This is a virtual pet of a bird by Gyaoppi. Several versions of this have come out, with different shells or part of Gyaoppi multipets. I’ve also seen this one as a Digit Midget Chuppi. I didn’t really have a good bird one yet, or a Gyaoppi, so when I saw this one for cheap online I had to have him.
It comes in a nice round yellow shell, horizontal oval-shaped, with a keychain at the top left. It’s slightly bigger than most of my others, and therefor feels quite nice in my hand. It has a picture of a green bird on it on the right, with Gyaoppi on the left side. It has 3 buttons, of a softer rubber which are also yellow. The back is a plain yellow, with 2 screws to open the back panel up, as well as a reset button. It has LLI MADE IN CHINA embossed on it, with no further makes.
When opened a further 4 screws can be found to open it up should you need to. It fits 2 LR44 batteries. On the inside it shows how to place the batteries with two large + signs.
The screen is not back lit, so light needs to catch the screen if you want to see something. I had to angle it slightly to get good pictures, so excuse my hands in the photo’s.
Gameplay
When starting a wobbly egg will appear.
After 5 minutes the egg will crack and a little chick is born.
There are 8 options; all displayed on the top side of the screen.
The first button cycles through them. The second button selects it. The third button is cancel.
If none of the options are selected, the second button will reveal the time. Holding the first and second button at the same time on the clock will let you set time. You can’t cheat by moving the clock ahead. The pet is paused while on the Set time screen.
While on the clock a little chick walks passed, moving with each second.
If you press the first and second button at the same time while the pet is on screen and nothing is selected, the pet is paused (if successful it’s no longer moving). Pressing any button will make it unpause.
Unlike other pets where you usually see poop etc on screen, if it requires care, the icons on the bottom will light up.
The first one is a little screaming pacman. This will be lit up when it needs care. If its stats are ok and no other icon is lit up, it will need Discipline.
The next two are a skull and crossbones. If these are lit up, it’s sick and it will need Medicine.
The next four are little poop icons. If it has pooped, these will lit up. You will need to Clean it up.
The first option is Food, displayed with a little knife and fork.
When selected there are 3 options to choose from, a bowl of seed, candy and a drink, indicated with icons and a little arrow. Selecting one of these will display a 3 frame animation of it being eaten / drunk. This will boost their Stamina.
No matter what stage, an adult bird will be seen eating.
The second option is Game, displayed by a baseball and bat.
When selected there are 2 options to choose from, a left and right game portrayed by a bird, and a high and low game indicated by a card, with a little arrow to select.
In the left and right game the bird will animate looking left or right, and you choose either Left with the first button or Right with the second button. If the bird lands on your chosen option, you won. If not you lose. Best out of 5 wins. This will boost its Love.
In the high and low game, two cards are present and animated. You pick either the left card with the first button or the right card with the second button. If you pick the low number, you win. If not you lose. Best out of 5 wins. This will boost its Love.
No matter what stage, an adult bird will be seen happy or sad.
The third option is Disclipine, portrayed by a book and pencil.
When disciplining your bird, an angry teacher yells at it.
The fourth option is Medicine, portrayed by a syringe.
When your bird is sick, you use this option. In 3 frames it’ll get a transfusion.
The fifth option is Clean, portrayed by a brush.
A little forklift will come and clear the poop. The animation can take a bit though as it slowly moves across the screen.
The sixth option is Sleep, portrayed by a light bulb.
This will make it night time, portrayed with a little landscape of trees and a moon and stars. The screen is inverted. The bird is now asleep and it’ll fill the Sleep meter.
The seventh option is Status, portrayed by a scale. It has 3 screens.
The first shows the age and weight, in text, with a little bird icon and scale respectively.
The next shows the Stamina and Love, portrayed by bars and a bowl of food and heart respectively.
The last one shows Sleep and Discipline, portrayed by bars and Zz and a pencil respectively.
The last option is Weather, portrayed by a cap and umbrella.
When selected there are 2 options to choose from, a cap and an umbrella, portrayed by their respective icon, with a little arrow to select.
