Giga Pet Virtual Pet for Kids Ages 5 and Above, 90s Throwback Upgraded Collector’s Edition, Animal Care for Kids

I first stumbled on Giga Pets rereleases at a Target, but passed them up as the AR aspect of older releases didn't interest me. I had the Lost World T-Rex as a kid, and it's the virtual pet I most remember from my childhood. Wish I had sprung for the rereleases earlier, as I finally went for these new Collector's Editions with some improvements from the AR releases (got all 3 versions), and I think they're my favorite virtual pet rerelease yet between the ones I've tried. I don't want to go too in depth on where other virtual pet rereleases have had their issues for me, as it varies pet to pet, and despite issues, I still overall have enjoyed all the rereleases I've tried. I don't want to discourage anyone from trying out various virtual pet rereleases and finding their favorites. The Giga Pet rereleases, which I've been running for 4 days now at time of writing (2 of them work days), are my favorites so far and one reason is they fit my lifestyle best. I often cannot check on virtual pets for hours on end at work (especially in the morning). These Giga Pets have so far been robust enough to last for a long time without absolutely requiring care. Sure, their stats drop considerably by the time I can check on them at lunch, but they're not sick or dead. Additionally, I still have the option to force them to sleep for a few hours to slow down the stat drop rate. But if I forget to do that, I'll still probably have an alive and reasonably healthy pet a few hours later, just one needing attention. Each Collector's Edition pet also has a variety of games you can play to raise happiness, which helps keep up variety. None are too terribly difficult, but it's nice to switch it up (though for the "jump the hurdles" game with the Unicorn, I wish the Unicorn was on one side of the screen instead of the middle, to give a little more lead time to jump). Additionally, many actions affect multiple stats, instead of each action only affecting one (for example, tricks can raise discipline and happiness, as long as you reward your pet afterwards). Feeding a meal affects hunger the most, but also health and happiness. Also, the animations. See the video to see some of the animations each pet goes through when you're not interacting with it. Every action also has some cute animations, and some animations can even communicate needs (the dog starts scratching itself when it needs a bath, for example). The animations give each pet a lot of life and personality. There's also a battery save idling image when you don't interact with your pet for a time, and a low battery warning. Battery case is easy to remove, you only need a small Phillips head screwdriver and a fresh CR2032 battery. It seems they have enough memory to allow a battery swap without losing progress, as I briefly disconnected a battery in one of mine and it picked up right where it left off when I reconnected it. Overall I have very few complaints about these so far. What small complaints I do have (like one of the Unicorn games) are far outweighed by what I've enjoyed. I haven't had any issues with any color or shell decorations rubbing off, but I do carry each pet in a small headphone case to and from work. The biggest complaint is that two of mine arrived with small screen scratches, but a bit of Displex fixed those and they look like new. I have to tilt the screens in a very specific way to even see where they were. For the MSRP price of 15.99 USD, these are a worthwhile purchase for anyone who's curious about them. Final note: In my pictures and video, I want to point out that I swapped the factory keychain out for ones I took off spare Digimon 20th anniversary devices.

This toy is really nostalgic for me. One thing I like but is different is that it is much easier to take care of than original Giga Pets. The health on the original pets drops easily and it's difficult to bring back up, but you can let the kitty sit for a day and still easily save it the next day. The option of two pets is fun. For some reason these do come with mostly dead batteries, so be sure to order some CR 2032 batteries as well if you don't have any. The battery is easy to replace.

