Digital Doggie, Compu Kitty,Micro Chimp, Bit
CritterBaby T-Rex & Virtual Alienand Giga Friends
Welcome to Kid Smart's
Giga Pet information area. If you want to know more about giga pets
this it the place to start!
Giga
Pets
History of Giga
Pets
Giga Pets, built by
Tiger Electronics, were one of the first pets to be offered in the
United States that were a "series" composed of several different pets
in the same product line. Compu Kitty, Digital Doggie, Micro Chimp,
Baby T-Rex and Virtual Alien were the initial Giga Pets. Virtual
Alien and Baby T-Rex were among the first U.S. virtual pets to be
specifically "designed for boys" and were very successful.
In September 1997 Giga
Pets added the Komputer Koala (Bear) and Floppy Frog to the product
line.
In October 1997 Tiger
sent us press release sheets for a dolphin (Doodel Dolphin) and a
parrot (Pixel Parrot) which we have never seen in circulation. The
dolphin was to jump for fish and "tail walk" while the parrot could
be taught to talk.
21 November 1997, Giga
Pets began a special promotion with Kentucky Fried Chicken and
special units were produced for the promotion. The models were: Micro
Pup, Digi Pooch, Bitty Kitty, and Cyber Kitty.
In late 1997, Tiger
added the Virtual Friends line which was somewhat similar, but based
on movie characters and required a little less constant
attention.
In late 1997 and early
1998 hundreds of people began reporting problems of keeping their
Giga Pets healthy. We began to report on that and offer some
suggestions on our Giga Pets Health Page.
Giga Pet
Information
Currently, with all
the reports of people having problems keeping them healthy, we are
advising people not to purchase them as a "first pet". If you do have
some experience with virtual pets and would like one, that you read
our Giga Pets Health Page first so you will know what to
expect.
The pets do offer a
wide range of animals and creatures as pets and have been "higher
quality" pets than several of the low dollar imports. Giga Pets tend
to work and not break when compared to some of the competitors. Also
they are usually available at a price point below the Tamagotchi.
Currently (January 1998) many department stores are selling
Tamagotchi for $15.99 and Giga Pets for $9.99.
Giga Pets are made on
a variety of shapes of cases and some of the pets have actually been
made in two different cases. The Baby T-Rex was produced in both the
rectangular case and in a "tear drop" version. Their "key chain" has
changed from the original beady type to a clip on that easily hooks
onto belt loops.
We have heard from
several people of a problem with the instructions of Komputer Koala.
The printed instructions with some units say the leaves are the main
food and the milk is the "treat". They are wrong - the milk is the
main food and the leaves are the "treat." If you give your pet too
many leaves (treats) it will go down in health.
The Baby T-Rex was the
first keychain virtual pet I owned and I found it very interesting. I
now also have a Digital Doggie, Floppy Frog, and 101 Dalmatians. I
put some serious test time in on the Digital Doggie while on a recent
road trip and hope to write up my experiences soon. In general I was
not very pleased with it, but I found the transparent purple case to
among the most beautiful virtual pets I have seen.
Basic Play of the
Game
The basic game is
similar to many other pets. Giga Pets do have a feature where you can
name your pet which many people like. They have a main food and a
"treat". They have some games to play with your pet. You are provided
with Happiness, Hunger and Discipline indexes to tell you how you are
doing.
You can turn the sound
off. The pets can be paused by being left in the clock mode (you
reset the clock when you get back). They only have one potential
growth outcome (cannot grow up to be different characters depending
upon how you care for them.) Most of them become angels and sprout
wings when they "die."
In recent months, the
pets have been produced with "realistic animal sounds" instead of
just beeps.
Just like a real pet,
you have to feed it, play with it, clean up after it, and even take
care of it when it gets sick! The more you play with your GigaPet the
healthier and happier it will be!
Tiger's Giga Pet web
site has an excellent tips page. Some of the tips are:
Check your info
screens often to monitor your pet's health, happiness, hunger, and
discipline. When the alert goes off, any index below 20 needs
immediate attention.
Visual clues
on-screen can help you figure out the right action. If your pet
has left behind dirty footprints (or worse!) it's time for a bath.
If you see an unhappy face in the sky, discipline is called for.
And if you see a skull hanging in the air, get your pet to the
hospital right away.
If you can't figure
out what your pet wants, try giving it a treat. Sometimes, that's
all it takes.
Happiness, hunger,
and discipline are the easiest indexes to control. Start with
DISCIPLINE and max it out--once or twice should do it. Then PLAY
with your pet to make it happy, Finally FEED it until it's full
and won't eat any more.
Health is the
hardest index to control. The secret to perfect HEALTH score is to
keep your pet with you and take care of it on time.
