Hamtaro (とっとこハム太郎, Tottoko Hamutarō, "Trotting Hamtaro") is a Japanese children's manga and storybook series created and illustrated by Ritsuko Kawai. The manga is serialized in Shogakukan's all girl's magazine Ciao in 1997, focusing on a hamster named Hamtaro who has a variety of adventures with other hamsters, known as "Ham-Hams" ("Hamuchans" in the Japanese version). VIZ Media published the manga adaptations and storybooks in English.
Multiple anime adaptations were produced by TMS Entertainment and aired on TV Tokyo. The first series was dubbed in English by The Ocean Group.
The series revolves around an anthropomorphic hamster named Hamtaro, who is owned by a 10-year-old girl named Hiroko Haruna (Laura Haruna in the English dub). Curious by nature, he ventures out each day to make friends and go on adventures with a clan of fellow hamster friends known as The Ham-Hams. The Ham-Hams meet at a special clubhouse built by Boss ("Taisho").
People magazine named this show "[the] Hottest new thing in Hollywood!" due to its rise in popularity among audiences of all ages.
Hamtaro is a series of video games based on the Hamtaro anime series.
Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu was released in Japan for the Game Boy Color in 2000.
Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! (とっとこハム太郎2 ハムちゃんず大集合でち Tottoko Hamutarou 2 - Hamu-chan Zu Daishuugou Dechi) is a Hamtaro adventure video game developed by Pax Softnica and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 2001, and was later released in North America on October 28, 2002, and in Europe on January 10, 2003. It was the last game officially released for the Game Boy Color in Europe.
The player (Hamtaro) is controlled by the D-pad, and holding down the B button allows the player to run. Pressing A will open a dialogue box with different Ham-chat words depending on context. For instance, standing next to a sunflower seed and selecting "hif-hif" will pick up the seed, while standing next to an NPC and selecting "Hamha" will open a dialogue with the character. Different options will yield different outcomes, rolling (Tack-Q) into NPCs will usually elicit a negative response. Objects in the world can be interacted with, like climbing trees and pulling drawers open.