Fin Fin, the 1996 Voice-Activated Virtual Pet for PCs

An LGR retrospective about Fujitsu's Fin Fin on Teo the Magic Planet, a (sort of) voice-controlled virtual pet for Windows PCs from 1996! Specifically the 1997 US Deluxe Edition that came with a plastic bird whistle and its own microphone. The press were enamored with FinFin for a time but it seems to have disappeared almost entirely from the public consciousness in the years since. So let's befriend this weird alien dolphin bird from the 90s!
● LGR links:
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
/ lazygamereviews
● Music courtesy of:
www.epidemicsou...
#LGR #Retro #Gaming

[@LGR]

For more about Fin Fin, I recommend Emge's FinFIn Homepage. Not only is it an information goldmine but it's that classic style of website that's a pleasure to browse! www.finfin.de/index_e.htm And of course, the Fin Fin club mix: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6bJlZeoqLqreZI

[@fiskfisk33]

Allright, I'm gonna need that "Dolphin bird" sound bit!

[@neokovacs187]

Damn! that website looks so cool!

[@Boemel]

Holy 56k friendly website batman !

[@RemnantCult]

If only I could write something on the guestbook...

[@thestellarelite]

Was super not expecting the website's last update to be 2019

[@Lopoi]

Is that how I make friend? by making random noises until they get used to it?

[@Gatorade69]

Yes !

[@Salas137]

Yup, that's pretty much it

[@CherryPixelBun]

speaking from experience its how i got my current bf

[@LGR]

It's also how one grows a successful KZbin channel over time.

[@atlanticmadman8115]

That's my fiancé and I in a nutshell

[@Goat_Slice]

Love him and Believe him. Always and Forever. He's your best friend.

[@Radical_Rainbow]

Banana Deer has been my favorite Pokémon since Toe Version.

[@accountwontlastlong1]

Yeah, Metapod is no longer my favorite Pokémon. Banana Deer is the new king... banana... deer...

[@retroreviewsbr]

search kickboxing banana

[@junibug6790]

"FINFIN IS WATCHING YOU" That's... *a* marketing catch-phrase, I guess. O_o

[@MandleRoss]

Reminds me of Ceiling Cat.

[@DubskiDude]

Back in grade school (a good 25-ish years ago), we had a "computer class" where the teacher would have Fin Fin on the big screen. The sound of a bunch of 2nd graders yelling "Fin Fiiin, we love you Fin Fiiin" has been branded onto my primordial grey matter permanently.

[@mightyfilm]

Here's hoping Banana Deer becomes as iconic on this channel as Cool Crab.

[@lily91109]

I would die for banana deer

[@Dun-N-Dusted]

OMG yes

[@daneelcayce]

Banana Deer t-shirts when

[@El_ACG]

Still can't beat rib-bit

[@SirDinielFortesque]

I can say I do like how Fin Fin sings there is just something lovely about it.

[@RadeonVega64]

same

[@dasantihero2827]

It'd be a cool idea to have an LGR Blerb when your birthday comes up just so we can see Fin-Fin sing it's birthday song. That sounds really cool.

[@DigitalDesires87]

Holy smokes! Been following this channel for over 12 years now but this has to be one of the most nostalgic videos. Of course I had both CATZ and DOGZ when I couldn't get a real pet as a kid. And I (now) vividly remember looking at the box of Fin Fin several times as a kid, hoping my parents would buy it for me one day. I had forgotten that it even existed up until I saw that thumbnail just now. Thanks for bringing back some childhood memories, Clint!

[@PanekPL]

go and fuckin buy it

[@Bananachan289]

Oh god I’m getting memories of the cats doing it with the giant love heart appearing. The look in their weird eyes beforehand LMAO

[@MessiahProphylaxis]

l i f e i s d i s a p p o i n t m e n t

[@shannyjackson9206]

@@MessiahProphylaxis oddly enough i was very rarely disappointed as a kid most things were better than expected, now as an adult things usually turn out worse than expected

[@offrails]

My brothers and I had Catz and Dogz at the time, but I would imagine that if we had this, we would have recorded fart sounds and other inappropriate sounds in place of the defaults.

[@Jordan-zk2wd]

I remember when we realized we could record audio and play it backwards on our computer, we started saying "cuff" and "tish" lol

[@OutInLeftField2]

@@Jordan-zk2wd I did the same thing but tried reading the lyrics that supposedly were backwards masked, trying to uncover the crazy satanic stuff that they supposedly said.

