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Nintendogs was the
series of releases that made the NintendoDS a console for everyone.
Anybody who played it couldn’t help but smile when their
Nintendog sat down or rolled over for the first time, regardless of
age or gender. It was also a fine demonstration of what the
NintendoDS could do and inspiration for many of the unique Touch!
Generations games. With six million sales worldwide, not to
mention the NintendoDS’ domination of the handheld arena, Nintendogs
has become arguably the biggest franchise to come out of Nintendo
since Pokemon. Coming one week before the launch of the
NintendoDS redesign, the sleek and lightweight NintendoDS
Lite, is
the fourth variation of the Nintendogs brand; Nintendogs:
Dalmatian & Friends. Just another Nintendogs? Or a
new challenge for fans of the originals?
From the outset Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends seems very
similar the original games. First you must pick a puppy to look
after and take him or her back to your virtual home. Once there you
can give them a name and teach them tricks. In exactly the same way
as the original Nintendogs releases, the Touch Screen is
used to pet, play and generally interact with the Nintendogs,
whilst the Microphone is used to call your Nintendogs and issue
commands. The game features several obedience competitions that you
and your Nintendogs can participate in to win Money. Money can then
be spent to buy Accessories and food for your Nintendogs. Bark
Mode, the wireless mode that allows your Nintendogs to play with
your friend’s Nintendogs, is also present.
Tricks are taught when a Nintendog performs a trick of some sort and a
Light Bulb appears in the top-right of the Touch Screen. Touching
the Light Bulb starts the Voice Recognition which asks you to
repeat the Trick’s name several times before permanently
assigning that term to the Trick. Repeating this phrase in-game
will then tell your Nintendog to perform the trick, should it feel
like that is!
The randomness of the Nintendogs is perhaps Nintendogs: Dalmatian
& Friends’ most endearing feature. Unless they are
disciplined they will start to ignore you, although regardless of
how hard you try to teach them, they always seem to have a mind of
their own. In fact, it is likely that the quirky personalities of
the Nintendogs will keep you addicted to the game more than the
various competitions and objectives you can do.
Once again Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends features some
decent graphics. All dogs are very well rendered and surprisingly
lifelike considering the hardware. Unfortunately some of the areas
seem a little bland, but then you’ll likely be paying much more
attention to your Nintendog, and considering the effort it must
have taken to display the Nintendogs without any drops in
Frame-Rate, this hardly seems like a fault, merely a necessary
evil. Sound is good with all the Nintendogs sounding realistic
enough, likely due to actual dog sampling. Music is also decent,
but hardly a key part of the game.
To put it simple Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends is exactly
the same as Nintendogs: Labrador & Friends, Nintendogs:
Dachshund & Friends or Nintendogs: Chihuahua &
Friends except that the most popular breeds, Boxer, German
Shepard, Golden Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier and Beagle, together
with the hard to get Dalmatian, are available right from the start.
No changes have been made to gameplay at all and in light of this,
it seems unlikely that any current owner of any of the original Nintendogs
releases will have any reason to buy this title. However, not
everybody has played the title yet and the timing of this European
only release, together with the impending NintendoDS Lite, seems to
hint that Nintendo are trying a little harder to capture the
oft-neglected European market through the Touch! Generations
series of games. Although Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends
is not a new Nintendogs title, merely a rehash of the
existing Nintendogs releases, it is a very good package and
one that may just help Nintendo and the NintendoDS Lite reach more
people than just the average gamer.  
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