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.
