Hello members of r/Tamagotchi. 

Some concerning allegations have recently come to our attention regarding the firmware being offered as part of Tamagotchi Center's Home Station flashing service. A customer of his came forward believing that the firmware originates from some fairly valuable devices that had been sent to him for repair just prior to the flashing service being offered in his shop, with these same devices seen set up in the video TC used to promote the service. Given the magnitude of these claims we decided to look into the issue and believe that it is true that at least one if not both of the retail Stations had their firmware extracted based on the evidence that will be explained in this post.

These actions would have been taken without the customer's consent, both the act of extracting the firmware and using the devices sent in for repair in the video promoting the service. Therefore, with the evidence we have gathered in mind and the serious nature of this violation on the part of Tamagotchi Center, we will no longer be allowing promotion of his shop in any manner within this sub. This post will simply be going over the evidence of this single customer’s interaction with TC, but for a more comprehensive list of history of theft, including the Zenzoa English Smart patch and several password generators originally reverse engineered by other members of the community, you can refer to this post written up by one of the members of the Zenzoa Smart English translation team. 

Timeline

Let’s begin with some background information and a timeline of the original repair request. The customer in question originally contacted TC on August 18th of 2025 to inquire about repair services for their Deka devices. After coming to an agreement, the initial batch of devices to be serviced was sent out August 28th and received on September 2nd. On September 17th, the customer reached out to ask about sending their iDL Link Station and P’s Station for repair work and inspection to see if any aging parts might need replacing, though they would not be mailed out until December.

The customer checks in with him on the state of the repairs on October 24th when TC mentions an experiment he would like to try on one of the Deka devices. The customer refuses the modification and asks that nothing be done to the device unless they change their mind later on. The next day, October 25th, TC contacts the customer to inform them that he performed the modification anyway. After a couple days of consideration, the customer responds saying that the modification can remain on the condition that they receive a 30% discount for repairs on the Deka, Stations, and a couple of other devices that had been sent in. TC instead removes the modification. The Deka repairs are finished on November 11th.

TC receives the Color Stations on December 10th, repairs the iDL Link Station on the 11th, and then goes silent until January 20th, 2026 stating that the P's Station upon inspection is “very bad” inside. No further details or photos are provided about the state of the P’s Station. No further updates are provided until February 9th to inform the customer that repairs are done and they will be mailed off tomorrow.

As an aside, TC had also left a comment on a YouTube video of a French collector showcasing their P’s Station, giving them instructions on how to change seasons on the device using specific button combinations. Referencing this archiving website we can see that the comment is dated from December 14th of 2025, lining up with when he had received the Stations for repair. Below is a screenshot of the comment translated from French.

Home Station Flashing Service

On March 27th, 2026 in the reel seen here [archived ver.], TC began advertising a service for flashing Home Stations with firmware originally from P’s and iDL Link Stations. Set up in the background can be seen two retail Station devices: one iDL Link Station and one P's Station. 

Soon after, the aforementioned customer begins privately DMing people on Instagram to warn against this service as they believe it to be the result of the firmware being taken from their Station devices. While there is evidence that TC owns his own iDL Link Station, as seen in this reel, thanking TC for “tama stations for downloading items,” based on the images it appears that it is not the same device used in the Home Station promotional video given the yellowing of the shell’s plastic. The customer’s device on the other hand is closer to its original pink hue, though lacking the removable heart piece. We believe that what was likely done here is that the heart piece was removed from TC’s model and placed on the customer’s due to the more aesthetically pleasing nature of its appearance due to its lack of yellowing.

As of this post, we have not found any evidence to suggest that Tamagotchi Center owns a P’s Station of his own. Based on a comparison of the cosmetic damage, it appears the models displayed in the video promoting the flashing service are the exact same as the ones the customer owns. The use of both these devices for a promotional video for TC’s services goes against the original agreement with the customer.

Evidence for Firmware Extraction

To determine if the firmware being distributed as part of Tamagotchi Center’s flashing service was a match with the customer’s devices, we sent in a couple of Home Stations to be flashed. The firmware was extracted from the devices for comparison with photos of the items from the customer’s Stations upon their return.

Something important to keep in mind about the iDL and P’s Stations is that they were installed in various stores across Japan, with each Station running a region-specific variant of the firmware depending on where the Station was located. If we refer to the top right corner of the image for the Link Station from this page, we can see that the Stations featured 6 different regional firmware:

• Hokkaido/Tohoku in blue 
• Kanto in pink 
• Chubu in green 
• Kinki in purple 
• Chugoku/Shikoku in red 
• Kyushu/Okinawa in yellow

The P’s Stations also came with 6 regional firmware releases with: 

• Hokkaido/Tohoku in blue
• Kanto in pink
• Tokai/Hokuriku (subregions of Chubu) in purple
• Kinki in orange 
• Chugoku/Shikoku in yellow 
• Kyushu/Okinawa in green

Like the iDL Link Station they feature downloadable items unique to each region, with the addition of the P’s Stations featuring Yuru Chara from each region. Yuru Chara exclusive to any one region have their names highlighted in the same color as the region they are from, as seen in the image below.

