New StarCat/CompuKitty log

[KrisKris]

The newly released 2-in-1 Giga Pet, StarCat + CompuKitty, is out and I received mine yesterday! (I preordered.) This is my first time running a new-era Giga Pet, and it's my first time owning a CompuKitty (I never had the original of that one).

In this log, I'll be posting photos as thumbnails, so click for bigger views!


DAY 1



I chose to run StarCat first, as I'm more excited for that one! Sounded intriguing!


I would have preferred the color of the shell to be either black or a mystical-looking dark blue, which would have looked good with the stars and been more fitting for StarCat in my opinion. But I believe they went with this color because it's the color of the classic CompuKitty shell!


I named mine Sheba. I guess I decided she's a girl. She's been 2 pounds since she was born several hours ago!


As you can see, the manual talks about the StarCat being easier than CompuKitty.

I'm finding the StarCat to actually not be as easy as I thought it would be after all the advertising about it being easier. Maybe its stats drop a little slower? I don't know, but I'm nervous to try the CompuKitty! Not that I'm having a hard time taking care of Sheba, but I'm finding her just a little more challenging than my koala (which I've also been logging). The routine I got down for my koala doesn't quite work for StarCat. For one thing, I discovered StarCat seems to require a treat EVERY time she does a trick correctly when you're using the training feature, or else she'll shake her head in dismay and then not do the trick correctly next time, whereas my koala only needs a treat the first time she does a particular trick in a day, and then she'll do it correctly for the whole day with no more treats as rewards. Also, if I ask StarCat to do tricks more than a couple of times in a row, she shakes her head. So I have to use the discipline feature some to help keep her discipline score up instead of only relying on the training feature/tricks.

The instructions said something about StarCat looking to the sky once a day and revealing a fortune sign when your score is at 100, so I was really trying to get my overall score up to 100. I think you have to have all her stats at a full 100 in order to get your overall score to 100, and that's challenging because when you play with her, her discipline goes down. When you discipline her, her happiness goes down. When you do anything with her that's not feeding her, her hunger score goes down. But I was actually able to get her to look to the sky and show me a sign by using her crystal ball icon. The crystal ball icon has an option for that and an option where you ask her a question (in your head, lol) and she will nod her head yes while purring or shake her head no. Sort of like those toy magic lamps or magic 8 balls.
A pamphlet is included for decoding the signs. This photo only shows a few -- there are 25.

Her feeding options:

Her main/healthy food appears to be a . . . pie? What do you guys think that is on the left? Her treat looks like a can of sardines or maybe canned tuna. I'm only giving her treats as rewards for tricks.

 

[KrisKris]

(DAY 1 CONTINUED)

Photo and video of her first poop! I thought it was hilarious she uses her magic wand to clean up her poop! But if she can do that, why does she wait for me to tell her to do it?

View attachment v1.mp4


She has 3 games, which is awesome! It's nice to have a choice of games. Here's a video of the first game, called Journey to the Moon. The cat rides a broomstick and you have to help her get to the moon. I got a kick out of the explanation from the manual, so here it is:
"StarCat needs your help to reach the moon! In order to do this you will need to catch stars which will fuel your cat's broomstick as they move across the screen. To collect the stars press LEFT to move up and RIGHT to move down. if you collide with/catch enough stars before the time runs out your cat will successfully accomplish their lunar landing." Lol! So creative and funny!
(You can actually hear my R2D2 Tama briefly beep at the beginning of this video!)
View attachment v2.mp4
The stars were mostly all in an even line that time, so the game looked easy. It can be hard sometimes to react fast enough to move up and down on the screen when they're more scattered! If you don't catch enough, she falls off her broom and meows instead of reaching the moon. It also makes a noise like the broomstick breaks when that happens, but I'm not really sure about that.

