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Nintendogs is a virtual pet simulation
game that was released for
the Nintendo DS in Japan on April 21 2005. The game is now available in all territories.
There are three different versions of the game, each with a different initial
selection of dogs.
You use the
touch screen to pet, entertain, and play games with your dog,
along
with using the DS' microphone to teach it commands.
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These pages are intended
as an English guide to this Japanese text-heavy software.
Latest
version: 1.27 - 24th October 2005
This page
is written by Tomas Engström (faq/guide)
and Titney (for the translation guide) of GameFAQs.com.
They hold the rights to these documents,
I'm just the web page publisher/host.
I will add screen-grab
images to the guide as and when I can.
I'd
like to thank Tomas Engström (a.k.a ConraDargo) and
Titney
of GameFAQs.com
for their
excellent guides to Nintendogs and all the other contributors
at GameFAQs.
---------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER
INDEX
---------------------------------------------------
1.
Welcome - to my second FAQ
2. Pick
a Puppy
3.
Interface
4.
Status
5.
Inventory
6. Going
out
7. Your
neighbourhood
8.
Tricks
9.
Competitions
10.
System Options
11.
Q&A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter
1: WELCOME - TO MY SECOND FAQ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright: 2005 Tomas Engström
Author: Tomas Engström a.k.a ConraDargo
Special thanks:
xcomp
Johan Häggblad
Titney
arienai
The
people at GameFAQs and SweJap - you know
who you are!
Should you have any questions, suggestions or just feel
like chatting, email me at conradargoATsilenceheardDOTnet
THIS FAQ CONTAINS JAPANESE LETTERS! READ THE Q&A TO
LEARN MORE!
I
welcome you all to my second FAQ (or in-depth walkthrough). More than a year
has passed since my first and while I haven't received much feedback on it
(probably because I've changed my email since and forgot to update the FAQ
about it :P), I'm positive that it has been used and appreciated by many :) At
least this time I already know that my FAQ will come to use as the game I've
chosen is a popular and anticipated one: Nintendogs - a pet-simulator for
Nintendo DS that came out in Japan on April 21st
2005.
And hey,
do bear in mind that English is not my native language, so grammatical errors
probably will occur throughout this walkthrough ^^ I do apologise for any
misunderstandings that this might cause.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter
2: PICK A PUPPY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Before
"rolling out" (i.e. get to play catch and do other adorable stuff with
your very first puppy) we need to get past a couple of screens where you pick a
breed, choose a colour, pay the pet shop etc. If you have ever had a real pet
then you're probably already familiar with all of this stuff. Anyway, let's
move on! *arf*
Now, depending on which version you bought (Dachshund, Chihuahua or Shiba) you'll have five completely different breeds to choose from. I myself bought the brown one (Dachshund & Friends) and therefore have these five breeds available right from the start: Miniature Dachshund, Miniature Schnauzer, Yorkshire Terrier, German Shepard and Pug.
If you bought the blue box (Chihuahua & Friends) then you get to pick a Chihuahua, King Charles Spaniel, Shih Tzu, Labrador Retriever or Beagle.
And lastly - if you got the green box (Shiba & Friends): Shiba, Shetland Sheepdog, Miniature Pinscher, Welsh Corgi Puppy and Toy Poodle are all at your disposal. So all in all there are fifteen different breeds and yes, you can rest assured that they will all become available to you at some point in the game (in other words - you unlock 'em).
As you
power up your unit and enter the game, you'll be presented with Nintendo's logo
and eventually come to a door:
Tap the door to knock on it and voilá - it opens
up! Now after tapping on the arrow a couple of times you're taken to the
Kennel, where you are presented with two choices: "Buy"(top left) and
"Observe" (bottom right):
The last
one lets you observe (duh) three randomly chosen puppies as they play in the
backyard and you can even interact with them by tapping on the big circle in
the middle of the touch screen. 
While the puppies are displayed on the top
screen (have them on the touch screen? Tap the arrow in the upper left corner
to go back), you may centre the camera on any of the puppies by tapping on
their pictures (or using A, B, X and Y) and also move it around using the
D-pad.
Whenever
you're done here - tap the arrow in the upper left corner to go back to
"Buy" and "Observe".
Tap on
"Buy" and you'll get to see pictures of the five available breeds as
well as their names on the lower screen, and a "plaque"-thingy that displays
some Japanese letters on the top screen:
I assume they say something like
"Pick a breed", not that important to know anyway so I'm not gonna
bother anyone with it. Just pick a breed with your stylus, and don't forget
that you need to scroll down in order to see all the breeds (as you can see,
they're displayed three at a time).
