Giga Pets

Digital Doggie, Compu Kitty,
Micro Chimp, Bit Critter
Baby T-Rex & Virtual Alien,
Giga Friends and other
Virtual Pets

Welcome to our Giga Pet Virtual Pet information area. If you want to know more about giga pets this it the place to start! Our GigaPets information is divided into sections:

Giga Pets Virtual Pets

History of Giga Pets Virtual 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.

If you have lost the instructions to your Giga Pet, see our Instructions Page.

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.

We have a fairly extensive product review posted of the Digital Doggie.

Some Articles About Giga Pets

Tiger maintains a GigaPets web site at: http://www.gigapets.com.

Some comments from their site are below:

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:

Gigapets are available at Toys-R-Us and other toy stores.

101
Dalmatians

Digital
Doggie

Floppy
Frog

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