A dictionary of the terms that are commonly used on this site. I’ll admit most of these I’ve actually made up myself, just to make things easier as I write about these pets, so if I got any of them wrong, or there are alternatives, please let me know!
- Collector – Collector pets contain many different items that you must collect in order to complete them. Sometimes you must collect other pets (as in the Sumikko Gurashi and Fluffy Poop pets), and sometimes you collect items (Doraemon, Vial of Aruderu). These pets may have life stages, but sometimes may not, since breeding and growth is not as important here.
- Dinkie Dino – The Dinkie Dino was a generic pet that let you raise a dinosaur, and has remained fairly popular. Several companies either used the ROM outright or imitated it using their own unique programming. It can be distinguished by its vertically-arranged icons and its weather functions.
- Happiness Bug – This is a phenomenon that I’ve noticed with many of the older Giga Pets specifically, and I’ve yet to figure out what causes it or if it’s fixable. When the “Happiness Bug” bites, the pet will work as normal, but playing with it or performing any of the actions that should increase its happiness meter results in the meter increasing only by 1 or 2 points. Since the meter goes all the way to 100, this makes it nearly impossible to care for them. Some have reported that they’re able to fix this issue by resetting, or switching to another battery, but I’ve unfortunately never had this work for me.
- Johnny Alien – Johnny Alien is a ROM that is found on a number of generic pets. It can be identified by its exercise functions and unique sprites.
- Left/Right Game – A basic game of chance that is found on a large number of electronic pets. In it, the player inputs a direction, either left or right, and the pet then reveals which direction they’ve chosen to face. If the player has guessed correctly, you’ll be rewarded, while guessing the wrong direction usually results in the pet displaying an unhappy face.
- Multipet – A pet that allows you to chose multiple different pets to raise. They may let you run multiples simultaneously, or one at a time
- ROM – A ROM (short for Read Only Memory) is the term used to refer to the particular programming found on the chip in a virtual pet.