The only thing that made me give up my Tamagotchi was Nintendogs. I got my copy of Dachshund & Friends along with a pearly pink Nintendo DS for Christmas 2005, and immediately fell in love. Like many other kids, I'd always dreamed of having a pet – something not always easy when living in a bustling apartment block. Nintendogs was my gateway to fulfilling that dream, and at the tender age of 10, I felt like I was winning at life.
20 years later, I'm looking down at the same little husky puppy I adopted that Christmas morning. Aside from being parched, famished, and filthy, Rosy – formatted 'rosy' in my DS, for I didn't know how to capitalize letters – is just as I left her. She's very displeased with me, as are her equally neglected siblings Crystal (a Shetland sheepdog) and Whisky (a dark brown chihuahua), but her baleful blue eyes are immediately forgiving when I tap the screen to get her attention.
Immediately, I've fallen back in love with a game that sounds so simple at its core, but offers the most timeless of experiences: to love and be loved by a four-legged friend. If ever a game was primed for a Switch 2 facelift, Nintendogs has to be it.
Bark mode activated
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a baffling, fascinating toy that still makes no sense to me
The first thing I do in Nintendogs is apologetically feed and water my poor little pups. Excited yips and tippy-taps galore signal their joy, running toward the bowls one by one as they start to warm back up to me. It's funny how attached I recall being to these digital playthings, but it's funnier still how strong that attachment remains in 2025.
There's something so subtle yet obvious, clever yet humble, about how the DS' touch screen facilitates such an intimate gaming experience. Stylus in hand, players could get closer to their games than ever before, interacting not through mere buttons alone but their own hands.
It also speaks to how sadly underutilized the touch screen can feel in even the best Switch games by comparison. I can't remember one instance I've ever had to use it meaningfully in a game, whereas the Nintendo DS' touch screen was more than a novelty – it was a necessity.
I'm reminded of just how tactile an experience Nintendogs can be as I start re-familiarizing myself with the game in 2025. Rosy is still my best girl, so much so that she's the one I take for a bath first. Bathing your dogs is one of the simplest joys of the game, which is in itself largely made up of management sim-shaped mechanics and a series of minigames.
Scrubbing up well
The Nintendo DS' touch screen was more than a novelty – it was a necessity.
Watching the dark bubbles of dirt and grime go pure white after a vigorous scrub, eyes flickering impatiently to the shower head icon as I wait for my dog to be clean enough to earn my "someone looks beautiful!" appraisal from the game, and accidentally grabbing said dog's tail in the process and earning myself an annoyed play-bite… it's all part of the magic Nintendogs weaves from mundanity.
Few games elicit the same emotional response as the chance to live out the simplest of fantasies, as any of the best simulation games can attest to, and somewhere along the Mario, Zelda, and Pikachu-studded road, it seems Nintendo has let one of its most novel IPs pass it by so easily.
This is something the Switch 2 could well rectify. Complete with impressive motion controls that add a whole new dimension to the handheld experience, it's not hard to imagine how brilliant a Switch 2 remaster of Nintendogs could be if the publisher broadened its horizons by reviving it.
Imagine throwing the discus for your dog with a flick of your hand, or GameChat enabling a more advanced version of Bark Mode to make puppy play-dates with your faraway friends, or teaching your dogs tricks using hand gestures as well as voice commands – something I'd be glad of now, as my DS Lite's microphone is almost definitely broken.
Gaming trends come and go, but much like dreams of wet puppy noses and warm fuzzy tummies, I can't imagine a world where Nintendogs would be unwanted. Especially now that the Switch 2 offers such a prime moment for it to make a grand, fluffy return.
Get some treats ready and dive into the best dog games to play right now
