Based on an object from the anime Fushigi Mahou Fan Fan Pharmacy. This pet lets you collect different types of spirits from the anime and have them practice magic, which is a variation of the left-right game. The spirit collecting uses a slot game, which you play in order to get different seeds. You can then combine them in different ways to get different types of spirit characters. In addition to this, you can also use the pet to tell your fortune in the areas of dating, help, money, fashion, and friends, or have it dance by pressing different combinations of buttons. After the spirit leaves, you get a grade based on how well you treated it.
This particular pet is designed to pick up radio waves in the air and translate them into characters or messages on the device (though they probably don’t have anything to do with the original messages being sent; I assume it’s just a complicated random number generator). However, because they were designed for the Japanese market and their devices–and because it came out in the 1990s–it apparently only reacts to microwaves in the United States. Nonetheless the extremely dedicated hobbyists over at Tama Talk have rescued a bunch of instruction manuals and info about this pet and you can find it here:
Although very cute and popular within the virtual pets community, this one isn’t really a traditional virtual pet. Gameplay is centered around collecting different cute little bobas, which you can then make into drinks to sell in your boba stand. It has a very unique color screen, which is slightly translucent. This lets you see behind it to the straw that sticks out of the top, and acts as another control method for the pet. It’s a really neat effect!
Functions
Search for more bobas – This takes you to a screen with some selections: you can chose the type of liquid you would like (you will start with one, but others will be unlocked as you play), the ice level you’d like, and your sweetness level. Once you’re done, press the middle button, and you’ll be taken to a screen with many bobas swirling around. Move the straw to stir them into a frenzy, and one of them will be selected and stand out. You must press the straw down when it floats within the circle on the screen to start catching it. When the screen zooms in on the selected boba, push down on the straw to suck it up. But not too hard! Let go before the meter goes into the red, and move the straw to shake off the other bobas. Repeat until you’re successful. Once the boba has been caught, you’ll be taken to a screen that will tell you whether it’s new or not.
Customize your bobas – This lets you change the liquid and bobas on your home screen. There is a maximum of 20 that can show up, but you can switch them out at any time. If you don’t check on them for a while, they’ll shrivel up and look sad, so give them a shake with the straw to make them happy.
Games – There are a total of six games, and only two of them are unlocked when you start. Here are the ones I’ve seen:
* Catch game; catch the good bobas, avoid the bad ones as they fall (available at start)
* Use the straw to add straws to drinks as they go down the conveyor belt (available at start)
* Simon says with 3 directions
* Sweep the store and earn coins
* Matching card game
* Unknown - I have not yet been able to find out anything about the last game
Each game can net you a total of 200 coins, which you can then spend in the store for ingredients.
Shopping – The store lets you buy ingredients for your drinks
Blender – the blender lets you make drinks. Chose the boba you’d like to make it with, and if there are any required ingredients for its drink, it will tell you here. Add the needed ingredients, and press the middle button. Then you’ll need to move the straw back and forth to stir it up. When the drink has been made, you’ll be told whether or not it’s a new drink, and if so it will be added to your shop.
Book – This is a log of everything you’ve unlocked so far
Settings – self explanatory
A few more notes
Getting new ones seems to be random, so rather than using a guide you’ll just have to keep trying
The bobas are all rated between 1-3 stars, which indicates how common they are. 1 is the most common, and 3 are the most rare.
You can upgrade your store as you go along and earn more coins, starting with a small stand, and going all the way up to a huge building.
There are 5 “stages” of drinks that start with easy (only require 1 ingredient), all the way up to hard (requiring several). Drinks that you have made will go up for sale at your stand, though I don’t think there’s a selling/simulation mechanic here. In order to progress to the next stage, you will need to make all the required drinks for each stage.
“Angel and Devil.” This pet is designed to give you a personalized fortune each day. Both Devitan and Micalun reside in the same toy, and Micalun will deliver good fortunes, while Devitan will deliver bad ones. You’ll begin the game by inputting a variety of info about yourself such as age, weight, blood type, etc., and presumably this info is used to generate your fortunes.
