In the plug and play portion of the game you select a pet (monkey, dog or panda), explore a map and complete fetch quests for various animals. After completing the goals you can continue playing the game and complete quests to earn money and items indefinitely.
You can have three save files on a controller, and there are three houses in Gigaville. One house for each of your pets to move into. You can only play one pet at a time, but you can visit each one at their home and share items. The houses have preset colors, but you can choose from several colors of pets. You can choose one of each pet or have multiple of the same pet in different colors. I recommend one of each pet, because each pet learns unique tricks for their animal type. As you explore you gain wallpaper, flooring, windows and items to decorate the inside of your house with. You can eat, heal and bathe as you explore, and your home and various houses and hotels around the map are used for eating, sleeping, sharing items with the Minipet and to save/quit the game.
You start the game in Gigaville and other locations on the map will unlock as you complete more quests. As you explore you will pass blue flowers which you can dig up to find items such as bucks (money) or experience. There are four sections of experience points to collect: good (halo icon), evil (horns icon), looks (happy face icon) and smart (lightbulb icon). If you have a Minipet connected, they will gain experience points along with your pet. You will want to choose to only collect either good or evil experience points for your pet, as they will only be able to become friends with either good or evil animals found around the map. When you befriend an animal you collect a friendship token. I suggest running a first save with a good pet and a second save with an evil pet. If you accidentally accept an experience point you do not want there are foods that can raise or lower the status.
There is some inconsistency with the map. In the game the animals will refer to Gigatown as Downtown and Vacation Isle as Vacation Island.
Around the map are wooden signs, some of which contain messages that will lead you to secret items.
The Minipets are black and white LCD virtual pets that connect to the controller through a port in the top similar to a game cartridge, and you can "zap" them into the game. While zapped to the plug and play you can see them in color. They follow you around, and each one makes unique sounds when you find items. A Minipet is required to visit Mystery Island, otherwise you can play the game without a Minipet connected. You can give items collected by the plug and play pet to the Minipet when inside your house.
The Minipets do not have a baby stage, growth or marriage. The Minipets can connect to each other, if one has more good points and one has more evil points they will not like each other and not become friends. Connecting friendly Minipets can help raise happiness. There are also foods that can help raise or lower experience points. When you connect two Minipets you can play a game or share items and bucks. Connecting and sharing items is slow between minipets. You can only share one item at a time and must reconnect for each item. It is much easier to share items to minipets through the plug and play.
The map is the same on on all minipets, but the background design is specific to each animal habitat. The Minipets cannot die, but they can get very sick and unhappy. They have a similar playstyle as the plug and play. You explore the landscape and dig to find items such as food and bucks. Sometimes you will find an easter egg. On the Minipet you can dig anywhere to see if you find something.
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Top Row: GigaPets Explorer Controller
Bottom Row Minipets: Scorpion / Puffball / Dragon Lizard
Top Row Minipets: Puppy / Hamster / Pixie
Bottom Row Minipets: Tomcat / Bunny / Scorpion
It is an excellent beginner video game for younger audiences with an easy-to-use controller and slow gameplay; though an adult may need to be present to help read the text for quests. It is a fun family game for young players with virtual pet-loving parents, and you can trade the controller between hands to either play or watch the game. This game also helped my child build early reading skills.
The main drawback for adults is the slow walking speed of the TV pet, and younger players may have trouble with the few timed quests that come up occassionally. Adults should have no trouble completing the timed quests. There is a "go home" option that can save you from having to to a lot of slow walking.
Zapping in Minipets is a fun gimmick. You can easily zap between all seven Minipets on the controller, but you will not have time to care for all of them. Minipets will fall sick and unhappy, but this doesn't prevent you from zapping them to the TV and enjoying them there. You may find it beneficial to choose just one or two minipets per plug and play pet.
This guide was written by zennydream.