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NINTENDOGS: MINIATURE DACHSHUND(/CHIHUAHUA/SHIBA) & FRIENDS
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FAQ version 1.35 (FINAL)
Copyright: 2005 Tomas Engstr?m
Author: Tomas Engstr?m a.k.a ConraDargo
Date: April 25th 2005
Special thanks:    xcomp
Johan H?ggblad
Titney
Aaron (and gf)
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 conradargo@gmail
THIS FAQ CONTAINS JAPANESE LETTERS! READ THE Q&A TO LEARN MORE!
I recommend using a webbrowser for reading this FAQ or all the Japanese
letters will look pretty tiny (should you use Notepad).
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CHAPTER INDEX
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1. Welcome - to my second FAQ
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2. Pick a Puppy
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3. Interface
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4. Status
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5. Inventory
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6. Going out
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7. Your neighborhood
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8. Tricks
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9. Competitions
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10. System Options
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11. Q&A
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12. Updates (FAQ)
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Chapter 1: WELCOME - TO MY SECOND FAQ
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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 that came out in Japan on April 21st for the Nintendo DS.
And hey, do bear in mind that English is not my native language, so
grammatical errors probably _will_ occur throughout this walkthrough ^^
I do apologize for any misunderstandings that this might cause. Do not
hesitate to report anything that may seem odd or if you're simply looking
for clarifications or more help.
NOTE: This FAQ has Japanese letters in it - you need to install Japanese
language support in order to read them. See Chapter 11: Q&A for further
details.
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Chapter 2: PICK A PUPPY
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Before "rolling out" (i.e. get to play catch and do other adorable stuff
with your very first puppy), we need to get pass 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
either 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 play, see
Chapter 11: Q&A for more information regarding this).
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 voil? - 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 puppies (Dachshund, Chihuahua and Shiba) 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 center the camera on any of the puppies by
tapping on their pictures (or using A, B, X and Y) and are also able to
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 understand Japanese).
HINT: 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.
Tap on the one which 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 and below this is a description of the puppy's personality:
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 ;)
�����Ƃ�
Quiet and calm
Passive and loves to sleep a lot.
�����
Rambunctious
Childish and mischievous, cannot keep quiet.
���ނ����
Reckless
Stubborn and a bit hard to train.
�̂�т��
Easy going
Sympathetic and doesn't like to fight.
�₳�������i
Kind personality
Friendly and likes to meet new people.
��񂿂�
Mischievous
Active, curious and energetic, a real puppy.
���ς�
Naughty
Childish and mischievous, cannot keep quiet.
�V���C�Ȑ��i
Shy personality
Very close to those that are accepted as family.
�}�C�y�[�X
At its own pace
Calm and friendly nature.
����䂽��
Full of love
Loves being part of a family, gets lonely easily.
����V
Mama's baby
Very endearing but shy of strangers.
�C���Ă̂悢
Good natured
Affectionate and patient.
��M�I
Passionate
Gets very attached to those around.
���i�̖��邢
Cheerful personality
Recommended as a first time puppy.
�V�^���܂�
Full of naivet?
Very excitable and hard to calm down, train well.
�|�����̒m�炸
Fierce and cool
So calm you wouldn't know it has any feelings at all.
�z�C�Ȑ��i
Merry character
Open to everyone but has some self respect.
If you choose to proceed (i.e. tap on the left square below), 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 right one means No.
NOTE: Try to remember these Japanese words as they'll show up many times
during the game. Learning what means "Yes" (�͂�) and what means "No" (������)
will prove very helpful and isn't exactly a hard thing to do :)
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 normally react when they're taken to an unfamiliar environment.
Just tap the big arrow a couple of times and 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 - vocabulary. At this
point, you�fll 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 �gBegin recording�h-button below the plaque (you�fll want to tap
this when you�fre ready to begin). Naturally you don�ft have all the time in
the world to do this; after tapping on the green button - a grey circle
will appear above the puppy�fs head with a red microphone in it, and this
circle acts as a timer: the colour which fills up the circle will decrease
clockwise, indicating how much time you have left to speak into the
console'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" (which, btw, seems
to be positioned to the left throughout the whole game - in case you're
having a hard time memorizing the letters). Next step is confirming your
chosen name and after that - it's finally playtime ;)
NOTE: Your puppy won�ft magically respond to this name from now on - you�fll
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 once)
to its name.
NOTE #2: 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 and do it right! The game will first show you how it's
done and then it's _your_ turn to perform the task given.
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 either a word or 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 - indicating that your pup failed
to understand you.
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 (sort of as proof that your
puppy has actually learned your voice command).
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 before proceeding.