While the inspiration is clear, this is not just another Tamagotchi rip off. In a lot of ways I prefer this giga pet over the comparable Tamagotchi originals. The two major things in my opinion are the games and the care mechanism. Let's be honest the Tama P1 & P2 only have one each, and P1 is entirely based on chance. The giga pet has 2 games for every life stage that are unique to each cryptid, and a special game for when you have a high care level as an adult cryptid. They are very entertaining and even require some skill. Some are easier than others, but they're all fun in their own way. This variety helps keep the care from becoming too repetitive. As far as the care mechanics there are several needs you need to meet: hunger, discipline, health, and happiness. Taking care of these needs can have a positive or negative affect on other needs. For example feeding the healthy food option improves hunger and health, while feeding a treat improves hunger and happiness, but decreases discipline. Bathing might increase health but decrease happiness. Playing games will increase happiness but decrease discipline. Some actions restore a more points than others, ie. Healthy food will increase more hunger than a treat, scolding your cryptid will increase more discipline than training, and games will increase more happiness than training, but the negative effects are greater too. I love this mechanic and it feels very dynamic and "realistic" in a way. BUT that doesn't mean the Tama Classic doesn't have it's own charm! You don't get to see any of your points or Care Mistakes with your Tama, and these invisible mistakes have a real effect on how your Tama evolves. Good care unlocks certain "prettier" tamas while poor care unlocks some very quirky characters. I like them both, but many people have preferences that they like to aim for. I like that sense of consequence, that feeling after a busy week not knowing what you're gonna get but feeling attached anyway. A visible consequence or reward for your diligence. Which brings me to my one major con with Giga Pets Cryptids: they don't die. If you fail to care for them they run away to the wilderness where you can catch them again at a later date with no consequences. They're still at the same life stage they they left in, and their stats are always at 50%. I don't have any other giga pets, so I don't know if it's the same across the line. It's something I didn't expect to miss, but I do. I'm clearly an adult, but as a 90s kid I have a long history with Tamagotchis. I remember the real life drama that was checking in on your Tama and finding out they had passed. It wasn't traumatic, but it did instill a real sense of responsibility. I cannot stress how cute these VPets are, and that cycle of care and growth until they're grown up and either die of old age or move out is very rewarding. You've evolved your Tama as a result of your care, and no matter how they turned out you've successfully done your "job" as a caretaker. And then you get to start again. The Cryptids don't die and so you never get to start from the baby stage (unless you reset the device, which is very easy to do). Essentially, you can keep your Cryptid forever. A pro and a con. We've all had beloved tamas leave before we were ready, and I love that the lifespan is essentially tied to the care mechanic. Better care = healthier tamas you can keep longer. The last major difference is in the pets themselves. With Tamagotchi you collect the different pets by completing their life cycle and starting over with a new egg. You only ever care for one pet at a time. But with the giga pets Cryptids you raise Bigfoot to adulthood and then you have the opportunity to catch Loch Ness or Mothman and once they grow up you can catch the final one. Once you have all three, you are essentially caring for 3 v pets at the same time. Comparing one pet each, the giga pets are generally easier to care for and much more forgiving. But when you have three it can be a lot, much harder than Tamagotchi in that case. I don't always run three at the same time, you can just neglect the others and they'll run away until you want to catch them again. I do wish there was more randomness to how you start. You always start with Bigfoot, and then get the opportunity to catch the others. I wish in addition with the death feature, it would be random which cryptid you start with. It would be a pleasant surprise. I also wish there was a positive and negative variation of each cryptid depending on your care. If these features were added, I feel like it would be the perfect v pet. That being said, there's no such thing as a perfect v pet and I understand that there are many people who would appreciate the lack of a death mechanic. However in my opinion I do feel it does a disservice to kids. All my life I've had a variety of real world pets, and in a way I do credit Tamagotchi for being my first pet at such a young age. It allowed me to experience the positives and the negatives of caring for a life, even if it was virtual. However as a game and a toy, both Tamagotchi and giga pets are excellent. And I've had a blast with these Cryptids over the last year. I will definitely be getting more gigapets, I'm currently eyeing the pixie because it's so cute. As a parent you can't go wrong with this giga pet, and as a collector I definitely think this is a must have!

Fun to have and use, but battery life is to be desired, I changed the battery it came with to a name brand and the battery died within the week.

I loved Giga Pets when I was younger (more than tamagotchi for some reason) and I am so glad it's available so I can buy them for my kids! I like the variety of pets to choose from. My 12-year-old was so excited to see this and carries it around and takes care of it daily!! Now the younger siblings are asking for their own pets and I am totally fine with it 😁 The only downside is the demo battery needed to be replaced the day after Christmas. So it lasted one day... But it was easy to find the replacement battery (CR 2032) 😌 Merry Christmas!!

This was a birthday gift and when they opened it the battery was completely dead already. It comes with the little tab you remove for the battery to turn on or whatever. But yep, completely drained already. Do not have a battery on hand so I basically gave a present and that doesn’t work. Thanks.

This is so cute. At first I thought it would be a sort of copy of a tamagotchi but it is very different. There are so many fun features and the clear glittery shell is so cute. The quality of the paint job isn’t perfect but you don’t notice until you look closely. One of my new favorite vpets. ✨🧚🏻‍♀️🍓

Battery was super low when received and it wouldn't work right. Got new batteries and now it works great.