I don’t know anything about who manufactured these, so I don’t have a company name to put them under. That said, they’re known to be very good vpets and there are several different versions, forming something of a family of pets with similar programming and features. I currently have the 9-in-1 Super Gyaoppi, though I haven’t gotten to work yet.
Chuppi Bird
Gyaoppi II
Gyaoppi 4-in-1
No information or pictures about this one yet. More coming soon!
These were also known as “Ani-bip” in some places, there are several iterations of these, so you’ll often see “Ani-bip 2,” “Ani-bip 3,” and “Ani-bip 4.” There are a number of different animals, all in separate toys, and in order to marry and have a baby, they needed to connect with another anipal. The one you mate with doesn’t need to be the same species either: you can create hybrids that will have mommy’s head and daddy’s body, or vice versa. While the hybrids are a nice novelty, I think needing another pet frustrated some when they first came out–just know you should pick up two or more if you’re getting into them today. The animations are said to be pretty simple and not super engaging.
These were sold in several countries, but there is almost no text in the ROM and they are not region-locked. A French Anip-bip can connect to an American PowerPalz without issues. It seems the language differences are only present on the cases.
There is also a “Mega store” version, which allows you to connect and buy different items. I’m not sure if the store has a pet on it itself, but it can connect to other Power Palz and they will immediately use the items you choose to buy. Each of these items changes their stats in some way, and there are a ton of them. The instructions sheets have several pages of tables that go over these and what they affect, and there are even a few mystery items as well. You should note thought that since the pets don’t have any inventory functionality, they will be used immediately when you buy them, so make sure you want to use it before you press the button.
Overall these seem kind of neat and have some unique features, but you absolutely need several before you’re really going to be able to have fun with them. Because of this, I wouldn’t pay much for them unless you’re an absolute completionist looking for that last one in your collection.
white, pink, gold, blue; with different icons for each animal
Manufacturer
Gamze
Pet type
Basic
Programming
Custom
Release year
Unknown
I have seen a dog, cat, frog, and a penguin in this line so far. They’re fairly rare and go for a lot, but they seem to have very nice animations and are pretty fun. They are controlled by a touchpad on the front that acts similar to the classic iPod controls, with four directions in the shape of a d-pad.
These are a pedometer pet that come with a map that the slime will travel through as you walk. How cool is that? They also feature a good number of the usual functions you’d find in a vpet. Tinkerville has a good review of how they work here: https://tinkerville.cutthatout.com/pedometer/dragonquest
In addition to the classic pet care functions, you will help the pet traverse a map that features seven different terrains by walking with it and letting it log your steps. There are grid-based maps included with the instructions, and you can chose which direction you will walk on this grid using one of the menu functions. As you walk, the pet traverses this map and you can reference where you’ve gone by looking at the coordinates it’s located at. Some of these locations will have secret items and locations, like caves, as seen in this reddit post, but I can’t tell whether or not they’re randomized or set.
There are different items you can use throughout the game to give your pet a hand up in battles or dealing with different terrain. This is needed because different slimes will take a different number of steps to cross different terrains depending on how well they are equipped to handle them. Some slimes cannot cross water without warp items, for instance. See the charts here for a reference of which slimes can do what: https://arukundesuguides.weebly.com/map-movement-and-secrets.html
Here’s a guidebook that goes over strategies in depth and talks about how the pet works. Unfortunately it’s only in Japanese, but I will try to translate and upload an alternate version soon.
Thanks to the weebly site I’ve linked above for the instruction book scans. Again, these are only in Japanese so I will try to translate and upload alternates soon.
There were also a few follow-ups released under the names Arukundesu 2 and Arukundesu Returns. More info to come about those soon!
Yuki Penguin is another pet in the Dinkie Dino line that lets you raise a penguin. It will turn into different kinds of penguins depending on how you care for it, and includes temperature features and addition to the standard vpet care functions. Guide here: VirtualPet.com Tamenagerie guide here: http://www.tamenagerie.com/instyuki.html Penguin-keeper over on Tamatalk, who collects penguin vpets, has also run through this one on their thread here: https://www.tamatalk.com/threads/penguin-keepers-zoo.194908
Riku Riku Chan is a vpet in the Dinkie Dino line that lets you raise a little human boy. Gameplay is mostly focused on educating the pet and making sure he remains happy and responsible. It even has an art class and a simple drawing function! Tamenagerie has a guide for this here: http://www.tamenagerie.com/rikouinstr.html
Red, blue, white, yellow, green, green translucent
Manufacturer
Unknown/various
Pet type
Basic
Programming
Dinkie
Release year
Unknown
In the US, these seem to have been distributed by a company called Innotronics, but I cannot find out who distributed them in Japan. They are dinosaur pets that are notable for having weather and training functions, and several care-based growth trees. Notably, the menu icons for these pets run vertically up the sides of the screen, rather than on the top and bottom of the pet.
