Top breeders recommend it!
Nintendogs definitely goes for the jugular but in the sweetest, most sugar-coated way possible. It’s irresistibly cute. When you first pick up your pup from the Kennel you’ll spend a long time caressing their chin and roughing up their fur, watching them react to the way you stroke them by stretching their legs and wagging their tail. The way your dog will react to everything is so realistic and charming that you’ll just keep on playing with them. It might sound odd that you could get attached to a virtual pet but a bond definitely develops here. When you accidentally get a bit rough and they whine in response you really feel bad for hurting them; Nintendogs ends up plucking at your heart-strings with the tenderness of the softest ballad.
Getting your dog to recognise your voice can be a little tricky and your enunciation has to be crystal clear for them to recognise what you want them to do. At first you may attribute the problems to the DS microphone but it’s actually down to the disobedience of a young pup that’s only just getting to learn their owner. Even the most awkward little hound will eventually warm to you if you treat them well and the most basic tricks like sitting and lying down come easily. However, it’s not a good idea to overload your pet with commands, as they’ll only be able to remember up to four tricks a day. Then again, Nintendogs is not the type of game you’ll be playing for hours on end and is more appropriate for thirty to sixty minutes a day bursts.
Now it’d be a good idea to get your dog out of the house. You should aim to at least take them for a walk once a day. At first they’ll struggle to get round the block but their stamina soon builds and you’ll be able to take them to the park to socialise with other canine chums, mark your territory and find abandoned gifts or get down to the discount shop to get cheap food, water, shampoo and various accessories to smarten up your dog’s appearance. However, you’re also going to need to fund your purchases, either by selling what you don’t need or entering one of the various competitions.
Ted Rumsworth and Archie Hubbs are the hosts of the three dog competitions, where your pet will compete to impress the judges, come in first place and get a good treat when they get home! The disc competition involves throwing a Frisbee and getting your pup to chase and catch it; as with all the competitions, their ability to compete will depend on how much training they’ve had and what breed they are – can a little Chihuahua really run all that way to catch that disc? You’ll need to practice at the gym before taking part in the agility trials, where you need to coax your dog into leaping over hurdles, scuttle through tunnels, negotiate a slalom of poles and navigate a tricky seesaw without leaping off. Finally there are obedience trials, where your pet must hold a command for a certain length of time or do a number of tricks in quick succession. It’ll take quite some time to rise to the masterclass in all these events and underperforming means you’ll get relegated back to the previous rank but it’s still worth taking part in as you’ll earn trainer points that will unlock more breeds of puppies to buy!
While the appeal manages to hold strong for quite a while, after a few weeks it begins to wane. Sometimes tending to your pet can feel more like a chore than a pleasure, as you feel obliged to care for your dog every day or face risking them run away from you! Interesting items on your walks are hard to come by and you’re far more likely to end up with another stick than one of the cooler items available, so it can become quite disheartening, especially as the shops tend to stock a very limited range of products. Similarly you’ll always happen across the same dogs in your neighbourhood and it could really have done with some livening up. Competing in the trials can also get quite dull after a while. In the end, Nintendogs can be quite repetitive and it seems to lack any real meat to tuck into, besides the odd hard to pull off trick (did she just backflip? Now she’s spinning on her back! Can you please beg?). A few more modes and things to do and a bit more variety in your company would have greatly added to the game’s appeal, though given the sales of this game, surely the inevitable sequel will deal with these problems.
So for the first few weeks Nintendogs is a real charmer and you’ll be glued to it to see the way the dogs behave and interact with you. It seems like one of the greatest things ever and it’ll arouse interest in those around you, even if they don’t tend to play games. However, the appeal soon fades, even if treating your pup is still an irresistible experience. We’re just left pawing at Nintendo’s window and whining out for more love. It’s a hard game to rate – it’s unconventional and there’s no real end goal to speak off, it’s more a delightful diversion and at that it excels brilliantly. Besides that, it’s a lot cheaper than buying a real puppy for the kids, a lot easier to handle and a lot less problematic to discard when they get bored of them! Hmm, perhaps we’ll stop here before the RSPCA gets word of this…