She told me she needed a bath a few times today. (Her shower icon lit up along with her attention icon.) My koala Giga Pet only seems to like to be bathed once a day; she's unhappy if I bathe her again. My Micropup doesn't tend to ask me for baths but can usually be bathed a couple or a few times a day, and if you try to do it too soon, he shakes his head at you. StarCat definitely seems to need bathing the most out of those 3 Gigas. Technically, StarCat doesn't even take a bath -- she uses her wand to clean herself, like she does for most things!
View attachment v3.mp4


And last video for today: her "spell" trick, where she uses her wand to create a ball of yarn for herself.
View attachment v4.mp4

When you leave her alone, she'll walk or run around, wipe her face with her paw (cute!), and walk up to the screen and scratch it. You can hear the sound of her scratching the screen fairly often when she's in this mode. After you leave her alone for about 15 minutes, she goes out of her wandering mode and lounges on a moon until you press buttons again:

I've noticed she doesn't seem to poop when she's in moon-lounging mode, so I'm thinking you might be able to leave her alone for quite a while without poop happening (if she didn't do it before beginning to lounge). When I press any buttons after she's been in moon lounging mode and she becomes active again, sometimes she poops right away then. I don't think she's sleeping when she does this lounging thing, though, because there are no Z's. When you turn out the lights for her to sleep, she jumps onto the moon like this and purrs, and then the screen shows Z's.

I'm enjoying StarCat so far! She's very cool! I only played one of her games today and did one of her tricks with her. That way I'll have more new things to experience later, and I'll share it here as the log goes on.

 

[KrisKris]

DAY 2


Sheba's doing quite well! She's only up one pound from yesterday. I'm keeping her stats up decently, but her health and happiness definitely don't just sit mostly at 100 like my koala.

This morning, I thought she was supposed to wake up when her clock said 7:00 a.m. (going off the instructions). Since she was still asleep after that, I turned on her light to wake her up. She went poop and then asked to go back to sleep. She then woke up on her own at 7:30. I guess she prefers 7:30!

When I mentioned in my previous post that I thought I read something about your score needing to be 100 to get your star reading from her, I was wrong. I looked back at the instructions. It just says your score needs to be at least 90 to ask her a yes-or-no question. Apparently she'll do the star reading/sign revelation for you regardless of your score (I think!). I enjoy both features, especially the star reading.

Here's a video of her performing her "fly" trick after being trained for it:

View attachment v2.mp4


Yesterday, I shared the Lunar Landing game. Here's a video of one of her other games. In this game, she wears a karate headband and she has to karate chop several stars as they fly toward her. If you succeed in stopping all the stars from hitting her, the game has a second part where she will karate chop several items. You have to build up her power meter on the left of the screen by alternating pressing the left and right buttons, and once the power meter reaches the needed level, you can make her chop through the item. Her power meter needs to be raised increasingly higher for each item. While I think it's a cool game idea, I find the second part of the game to be REALLY tedious, so I won't be playing this game much. If you watch the video, you'll see what I mean. It takes forever to raise her power meter, and you have to do it several times in a row! Ugh!
View attachment v1.mp4

The last game I haven't mentioned yet is a game where you brew a potion in a cauldron. You have to choose the correct two ingredients to mix together. Every time I've tried, I have chosen wrong and the cauldron exploded! So I'm annoyed with that game too. I'll mostly be playing the Lunar Landing game where she flies on the broomstick. It's definitely the most fun of the 3 games, and it's not too long!

 

[Maskutchi]

Her main/healthy food appears to be a . . . pie? What do you guys think that is on the left? Her treat looks like a can of sardines or maybe canned tuna. I'm only giving her treats as rewards for tricks.

I think it’s pâté on the left. I don’t know why a slice is removed. I guess you are only serving a portion and not the whole thing.

The calderon potions are the same as the pixie.

Spoiler: potion recipes

dew + firefly = happiness
dew + seed = health
dew + clover = luck
happiness + health = moon
health + luck = sun

 

[KrisKris]

I think it’s pâté on the left. I don’t know why a slice is removed. I guess you are only serving a portion and not the whole thing.

The calderon potions are the same as the pixie.

Spoiler: potion recipes

dew + firefly = happiness
dew + seed = health
dew + clover = luck
happiness + health = moon
health + luck = sun

I was thinking it looked like canned pate cat food too, but since a slice was gone, I would expect to see the outline of the can still making an outer circle around the missing part, so that's why I was thinking it looked more like pie with a slice missing. I was probably overthinking!

