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Posted on July 24th, 2005 - 6636 Reads

Rated Everyone Nintendogs Nintendo DS Preview

-- Written by Marc-André Sarrazin



 First of all, before starting with my preview, I'd like to point out that it is based on the Japanese version of the game and that I don't understand a single Japanese word, thus making it very difficult for me to fully understand it. I've still been able to enjoy Miyamoto's latest creation and thought it would be a good idea to give our readers an early preview of the game.

So, with that in mind, let's start!

Nintendogs has gotten heavy praise from the Japanese audience. The game has been selling A LOT over there and has become the fastest selling DS game ever. It has gotten perfect scores from Japan's number 1 magazine, Famitsu, and some say it may be the next Pokémon. I don't know about the last one, but I'm willing to bet this isn't the last Nintendogs game we will see. While you don't really need to be very smart to know that (just look at the sales numbers), the game itself has so much more possibilities that it will be very easy for Nintendo to make updates for it.

Do you remember Tamagotchis? Apparently, they still exist and are still somewhat popular as there are still new models being released in Japan. I remember playing these things when I was 13, so that's about 7 years ago. The concept was new back then and it offered something fresh that really caught people's attention. What was nice about them was that they not only captured the minds of the gamers, but also the minds of the non gamers. You had to take care of a little creature, feed it, have it take it's bath, sleep, take it to the doctor if it was sick... and if you didn't take care of it enough it would die. After playing with it for days you'd really get attached to it and really felt like it was real, even though it was made of pixels.

Another really cool aspect of Tamagotchis was that it all happened in real time. You could not stop the game or pause it so if you decided not to take care of it for a day or 2 it would die from starvation. These were all new concepts that have been copied by everyone now, but those concepts were what made this game stand apart from the rest back then.

So why have I taken the time to talk to you about this? Simple: Nintendogs is the evolution of Tamagotchis. Sure, it's a big evolution, but it is based on the same concepts. You start off with a dog which you buy at the pet shop, and then you bring it back to your apartment. There, you name it and then start playing with it and make it understand what its name is. As for my dog, I named her Peach. Yeah I know it isn't really original but I didn't have any idea what to call my dog and I really wanted to play as fast as possible.

So there I was, scratching my dogs head, playing with her, speaking her name into the microphone, hoping she was understanding me. Well, after a few tries, she finally got it. It feels so great the first time as you think like you've really accomplished something. This is the first game I've played that used voice commands in that way and I think it is one of the most innovative things I've seen in my life. Whatever it is that you say in the DS's microphone, the game will keep it in memory so that the dog can understand it. That means that whatever the name of the dog is, it will understand it.

But that's just the beginning. I then had to teach her how to sit. I'm French so I used the French version of the verb to sit, but after nearly 10 tries (yes, it can sometimes take that much and even more!) of showing her how to sit and also saying it so she'd associate both she finally got it. This is actually the first thing you have to show your dog or you can't advance any further in the game. You show your dog moves using the stylus. For example, to show her how to sit down I have to move the stylus down on the screen. If you want it to run after its tail, you'll have to point it and at some point he will run after it. It simple yet it is very effective and there are lots of possibilities.

Once all of that is done then you're free to do whatever you want! Sure, there are things you won't be able to buy right now because you don't have enough money or because it hasn't been unlocked yet, but besides that you are free to do whatever you want with the dog. Whether you want to take it out for a walk, feed it, play with it, teach it some new moves, bring it to dog competitions, have it play with other dogs, wash it, or you could just leave it and not take care of it for like a week and then it'll be angry at you and be full of bugs!

I really liked the fact that the dog reacts in a realistic manner. He will never act the same way so you are always living something new every time you play this game. It really feels like you are in that apartment and that you are playing with a real dog and because of that, at some point, you really start to feel some emotions you've rarely felt before because you don't often get that much attached to a videogame character. I think this is where this game really succeeds and why it has become that much popular. You really feel like it is your own dog and that you are living something special with it. And best of all: it never dies!

