Help me find my old virtual pet!

Hello to everyone! im new so please if this is not the place let me know!

I joined the forum because i need your help!

I have searched far and wide, and i figured if someone know must be you guys!  

So, when i was young (elementary school age) i had this virtual pet, ill call it tamagotchi, that i loved so much, bought early 2000 in sicily. It was counterfit, im almost completely sure, because it had the same shape of modern tamagotchis, egg shape, four buttons (take this particular with a grain of salt). I named it tama because of the writing on the top, so it must have been specifically a tamagotchi knock off. 

Why do i say knock off? Heres the kicker. It didnt have the usual tamagotchis, but a dragon/dinosaur, and the packaging actually said it was supposed to be a 9 in 1 virtual pet, but it never gave you the choice for the animal. the dinosaur was extremely close to the one of the game Bubble Bobble. It had evolutions, and all the options i have seen on regular tamagotchis.

But it also had very peculiar things i have never seen on other tamas! 

It randomly went on walkes, where you saw a scenery with a dot in the distance, if you pressed some buttons it came back, sometimes! And often came back with prices or gifts, that you could throw away. 

It often demanded to be "petted" with the selection of an option in the menu, and it was quite insistent, you couldnt make it shut up without complying. 

It didnt have an egg, but a bomb animation, like those cartoon round bombs with the fuse, and when it went off, the dino would appear. 

I distinctly remember it being smooth, yellow (but at the vendor i saw grey too...) and i remember it being there also near the screen going up either bones or paw prints (to be fair it was 15 years or more ago).

I have searched for this knock off for literal decades, i have dreamed of it since i lost it, and i do believe i will keep on dreaming of it until i find it again. 

Has anyone ever seen something like it? Any info would be hella appreciated, help me put my mind to rest XD

Hmm... interesting! Now, I'll admit Virtual Pet models (specifically) are not my cup of tea but I think I can help you out!

From what you've said, it could sound a bit like the Bobby VPets! Although.. they were sold around the original Tamagotchis hit so I think the 2000 era seems too late for this to be canon. But, there could be a chance this retailer could have carried it for a little while longer. But, I'm not sure about the initial ROM it has, so my guesses could be off. I'm simply just taking from the exterior,  how you said it had bones and/or paw prints. You also mentioned how one of the models were grey, but I can't confirm if they Bobby's came in grey.

KidRetro64 said:

Hmm... interesting! Now, I'll admit Virtual Pet models (specifically) are not my cup of tea but I think I can help you out!

From what you've said, it could sound a bit like the Bobby VPets! Although.. they were sold around the original Tamagotchis hit so I think the 2000 era seems too late for this to be canon. But, there could be a chance this retailer could have carried it for a little while longer. But, I'm not sure about the initial ROM it has, so my guesses could be off. I'm simply just taking from the exterior,  how you said it had bones and/or paw prints. You also mentioned how one of the models were grey, but I can't confirm if they Bobby's came in grey.

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Bobby Pets are one of my specialties. I admit, the dino idea sounds Bobby-ish, but I've yet to discover a Bobby that uses a bomb as an egg or with functions like what were mentioned. Unless Bobby made sequels, which I doubt, but who knows.

These are all the Bobby types I am currently aware of, but they always have 3 buttons, and their functions are mostly identical to a classic Gen 1 and Gen 2 Tamagotchi. And, as you said, it feature Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble on its packaging *(only under the name AKACHAN)* and also as its alert icon. However, the pet itself does not look like them at all. They were also, to my knowledge, never sold as a 9 in 1.  I could be wrong, considering how many variants they took on.



There are a few more I don't have pictures of at hand.

I'm thinking it could have be an Akachan II? Again though, the year 2000 would have been a late lifespan for it... they were also from 1997. But if you're wondering, these are what they look like.



However, they do have four buttons. I'm still pretty sure these are not the ones you're looking for either though. These ones ran on the same chip as the Nano Pets.

 Another option...

Did it have a lid on it? If so, could it have been a Virtual Reality Creature T REX DINO. Not all of these have lids. They do have various differnent animals advertised on the packaging... but only has one in the egg.



Another option...



Mega Pets released a dinosaur with four buttons. ^^^^^

Here's a picture of one sleeping. Does it look familiar?



Also, there's the Pocket Dino. Again, though, these are late 90s'... it does have the paw prints up the side of the screen though.



Any luck? If not, I have many more options we can narrow it down some more.

thanks yall for the responses! 

Now, i wouldnt put my hand on the fire for the number of buttons, i could be wrong... even the paw/bones on the side i could be wrong about! but the bomb think i cannot be wrong about, of that im sure. I am sure it didnt have a cover, and i do remember it had the writing "tamagotchi" on the front, top. I never seen one of those before, and thus i called it "Tama". It was easy to remember because it was written on it.  The shell was one color only, yellow, with no color change near the screen.

But the shell is to be considered only if it helps narrow it down. I care not of it. To be fair i only care about the program, and wouldnt bat an eye of it in another shell. 

I have never once seen the bomb thing anywhere else, nor the spontaneous walks and requests of "hugs", which had an icon reserved to them that lighted up on the menu when he was in the mood for them. 