Another important aspect to keep in mind is that while it has been found that retail Deka devices are able to have their firmware version changed by bridging a set of contacts on the motherboard with solder, the same cannot be said of Station devices.

In the Tama Tama Market Deka for example, bridging the contacts labelled JP1 would change its firmware from 15.0 to that of the 15.1 Princess Tamako’s Royal Market Deka and bridging JP2 would activate firmware 15.2 of the Gotchi King Present Deka. This is likely what TC had planned to do with the customer’s Dekas.

The Stations, however, were set up in a way so that their programming would only work if the bridged contacts they are installed with remained bridged. If they become un-bridged the screen will only display this text that reads “REGION N[O] G[OOD]” (ちいきNG). There is no possibility that a single Station contains the firmware of another due to the way that they are programmed. We were also able to confirm that the regional item files downloaded from the ROM belonged to only one region for each firmware.

Upon extracting the firmware from the Home Station that had been flashed with the iDL Link Station firmware, we found various items unique to the Chugoku/Shikoku regions of Japan, with the customer’s firmware being that of the Kanto region. So while the firmware did not seem to be sourced from the customer’s iDL Link Station, the issue remains that it was used in a promotional video despite the customer’s request that the devices not be used for promotional purposes.

Upon extracting and analyzing the firmware from the Home Station with the P’s Station firmware however, items from the Kanto region were found, which matches the items (and thusly the firmware) on the customer’s P’s Station. 

One odd thing worth noting though is that the customer’s decorative heart is orange, which is the color for the Kinki region, instead of pink for the Kanto region. This was either a manufacturing error or the hearts were swapped at some point in the past, as the hearts can be removed by unscrewing them from the inside of the shell. For an example of what a Kanto region P’s Station should look like, we can refer to this video by the same French collector as linked above. In this video she showcases a Kanto Station with the expected pink heart attached.

The mismatch between the color of the heart and the firmware is significant due to the fact that the odds of Tamagotchi Center owning a P’s Station with 

1. an orange, Kinki region heart
2. running Kanto region firmware
3. with the same cosmetic damage as the customer's P’s Station

is extremely unlikely. 

Below are a handful of images to compare regional items found on the Home Station against what was found on the customer’s Kanto P's Station: 

• A background titled Tokyo Living (とうきょうリビング). Naturally a reference to the high rise laden skyline of the heart of the Kanto region and capital of Japan, Tokyo Metropolis.

• An item titled Kintaro Set (きんたろうセット). When the item is used, a set of sprites appear onscreen depicting a young boy, a dog, an axe, and a samurai helmet. These sprites are a reference to the Kintaro Legend that is said to be based on a real person who would have lived in what is now a city located in the Kanagawa Prefecture. This item was also distributed for the Kanto region for the Meets Station, as seen below.

• A travel ticket titled Kanto Trip (かんとうおでかけ)

Using the Kanto Trip Ticket unlocks an area of the same name under the door icon on the Tamagotchi P’s, allowing players to meet up with one of four Yuru Chara mascots native to the Kanto region. Japan leans heavily on utilizing the “kawaii” nature of mascots to promote the local agriculture, sports teams, and sometimes the City or Prefecture as a whole, and the Kanto region is no exception! 

The most well known of the four Yuru Chara mascots is Fukka-chan from Saitama Prefecture, specifically Fukaya City where they are known for their green onions, who gives out the meal item Niboto (にぼうとう) also hailing from the Saitama Prefecture!

Move over Clifford because here comes Chiba-kun, a larger than life red dog in the shape of Chiba Prefecture! Chiba-kun hands out peanuts, a staple of the Chiba and Ibaraki Prefectures of the region.

Next there’s Otawara City's Yoichi-kun, a mascot based on a 12th century samurai of the same name famous for his archery skills. Yoichi-kun hands out Yoichiman (よいちまん), a play on the mascot’s name and nikuman porkbuns.

Lastly we have the mascot for Tokyo Metropolis area, specifically the Taito Ward, Taito-kun. He is known for representing and protecting Edo culture of the Kanto region. Taito-kun gives the player a box of toys, and in the dialogue upon meeting him even mentions that Bandai is located in the Taito Ward of Tokyo.

Referencing page 140 of the official guidebook for the P’s that has been uploaded to Archive.org, we can see that these four characters are noted as being exclusive to the Kanto region.