[@bittertriumph2045]

They actually went through the pain of animating his tongue when he sings.

[@TeddyCream0]

I find the world of TEO a very interesting concept. Wish they'd bring it back in some sort of way.

[@lordlama547]

It's like Pandora in Avatar! Oh what i miss playing finfin. So beautiful and mysterious!

[@justsomeone89]

Finfin came together with our first home computer in 1998. A Fujitsu pentium 2 233mhz pc with a whopping 4gb hard disk and 32mb ram. The mic was a Standard one not the one in the video but with the same crt mount and a secondary desk mount. The flute was the same. Nu parents probably still have it laying around. I was 8/9 years old at the time so finfin was an anazing game for me back then. I really love that you made a video about it. Brings back memories. Thanks!

[@DatBisa]

Long-time Fin Fin fan since childhood here, and I can't put into words how happy it makes me to see a large creator cover this absolute gem of a game. As someone who's been along the entire ride, with everything from playing the german "4 worlds" release as a wee li'l kid, piping around on the whistle, my father getting me that plushie - one of my most treasured belongings to this day, spending hours on end on EMGE's website, getting to experience Lemo Valley after my father snatched the "5 worlds" US Deluxe Version from ebay, heck, I even dressed up as the turquoise dolphin-bird for Halloween once, all the way to when the community finally acquired the holy grail of a "6 worlds" version from Asia and patched it into german, allowing me to finally see the Nest and Fin Fin's family for the first time. I've been playing this game almost daily for the last 2 decades and have almost religious dedication to everything surrounding it, so seriously, I cannot thank you enough for this. And all hail Banana Deer.

[@jackpumpoen]

have you seen his second recent revival with streamer wayneradiotv?

[@Kyle-xv5kv]

Holy shit, I still have a copy of this somewhere with the whistle!

[@lordjambrek4868]

I love that whistle, it's loud as fuck.Still use it to annoy people from time to time :)

[@meursault7030]

Send me the game files? Pretty please? I can't find this game anywhere.

[@tourmaline07]

I think, with modern advancements in AI and voice recognition I'd like to see what could be done with Finfin nowadays

[@trulyinfamous]

Well, the GPT-3 Ai is pretty capable for writing, and is able to pull off a good level of conversation compared to many others. Give it a few years, and with access to an unrestricted model, virtual conversations could be possible.

[@tourmaline07]

@@trulyinfamous Thanks - I'll take a look at gpt-3

[@youngdeku6634]

Like a VR version for the Vive, Odyssey, etc with up to date graphics, a world you can walk in and take scientific samples of plants and such in, and a main story focus on Finfin. Responds to voice and movements, you could train him, change ecosystem populations of other plants and creatures, try to track and study his lifestyle and travels, find and attract other Finfins, save or destroy the species depending on how you handle things.

[@mihalytihany]

@@youngdeku6634 you have nailed it, great concept

[@bojan01010]

Fin Fin is peak 90's A E S T H E T I C

[@kazuhiramiller2121]

Fin Fin and Teo are pure vaporwave material

[@SPVLaboratories]

@@kazuhiramiller2121for real, I can’t believe we didn’t plunder this for material back in the early 2010s

[@TaylorBeem]

Well, we’ve just met but I would die for FinFin

[@FlyboyHelosim]

OK then. 😬

[@wilkgr]

I've only had FinFin for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

@@wilkgr Plot twist: There's only you in the room.

[@wilkgr]

@@FlyboyHelosim I mean...it's just a reference to a popular TV show. There's not much more to it.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

@@wilkgr OK, and I was just using a popular meme.

[@CrashRakashe]

Man, I'm so happy to see a video about Fin Fin. I remember loving this game when I was 3 but completely forgot what it was like. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

[@WendeXTX]

Fin Fin's songs and the colourful backdrops make me think of prog-rock albums from the 70s. The screen with mountain in the backgtround is giving me Rodney Matthews vibes.

