Giga Pets are a series of virtual pets. They were first created and released in 1997 and re-released in 2006 by Tiger Electronics

Tiger Electronics

Tiger Electronics is an American toy manufacturer, best known for its handheld LCD games, the Furby, and Giga Pets. When Tiger was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois....

, now a division of Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

. They were one of the first virtual pets to be released in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

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

Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

, Giga Farm, and various Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

 characters, among others.

Giga Pets were re-released in 2006, this time including a dragon lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

, a bunny

Bunny

Bunny is a colloquial name for rabbits.Bunny may also refer to:-People:* Allu Arjun , Telugu film star, nicknamed Bunny* Andrew "bunnie" Huang , American hacker* Bunny Ahearne , British ice hockey promoter...

, a tomcat

Tomcat

Tomcat may refer to:* A male cat, known as a tom or tommiecat* Tomcats , a 2001 comedy film* Apache Tomcat, an open-source Java Servlet Container developed by the Apache Software Foundation* Beretta Tomcat, a small .32 caliber pistol...

, a pixie

Pixie

Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...

, a puffball, a pup

Pup

Pup may refer to:In zoology:*Puppies, younger dogs*Pinniped young*Shark young*Rodent youngIn other uses:* Sopwith Pup, an aircraft used by the British in World War I* Beagle Pup, a 1960s British light aircraft...

 and a scorpion

Scorpion

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...

 as mini-pets.

There is also a controller called Giga Pets Explorer that can be simply plugged into a TV, enabling the user to have their mini-pet pair up with a dog

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

, a panda

Giant Panda

The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...

, or a monkey

Monkey

A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

, onscreen.These animals have the ability to dig for items buried under blue flowers. They have emotions and feelings such as hunger and exhaustion. As with real animals, these on-screen pets require attention and care. They can also learn up to three tricks which are different depending on the animal you choose. The object of the game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

 is to complete as many quests as possible which unlocks new and exciting areas of the giga pet

Pet

A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...

 map

Map

A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....

. The soundtrack touches on a number of different genres/styles from island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

beats to more downbeat pieces.