Next
you'll see three puppies of your chosen breed strolling along in the backyard.
The lower screen says "Which puppy would you like?" and you're presented
with pictures of three different coloured puppies - the ones you see on the top
screen. 
Here you can also see what gender they are as well as read a short
description of the breed (if you can read Japanese).
NOTE: The following Japanese letters will not
completely match with the in-game descriptions (I'm only talking about the
first word here) and this is because I have stripped out what sex the puppy
you're looking at has.
So first comes a short "keyword" (e.g. Reckless or Good natured),
next to that is Male or Female and underneath this - the description itself
(e.g. Affectionate and patient). So don't look at the whole word on the touch screen
when you try to compare it to what is written here below, or you'll never find
what you're looking for. ;)
The following
data describes the personality of the puppies you choose from when
starting the game:
Tap on the one that you
like the most and confirm your choice on the next screen: the left square (at
the bottom) is for proceeding and the right one cancels your choice. The price
tag indicates how much it cost to adopt this puppy.
If you
choose to proceed, the camera will zoom in on the puppy (on the yard) and the
"plaque" will ask you "Is this puppy OK?". The left green square
means Yes and the right one means No.
NOTE #1: Try to remember these Japanese words as they'll show up many times during the game. Learning what is "Yes" and what is "No" is somewhat crucial and not hard at all :)
HINT
#1:
If
you're not satisfied with the selection of available puppies (i.e. their colours
and/or sex) - try going back (tap the arrow in the upper left corner) and
selecting that breed again.
The game pretty much explains itself now for a short while. You'll get to read some Japanese and I would guess that it talks about your new puppy and how uncomfortable and scared it feels to be in your room at the moment - like dogs usually react when they're taken to an unfamiliar environment.
Just tap
the big arrow a couple of times and then eventually the big, round circle in
the middle of the screen. 
"You" will now whistle at your puppy to get
its attention and that's what the following plaque speaks about. Tap the circle
again once you've gotten past this and you'll finally be able to pet your
puppy! And be sure to do so a lot - until you see some sparkles.
Now it
feels more comfortable in its new home.
Soon
enough you'll be prompted to name your puppy. At this point, you’ll see the
yellow plaque-thingy and you can tell what it wants by the tiny microphone that
shows up both in the Japanese text as well as on the green “Begin
recording”-button below the plaque (you’ll want to tap this when you’re ready
to begin). Naturally you don’t have all the time in the world to do this; after
tapping on the green button - a grey circle ill appear above the puppy’s head
with a red microphone in it, and this circle acts as a timer: the colour which
fills the circle will decrease clockwise, indicating how much time you have
left to speak into the Nintendo DS’s microphone:
After
successfully recording a name (you need to repeat it at least three times), you
get to write it down as well. 
Now luckily you don't have to use Japanese
letters for this but can switch to our regular alphabet to the left on the
touch screen! Simply tap on A/1.
Whenever you're done, tap the grey rectangle below all the letters and then
"Yes" (always the left button I think, In case you're having a hard
time memorising the letters). Next step is confirming your chosen name and
after that - it's playtime ;)
NOTE #2: Your puppy won’t magically respond to this name from now on - you’ll have to repeat it a couple of more times right after writing down a name.
If you don't do this then you won't be able to proceed and will be bugged by a plaque which tells you to call out your puppy's name until you do.
Remember to pet your puppy (a lot) whenever it responds (i.e. barks) to its name.
NOTE #3: Before proceeding you'll also need to learn how to make your puppy respond to voice commands given when attempting to teach your puppy tricks.
Again - this will keep bugging you until you succeed, so it's important that you do this. The game will first show you how it's done and then it's your turn.
What you
do is you put your stylus anywhere on the touch screen and swiftly move your
hand downwards, like you were drawing a straight line. If you did it right,
your puppy will now sit and an icon will appear at the top-right corner of your
touch screen:
This is how you issue voice commands and tie them to tricks just
like that one: simply tap on the icon (which has the
image of a head with a light bulb) and record a word or a sentence before time
runs out. Another light bulb should then appear above your puppy's head to
indicate that he/she understood the word you said, if not you'll see a red
question mark instead.
Regardless
of whether you succeeded or not, you need to do this again and again until the
game plays a small tune and you get to write down a name for the trick. 
Now I'm
not sure of this, but I think that you have to make your puppy sit by speaking
into the microphone the word you just taught it before you may finally proceed
with the game.
If you're having any trouble with this part of the game, try this:
1. Always
pet the puppy on its head when it understands what you're saying.
2. Do
not SHOUT into the microphone!
3. Make
sure you have your puppy's attention before speaking - call out its name and
wait until he/she barks.
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