Occasionally the characters will fight each other and accrue “bandages” at the end of the fight. Collecting three of these will result in one of the characters leaving, but you can apparently clear them by using the slot machine function, which is part of the fortune menu.
Probably the rarest of pets, these weren’t released in the US and there just aren’t many of them around. When they do show up, they tend to go for very, very high prices. There are four of these pets in total; a green one for Air, orange for Earth, pink for Fire, and blue for Water. Each holds a witch that represents that particular elements and has some limits on what it can do. Care is very much like the Tamagotchis, with feeding and cleaning and many of the stats screens looking the same. There are no games that I can tell–instead, there are a number of functions that let you create magical spells and curses based on different ingredients you can find.
Menu Functions
Stats – This shows the pet’s hunger and happiness, as well as its magic level and “MP” or Magical Points (I’m guessing)
Feed – There are three choices: meal, snack, and medicine
Cauldron – Can combine the items in your inventory to make curses and cures
Inventory
Clean – When you clean the screen of their poop, it goes into their inventory to be used as an ingredient
Lights
Travel – The witch will beep when they want to go “witching.” They’ll leave and come back 10-15 min later with an item that is then added to Inventory
This one is a pedometer pet. Based on an anime about a girl who loves her favorite pencil so much that it gives birth to a “cocotama”. I don’t get it either, but the creatures look like the hamsters from HamHamtaro (now there would be a great idea for a virtual pet! Why haven’t they done that?) The case comes with a clip that you can put on your belt or backpack.
It’s only in Japanese, unfortunately, and does feature a lot of text. You’ll get to chose which pet you’d like to raise when you start it up (Luckytama or Melory), and then afterwards you can name them. There’s a menu with nine icons. Here are their functions from top left to bottom right:
House – has different rooms for you to visit. These will unlock as you go along
Steps
Games – Six total, but only one will be unlocked by default. This is the Piano game, which acts like Simon Says.
Settings
Top left button shows date/time. On the main screen, the pet’s level shows in a heart in upper left-hand corner, while the number on the right is the number of steps you’ve taken.
Based on the cooking anime “Delicious Party Pretty Cure”, this one comes in a watch format and is made by Bandai. It is centered around raising a young cat girl and leveling her up by collecting different “recipepies,” which are little food fairies that represent different dishes. There are additional figures of these fairies that can be bought separately and have QR codes on the bottom that will unlock more food. A few fans have uploaded images of these since they are difficult to find for sale, so you may be able to find them around. The pet has three meters: Evolution, happiness, and hunger. There’s only one game, but there are a number of shops and locations you can visit to buy ingredients and prepared food, and there’s also a babysitter character that you can use if you need to take a break.
Videos
There are a couple of videos on Youtube that go over the screens and functions for this pet below:
Yes, it’s an eyeball, which is awesome. This pet is from the manga series GeGeGe no Kitaro and represents the Yokai Medama-Oyaji, which makes a little more sense, not that you’d need it to make sense in order to take care of an eyeball. It does a lot less than most virtual pets, and doesn’t seem to have any buttons on it. Instead, you interact with the pet by tapping on the case.
This is a newer Doraemon pet, also by Bandai. There’s no corresponding Dorami pet, and this one is in color. The face is designed something like a toddler toy, and in lieu of buttons, has large colorful mechanisms that are used to control the pet: A large yellow dial on the left, a red bubble button on the top, a red wheel on the right, a touch-sensitive slider on the bottom left, and a large orange button on the bottom right. This one is less centered on care and more on collectibles, though there are a a few things you will need to do to take care of Doraemon. Overall, it seems like a pretty easy and non-demanding pet, and I really like the unique control scheme it has, but unfortunately it is only available in Japanese.