[@TheJbrader]

Banana Deer is what I needed at 7:50 this morning. Thanks man

[@TheMajorDash]

I remember my step dad randomly buying this game somewhere and giving it to me. This was almost 20 years ago and til this day I think about this game all the time. I played it frequently and I was so enamored with his world. Very bizarre game but I found the graphics to be SO stunning as a child. His planet looked like somewhere I wanted to be lol

[@omgeodude]

I had this version! I was absolutely enthralled by the concept of Fin Fin - like, emotions too big for my little body to contain. My recollections are kinda tinged with sadness, though? I was a little too young to really understand the simplistic the program was, as well as a little too excitable to exercise restraint with my volume. As a result, Fintan never really warmed up to me and I always felt like I was doing something wrong. (I mean, I WAS, mechanically. But I felt like I was being bad PERSONALLY.) Still, I kept the whistle and stickers for years. The whistle always made me think of Finbar as I imagined he could be - my excellent alien companion.

[@Mythricia1988]

This turned out a lot less cursed than I had hoped for.

[@endgamedog1900]

I want to be cryogenically frozen until science has found a way to make Banana Deer real

[@CelticSaint]

I have already frozen my arm and spleen. I don´t have much money so have to do it bit by bit.

[@SwrdBreak]

i still have it, this and Mindscape`s Creatures are some of my best childhood memories.

[@yostoyou]

Creatures is definitely worth taking another look at. Especially the third one. It's honestly fascinating just how deceptively deep and complicated the game is, or at least feels.

[@Trekeyus]

@@yostoyou been meaning to go back and explore those games had them as a kid and only really played the second one

[@arouric636]

I /still/ enjoy playing Creatures!

[@PeiceofNick]

Finally someone is finally bringing this super obscure gem of a game into the spotlight. Thank You LGR.

[@medes5597]

400,000 copies and all that merch suggests it's not that obscure

[@maegnificant]

finally

[@SATOhara3173]

*Hearing a non-Digimon related channel acknowledge Digimon's virtual pet roots* Oh yeah that's the good shit right there.

[@burningpopsicle6031]

I would be SO into this if I was a kid in the 90s. I find Fin Fin oddly cute lol Fin Fin has a beautiful voice !

[@anumeon]

♪♪♪ Hush little baby don't say a word. Daddy's gonna buy you an animated dolphinbird. And if that Dolphinbird won't sing. Daddy's gonna give Fujitu's support line a ring. (Free interpretation) :D

[@TheBlackMew]

I mean when I was a kid I was enthralled with Hey You Pikachu! and the mic on that didn't even work, so this is pretty amazing and I could definitely see being hooked back in the day if I knew about it. Also imagine being me and thinking you're just watching a fun LGR video that definitely has nothing to do with your special interest in famous cartoonist Osamu Tezuka and then getting to the "oh yeah macoto was hired to work on this" part lmao

[@TanyaKatherine]

The part with the song playing and you bobbing along was really funny. That brightened my day.

[@stargazeification]

Clint you should do an exposition on the "Creatures" games. I'm pretty sure the first one came out the same year as this 1996. You could breed your creatures and interact with the environments along with other things but similar to this game, it only seemed to take me about an hour or so of playing to get bored. I haven't played Fin Fin but Creatures seems to have a lot more to do in-game and the map was slowly discoverable. Worth checking out if you haven't already!

[@holyholley]

Oh my god! That's it! My parents bought me a fujitsu computer back in the 90s and it had this on it. Computer went wrong after a couple of months and required a full format reinstall. Never got this back and couldn't remember what it was called to track it down. Memories certainly unlocked.

[@NoshAbroad]

A little story bout "Marty and the rouble with cheese" My first real experience with a11y design. I assume you are familiar with Marty and how it works. I was working at Maxis in the late 90's when a woman called and was absolutely furious that Marty had insulted her son. See, Marty had a predetermined script to say after saying your name. If the software couldn't match the sound to a know name, Marty would say something alone the lines of "That's a silly name" This is all fun and games until someone with a with a disability that impairs speech tries to interact with Marty. Being told "That's a silly name" no mater how hard you try to say your name was obviously a bad choice in hindsight.

[@chartle1]

10:50 "He cuts down trees, he eat his lunch He goes to the lavatory On Wednesdays he goes shopping and has buttered scones for tea"

[@someblokeidk8565]

“he sleeps all night and he works all day”

[@emalinedickinson7492]

Heeeee's a lumberjack and that's okay, he sleeps all night and he works all day

[@JDevine687]

“I cut down trees, I wear high heels, suspenders and a bra. I wish I'd been a girlie, just like my dear Papa!”

[@AgsmaJustAgsma]

@@JDevine687 "He cuts down trees, he- ...SUSPENDERS?!"

[@carltonleboss]

What is this reference?

