Giga Pets (1996/1997)

[starricat]

Hey everyone, I was thinking about cool toys growing up and Giga Pets is definitely up there. While this site is dedicated to 80's/90's toys I think Giga Pets would make a nice addition as there is lots of info about them and they were really popular. They were electronic "pets" (like a game) you could carry around and play with. They were very small, about the size of a large keychain. They were produced by Tiger Electronics. I think they were made and came out after Tamagotchi hit the market.

Here's a page made in 1998 (http://virtualpet.com/vp/farm/gigapet/gigapet.htm) about the versions. Here's some of the pets from wikipedia:

"The first Giga Pets included the Bit Critter, Compu Kitty, Digital Doggie, and Micro Chimp. Baby T-Rex and Virtual Alien were added shortly after, with Komputer Koala and Floppy Frog following. When Tiger Electronics decided to release a new line of pets, they called them Giga Friends. These included such pets as the Salem the Cat giga pet, Looney Tunes, Giga Farm, and various Star Wars characters, among others."

Here's Compu Kitty:



There's many more and they made special editions based off movies/cartoons. I'll add more to this post later!

[zuse]

Oh, I made a site about them awhile back. I meant to do the Nanos by Playmates later but never got around to it. I have all the pictures saved, though.

And... my host seems to have deleted so I'll reupload it soon.

EDIT: http://virtualpets.cwahi.net/gigapets.htm
There it is.

[lithiumkat]

I so had Salem the cat. but I used to have a hard time keeping him alive, and he got me in trouble in class for making a racket. lol. But I remember wanting one SOOOO bad.

[Candice]

I remember the GigaPets had some kind of glitch in them that made them impossible to keep alive. I had much more fun with my Nano pets. It would be fun to see a page on here with all the different kinds of virtual pets from the 90s

[jazzmatazz]

I have salem... recently donated a kfc dog one to goodwill. I had a lot of Sabrina stuff... I loved that show as a kid.

[luckdragon]

I remember everyone had one, so I got one too.  Mine was the 101 Dalmatians one.  It was fun for maybe a month.

And, ha ha, I didn't know they did a Cabbage Patch Kids Giga pet.  Learn something new everyday.

[Miss Katherine]

I definitely had Komputer Koala and would really like to think I also had Baby T-Rex. And, I remember making a big to-do of wanting the limited edition golden Giga Pet (released simultaneously with a golden Tamagotchi) from Toys "R" Us for Christmas 1996. Since I was only three at the time, I didn't really know how to work the device, so seeing the cute critters was ultimately the selling point for me.

[BattySparkles]

I still have my Disney's Little Mermaid one. Never beat it, but allegedly if you kept her alive long enough she would become human and get  married to Eric. I should dig it out and put some batteries in! See if I can finally get my mermaid married off. haha

[lalalei2001]

I had some kind of angel Gigapet once, either that or it was a Tamagotchi Angel. I think Gigapets were made for kids who couldn't find or afford a Tamagotchi. XD

[SunshineSam218]

I remember owning The Little Mermaid one, I used to play with it all the time. I've actually seen some on Etsy and a few on Ebay. I think I'm going to buy one for myself, just to bring back memories.