Salem the Cat Giga Pet

My first childhood virtual pet was the Salem the Cat Giga Pet! As far as I understand, the programming is similar to Giga Pet's Compu Kitty, but Sabrina the Teenage Witch themed! I have long lost my original Salem, but was able to replace it very recently thanks to an unbelievably good eBay deal, lol. I'm so happy to have it back in my hands, I still find it an incredibly charming pet all these years later :3

Introduction

"If you think school can be tough, imagine being turned into a cat." Many years ago in a fantastic kingdom far away, an evil wizard terroized the land. The rule of this kingdom, PRINCE GIGA, was good and kind, and with the help of the small creatures of the land he banished the terrible wizard. But the wizard enacted a horrible curse, imprisoning all of the small creatures in tiny jeweled pods and scattering them across the universe. The witches' council, to whom all witches and warlocks must answer, was inspired by this curse and put the same curse on one of SABRINA's uncles and turned him into a cat! now SALEM the cat, lives in the same house with SABRINA and SABRINA'S two aunts, the spellman sisters, Zelda and Hilda. SABRINA can't understand why if she's a witch, she has to go to school? try explaining to SALEM why if he's a warlock, he has to be a tuna-loving, collar-wearing cat!! oh well, who said life was always fair? Certainly not anyone from the witches' council! Only by being healthy and happy can SALEM have his curse lifted. Can you help?

Starting the Game

On a new game you will be prompted to set the hour, minute, and name your pet (or what you want Salem to call you, according to the manual?). Press "Enter" to confirm your selection. "Mode" is used as a back button.

To turn off the sound, press MODE to enter the clock screen, then press LEFT to turn off the sound, or RIGHT to turn it on again. The sound is indicated by a bell icon.

To pause the game, press LEFT, RIGHT, and ENTER at the same time. While paused, the clock will continue to run but the pet's statistics will be paused. Press MODE to resume gameplay.

To adjust the time, press MODE to enter clock mode, then press ENTER to adjust the time. You will be prompted to adjust your nickname, press ENTER again to confirm your changes.

How to Play

From the top left going right, the FEED icon is the first icon you can select. You are given the option to feed Salem a fish or ice cream. Fish fills about 20 Hunger points, and be careful to not feed Salem ice cream too often :p

The SLEEP icon is used to put Salem to sleep at night, at around 9PM he will only seem to nap, so it's best to turn off the lights for him :) Use the icon again to wake Salem up.

The PLAY icon is used to raise Salem's Health and Happiness, the mini-game involves helping Salem catch the ball of yarn. Click the buttons twice in the direction Salem is facing (not too fast or too slow), and try to pass 5 rounds.

The DOCTOR icon should be used when Salem appears sick. His sprite takes up most of the screen and he refuses to do any of his other activities.

The CLEANING icon should be used once a day to keep Salem clean, or to clean the screen when he poops.

The SCORE (heart) icon displays Salem's stats. Use the left/right buttons to swipe through each screen. In order, it shows his age, weight, health, happiness, hunger, discipline, and total score. The total score is an average of Health, Happiness, Hunger, and Discipline. Salem becomes an adult at age 5, and lives to about 14 days. If you can keep Salem's health above 95, he will stay for longer. At the end of the run, you can either get a bad ending (he waves goodbye to you as a cat), or the good ending (he turns back into a man).

The TRAINING icon is how you can increase Salem's discipline, by trying to teach him tricks. If he does a trick correctly, you can reward him with a treat and he knows to do the trick again!

The DISCIPLINE icon should be used if Salem's discipline falls below 20, but do it too often and Salem becomes unhappy and unhealthy :(

Finally, the ALERT icon lights up when Salem needs care! It's up to you to figure out what he needs.