[@Danferplus]

I thought I was the only one in the world who remembered Fin Fin

[@xerzy]

ngl this game is basically my vibe and I want it now

[@DatBisa]

The full version is actually available on the website linked in the pinned comment! Granted, you might have to dig a bit to find it. It comes with all 6 "worlds" (notice that greyed out small pebble on the map in the video here? That's the Nest and only ever was released in Taiwan and Japan), with a german patch, and with a bit of fiddling around with compatibility options, works all the way up to Windows 10.

[@nettobin]

OMG thank you so much for this video. For years couldn't remember the name and I thought it was all a crazy fever dream from my childhood.

[@intrinia]

Slightly disappointed Clint didn't call him with "farts".

[@juanignacioaschura9437]

Was expecting exactly this.

[@definedphotography]

Although, "Hey get over here jerk" was a pretty good substitute 😅

[@SaikohTukay]

Dude! I've spent over 20 years trying to find the name of this thing! Nobody believed that it existed! Thank you, LGR. I was starting to think that they were right.

[@kkurova9345]

this is the most vaporwave shit i've ever seen

[@DemoniaWhisper]

actually, he is really the most life like pet. I never realy understood, how did my other virtual pets can just die without me giving them food for a day or two. I owned cats back in the day, and when I managed to not give them meal for a day, because I had to go to the hospital, the little buggers just went and hunt. I know because I found hedghog and mouse parts in their little house.

[@sakurayhatsune7504]

In my German package, back in the Day. There was a stuffed animal of Fin Fin and omg, that bird whistle punished my ears but much more that of the people around me XD.

[@Zanji1234]

but it was cute as hell xD

[@ainstein666]

I still have that stuffed animal.

[@sagittariuslibra6824]

Ich habe das auch gehabt… 😅

[@insertnamehere4921]

"hey get over here jerk" 😅😅

[@ericpreston5826]

DOLPHIN BIRD!

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

Hey Fin,Fin

[@spriggantine]

I actually had this as a kid and even though it was simple it was like camping on a fantasy planet and I loved catching rare photos of events and creatures you don't normally see, I think you would have really liked it too, I'm glad to know more about how it worked now that I'm an adult. I really miss that little guy!

[@nerd0Chija]

Random fact about this game that recently come out: This game was once planned and developed as Nintendo 64DD game (add-on for Nintendo 64 that was planned to be released nationwide, but because of poor sales in Japan it stayed there), but looks like as Nintendo 64DD failed, they moved development of it into PC.

[@LGR]

Whoa. That’s neat to know, I hadn’t heard that!

[@DJFishlips]

You'll never have to worry about forgetting to feed him, or letting him die, or get sick, or hurt, or much of anything at all. No matter what, he'll never pass on, never go away entirely. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

[@mysticmarble94]

While watching the video , with every passing minute I wondered more and more about having had that fin fin "game" once as a child. I don't really remember playing it per se. But I have faint memories of that dolphin, that mirophone and the whistle with the brown band. In fact I prolly just took the whistle from the game and kept whistling all day instead of playing that game 😅

[@queenchaosyet]

As I wasn’t alive for the virtual pet craze, the closest thing I’ve gotten to it so far has been Shimeji’s and as far as my experience with virtual pets goes Fin Fin seems like a delightful little guy who has a *LOT* of interactions with his environment hand crafted by animators (so. Much. Work. I can’t begin to imagine how long that took even with a team of animators), a working sound system (no matter how simplistic) and charming character design with a healthy bundle of world building! Created by a team of animators, this small fella has so much soul and art infused with its very being that it can’t NOT emulate emotions because it’s BUILT on emotions! I think fin fin is a very good lad and I hope and wish the best for them

[@RadeonVega64]

same

[@JHMBB2]

I was expecting LGR to call Him Fart Balls halfway through

[@TelexToTexel]

It is maybe interesting to note that the current number 1 super computer in the world "Fungaku" is based on Fujitsu A64FX CPU Fin Fin or whatever, 25 years later Fujitsu is today powering the strongest computer there is.

[@Nobutehuhh]

I’ll be honest, I think this thing is adorable

[@Sabishi1985]

You missed the best part about FinFin: He was able to find a girlfriend and even start a family! Watching baby FinFin grow up was such a nice experience back then. FinFin wasn't that much of a game: Your computer simply became a window to another world, in which you could check up on that cute dolphin bird every once in a while. :)

[@traceacex]

Yes!! I imagine it'd be hard to truly capture what made this game special because so much of it involves being willing to perch yourself in front of your computer during random moments in during the day and throughout the year to potentially see the changes. It was a friendly bird watching simulator for sure, and a bit of a comfort game because of that. :) The fact LGR picked that up even in the short time frame says a lot. I would love to see someone track all the major events in the game (and its time stamp) one day.