When it’s sunny, the screen will show a little landscape with a picketed fence, house and tree and a large sun.
When this happens you select the cap.
No matter what stage, an adult bird will be seen wearing it.
When it’s raining, the screen will show a little landscape with a tree, fence and house and rain.
When this happens you select the umbrella.
No matter what stage, an adult bird will be seen holding it.
The bird goes through several stages, Baby, Child, Teen and Adult. There’s 2 different Teen forms and 10 different Adult forms.
0 years old – Baby
1 years old – Child
2 years old – Teen
3+ years old – Adult
Once they reach 3 years old they stop growing / changing.
When they die, it’s depicted by a ghost next to a grave and their age. Buttons no longer do anything.
If you press the left and right button at the same time, a new egg appears.
Accessibility
- Visual
The pet uses very few and simple sprites / animations. The icons on the sides can be too small and hard to see. The screen is not back lit, so good lighting is needed to see the screen. Using the third Cancel button will always place you back with no options selected, should you play blindly and need to know where you are. - Fine-Motor
The pet doesn’t require any fast paced input or precision action. There are 3 small buttons it uses, which are all closely placed together however they are easy to feel. I haven’t noticed any punishment for using the wrong option, the pet simply looks sad. - Auditory
Although it only uses a few beeps, it’s enough to distinguish what is happening. Scrolling through an option or an action as well as a cancel gives a confirmation beep. Starting a game plays a jingle. A successful jingle plays when playing the games and winning, as well as a fail jingle when losing. It has a separate jingle for when it grows, as well as for when it dies. Weather also plays a jingle. And poop cleaning plays a long jingle as well. That said, it can be hard to differentiate or memorise the different jingles. When it needs something it produces alarming beeps, which are repeated every few minutes if not attended. However, when feeding, putting it to sleep, or when selecting an option it doesn’t want, there is no sound. If knowing the setup and keep track of its stats, it could potentially be played blindly by sound alone. - Cognitive
The bird can die.
Power up
When I saw this Gyaoppi bird on eBay for cheap I went for it. I didn’t really have a good bird pet yet, nor a Gyaoppi. I had heard good things about them, and wanted to play one.
Turns out this one was very hard! My personal record so far is 4 years old. It took me 5 runs. At least I made it to adulthood once. Mine kept dying whenever it was suppose to grow, I’m not sure why.
I also struggled to put it to sleep. It doesn’t seem to sleep at set times, rather needs sleep once its bar is empty. And it didn’t run out far enough throughout the day to make it through a whole night. When the bar is full it would just wake up, often sick (assuming because it slept too long?). Luckily I figured out how to pause it, making it through the night.
It also doesn’t seem to transform / age up every day or at a set time. I’m wondering if it needs to be 24 hours idle, and eating, playing games, sleep etc doesn’t count? It always seem to take about 1.5~2 days for it to age up (or in my case die).
Apparently the Gyaoppi II or multi-pet is better (and all the good things I heard about them came from these!). It has a fast mode where minutes go like seconds. I guess it’s less frustrating to play if it takes 24 minutes instead of 24+ hours to get the next stage.
I’m also slightly bummed you see adult birds when eating, gaming or with the weather. It’s a bit weird and slightly a spoiler.
Still, I like it’s different. The little icons instead of on screen can be hard to see, but gives it something unique. There’s several adult birds to get, so that gives it some replayability. And there’s not that many birds out there.
I just find these pets so lovely now. I just love small things and pixel games. They are easy to get into, have simple mechanics and not a lot of button presses, and I am fascinated by early video games.
Recommendation
If you like virtual pets or small simple pixel games, you’ll like this. If you like birds, this one is nice. It seems quite hard to play though, so keep that in mind. Gyaoppi II or a multipet with the bird might be better.
If you like deep complex video games, you probably quickly get bored with this one. And of course, they can be pricey now which could also turn you off of these.
Do you have a Gyaoppi Bird? Are you thinking of running this one (again)? Is there any information you’re missing? Let me know in the comments below!