By the way, seeing my statement about the treats which you quoted, I'll correct myself about the treats for training. For some reason, she actually gets her regular food as treats for training, not her canned fish. I haven't actually been giving her her treat food at all, then. Poor kitty. Maybe I should start giving her treats from her feeding menu once in a while and see if it affects her health.

I've never used a Pixie. Thanks for the tips. Not sure if I'll figure out which visuals correspond to those, but I'll give it a shot! I'm sure I can look up pictures too. The broomstick/lunar flight game is still the most fun regardless, I think!

 

[Maskutchi]

I was thinking it looked like canned pate cat food too, but since a slice was gone, I would expect to see the outline of the can still making an outer circle around the missing part, so that's why I was thinking it looked more like pie with a slice missing. I was probably overthinking!

No, no. You are right too. It does look like pie too. Hey, any idea what the discipline icon is (on any GigaPets)? That’s an enigma for sure.

By the way, seeing my statement about the treats which you quoted, I'll correct myself about the treats for training. For some reason, she actually gets her regular food as treats for training, not her canned fish. I haven't actually been giving her her treat food at all, then. Poor kitty. Maybe I should start giving her treats from her feeding menu once in a while and see if it affects her health.

Same, I also noticed her treat is her food. I gave mine some fish today too! I have played the games, but hardly. I don’t like the last one much yet either. The other two are fun but for the most part I just care by tricks, rewards, food and baths.

I've never used a Pixie. Thanks for the tips. Not sure if I'll figure out which visuals correspond to those, but I'll give it a shot!

Oh!

Spoiler: potion ingredient descriptions

 

[KrisKris]

DAY 3


She's 2 years old and 4 pounds. Still pretty tiny!
I tried out feeding her some fish, her treat from her feeding menu. Although it raised her happiness, it knocked her health down 5 points, so I don't think I'll be doing that much or at all!

I've noticed she doesn't call for attention to notify me she's pooped, which is a difference from my Komputer Koala and Micropup Giga Pets, both of which will beep and light their attention icon when there's poop to clean.


Here's a video of another one of her tricks where she transforms herself into a T-rex! I love it! Definitely my favorite trick of hers.
View attachment v1.mp4

No, no. You are right too. It does look like pie too. Hey, any idea what the discipline icon is (on any GigaPets)? That’s an enigma for sure.


Same, I also noticed her treat is her food. I gave mine some fish today too! I have played the games, but hardly. I don’t like the last one much yet either. The other two are fun but for the most part I just care by tricks, rewards, food and baths.


Oh!

Spoiler: potion ingredient descriptions

View attachment 7985

Thanks for the potion info! That's helpful.
I'm not sure I know what you're asking about the discipline icon. Are you asking literally which icon it is, or something else? I'm guessing you know which icon it is, since you bought one new too and have the instructions (but just in case, StarCat's discipline icon is the cat head in the bottom row right next to the attention icon). It's to help keep their discipline score up (like a Tamagotchi), and selecting it is basically like scolding the pet. The difference is a Tamagotchi will give you a reason to use discipline -- they will sometimes stop doing things they should do until you discipline, whereas a Giga Pet doesn't actually misbehave (at least that I've ever experienced or heard of), and you just use it whenever you want to raise the discipline score. You need to keep the discipline score up just like their other stats. Having the pet perform tricks correctly is another way to raise the discipline score.

I'm able to keep my koala's discipline score up just with training, but I'm finding that a little harder with StarCat; I think her tricks raise the discipline score less, and she sometimes refuses to do tricks more than a couple of times in a row, which my koala never refused -- so I have been using the discipline feature some for StarCat. My Micropup, on the other hand, does not even have the training/tricks feature (I think that might've been a fact for the KFC-released Giga Pets?) and can ONLY be disciplined by using the discipline feature.

Did any of that answer what you were wondering about the discipline feature? Lol

 

[KrisKris]

I think this is the first time I've managed to get all her stats and my overall score to 100 with her, so it seemed picture-worthy!