[@LGR]

@Sabishi1985 I'm not so sure about this. According to the old fansites I've found there is no offspring in Fin Fin Deluxe, the only other dolphinbird is Finnina: Fin Fin's wife. Players often mistook her for baby Fin Fin, something that this is cleared up in the FAQ section on finfin.de. And while she is mentioned in the manual, I didn't show Finnina in the video since she never appeared in my time playing. To be sure, I actually left the computer on in the background running Fin Fin Deluxe for four days straight, capturing the entire time, and also artificially skipped the PC clock ahead each day to different months and seasons throughout 2021. What's seen in the video is the best stuff I captured! You must've REALLY needed a lot of patience over an even longer amount of time to see more than I got here :)

[@Vervexx]

@@LGR If you look in the nest section of the finfin.de site, you'll find pictures of the other dolphinbirds such as Baby Finfin and Finnina so my guess is that the character exists in at least some versions. The FAQ only said the Baby couldn't be seen on a particular screen.

[@hunterdavis3003]

@@LGR LGR spittin finfin knowledge yo!

[@LGR]

@@Vervexx That's another version of Fin Fin, not the US Fin Fin Deluxe release that I have and showed in the video. Unfortunately, there really is no baby dolphinbird in this edition of the game that I can tell. You can't even visit the nest section at all in Deluxe!

[@TheGamerWithMore]

There's some vaporwave potential here.

[@kazuhiramiller2121]

Indeed

[@8442go]

So, Fin Fin will never gonna give you up, let you down, run around and desert you? AND never make you cry, say goodbye, and tell a lie and hurt you? Sounds great to me.

[@annichan113]

😂 thats a new way of rickrolling I haven’t yet seen before. 👍

[@valence_drive]

Never heard about this either, but I gotta say, I absolutely love the world design for this obscure little game. It's a well not often tapped, but incandescent blue-green awash nature is an aesthetic that needs more love.

[@Talwar3k]

My god! This came bundled with our fujitsu computer! 200mhz mmx machine around the year 2000. I had completely forgot about that.

[@jdatlas4668]

Damn, I’m still vaguely feeling nostalgic for the entire virtual pet craze... almost a shame it doesn’t seem to have really carried over to the smartphone era, at least not that I’m aware. It seems like the perfect fit, but it seems the entire idea just isn’t as interesting to people anymore.

[@jeremyfirth]

On the contrary, your smartphone is your new virtual pet. It chirps and vibrates when it wants your attention. It lives on your attention, and farms you for your ability to detect quality and detect what humans find interesting by clicking Like and Follow. And you have to keep the battery charged to keep your virtual pet alive. It even wakes you up in the morning with an alarm, and will give you directions as you travel. Love your new virtual pet!

[@flisie]

Ok but for real if anyone knows of a nice virtual pet app please share

[@1invag]

@@flisie they're mostly browser based freemium models, the modern ones that are still going.

[@catfish552]

It's not quite like a virtual pet game, but "Cats are Cute" is lovely. You build up a little town of adorable cats, and they all live in different houses and have different jobs (though to be honest, they mostly just lay about or walk around the town... which is accurate, I suppose). Sometimes they'll demand your attention to tell you something, get pets, play hide-and-seek or rock, paper, scissors (you can always win, the cats can't do scissors), or just to get you to admire them for a bit. The descriptions and interactions with the cats are all very sweet, and while you can pay money for bonuses, it's absolutely not necessary. Very good as a relaxing casual game you check in with a couple times a day.

[@cantbejawsome]

i mean, there's poo.. (app)

[@truthwillout1980]

"Hey Fin-Fin. Why don't you come over here and get some better footage." This might be the greatest line you've ever said. Spat tea everywhere.

[@Roverd26]

fin fin come and see him

[@cmmmmmmmw]

Sometimes Clint mentions that he wants to start a museum someday. I don't know if he knows this, but his KZbin channel already is one.

