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The idea of having a puppy that never grows up and can be owned without the mess and fuss is certainly appealing - indeed, the RSPCA or your country's local equivalent would most likely be thrilled by the idea, as it might even result in less abandoned animals. However, the whole idea would fall flat if the dogs aren't appealing.

Nintendogs, while having a toy-like approach, limits what you can do at the beginning, instead of giving you access to everything at once like a true toy would. You start out with a set amount of money to buy your first puppy, which you take to your virtual home to play with. I selected a Beagle and called him "Guybrush" (or rather, "Gybrush", thanks to the character limit). From here, you can buy food, water, brushes. and toys for your pup at the local shop. You can also discover rarer stuff if you take your dog for a walk -- however, your dog may decide to rifle through garbage occasionally left on the street if you don't pull it away, which can make it sick. More items can be unlocked through the shop by spending time playing with your puppy.

You can personalize how your puppy looks with the items you find or buy -- it's all up to you (and the amount of money you have). Currently, Guybrush is wearing a dominatrix-style spiked collar, while my other puppy, a black Labrador who is naturally called "LeChuck" (incidentally LeChuck seems to bite Guybrush ALL THE TIME) is wearing a red beret. However, there's plenty more, including dark glasses and Mario's hat.

As with a real dog, you can train your virtual puppy to learn voice commands. All that's required is to get it to do what you want it to with a bit of coaxing from the stylus, then press an icon to record your voice command. Language is not an issue here; you just need to speak clearly. Yes, you can teach your puppy to backflip when you insult it, but you will be repeating these commands a LOT, especially the puppy's name, so the joke will probably wear thin quickly. This also brings us to the big problem with Nintendogs -- due to its heavy reliance on vocal commands, it's impossible for this game to be portable. This is simply not the kind of game you should be taking on the train because:

1.) You're going to be getting some really strange looks as you desperately cry out "SIT!" for the seventh time to no avail; and

2.) Your futile attempts to issue vocal commands probably won't register in an environment with loud background noise anyway.

Then of course, there's the issue of dignity -- unless that's not a problem for you, then go right ahead and screech out BACKFLIP in a train. But ideally, this game needs to be played in a quiet room, free from external noise, which severely limits most of the places where you can play it.

The reason you'll need to teach your dogs commands (aside from your own personal entertainment) is for the Trick Competition. Competitions earn you a lot more money than selling stuff you find on the street (you need money to buy more puppies and toys), but they can be more difficult. The Trick Competition in particular requires that you perform the tricks you're asked to (they're also written on a banner in Japanese), and then finish with Free Performance mode, which lets you do as many tricks as you like. There's also a Frisbee Catching Competition and an Obstacle Course Competition where you navigate your puppy around poles, over hurdles, through tubes and so on.

In addition to the problem with all the vocal commands, Nintendogs is very text-heavy, which poses a problem for those who can't read the language. How hungry your dog is, whether it's dirty or not, if it's happy -- all of these details are written as words rather than being represented by graphics or bars. There are also lots and lots of text prompts, especially at the beginning where you're asked to teach your dog its name, then later to teach it to sit. There are no visual indicators here, so you'll need to know Japanese, bluff your way through, or sit in your quiet room with a FAQ up all the time. One other problem is for the often forgotten left-handed players, who will notice that their hand will block the screen in some sections, such as walking the dog and the obstacle course.

Nintendogs is definitely unique, and it certainly fills the "adorable puppy" requirement. But how much entertainment you get out of it depends on how long the novelty of owning an admittedly adorable virtual dog will last. I'd say that my experience was probably less enjoyable due to the fact that I had to wade through all the Japanese text -- if this doesn't faze you, and you absolutely need ADORABLE PUPPY ACTION right now, then grab Shiba and Friends, Dachshund and Friends, or Chihuahua and Friends from Lik-Sang.