Menu functions
Chat: Chat with Doraemon to make him happy and increase your friendship meter. When chatting, he will sometimes give hints about how to get secret items and etc.
Pet: Pet Doraemon to cheer him up and increase your friendship meter
Clean the room when there are dust motes on the screen
Play with gadgets: these are unlocked over time when playing games, and each has a different effect
Outings: use Doraemon’s door to go outside
Games: only 3 are available in the beginning, but you will unlock more as you play. There are 10 total
Gachapon: You can do this once per day. Spin the wheel to get a capsule and unlock new food and gadgets.
Gadgets: There are 10 slots for you to put gadgets.
Secret tools encyclopedia: There are 100 to collect total, and they will be listed here as you get them
Doraemon status: This shows his friendship level and the number of coins you have. There are 7 friendship levels total
Settings: Time/date, brightness, sound, passwords (can unlock extra things by getting them from the official website listed in the instructions), and a few other other functions
Games
Outing game: you’ll get a random character, and you avoid bees and collect balloons while flying across the screen. Use the dial to move up and down. You’ll win coins after each game, and playing games helps the friendship meter to fill up faster. Some of the characters you get play differently: one of the boys has two lives instead of four like the others.
Left-right game only you’re playing matador with dinosaurs. You’ll use the slider for this one.
Asteroids: Use the dial to move up and down, the red wheel for left/right, and press the red button on top to shoot. I’m impressed with this one. A+ for including a classic.
Match seasons of pictures shown on the left by choosing the right button on the panel to the right. You can use the yellow dial to navigate. This one is weirdly simply compared to the others.
Rhythm game/guitar hero: Press the correct buttons as their icons cross the bar in time to play the song correctly.
Spin the red wheel to catch the bamboo horse. Once Doraemon has hold of it, press the orange button repeatedly so he doesn’t fall off. This one is a little hectic.
Fishing: choose a spot and press the orange button to throw the bait. When you get a bite, turn the yellow dial to reel it in. Make sure not to let the meter go into the red! If you catch the fish, you’ll win the game
Memorizing game: Memorize the characters who appear, and chose their cards on the next screen. Order is apparently not important.
Multiplying food: swipe left and right as fast as you can to multiply the food. This one’s animations are pretty funny!
Falling bean paste pancake game: Use the red wheel to move across the screen, and the dial to open Doraemon’s mouth. There are also obstacles that will show up on the screen and you can use the other buttons to get rid of them.
Notes
Sometimes after finishing a game, Doraemon will give you a secret tool from his pocket! Use the slider to slide left and right until he shows it to you.
Each game has a series of icons across the top that show how many gadgets you can unlock by playing them. This way, you can check your progress by scrolling through the games menu.
Once you’ve collected everything, a secret door will appear!
Friendship levels don’t drop–once you’ve earned them, they’re there for good.
Some of the gadgets you collect can me used in the games you play (specifically the Outing challenge game)
Once you’ve earned a number of coins, you can use them to exchange items.
Music notes on screen mean he’s happy, sparkles maen you’ve cleaned, hearts mean he’s leveled up.
Sometimes a rat will appear and scare Doraemon. You can get rid of it by using the broom.
Doraemon will feel depressed if you ignore him for too long. You can cheer him up by petting him, chatting with him, or playing games.
There were two of these, Doraemon, and Doraemitchi. This is a basic pet in which you raise either Doraemon or Doraemitchi, two robots from the future who come back to help their friends. It lets you raise and care for the pet, and the functions seem to be largely the same regardless of which model you’re using. The main difference is the theming–the girl reacts differently to mice, and has different favorite foods and icons. Unique to this pet, and inspired by the anime, is a “fourth dimensional pocket” from which you can grab and use items to help you with various random events throughout the day. The second page of the guide linked below has a general overview of what they do, but mentions that a few hold secrets that you will find if you play with them. Overall, this one seems pretty cute and has a few differences that help it stand out from other Bandai pets.
