021.
Kamen Rider was created in 1971 by manga and anime icon Shotaro Ishinomori, who is also known for Cyborg 009 and the Super Sentai series (aka. the Power Rangers), Ishimori Productions and Toei Company. Typically featuring insect-themed superheroes who ride motorcycles and fight supervillains known as kaijin, Kamen Rider spanned multiple television and film sequels. The franchise became a mainstay of Japanese popular culture, spanning television series, theatrical and direct-to-video film releases, web exclusives and video games.
In April 2021, Toei Company announced it would be releasing three new projects in honor of Kamen Rider's 50th anniversary. These projects include Shin Kamen Rider, a live-action film from Shin Godzilla co-director Anno Hideaki in March 2023; Kamen Rider Black Sun, a reboot of the 1980s series from director Shiraishi Kazuya arriving in spring 2022; and Fuuto PI, an anime series based on the manga from Sanjo Riku and Sato Masaki, coming to Funimation in summer 2022.
Alongside the various international translations and dubs of the Kamen Rider series, multiple countries produced their own versions of Kamen Rider as well. Between 1975 and 1976, Taiwan produced three Super Rider series based on Kamen Rider. In 1995, Masked Rider premier in the U.S., and in 2009, Michael and Steve Wang made Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight.
Source: Crunchyroll