@maple that's valid, it was probably a bit of a regional thing - and i'm speaking from my own "somewhere i probably have backups of prized show petz on zip disc" nostalgia LOL

it's a bit more nerdy and less familiar in tone than petz but totally, TOTALLY worth getting - https://www.gog.com/game/creatures_the_albian_years

creatures 1 is actually my firm favourite, they got progressively more sci-fi-ish. they actually model a lot of the biology of the critters which is super super cool to see