Nintendogs Review

Shigeru Miyamoto tends to be classified as a genius when it comes to developing games and coming up with ideas for games. Without him, we wouldn’t have the likes of our beloved Mario, Zelda and Pikmin. Now with the Nintendo DS, he has something even more to be proud of. For those that either can’t own a dog of any sort or don’t know how to take care of one, a game that simulates that very kind of life is coming your way!

It’s not really known what inspired Miyamoto to help create this game. Is he a dog lover or owner himself? Is this one of his attempts at appealing to those that don’t consider themselves gamers? Might it be both? Might it be something else? Well regardless of what possessed Miyamoto to go through with this, millions are about to be very thankful for his endeavors. Nintendogs is one of the most innovative pieces of software to come from Nintendo to date, as it utilizes each of the DS’ awesome features incredibly well.

When you first fire up Nintendogs, you will be immediately taken to the town’s dog kennel. Here you will automatically walk up to the door, and using the stylus, you’ll knock to gain entry.

Once inside, you’ll have the option of either immediately adopting your newest puppy or fiddling around with some of the ones on display. To get a better feel and look as to what you’re being offered, it’s best to go to the play pen display and interact with the puppies for a bit. Now you actually won’t be able to take any of those display dogs home, they are merely there for you to gain knowledge about how each may behave around you.

Now I’m not sure if the same occurs in the other versions of the game, but once you decide it’s time to pick your pup, you will have a bunch of different breeds to choose from. If you’re like myself and get Lab and Friends, you’ll have such breeds like Labrador Retriever, Miniature Schnauzer and Shiba Inu to choose from. Each breed seems to come with three different pups to choose from, each varying with gender and coloration. Now when I chose my Miniature Schnauzer, they each cost $525.00 to be adopted. I don’t know if that’s the same with all the other versions but I’d imagine they are similar.

Nintendo did an incredible job making Nintendogs a seamless game. What is meant by that is that you will have absolutely no problem understanding how to work with this simulation game. I don’t even have an instruction booklet to refer to and I was able to navigate all the different menus without a problem when I first began playing. Everything is very well-organized and labeled so you will hardly have to go digging for that one particular option or action that you may be looking for.

As for dealing with your newly adopted puppy, each behaves in their own unique way. You’ll spend about the first 20 minutes or so trying to help your pup feel more at home since he or she will obviously be a bit nervous. During this process you can pet it, teach it basic commands like Sit and Lie Down while also giving it the name you wish it to have! The microphone works very well and as long as you have the system a good distance away from your mouth, your puppy will have little problem getting used to your voice. So in the first hour or so, you should be well-acclimated with how Nintendogs works.

Nintendogs is for sure to amaze all DS owners who choose to pick up a version when it comes to how the game actually looks. Miyamoto definitely did a superb job in creating all the different puppy breeds, items that you can use to interact with them and the environments they will themselves interact with. There are a multitude of different looks to everything and it’s just incredibly impressive for the DS’ capabilities.

Each dog will have a very distinct physical build and fur coat that is truly visible to almost every last detail. If a dog has spots or varying shades of color, you will see it easily. If a dog is meant to have unique physical characteristics, especially with the face, you will see them. To put it simply, any kind of dog you might encounter in real life, you can just as easily see that same kind of model design in the dogs of the Nintendogs world. This is as real as it’s ever been folks. Forget Neopets and Tamagotchi, if you want to see some truly realistic pets, the pups of Nintendogs are very much the way to go.

The dogs also maneuver themselves with beautiful animation and fluidity. The interaction you will have with your dog will feel just as if that dog is really sitting there in front of you and you’re touching it with your own hands. They will give you a cute “look back” when not at your stylus’ reach and you call for them, following with an adorable run, walk or gallop to get the attention he or she knows they are about to get. Then they will sort of “stand on you” by propping up on their back legs and grabbing onto the bottom of the touch screen and stare at you until you do something with it. It’s then that you can have he or she do whatever your heart desires, in what you’ve trained it to do of course. Whether it’s sitting down, lying down or rolling onto its back, you can command your dog to do these things, and how they do it will just make you go “Aw!”

It’s even more adorable to watch them interact with the various toys and such that you will obtain for them. Whether it’s a tennis ball, rubber bone, squeaky toy or whatever else a dog may play with, your dog will love playing with them! Of course you know how dogs love to do that “shaking back and forth” of their head when they have something playful in their mouth? Well the case is no different here, as your pup will just as much do the same!