The Virtual Pets topic

[-Mark-]

Oh man, I have a long and sometimes painful history with Virtual Pets. D: Some of the ones I got were a little too generic or obscure for me to find images of, but I'll try where I can.

 

The first one I ever got was a white one somewhat in the shape of a dinosaur (can't find a pic), with, understandably, a dinosaur pet to raise. My brother, meanwhile, got a Gigapets Compu Kitty;

 

 

Now, we both got these from the same store on the same day. Obviously, being made by different companies, there were some differences in build quality etc; but I didn't care, I was perfectly happy with my dinosaur pet.

 

My Dad, on the other hand, decided that the dinosaur pet I was perfectly happy with and already attached to wasn't as good because the screen didn't look as clear and sharp as the one my brother had, despite being a totally different model. So he took it back to the toy shop and exchanged it for the same kind that my brother had. I was pretty gutted really, but tried to make do with it as best as I could.

 

...except there was a bug in my Compu Kitty, and if I remember correctly, it kept resetting every week or so. So again, thanks to my Dad, back to the shop it went. He then came back with an original Tamagotchi, by which point I was upset and disappointed enough with the constant pet changes that I hated it. So back that went as well.

 

Finally, I came back from school one day to find that my Dad had exchanged it for the one that I'd seen in the shops before and absolutely didn't want at all; it was a bulky dog figure (maybe around 3" tall) with buttons along the bottom and a screen built into its belly. God damn I remember crying so hard the day I came home to that, being around ten at the time. Adding insult to injury, my Dad said the toy store were getting fed up with him changing them so much so he wouldn't be able to exchange them any more.

 

All I wanted was my original dinosaur pet, goddamnit. ;____;

 

Anyway, I eventually accepted that fate had lumbered me with this bulky dog pet, so again, just made do and got used to it really. I guess I eventually just got fed up with it in the end, and that was that.

 

A couple of years later in early secondary school, I got back into Virtual Pets a bit, and at one stage had about three on the go; a generic cheapo 'ten in one' pet, a Toy Story virtual pet;

 

 

And another one I can't quite remember. I know at this stage I went through a couple of generic cheapo ones fairly short-term.

 

At some stage, around age 13, I got one of the original Digimon V-Pets (I got the red one) which held my attention for quite some time;

 

 

 

I also got both the Pokemon Pikachu and Pokemon Pikachu 2:

 

 

 

And well, now...

 

 

 

Admittedly I bought most of these Digvices in the last year; I had the UK models of the first three as a kid, but they eventually succumbed to my Dad and went on eBay under "You don't use these any more". All the ones I have now are Japanese models except for the original and the Digivice Burst (Series 5/ Savers/ Data Squad).

 

Granted most of the Digivices aren't actually virtual pets, but then the Pokemon Pikachu things weren't as such really, either.

Edited January 27, 2013 by -Mark-

[Conando]

I was always interested in getting back into Digimon but, I can't find a digivice that is actually a virtual pet. It seems, unlike Tamagotchi, it didn't last.

[Conando]

So I got in the latest US version of Tamagotchi. I was certainly out of loop because, as soon as the egg hatched the game informed me it was a girl. Tamagotchis have genders now, and completely different forms depending on gender. Also, the thing is the size of an actual egg now. Easier to hold in my big hand but, it IS strange. You can connect little plastic figures to the top in order to customize the thing, which also unlocks bonus games and food or toys for your tamagotchi; and there's these little paper borders that you can switch out of the unit.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Wreck-It Ralph

[Mega]

This topic is old. I think I am crazy, but just in case... does anyone else here goof around on Neopets?

I've been playing ever since the year 2000, though I've taken many a hiatus. I just got into it this past spring, though, and it's been an... interesting experience. For those unfamiliar, Neopets is probably one of the oldest and most iconic virtual pet sites. You create pets, play games, save neopoints to paint them cool colors like this...

It's definitely dated, as the site still uses old code from the early 2000's, and the userbase has shrunken significantly since its glory days in the mid-2000's. Most of the userbase nowadays consists of young adults, and at the moment, the site is going through a transitional period due to JumpStart having purchased it last year. Some of you on SSMB may have heard about the fairly recent board disaster where the filters shut down and people on 4chan started posting inappropriate topics...



Spoilered just to be safe.

But for all the oddities, it's been a fun little time waster. There are some fun flash games, and I've made a crazy goal to achieve an army of Unconverted Neopets. And what are Uncovnerted pets? Basically, they're pets that still use the old artwork rather than the... stiff, arguably lower quality art that was added to make way for dressing up your pets.

 

The old art being the more dynamic pose with the quadrupedal stance.

So yeah. If you did or still do play, what've been your experiences? Might be a fun romp down memory lane.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Mega