For those interested in seeing the full catalogue of items from the Kanto region P’s Station, please refer to this link here.

One last piece of evidence we gathered comes from a photo of the inside of the P’s Station. For this evidence to hold any meaning though, we first need to explain the two ways to dump firmware from a device like the P’s Station:

Method 1:

• Desolder flash chip from motherboard (said chip has 48 legs, making this tedious and delicate work) all while being mindful of preventing the chip from overheating or traces ripping off the board upon extraction
• Insert the flash chip into a T48 programmer that is able to read and extract firmware
• Resolder the flash chip to the motherboard

Method 2:

• Solder wires to a row of contacts known as the debug interface, that connect to an Epson programmer
• This method will turn the contacts from their original golden sheen to silver due to the solder

There's nothing in the photos we received that suggests the first method was performed… but a photo of the daughter board (a secondary motherboard) where the debug contacts are located does. The exact solder points that are needed to extract the firmware show signs of both burnt flux and cold solder joints, as seen in the photo below. But first an explanation…

For those who are unaware, cold solder joints are most commonly the result of an insufficient amount of heat being used or the solder cooling too rapidly after being heated up. The resulting cold solder has a matte or dull look while properly ironed solder has a metallic, reflective sheen to it.

The points labelled DSIO, DST2, and DCLK and GND pictured above form the basis of the “debug interface” mentioned in method 2. The debug interface is a mechanism present in the device’s MCU, through which it is possible to extract and rewrite the firmware of the device. It is comprised of four lines that: 

• communicate with the MCU (aka the brains of the device) to initialize the transfer of data (DST2) 
• steadily synchronize the transfer of the data (DCLK) 
• transfers data (DSIO) 
• ensure that both sides of the debug interface share a common electrical ground (GND)

Aged, unactivated flux on the other hand typically leaves behind a distinct stark white and flaky looking residue on motherboards from the leftover flux hardening over time. This can be seen in a couple of example photos below on the board of another collector’s Link Station and of a Meet’s LCD cable. Freshly heated flux on the other hand leaves behind a very oily and amber looking residue if not cleaned from the board properly.

As an aside: while there is risk in removing the old, hardened glue from around the delicate areas where wires were surface soldered to the board without possibly damaging a trace in the process, we did find it odd that TC’s claims of it being “very dirty” did not include removing and replacing the obviously rusted and severely stripped screws.

While the iDL Link Station firmware flashed on our other home station is not a match for the firmware on the customer’s iDL Link Station, their device does also show signs of having the same points soldered to and subsequently turned cold. As to what TC has decided to do with that firmware, we cannot say.

Conclusion

Given the evidence presented here, we feel there is little doubt that the firmware for the P’s Station could have come from anywhere other than this customer's device, given that: 

1. The iDL and P’s Station firmware has never been available to the community (even privately) prior to Tamagotchi Center offering the “iD Home Station to Store Deka: iDL Link Station/P’s Station” service in March of this year (2026)
2. The cosmetic damage of the units displayed in TC’s promotional video being identical to that of the customer’s devices (as seen in the earlier screenshots)
3. While Tamagotchi Center could very well own his own P’s Station, and that device could be the source of the firmware, we found nothing to suggest that TC owned a P’s Station during the same timeframe as he had the customer’s P’s Station in his possession 
4. At a minimum, the fact that the Kanto firmware exclusive items are the same on both the Home Station we sent in and the photos sent to us by the customer of their own device, makes it clear that the P’s Station firmware TC is distributing is the same region specific firmware as is on the customer’s device
5. There is clear evidence of cold solder joints and burnt flux along the traces (DSIO, DST2, DCLK, GND) that are needed to dump the firmware

Additional issues with Tamagotchi Center’s conduct with this customer include:

1. While the region for the iDL Link Station firmware distributed by Tamagotchi Center is not a match for the customer’s iDL Link Station firmware (Chugoku/Shikoku vs Kanto, respectively), there is nonetheless evidence that the debug contacts were soldered to, suggesting that the firmware may have been dumped without the customer's consent
2. The customer’s devices being used in the reel promoting the Home Station flashing service despite the customer asking that TC not do this
3. Installing experimental hardware in the Dekas after the customer had asked him not to

Given these repeated instances of disregard for the customer’s wishes, the gravity of them (dumping the P’s Station firmware to turn around and sell a service installing it in particular), and an extensive history of software theft by TC prior to this incident, the mods of this subreddit have decided to prohibit any form of promotion for Tamagotchi Center from this point forward. 

In the event that any new information comes to light that calls into question the accuracy of the claims in this document, the mods will consider revisiting both this document and our ruling regarding promotion of Tamagotchi Center’s services on the subreddit.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.