[@UltraVioletAngelLily]

Almost 30, yet I am still eyeing a Digivice with a Digimon pet ❤

[@jonaszprzybycien6545]

same xD

[@UltraVioletAngelLily]

@@jonaszprzybycien6545 They will release a smartwatch that will be a Digivice, similar to what they did with Pokemon Go Plus... Is it our time? :O

[@GoodOldDaysGaming]

Oh how I miss the 90s and installing things with multiple CDs, the smell of heated plastics and metals filling the nostrils while the eyes consume weird 3D renders and stuff that rarely makes sense but is somehow wonderful.

[@TanyaKatherine]

You explained that perfectly! Wow I forgot the heated plastic smell, but now remembering the excitement paired with the metal/plastic smell and starting a new game and the excitement. Then when the game starts its sometimes not *as good* as you were excited for but still worth it. Everything was so physical back then and the senses were so grounded.

[@thescotsmantechnologyrevie2138]

I remember this, I loved it so much! Thank you for bringing it back! :-)

[@Waldimart]

Just by looking at the thumbnail, I've heard Fin Fin singing. Lovely memories!

[@TechGorilla1987]

@9:36 - "If you turn off the analytical side of your brain for a moment..." I am sorry, Dave, I cannot do that.

[@vulpesanimalis1644]

That Fin Fin music, totally 90's music 😂🥰. Perfect work man, thank You 😇.

[@Thomasm3000]

Do you remember Johnny Castaway? He was a weird screensaver I had as a kid, would be cool to see the history of that

[@renatoigmed]

Yeah! I had this screen saver on my first computer it was so much fun to see that castaway dying of boredom on that tiny island xD

[@GarwoodNick]

Nostalgia Nerd did a video on Johnny but I don't think LGR has

[@elha7982]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2bPqZyKf6ykftk

[@Chloemew]

This game has been a vague memory in the back of my mind for the longest time, it's nice to finally be able to put a name to it! Now I just need to find the other 90s microphone-based PC game I played as a kid... literally the only thing I remember was a chameleon that would change colour to whatever colour you said into the mic.

[@neadesu]

This unlocked so many old memories for me. I remember being around 4 or 5 when we got this. And I remember that whistle, recently however I wondered if the whistle actually worked or if my siblings tried to trick me. But apparently they didn’t and it was actually for the game. Thanks for solving that mystery. 😅

[@Foxy-Sierra]

The soundeffects of the menu alone unlocked so many memories in my head. I use to play this all the time and was absolutely obsessed with it.

[@thorerik]

I remember having this as a kid, was bundled with the Fujitsu Siemens computer my parents bought around when Me was out, it came with Me, Fin Fin and a couple of Star Wars Episode 1 games.

[@justsomeone89]

Back then it was just Fujitsu. The colab with Siemens was years later the last try to get Fujitsu any footprint in Europa with their computers. But unfortunatly failed.

[@mt-3234]

I had fujitsu pc and it came with finfin win98 theme, screensaver and backgrounds. I wondered what that weird animal was until now!

[@justsomeone89]

@@mt-3234 we had the win95 version of that theme.

[@andyz6306]

Kid me was so fascinated by seeing screenshots of this on websites and really wanting to play it. 18 or so years of waiting have been satiated, thank you!

[@TanyaKatherine]

Why did you have to wait so long!? 18 years!? I am so happy you finally got it!

[@IRWPD]

I need to check out that club/dance music now.

[@XswingX]

My father bought this when i was a small child an it came with a FinFin plushie. It was my favourite as a kid and i still have it sitting on my bed to this day.

[@darkfent]

Funny how I'm unboxing and testing my digimon vital bracelet right now

[@deadlydreamin]

i just want to walk through the tsubu woods where the little bells and shellflowers grow with him fr

[@dietalkaa]

Just about a perfect game to keep kids quiet❤ "shh don't scare fin fin"

[@ZGaMeR2k3]

Wow, this takes me back. I played Fin Fin as a kid and remember seeing a program about it on tv. When I finally got it and installed the game I was looking forward to interacting with him. Imagine my disappointment when he didn't see to respond to me. 😅 I was wondering if he understood english at all and wether I was doing anything wrong. He would get sick, hungry and happy at random moments and after a while I just stopped playing because it indeed started to deel like a dolphin screen saver. Still, its one of those games that I'll always remember for having such an original premise. Glad I got to experience it back then.

[@weevilwizarddotmusic9711]

finfin has 99 meals left...

[@lemofruit]

touch of death combo!!