 

[Maskutchi]

I think this is the first time I've managed to get all her stats and my overall score to 100 with her, so it seemed picture-worthy!

Woohoo!

I have been doing tricks, rewards, baths and food to easily reach 100 (same care as I gave the unicorn). You can give fish treats if you do tricks/rewards/baths too. The health goes back up easily after a treat.

As for the discipline icon, I was a bit cryptic. I meant the icon under the stats menu, the one below hunger.

 

[KrisKris]

Woohoo!

I have been doing tricks, rewards, baths and food to easily reach 100 (same care as I gave the unicorn). You can give fish treats if you do tricks/rewards/baths too. The health goes back up easily after a treat.

Well, I do find it easy to get any individual (or 2 or 3) stats to 100, but I haven't found it exactly easy to get them all to 100 since certain things will lower other things (activities make her hungrier, discipline makes her sadder, playing with her lowers her discipline). Plus I tend to let her hunger score get down around 80 before feeding her again since I got so used to doing that for my koala after reading that's how to avoid overfeeding them -- but that's vintage Giga Pets. I noticed StarCat's/new Gigas' meals also seem to affect the hunger score by 20, but what's your experience with feeding the new Gigas before 80 if you do? Does it seem to affect their health/do they have long lives regardless?

As for the discipline icon, I was a bit cryptic. I meant the icon under the stats menu, the one below hunger.

OH, you were asking what the actual image is supposed to be that's used to represent discipline in the stats menu? Good question. I'm just so used to it I don't think about it anymore. It kind of looks like a mix between a Pokeball and a hamburger with eyes. Or a clam. Lol

Actually, I'm not sure what the hunger icon is supposed to be either. What is that one?
Edit: I'm thinking the hunger icon is a side view of a mound of food on a plate, or of a pie. Is that what you would say?

 

[Penguin-keeper]

It kind of looks like a mix between a Pokeball and a hamburger with eyes. Or a clam. Lol

I always thought that it looked like a skull or a robot - or a robot-skull!

 

[Maskutchi]

Well, I do find it easy to get any individual (or 2 or 3) stats to 100, but I haven't found it exactly easy to get them all to 100 since certain things will lower other things (activities make her hungrier, discipline makes her sadder, playing with her lowers her discipline). Plus I tend to let her hunger score get down around 80 before feeding her again since I got so used to doing that for my koala after reading that's how to avoid overfeeding them -- but that's vintage Giga Pets. I noticed StarCat's/new Gigas' meals also seem to affect the hunger score by 20, but what's your experience with feeding the new Gigas before 80 if you do? Does it seem to affect their health/do they have long lives regardless?

On the modern GigaPets you can feed it anytime to reach 100 and it is fine. It won’t make it sick or die faster. There is no overfeeding. In fact, I just fed my starcat at 98 so I could reach 100 for my daily star reading. It also raised the happiness at the same time when I fed it (between meals and rewards my starcat eats a lot of pate-pie lol) I don’t really play the games unless I’m bored.

After caring for the unicorn, I know the tricks-rewards care method will get repetive but so far I don’t mind. I only use actual discipline if her discipline level is super low (0-20) then tricks-rewards after that to bring her happiness and discipline up to 100. Baths should bring her health up to 100 and you can give several.

Really different care from vintage GigaPets. I was playing my Floppy Frog a week ago and the entire time health was 50-80. Frustrating when my goal is to see everything at 100 like the modern GigaPets. I think I was missing naps? I have more experience with the modern ones than the vintage, so I’m not really sure what I was doing wrong yet.

OH, you were asking what the actual image is supposed to be that's used to represent discipline in the stats menu? Good question. I'm just so used to it I don't think about it anymore. It kind of looks like a mix between a Pokeball and a hamburger with eyes. Or a clam. Lol

LOL! We need a GigaPets representative to clarify!

Actually, I'm not sure what the hunger icon is supposed to be either. What is that one?
Edit: I'm thinking the hunger icon is a side view of a mound of food on a plate, or of a pie. Is that what you would say?

Yes, I think it is a mound of food on a plate too.