This game has a lot of possibilities, but at the same time it seems like there's just too much to do, and then it also seems like it's not satisfying enough to do it all. In fact, on the first day I got it, even though I just couldn't wait to try it out, after about an hour and a half I was tired of playing with it and moved on to another game. Surprised? Well, this is a handheld game so it is mostly a pick up and play experience. There are a lot of things to do, but most of these things only last for a few minutes and, at least for me, they don't seem like the kind of minigames or activities I'd play for hours. It might work for some, but it just didn't cut it for me in the long run. If you like playing this game a little bit everyday, seeing your dog evolve, earning cash and just getting better and better all the time then I'm sure you'll enjoy this game a lot.

So, it all comes back to the Tamagotchi I mentioned earlier. You take care of your dog from time to time, a few times a day, or more if you feel like it, but it's not what you'll be spending most of your time playing, especially if you are a hardcore gamer that wants challenge. There is very little challenge involved, you just play and enjoy the experience that Miyamoto and his team have created. Sure, the game is beautiful and it really is a great animal simulator and no other game comes close to it, but it sill doesn't seem enough for me to keep playing after a few months.

I had fun at first training my dog wherever I wanted, teaching her new moves, taking her to dog competitions and seeing her succeed after lots of hard work, taking her for a walk and finding gifts on the road or meeting other dogs, buying a new and bigger apartment, getting her cute ribbons so she'd look good and stuff, but in the end, once you've tried everything, you'll probably be spending only a few minutes per day just to make sure your dog is all right. All of those new gameplay mechanics, especially the voice recognition, are fun at first, but it will get old pretty fast and it isn't perfect though we can forgive Nintendo as it's the first game to really take it to that level.

The selection of dogs is pretty good and there are 3 versions of the game available for you to pick up but don't worry, every breed of dog can be unlocked in each version. You can also play with other people who have the game but I unfortunately haven't been able to try that feature as I have yet to find someone with an import copy of the game near my house.

You can have more than 1 dog and that's really fun because you can have them play together or, when you're tired of one dog, you can start again with a new one form scratch. You can try different breeds of dogs as they will all act differently so you'll have to train them in new ways which brings somewhat of a challenge to this game and it is one of the things I appreciated the most. You have dog hotels where you can store your dogs but you can also abandon them. But who would do such a thing!

Another very important aspect of the game is the neighborhood. It isn't vast enough and it is something that could be improved in updates to the game but it does offer some interesting things. You can take your dog out for a walk several times a day so it can go pee or do the other stuff it does and you'll need to take care of those little packages he leaves or else the neighbors won't be happy! You can also find gifts and meet other dogs. One very interesting thing that has been brought to my attention by one of my friends is that sometimes either your dog or someone else's dog will pee to mark its territory and your dog can get mad at the other dogs for that. It is one of many little details like that that make this game really fun. If that happens though and your dog wants to run after the other one you can always pull on the leash. You have complete control over it and depending on how you pull on it you can decide the speed of your dog when taking a walk or stop him. With so many things you can do, you must be wondering why you'd need a real dog when you have Nintendogs, right?

So overall I think I am extremely satisfied with this game as it was definitely worth the price of admission. This is a totally new experience and this is what makes this game so special. I remember at launch when Sonic Team released Feel The Magic and that the producer of the game said that they were experimenting with the hardware to see what was possible to do with the DS. This game shows exactly what talented developers like Nintendo can do with the hardware and you can easily see the reason why this game wasn't available at launch. Nintendo took its time to really get it right and implement all of the DS's capabilities so that people could try something totally new, something they'll remember for a very long time. Nintendogs is, in my opinion, changing videogames and taking them in a totally new direction and I hope more developers understand what Nintendo is trying to achieve with the DS and experiment with it in the same way. If you haven't pre-ordered Nintendogs yet I think you should now because you might not be able to find a copy come August 22.

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