168 in 1 Virtual Pet Experience & Teardown. Knock-Off Tamagotchi Nostalgic Electronic Virtual Pet
64Nostalgic Electronic Pet toy Virtual Digital Game Machine 168 pet in 1 ForBLUS
Description:
168 pet in 1 Virtual Pet Game Machine
Material:Plastic
Color:Random send
Power:Button battery(Included)
Online Review I Found:
As part of an ongoing search for penguin virtual pets, I picked up a 168-in-1 pet that contains the notorious "Bunny ROM" that's so prevalent in cheap direct-from-China multi-pets from recent times. I had done my research beforehand, both here and on YouTube, and had observed that these multi-pets didn't seem to be well-received, and that some variants of them had reliability problems as well, leading to them doing such things as spontaneously resetting when set down on a table, or even during use. However, with my expectations suitably tempered, I still really wanted to get one, because part of me couldn't resist the sheer stupidity of raising a virtual penguin who's born from a violent explosion, who slides around the screen in a static pose doing nothing most of the time, and who randomly turns into a rotund chicken for certain animations. ;)
And then, just as I was considering purchasing one from a Hong Kong-based seller online, the big UK chain The Works (which is primarily a discount/overstock book-store and gift-shop) started stocking boxed versions of them for the Christmas season! They're available in penguin, heart, and apple shapes, and are sold under the simple name of "Cyber Pet", with the slogans "YOUR VERY OWN INTERACTIVE PET" and "LOVE YOUR CYBER PET" placed at the top and bottom of the packaging, respectively.
Here's how they look in the packaging. The Works sells them for £4 each, which is a bit higher than the prices that online sellers shipping directly from China are offering, but not by very much. When I was informed of this, I decided that I would get one as soon as I could, because I realised that a big-enough UK distributor importing them en-masse might mean a chance of better quality-control than I had seen reported about some variations of these 168-in-1 pets.
Ultimately, my local branch of The Works sold out within a couple of days of getting them in stock, before I could get there, leading to me ordering the same boxed version from a UK-based online seller instead, for just £3.25. I love penguins, so I opted for the penguin-shaped casing (based on one of the mascots of China's QQ messaging service) in black, because I most liked how that one looked.
It arrived today, and I noticed from the back of the packaging that these boxed versions are being imported by PMS International - a large UK toy and gift distributor and manufacturer, who hold some pretty famous licenses in other parts of their business. This gave me some more hope about my previous theory that the quality-control might be higher for a large order from a big distributor.
I also noticed something else about the packaging - the front shows grayscale images of the following, implying that they're pets who are available on this device;
Slush the Husky from the Ty Beanie Boos line
A stripy fox
Some sort of bandit chihuahua
A traditional koi carp
Abu from Disney's Aladdin (specifically, his sprite from the SNES game based on the film)
They aren't. ;)
From this, I figured that this would be a laugh however it turned out, and I then unboxed the virtual pet and read the instructions. With my expectations set low as a result of my previous research, I went in judging this only on the basis of its merits as a basic, very low-cost virtual pet, rather than comparing it to other classic and current products that cost more. What follows are my first impressions...
The plastic feels kind of cheap, and the paint makes it look a bit worse, but it actually isn't horrible or brittle. It's not quite what I'd call solid, but it's also not in the category of cheap-and-nasty, either - it does the job. Mine does not spontaneously reset itself when I put it down or if something knocks the casing, as I've seen reported about some other iterations of these 168-in-1 pets. I don't know whether or not this is down to higher quality-control because of a big company ordering a large number of these to be packaged for import, but I'm glad that it works properly.