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Chapter 3: INTERFACE
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So now that you've chosen a puppy and given it a name you can finally start
having some fun! But in order to do that we first need to understand the
game's interface, which shouldn't be a problem and wouldn't have been at
all if it weren't for all the Japanese *duh* ^^
[HOME VIEW]
This is where you'll always begin when you boot up the game. You can access
this view by simply tapping "Home" - which has the image of a book and is
always available one way or another; when interacting with your puppy (see
below) you have a huge arrow marked "Home" and that arrow can be found just
about everywhere. It will always take you back one step and eventually
Home.
When looking at your puppy in this view, you cannot interact with it - as
your puppy is displayed on the top screen. Instead, the touch screen is
filled with icons:
-An open book
-A box with stuff
-A silhouette of a human and his/her puppy
-A big circle with a head and a hand in it
-A picture of your puppy or puppies
THE OPEN BOOK
This is used for saving your game progress. Tap it once to have the game
ask you if you would like to save your game. If you answer Yes (to the
left, remember?), you'll see a puppy running while the Japanese probably
reads something like "Saving, do not turn your game console off or remove
the game card". After all - haven't we seen this stuff before?
Once your game has been saved, another plaque pops up - asking whether
you'd like to continue playing or not. Tap Yes to return back to Home, tap
No and your Nintendo DS will automatically shut down.
THE BOX 'O STUFF
This will open up your inventory (Chapter 5: Inventory) or list of "Goods",
as the game refers to it.
THE SILHOUETTES
Take your puppy out for a walk to some place (Chapter 6: Going out) or hook
your DS up with a friend's (not yet covered in this FAQ).
THE BIG CIRCLE
This'll take you to the Interaction mode (see below) where you can play
with your puppy and feed it. You'll also have access to your inventory from
here.
YOUR PUPPY/PUPPIES
Tap on one of your puppies and the camera will follow it (this is then
indicated by a small camera in the picture of the puppy you tapped on). Tap
again to set the camera loose. You can also do this by pressing A, B, X or
Y and rotate the camera by using the D-pad.
If you tap on your puppy's name or the question mark, you'll bring up the
Status screen (Chapter 4: Status) where you can see how hungry and thirsty
your puppy is, what voice commands you've taught him/her, results for
competitions and more.
[INTERACTION MODE]
Here you get to interact with your puppy. You go here from the Home-view by
tapping the large, round circle in the middle of the screen which has the
image of a puppy's head and a hand.
Here you can either return to Home or open up your inventory (Goods).
Should you be holding an item or have one laying around somewhere - you'll
also see either an open or a closed box. If it's open: tap here to put
away/return the item. If the box is closed: you'll see a small picture of
what's inside and can bring the item out again by tapping on it.
NOTE: Regardless of how you're looking at your puppy, a clock and date will
always be present on either screen. These are set to the same time as your
Nintendo DS when you play Nintendogs for the very first time. This game
plays in real-time, meaning that whenever the time is 9.35AM in real life -
it will also be 9.35AM in the game. You'll even notice when walking your
puppy how the sky and the surrounding area is rather bright in the day and
much darker in the evening.
This plays a somewhat important role in the game because, for example, you
can only enter three competitions a day and walk your dog every 30 minutes.
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Chapter 4: STATUS
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By clicking on the huge question mark next to your puppy's name, you bring
up a Status Screen which tells you some vital information - so pay
attention! Here's what the Japanese letters say, starting at the top and
then proceeding downwards, left to right:
NAME
RACE
OWNER
TIME SPENT WITH YOUR PUPPY (how much you've touched your puppy, apparently)
FUR
HUNGER
THIRST
LAST MEAL
Bottom left: Tricks Taught (tap one and then confirm to have it deleted)
Bottom right: Competition Results (puppy-specific)
Now, here's a tiny problem with this screen. As you may already have
noticed, it doesn't have any bars - it's all letters, which means that in
order for you to tell whether your puppy is hungry or thirsty and needs to
take a bath or not, you'll have to learn some basic Japanese :)
Beautiful fur:     ���ꂢ
Very Beautiful:    �ƂĂ����ꂢ
Dirty:        �悲��Ă���
Long fur:     ����
Short fur:     �Z��
Hungry:     ��������
Very Hungry:    �y�R�y�R
Full:        �܂�Ղ�
Thirsty:     ���킢�Ă���
Dried out:    �J���J��
Moistened:    ���邨���Ă���
Normal/Fine:     �ӂ‚�
HINT: To keep your puppy's fur clean - bathe it! :) Buy a bottle of shampoo
at a Goods shop (Chapter 6: Going out and Chapter 7: Your neighborhood)
and make sure it's the right one (depending on whether your puppy has long
or short fur, see above). You'll then find the bottle in your inventory -
Caretaking (Chapter 5: Inventory). Tap on it and then tap the left green
button in order to answer "Yes" to the question "Would you like to take a
bath with