VirtualPet.com has a guide for this one here: Puppy Micropet. I have also seen this branded as “MicroPet” from Bluetech, and the instructions seem to reference that branding regardless of which version you get, so I’m assuming it was the original.
While the screens on it look similar to Nanos, the ROM has its own unique programming. There is a points system included that you’re meant to maximize in order to get a “good” ending. Here’s an excerpt from the instructions going over how the scoring works:
Scoring You can get up to 60 points per day for each of the Happiness, Health, Hunger, Sleep, and Over/Under Weight values, if you keep them at the ideal values at the end of the day. You also get 1,000 points for paper training your pet, and 200 points for each of the 4 tricks you teach it. You can also get points by beating your pet at playing the Ball game, but sometimes you should let your pet win, because it makes it happy.
Running Away If you don’t take care of your pet’s Health, Happiness Feeding and Watering, or if you are a bad ownder, your pet can run away. If it runs away 3 times for the same reason (i.e. no water), it may run away for good!
There’s only one game, and it’s a custom one, called the Ball game. You control a hand with a ball on the left side of the screen, and you can move it up and down to where the dog is standing on the right. You can throw the ball wherever you like, and the dog will try and catch it. It also displays a count of how many times he’s caught it in the upper right hand corner, which keeps track of your score. I like the idea behind this game because, while it’s less intuitive than the left-right game, it’s a lot more like playing with a real dog.
The instructions pamphlet nicely includes screenshots of each of the dog’s reaction screens so that you don’t have to do any guessing about how it feels.
The pet ages up for the first time on day 3, and then after that every two days. The pet will die of old age on day 23. At that point, you’ll be able to see if you got a bad or good ending, depending on your score. This is of course assuming he hasn’t run away before then.
The meters are fairly unique. They run vertically and increase one pixel at a time, for a total of 7. This way they’ve been able to display 3 per screen, with the icons at the top above each meter.
Note that there’s no indication of sickness with this pet, such as a skull icon or anything. The attention icon will light up, but other than that there’s no visual cue. Also, Tama Pichu on Youtube (see videos section below) notes that you must always let the various animations complete, otherwise they won’t be counted towards the pet’s meters.
Honestly while I’m reticent on the pet sprites in this one, I really like all the menus and icons. They’re all really unique! Ok nevermind I take that back. IT HAS DREAMING SPRITES. SO CUTE.
Instructions on puppy selection: …puppy’s face by pressing the CANCEL button. To choose one of the puppies, select its face, then press the DO button to see its Personality screen. From there, press the DO button. You have now selected your puppy!
Puppy 1: Male, strong willed and angry, very smart, bad temperament, health OK Puppy 2: Male, not too smart, very happy, health not so good. Puppy 3: Female, sickly, very smart, happy, poor health Puppy 4: Female, dumb, very happy, health OK
NAME YOUR PUPPY Once you have chosen your own Micro Pet Puppy, you need to name it. Select each letter by going through the…
PAPER TRAINING As you observe your pet at home in Wander Mode, you will notice that within 30 minutes after eathing, it starts acting like it needs to “do its business”. Before your pet “needs to go”, it will wander back and forth and then squat on the right side of the screen. When it really needs to go, it will walk more near the centre of the screen and squat. Now Hurry! Press the DO button before it is too late! If you do this successfully, you will see the puppy get picked up and placed over the “papers” in the lower right hand side of the screen, where the puppy will then “do its business”. If you successfully catch your pet seven times out of any 8 in a row, your pet will be paper trained! Smarter pets learn this quicker. (Puppy 1 and 2, must be cause 3 times out of 8, Puppy 2 and 4, must be caught 5 times out of eight.) From then on, it will only “do its business” on the papers, AND it than can be taken outside for walks. If you don’t catch your pet in time, it will “do its business” off the papers, and can never go for walks.
This is a virtual pet based off of Cepia’s Zhu ZHu Hamster toyline. I grew up seeing the toys everywhere, but I didn’t know they had a virtual pet too. I picked up one of these a while back, because they are all fairly cheap right now, but I haven’t run it yet. Rest assured, I will update with details once I do!