Edit: I’ve cracked the discipline icon code y’all. The bottom half is a face with eyes, and the top had is an energy dome Devo hat (with more eyes)

 

[TamaStewart]

Awesome Log! Best one I’ve read today so far! Keep up the good work!

 

[KrisKris]

DAY 5



She visibly grew a bit yesterday! Not sure if you can tell from the previous images or videos I posted, but this is her now:


I discovered that she can transform herself into other Giga Pets animals besides the T-Rex! Whenever she's told to do the transform trick from her training menu, she always becomes the T-Rex, as shown in a video in an earlier log entry. But when she's left alone and she's doing various stuff by herself on the screen, I've now seen her transform into the Giga Pets doggie and the unicorn! I think that's so cool. I captured the dog transformation in a video:
View attachment v2.mp4


Here's a video clip of her performing another one of her tricks from her training menu where she plays the drums. I'm not sure why she has that mischievous-looking smile afterward!
View attachment v1.mp4

I'm getting her stats/total score up to 100 more now, especially since overfeeding isn't a possibility/a problem. She'll do the star reading regardless, though! When I'd mentioned needing a score of 100 for that, I was mistaken.

She is a pretty easy Giga Pet, I'd say, as her stats do drop more slowly than the Gigas I've used, but maybe all new-era Gigas are like that?

One thing I haven't mentioned is that her attention sound is a meow rather than a beeping sound, so that's a difference between her and my other 2 Gigas (animal sound vs. beep for attention). I haven't ran my unicorn yet -- does the unicorn neigh or beep for attention?

I like how the older Giga Pets say the name of the pet on the shell. The Giga Pets logo was on the side of the screen and it would say the specific pet at the top. The new ones seem to just say Giga Pets without the specific animal's name on it.

Really different care from vintage GigaPets. I was playing my Floppy Frog a week ago and the entire time health was 50-80. Frustrating when my goal is to see everything at 100 like the modern GigaPets. I think I was missing naps? I have more experience with the modern ones than the vintage, so I’m not really sure what I was doing wrong yet.

Well, even the vintage ones seem to vary from each other. My Komputer Koala's health has been staying at 100 with an occasional drop down to 99, and she's been pretty easy. Her happiness stays up high really easily too. My Micropup, on the other hand, stayed at a health level in the 80s and 90s when I ran him recently -- still not bad, but not 100. From what I've heard, I think Digital Doggie and CompuKitty are different in some ways and are on the more difficult side, maybe? And then there's also Bitty Kitty and some others!
As for naps, I think they usually let you know when they need a nap. At least my koala does. I've learned when she's asking for attention and doesn't need anything else, it's naptime. (The attention icon will turn off after you put them to sleep if that's what they needed.) My Micropup puts himself to sleep every time and just needs the light turned off.

Here's a link to a Giga Pet health suggestions page that might possibly be of benefit to you the next time you run a vintage Giga. I've applied some of these tips to my koala (like 1 bath a day, feeding meals only when her hunger meter drops by increments of 20, 1 treat a day to teach her 1 trick a day and no more treats when re-performing the trick throughout the day). I'm not sure if those things are what's kept her healthy and alive for so long.

After I get around to running my Micropup again, I may create a thread with differences I've noted between my Giga Pets, and other Giga Pets owners who have Gigas I don't can contribute.

Edit: I’ve cracked the discipline icon code y’all. The bottom half is a face with eyes, and the top had is an energy dome Devo hat (with more eyes)

 

[Maskutchi]

I discovered that she can transform herself into other Giga Pets animals besides the T-Rex! Whenever she's told to do the transform trick from her training menu, she always becomes the T-Rex, as shown in a video in an earlier log entry. But when she's left alone and she's doing various stuff by herself on the screen, I've now seen her transform into the Giga Pets doggie and the unicorn! I think that's so cool.

Starcat is definitely one of my fav GigaPets so far. She reads your fortune, answers yes/no questions, and you get a little taste of all the other pets when she transforms!

I'm getting her stats/total score up to 100 more now, especially since overfeeding isn't a possibility/a problem. She'll do the star reading regardless, though! When I'd mentioned needing a score of 100 for that, I was mistaken.

