I remember the first time I ever saw a virtual pet. It was the summer, and there was a kid at the pool one day who had one. The rest of us kids were all clustered around that kid, watching as he started it up (I don't know if it was for the first time or if he just reset it). It started life as a beating heart, and then eventually turned into a puppy. I thiiiiink it was a Nano puppy, but the one I had later didn't begin its life as a beating heart, so I'm not sure if mine was just a later version or if I was wrong about what type of pet it was.
My first virtual pet was a Gigapet "Digital Doggie." I still have that one since it was my favorite, and now my daughter plays with it
But of course all my friends had all kinds of different virtual pets, and I eventually saw a Tamagotchi (the original) and wanted one. However, when I'd saved up my money and my dad took me to Zany Brainy, they didn't have any originals, all they had was Tamagotchi Angel, so I got that instead. It was the type with the pearly white shell and gold wings. I didn't read the directions very well apparently, so I wasn't really sure what to do with the thing. But I still liked it a lot, even though it died often
Later on we took a long train trip to Colorado, and I'd brought that along and was bored with nothing to do but take care of it, so it became the really good adult (I think?). I was a little weirded out by the fact it had two heads
I also remember on that tamagotchi that if you didn't clean up its poop, eventually it would turn into a giant poop... and then was dead apparently? I couldn't seem to do anything with it other than resetting it, but it didn't seem dead. I miss that tamagotchi, mostly because it was so strange