Giga Pet Floppy Frog Toy for Ages 5 and Above, 90s Throwback Collector’s Edition, Animal Care Through Play

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.

It brings back memories from my childhood.my kids love them. overall good quality. Just the battery did last that long. Three days after getting it the battery died

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!

FINAL UPDATE 6/14/23: We finally figured out the trick to this -- turn off the sound. If you turn the sound off, the annoying battery symbol disappears. We've been using the same battery mentioned in the previous update three months ago, and it's only just now started flashing the low battery symbol again. It's sad that you can't use the sound effects, but we've managed to max out the age and weight (100yrs and 40lbs, respectively) on Star Cat, so I'd say there's significant longevity without it. UPDATED REVIEW 3/18/23: I came back to add a star. After posting the initial review, we decided to just let the cat go until the battery died. It's now been WEEKS since the "low battery" symbol started popping up, but the dang thing is still going. I can't give it a full five stars due to the annoyance of having a flashing low battery notification consistently interrupting play, but it seems to have a better battery life than even the toy itself would expect. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Our 6yo loves this thing. The screen is clearly visible (especially when compared to a Tamagotchi screen), the variety of games is appreciated, and Star Cat in particular is not too needy. If it weren't for the battery situation, this would be a 5-star toy. This cat is two weeks old today, and we're already on its FOURTH battery! The first battery started to die the day after we removed the tab and started it up, and each subsequent replacement has only lasted a couple days. Luckily, it doesn't do a hard reset and lose progress at each change, but we'll probably be letting this one go completely once we run through the pack of batteries we bought for it.

I love digital pets and cryptids so this thing is a dream come true. I even made a little protective mothman sweater for it. It’s a little glitchy when the sound is on, and the first battery doesn’t last too long, but the lil’ dude survives battery replacement which I’ve never seen before. I love all the cryptids in it, but Mothman is my favorite. The animations and games are super witty and cute. I’ve been caring for it since Christmas and it’s still delightful to me. I hope they do more shells with alternate designs or cases someday.

Battery life is SO bad. Thought maybe it just came with a bad battery at first but after multiple battery changes can confirm it's not the batteries. They last 3 days before it starts flashing low battery and by day 5 the screen cuts out. And to change the battery ends the current game so you can never get a pet past 5 days before you have to start over. Really frustrating

I feel like I'm 8 again!

Not like the vintage ones. Didn't work or make a sound

Kids really love it! Compared to $100 gift we bought them and this is what they play the very next day and evryday.

Ma fille est ravie mais les piles sur que quelques jours dommage

Got these for a very long car summer road trip. They sucked when I was a kid because you'd go to school and they'd die, but absolutely perfect for an "I'm boooorrrred" moment. Better see if your pet needs a snack or a bath! The battery life is not great, so we also took along a pack of those.

Fun and easy to play with two modes, easy and hard this is a fun little virtual pet and the cat sounds are cute. My only complaint is that the battery died less than 24 hours later, so either I got a diff battery or this thing drains them like nobody’s business, will put a new one in and hope it’s just a diff battery. Build quality is solids thou and the buttons arnt to stiff or stick. The games are very responsive as well and performance is smooth with no glitching. EDIT: had to return for replacement as it started to glitch out on me. Hoping the replacement works better as it is a fun little pet.

1. Turn of the sound, the speaker is huge and requires lots of current. 2. Tighten (gently) the cover for the batter, if you tap of slam the unit just hard enough the battery will lose contact and give low batt screen. 3. Put the creature to sleep every time you are done playing, this lets the battery pick its voltage back up (not capacity just voltage) for your next play. I used to get low batt screens after two weeks of NOT doing the above, but on the SAME STOCK battery im still going strong... my creature is 58 years old (59 days of active use). This is a nice product, fun cute and neat little game. instructions really tell you all the mechanics of the game, highly recommend understanding that.