I also thought that her score had to be 100 for a star reading as per the instructions. In fact I hadn't actually tried to get a reading without it being at 100. Good to know!

One thing I haven't mentioned is that her attention sound is a meow rather than a beeping sound, so that's a difference between her and my other 2 Gigas (animal sound vs. beep for attention). I haven't ran my unicorn yet -- does the unicorn neigh or beep for attention?

The Unicorn makes a knocking sound, as does the T-rex. They knock on the screen to get your attention.

I like how the older Giga Pets say the name of the pet on the shell. The Giga Pets logo was on the side of the screen and it would say the specific pet at the top. The new ones seem to just say Giga Pets without the specific animal's name on it.

I agree!

Well, even the vintage ones seem to vary from each other. My Komputer Koala's health has been staying at 100 with an occasional drop down to 99, and she's been pretty easy. Her happiness stays up high really easily too. My Micropup, on the other hand, stayed at a health level in the 80s and 90s when I ran him recently -- still not bad, but not 100. From what I've heard, I think Digital Doggie and CompuKitty are different in some ways and are on the more difficult side, maybe? And then there's also Bitty Kitty and some others!
As for naps, I think they usually let you know when they need a nap. At least my koala does. I've learned when she's asking for attention and doesn't need anything else, it's naptime. (The attention icon will turn off after you put them to sleep if that's what they needed.) My Micropup puts himself to sleep every time and just needs the light turned off.

Here's a link to a Giga Pet health suggestions page that might possibly be of benefit to you the next time you run a vintage Giga. I've applied some of these tips to my koala (like 1 bath a day, feeding meals only when her hunger meter drops by increments of 20, 1 treat a day to teach her 1 trick a day and no more treats when re-performing the trick throughout the day). I'm not sure if those things are what's kept her healthy and alive for so long.

After I get around to running my Micropup again, I may create a thread with differences I've noted between my Giga Pets, and other Giga Pets owners who have Gigas I don't can contribute.

Thank you for the tips

I'm looking forward to your vintage vs modern log as well!

 

[KrisKris]

Starcat is definitely one of my fav GigaPets so far. She reads your fortune, answers yes/no questions, and you get a little taste of all the other pets when she transforms!

Agreed! I'm so glad I got her. I'd say she's one of the coolest virtual pets I've used or seen.

I also thought that her score had to be 100 for a star reading as per the instructions. In fact I hadn't actually tried to get a reading without it being at 100. Good to know!

I thought I had read that in the instructions too, but after I got her to do it a couple of times with my score in the 90s, I double-checked the manual. Under the magic section of the manual, it says that to ask her a yes/no question, your score needs to be above 90, but it doesn't say anything about her score needing to be 100 for the star reading. It just says once a day she'll do it. (And if you ask for the star reading more than once a day, it will just display the same sign.) So now I'm confused why we both thought it said we needed a score of 100 for the reading. Did we really read that somewhere?

The Unicorn makes a knocking sound, as does the T-rex. They knock on the screen to get your attention.

Oh! Like it's knocking its horn against the screen? (And the T-Rex knocking its head?)

 

[Maskutchi]

I thought I had read that in the instructions too, but after I got her to do it a couple of times with my score in the 90s, I double-checked the manual. Under the magic section of the manual, it says that to ask her a yes/no question, your score needs to be above 90, but it doesn't say anything about her score needing to be 100 for the star reading. It just says once a day she'll do it. (And if you ask for the star reading more than once a day, it will just display the same sign.) So now I'm confused why we both thought it said we needed a score of 100 for the reading. Did we really read that somewhere?

After some sleuthing, I found the info on the StarCat Fortune Meanings sheet (the extra sheet with all the constellation meanings). It says score needs to be 100 for StarCat to look into the sky. We aren’t crazy It must be a misprint.

Oh! Like it's knocking its horn against the screen? (And the T-Rex knocking its head?)

