Since the original Tamagotchi is clocked so slow (32.768 kHz) I imagine that you could write a Tamagotchi emulator for NES or Game Boy that actually runs at full speed. Especially if the processor spends most of its time sleeping.
Looking at the datasheet for the chip it uses (Epson E0C6S46) it actually doesn't have the ability to sleep in the first place, which is really surprising for a battery powered device. I guess that's why it runs at such a slow speed though?
@NovaSquirrel The lighter sleep modes on most processors do just switch over to a 32.768 kHz clock and shut down parts of the processor, so I suppose you could argue that, rather than being unable to sleep, this processor is always sleeping
-F
@NovaSquirrel oh, no, if it stops entirely then you need external hardware to wake it back up and that gets Complicated
some processor ssupport that, but it's rarely used
-F
@Felthry Oh huh, I didn't know that was a thing. I assumed they usually just stopped entirely, but that probably only works with really simple stuff.