I never got to the adult stage, (i was quite young and careless lol), but i remember one of the early stages to gave the dino on its back paws, with eyes quite round, like it had glasses (probably just googly eyes, ) , As for foods i remember a tbone steak and some milk, but not much else. (i wonder how many more details i am forgetting)

Such a peculiar program!

Im not sure of what it looked like when it slept, would you have some pics of the mega pet awake? In fact i think i could only recognize it by the programming, since i doubt the shell will be of much help, since most of my attention was focused on the little fella more than what was around him.

Edit: when i say hugs i mean the 'cuddle' or 'kiss' option, there was no animation of a hug. Also i do remember the shell to be as oval as the tamagotchi shell, in fact i was very surprised of the original legit ones when i bought one, because it was identical in shape, even if the programming was so different, quite the shock XD

Aiounnae said:

I never got to the adult stage, (i was quite young and careless lol), but i remember one of the early stages to gave the dino on its back paws, with eyes quite round, like it had glasses (probably just googly eyes, ) , As for foods i remember a tbone steak and some milk, but not much else. (i wonder how many more details i am forgetting)

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Now that I recognise. A dino that grows to have large eyes that look like glasses and eats a steak.... I haven't booted this one up for a long, long long time.... but I think, it could be a pet I own myself. But it would have been in the 90s, once again. That doesn't mean the programming was n't used in later knockoffs though. I'll share a picture of the one I had later, but they may well have recycled the chip and inner workings for a later design.

VGCtm said:

Now that I recognise. A dino that grows to have large eyes that look like glasses and eats a steak.... I haven't booted this one up for a long, long long time.... but I think, it could be a pet I own myself. But it would have been in the 90s, once again. That doesn't mean the programming was n't used in later knockoffs though. I'll share a picture of the one I had later, but they may well have recycled the chip and inner workings for a later design.

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Oh i wouldnt be so strict on the date, considering it was an ambulant vendor on a cart (very bootleg) ! late 90 early 00 is more probable! I cannot wait for the pics!

You know it could have been an Animal Imaginado. These look like real Tamagotchi's, even include the logo in many cases. But they are not Tamagotchi's.



Could also have been a UraPet



Though there are a lot of bootlegs like this. They do often have several in one, also. But these may be a little to late on in the virtual pet world.

Or....

This is the one I have, but in blue.



I think it was a pink one I had, it had a glasses wearing dino that ate steak. If memory serves correct. I could be wrong, I know one of them did. I'll share a pic of that one shortly.

ohhh the imaginado sounds promising! did some urapet come without the antenna? mine didnt have one. Awaiting hopeful!

Yes, the Animal Imaginado and UraPet had many versions without the antenna. It's very random since there are so may versions.



Here's one example. Any similarity yet? I'll try get one working for you.



There's a pink Animal Imaginado without antenna next to a real Tamagotchi.



That's a later one that i own. I don't think this one is the one you had though, because these ones dont work.

mmm none of them seem familiar enough... mine was quite plain. Any luck finding the one with the big eyes? the bomb thing tho.. that was the main recognizable feature.... it fits better with the bubble bobble theme too

Aiounnae said:

mmm none of them seem familiar enough... mine was quite plain. Any luck finding the one with the big eyes? the bomb thing tho.. that was the main recognizable feature.... it fits better with the bubble bobble theme too

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Ok here's what I got.

I brought the pink one to life, like I said I would. I forgot how much I loved this pet. This was one of my favourites as a kid. Also, fun fact... it was the last one I ever had active in the 90s. After this one, I didn't bring another to life until 2010. 

This pet, upon bringing it to life, I can now say this. He is NOT born from an egg, but he's also not born from a bomb. He's born from what looks like a volcano.



It begins life as a Seahorse creature, and has mostly the same functions as the original Tamagotchi.



When I brought this to life, the first thing on the screen was the memory of when it died in 1999. So it has a memory inside it.



I'm going to share a short video of its life in baby stage shortly, so feel free to watch that too. But I'm going to let him live his whole life out to photograph his later stages of aging.Do you recognise any of this yet? I must admit, I didn't see anything for hugs or travelling for walks and bringing back gifts... its mostly a very high quality Tamagotchi gen 1 and 2 clone. If this isn't the same one you're looking for, I'm probably going to make a thread hunting more of these down myself. They are really good ones.

thank you for reviving one to see the stages! unfortunately it doesnt look like mine. im quite sure it didnt have a seahorse stage, nor a volcano, also it was even more egg shaped, not exactly elliptical like the pink one there. No infrared port either.

Man i really hope ididnt hallucinate all of it, it was so cool.  I cant remember the first stage, if it was just a round shape or already dinosaur shaped. I bet on the latter tho, because i always looked at the other tamagochi first stages with disappointment... It required a lot of attention, but you could mute the sound i believe.

If it definitely had an infrared port I'm saying it wasnt a 90s pet. Even official connecting pets back then used pins like the digimon and infrared ones seemed to have kicked off with the Connexion pets. So,

Probably Animal Imaginado types. Certain ones could connect with official Tamagotchis too  ... I'll continue trying to locate this.

nono, i mean im sure it DIDNt have a port