The unicorn knocks the screen with it’s hoof. The T-rex belongs to my son, but I think it knocks with it’s tiny arm. I could be wrong with that one. But yes, they are knocking on the screen to get your attention. The animation is cute and the knock sound is not irritating like the regular beeping of the old ones can be (looking at you, Yoda).

 

[KrisKris]

After some sleuthing, I found the info on the StarCat Fortune Meanings sheet (the extra sheet with all the constellation meanings). It says score needs to be 100 for StarCat to look into the sky. We aren’t crazy It must be a misprint.

Oh, okay! So that's where we read it. Lol

 

[KrisKris]

R.I.P. StarCat, a.k.a. Sheba, lost to technical woes at 6 years (7days) old

First, an update from before her death. She developed wings today and could often be seen flying across the screen. (Nope, I don't mean angel form after death, lol.) I got a video of the flying animation before her passing! She only appears to have the wings when she's actually using them. Maybe it's like another transformation thing.

View attachment v1.mp4

Her wing-flapping sound is almost like knocking. She had become quite a noisy pet! For the 15 minutes or so between when you set her down after use and her going into moon-lounging mode, you hear the sounds of her wings flapping/knocking, her scratching the screen, her playing drums, and her transformation sound when she transforms into another animal. I'm not really a fan of her making so much noise when you're not even using her, but her volume isn't actually very loud, so I hadn't felt the need to mute her -- yet. I might have eventually, lol.


Now the tale of her death (and of my confusion):
One of my actual real cats knocked StarCat and my '90s Komputer Koala off my desk and onto the hard (plastic?) mat I have on the floor beneath my chair. I glanced at both Giga Pets when I picked them up, and both appeared to be fine. But shortly thereafter, the problems began. I've dropped '90s virtual pets a few times on harder surfaces than the mat and had no issues. (And my koala is totally fine!) But a short while later, I heard StarCat meow and looked at her screen. I saw some of her icons flashing which should not have been, because she was well fed and played with. Then I noticed her screen was occasionally blinking out. When I pressed buttons, that would sometimes make the screen blink out too. She was also now suddenly doing some animations I'd never seen before -- she kept knocking over an item that looked like a salt shaker with her paw, and a dream bubble kept appearing briefly above her head with a fish in it. She was also walking differently. Also, her stats (especially hunger and happiness) had taken a sudden drop. Strange, but I figured she must be bugging as a result of the fall. Then I also saw a low-battery icon flash across the screen and figured the fall could have jostled the battery or the battery cover a little loose. This is my first new-era Giga Pet, so maybe someone can enlighten me -- are all those things I've described normal things to happen with a Giga Pet when the battery is getting low (or loose)? Her battery couldn't have been low since she's new, but maybe it did get jostled. Some of those things seem strange to me just for a battery issue, though.

Anyway, first I tried loosening and re-tightening the battery cover to see if that'd make a difference. It did seem to, and I was able to use her totally normally for a short while EXCEPT that the sound was now not working (even though the sound had been working when things were acting weird earlier). I went to the sound menu and pushed the button to turn the sound on, but it wouldn't work and it kept displaying the sound logo as sound off. Very strange. Then, after I set her down and picked her back up after a bit, the screen-blinking thing was happening again. So I got another battery and went in to attempt a speedy battery swap since the instructions say your progress can carry over if you change the battery quickly (that's novel to me, as that wasn't possible with old ones!). Oh man, my struggle with that battery is a story in itself. It was my first time changing this type of battery instead of the smaller batteries in the older pets. Those are pretty easy to get out (and in). I had so much trouble with this one I started to think it was damaged from the fall and had gotten lodged in there abnormally, lol! I tried depressing the little metal thing on the side so many times without it budging. Finally it did budge (I guess. It happened so fast) and the battery SHOT out of the Giga Pet, totally startling me, lol. I did not have an easy time getting the new battery in either. The first time I thought I did, the screen was just displaying a low-battery icon. I messed with the battery some more and THOUGHT I got it in right because my StarCat came back, looking just like before! Yay! But then the screen went blank. Ugh. Messed with it some more and finally seemed to get the battery snapped into place, but now it was reset. I set the time and then left it for a while on the screen where you select StarCat or CompuKitty. It started meowing at me once in a while (actually somewhat often), which was weird because I hadn't even chosen a cat to be born yet. I wasn't really in the mood to start over yet and was considering waiting until tomorrow, and I was considering doing CompuKitty this time. After hearing enough meows, I picked it up and pressed something and got a cat ANGEL like she had died. Wtf? Now I was back to wondering if she's damaged from the fall.


