I've actually never had a vpet! Do you personally think they are better than tamas? Or equal? What do you like about them? I've always been interested in buying one!
I'm definitely still partial to my tamas! However, most vpets are quite similar to tamagotchis and they are quite popular since they usually have their own twists and features. I really like the simple charm of my vpets. I think people like them because they can offer a refreshing break from tamas since they have different characters and animations. That's why I usually run a vpet, anyway. I'd say go for it!
I don't own a whole lot, and I don't like some of the ones I have, but if you're thinking about buying one, I'd recommend you look into a gyaoppi. I own the super gyaoppi 9-in-1 and I love the variety, animations and different evolutions. It has 2 unique features that are different from a tamagotchi: first, you can at anytime speed up the growth of your vpet if you choose to (every 1 second of our time=1 minute of playing time), and second, you can put your gyaoppi to sleep at anytime (it likes to take naps), which is cute to me for some reason.
Another vpet I own that I'd recommend is a dinkie dino (english version), or the rakuraku dinokun (japanese version). I actually just finished running mine and they are a bit needy (think vintage/original series tamagotchis), but still endearing. Lots of different foods to feed it, which will alter what dino you get, and you can also make it study, turn on/off the air conditioner, and even pet it (or give it discipline--- whichever way you see it). A well known spin-off of the dinkie dino is the yuki penguin, which is very similar.
Lastly, I love my teku teku angel pedometer! You don't care for it like a traditional vpet, instead, it counts your steps and will grow up based off that. You can give it a name and set a goal for how many steps you want to reach everyday, but other than that, the features are limited since the goal is just to walk a lot. There is one game which is like a slot machine game, and there's a clock, as well as a "pause" function where your pet goes to sleep. I like mine since it's low-maintenance and the sprites are adorable as well as their little animations! I'm currently running this one but it's hard to reach my daily goal (currently 3000 steps) due to quarantine and online schooling. They are only in japanese but it's 100% not a barrier since there's basically nothing to read on it so it doesn't hinder from the gameplay. The only time you'll struggle with a language barrier is when you first start it up, but
this guide helps with that.
I recently got a Digimon (the 20th anniversary version) in the mail and unfortunately have yet to start it up, but that's probably your best bet if you don't want to splurge since
they're $20 or less on sites like Amazon! The characters are cute and the idea of training and going to battle is something I enjoy. The growth chart is very expansive, making this vpet well worth $20. And, it's made by Bandai, so that's a plus! Digimon are very popular still, and you don't have to be a fan of the actual show or previous devices to try it out. I'm really excited to try mine out, I've heard a lot of good things about them.
As for vpets I don't recommend, I got a Pixel Chix and a Giga Pets Pixie as part of a bundle years ago, and I'm really not a fan of them, probably because the gameplay style is so foreign to me...
Anyways this is definitely much more lengthy of a response than you were expecting, oops! Clearly I could talk about tamagotchis and vpets all day, lol. Please update us if you decide to purchase a vpet, I'd love to know which one you pick!
