Nintendogs! (DS) Review

Overall Rating

You get to control a dog, feed it, and care for it everyday.

There are no bad points about Nintendogs.

Put a puppy inside your Nintendo DS! Nintendogs brings puppy love to a whole new level!
Features...
Each version of Nintendogs comes with six breeds to choose from, and you can unlock additional breeds by playing with other owners through wireless game play!
Collect and play with a huge array of items like tennis balls, flying discs, and there are even clothing accessories.
Compete in obedience and agility trials to earn cash to buy even more dogs.
Interact wirelessly with friends' Nintendogs, using the innovative Bark Mode.
Nintendogs features puppies from the most popular dog breeds, including Chihuahuas, Labrador retrievers, beagles, and German shepherds. Each of the three versions of the game comes with six breeds to choose from at the start, and additional breeds are unlocked as you play.
The Lab & Friends package includes:
Labrador retriever Miniature schnauzer Toy poodle Pembroke Welsh corgi Miniature pincer Shiba inu

How Do I Play?
This is your pet, and although it doesn't shed, it still needs your love. With the stylus, you pet your Nintendog, all the way from head pats to belly rubs. The more love you give, the more your Nintendog will bond with you. As your puppy becomes your best friend, you use the built-in microphone to teach your dog its name and many tricks! After you train your dog to learn its name, it will come to you (and your DS's bottom screen) when you call it. After it learns a trick, it will perform that trick when you tell it to. After it learns the sit command, your pup will take a seat each time you say "Sit."
Of course, like a real dog, you need to care for your little pup. This includes regular feeding, watering, walking and bath time. If you're a person who doesn't play video games every day, don't worry about anything bad happening to your Nintendog if you don't get to it every day. Nintendogs don't [censored], and they stay puppies forever. If you haven't played the game for a few days though, your puppy will be thirsty, hungry, and might need a bath when you start the game up.
Your puppy needs to go out for walks, naturally, but these walks are special. In addition to giving your pup some exercise, your Nintendog will come across special item boxes. Inside these boxes are all sorts of goodies, from apparel to toys. With tons of items to be found, your Nintendog will always be stylin' or at least have a fun ball to chase around.
Be The Best...
Nintendogs isn't all pet and prim. There are trophies to be won, and money to be made! Show that your Nintendog is best in show by winning the three events: disc competition, agility trials and obedience trials.
In obedience, you score big points when your puppy does a certain set of tricks at your command, so grooming and a good relationship with its master is vital. With agility trials and the disc competition, you'll use the touch screen to throw a flying disc, or lead your dog through an agility course. These two require some practice before you actually enter the events (although some dogs are just naturals at catching a disc).
With the money that you earn from the events, you can buy supplies and more dogs from the kennel! Don't let your Nintendog get lonely. You can keep up to three dogs at a time, and you can store more at the "dog hotel" where they'll look after your dogs.
Bark, Bark, Bark!
If another person is playing Nintendogs within the Nintendo DS's wireless range, the two of you can meet in Bark Mode. When you enter this mode, your DS searches for a wireless partner. When you've found a match, your dog will play with that person's dog!
You can bring gifts into Bark Mode, and swap them with fellow Nintendogs players. Also, you can unlock a breed on your game card by meeting a dog of that same breed in Bark Mode.
Bottom Line...
This truly unique experience will do more than bring you and your Nintendog together. It opens your eyes to a whole new way to play video games!
Nintendogs is released 07-Oct-2005, so make sure you go and buy a copy when it is out in a shop near you!