DAY 1 (NEW STARCAT)

But after pressing the reset button on the back, a new StarCat was born (I decided to select StarCat again) and it seems to be functioning totally normally. So I'm back to square one! She's small again and I'm re-teaching her her tricks. I won't post regular updates about her progress for a while until I get caught up and have something potentially new to share. I'm hoping for no more technical issues! Any thoughts on what happened are welcome.

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Lessons learned:
1. I feel like this confirmed my belief that old Giga Pets are built better! (Sadly the case for most things nowadays!) My koala fell right along with her and suffered no consequences. It was not even my koala's first fall, sadly. LOL
2. Be prepared for a challenge when changing out the battery of a new-era Giga Pet unless you're way more skilled at it than I am (by the way, I pulled out my not-yet-run unicorn, my only other new-era Giga Pet, and opened the battery cover to investigate and see if the battery is easier to get out. It doesn't really seem to be, so I don't think that was damaged on the StarCat. I didn't actually remove the unicorn's battery, just messed with it a tiny bit to confirm it wasn't a quick/easy removal like the vintage). So, yeah, not a fan of the new battery housing design. Does anyone else have issues with that? Lol
3. Don't leave your virtual cat sitting somewhere where your real cat can knock it down!

 

[Maskutchi]

I'm not really a fan of her making so much noise when you're not even using her, but her volume isn't actually very loud, so I hadn't felt the need to mute her -- yet. I might have eventually, lol.

My thoughts exactly. She was nice and quiet before she got her wings. Thankfully she does stop making all the noise when she naps on the moon after a few minutes. On the new gigapets you can also send them to sleep anytime without any negative consequences. Only you will see the Zzz screen instead of the cute moon nap.

She was also now suddenly doing some animations I'd never seen before -- she kept knocking over an item that looked like a salt shaker with her paw, and a dream bubble kept appearing briefly above her head with a fish in it.

She does these animations when her stats are really low.

She was also walking differently. Also, her stats (especially hunger and happiness) had taken a sudden drop. Strange, but I figured she must be bugging as a result of the fall. Then I also saw a low-battery icon flash across the screen and figured the fall could have jostled the battery or the battery cover a little loose. This is my first new-era Giga Pet, so maybe someone can enlighten me -- are all those things I've described normal things to happen with a Giga Pet when the battery is getting low (or loose)? Her battery couldn't have been low since she's new, but maybe it did get jostled. Some of those things seem strange to me just for a battery issue, though.

I do think it is a low battery issue as my son's t-rex did all of this when it had a low battery. It never showed the low battery sign just started to act weird like screen flickering and everything you describe.

Finally it did budge (I guess. It happened so fast) and the battery SHOT out of the Giga Pet, totally startling me, lol. I did not have an easy time getting the new battery in either. The first time I thought I did, the screen was just displaying a low-battery icon. I messed with the battery some more and THOUGHT I got it in right because my StarCat came back, looking just like before! Yay! But then the screen went blank. Ugh. Messed with it some more and finally seemed to get the battery snapped into place, but now it was reset. I set the time and then left it for a while on the screen where you select StarCat or CompuKitty. It started meowing at me once in a while (actually somewhat often), which was weird because I hadn't even chosen a cat to be born yet. I wasn't really in the mood to start over yet and was considering waiting until tomorrow, and I was considering doing CompuKitty this time. After hearing enough meows, I picked it up and pressed something and got a cat ANGEL like she had died. Wtf? Now I was back to wondering if she's damaged from the fall.

I don't think the fall helped, but I think your StarCat will be okay with a new battery. I have dropped my unicorn and it turned out okay. Hopefully yours will be too!



Is your new StarCat still named Sheba?