[@Aboveup]

It's interesting how little we hear about a lot of the virtual pet games that were all the rage so many years later. Like Creatures. That one's apparently even on GOG and yet I've pretty much never heard anyone wax nostalgics about it. Weird with how high profile it was as a series for a while.

[@stella8889]

I still play Petz 4 from time to time. The pet AIs are still some of the best I've ever encountered. I lost scores of childhood hours to those weird looking little guys, and even more once I figured out how to mod the game with fan-made breeds and mate them together to create monstrosities....ah, good times. PS: All praise be to Banana Deer!!!!!!

[@Right_Said_Brett]

I kinda fell in love with Fin Fin, just from watching this video. He/she/it is adorable.

[@HaitaniMasayuki]

I remember this dinosaur thingy clearly from my childhood. I saw it in many different (German) video game magazines. A while ago I spent way too much time finding more stuff about it online; I didn't even remember its name, only that it was like a virtual pet that's voice-controlled and what it looked like. I'm so happy to see it again here! :D

[@MicrophonicFool]

The background scenes are prettier than I expected for the time.

[@DoctorFudge]

Oh fuck, I had this thing. I remembered it a while back and had a hell of a time trying to prove to my friends it existed in the first place, which was doubly hard since I couldn't remember the name of it and they kept insisting that I was thinking of Ecco the Dolphin, because I described FinFin as "a weird dolphin bird thing". I finally dug out my old copy from my dad's basement about a year ago but it just refused to work on my Windows 10 PC, and it really didn't like my Windows 95 VM. Glad I could see you play it in decent video quality at least.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

And this is why people keep old ass PC's around...

[@wohlhabendermanager]

"but it just refused to work on my Windows 10 PC" That's why we all need original hardware from back in the day. And if your SO ever asks you "what do you need this retro stuff for anyway" you can respond with "Why, to raise and love a virtual pet, of course!"

[@MrPickles1987]

Funny you posted this because this morning I read an article about a prehistoric winged shark! A creature like Fin Fin probably existed lol.

[@k3nny]

We love fin fin

[@StephanS]

I remember the Orbit Computer Fair when Fin Fin was brand new. They had flyers, banners and logos everywhere. The actual "demo stations" were huge and there were about 20 computers running Fin Fin for demoing purposes. They gave out merchandising and demos like crazy, all was about that new and exciting "game" called Fin Fin. The game caught my attention (how else could it be with those massive marketing efforts?) but i never was really interested in playing it, but the memories about this event with those huge marketing campaigns remain. BTW: The first sound of the intro movie is a preset from the Korg 01/W called "Free Flight"... look it up

[@cocacolaxable]

I miss virtual pets so much, I wish someone would make a genuinely fun virtual pet game on mobile that emulates that experience. I remember there used to be kawaii pet megu but it was taken down from the app store. With today's technology and everything it would be so easy to make a really fun virtual pet game, i really wish someone would make such a game because mobile has such potential as a platform for virtual pet games imo

[@DennisGr]

oh yeah, we had that. my dad bought a prebuilt in 96 or 97 with that in a bundle . i got his old PC, which was my first win95 one. that kickstarted the hobby for me.

[@BachiloDmitry]

Ah, virtual pets :-)

[@Ichicard]

Нежданчик)

[@lvl90dru1d]

какие люди, категорически приветствую

[@grigorydrozd8586]

"Слежу" за этим автором, по вашей "наводке"!...

[@MrKuprin2000]

Внезапный Дмитрий)

[@dvdemon187]

Yeah, exactly. WTF?! Even though Fin-Fin does more stuff than my actual real-life cat. But nowadays with all the Alexas and Siris, Roombas and Spots, this _will_ become a thing again. In this reality.

[@MadMedicineMan]

Holy Moly that unlocked so much nostalgia in my brain. I think FinFin is one of my earliest PC gaming memories. Did not expect it to turn up ever again. I didn't understand a thing about the game, but man, i sure had fun with it!

[@KevintheRhea]

fin fin I love you

[@dynatwenty]

I had this as a kid! But i didnt know this 90s gem of a song existed. Thank you so much! My geek brain LOVED it!

[@JanPospisilArt]

Amazing. Truly THE Deluxe version of Fin Fin.

[@Hugovika]

that accompanying music CD sounds incredible! I'd totally blast that at max comfy volume

[@yukikofujiwara2144]

"Teo: The Earth-like Otherworld" There, I fixed it.