Section: Reviews, Features, Japanese Imports, Opinions, Handhelds, DS, Genres, Adventure, Sim

Title: Pet Shop Monogatari DS

Price: $48.90

System: Nintendo DS

Release Date: July 8, 2008

Publisher (Developer): Taito (Dream Age Collection)

ESRB Rating: Everyone

Pros: Simple controls, huge selection of pets to discover, variety of items to accessorize pets, many locations to explore, not having to clean any pet dander

Cons: Simple game play may become repetitive, trial and error pet catching can become frustrating, lack of ability to actually pet animals

Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 88/100; B+; ***1/2 out of five

Welcome to Green Town

Greentown is a bright and happy town where everyone is incredibly adorable and they all want you to help them find a pet. Days are spent by either exploring surrounding locations scavenging for exotic pets, or performing favors for the townspeople which revolve around their pets. Ironically, it seems that even though Greentown’s folk are enamored with furry friends, they lack discipline whatsoever to actually care for them.

In addition to being a bit overly demanding at times, the townpeople also enforce a time limit for each favor. The number of actions a player can perform throughout the game is governed by an icon system that gradually increases as you complete more tasks for the various townsfolk. Once a player has exhausted actions for a single day, Mama makes you go to bed (even though it’s still light out) and another day passes.

Pets on Parade - Cute and Fluffy, Sometimes Infuriating

There are several different activities that to choose from providing for hours of entertainment. In addition to neighborly pet quests, you can also choose one pet for yourself. While you can only have one pet at a time, there is no stigma associated with changing your mind later should you find a more desirable pet in future areas (like a panda! Yes, there are pandas.).

Pet activities range from the menial tasks of bathing and brushing to entering a handful of different contests that reward you with rare items to accessorize your pet with. While the game won’t allow you to stuff your favorite teacup poodle into a designer purse, there are quite a few items that can be bought to outfit the pets in. Personally, I’ve already outfitted the town’s penguin in a leather jacket complete with a spiked collar and a blue sailor’s hat. 

As you progress through the game, the immense assortment of pets becomes increasingly more temperamental and unpredictable. For example, you may be able to catch a rabbit by baiting it with its favorite food (the carrot), but if you run into a lop-eared rabbit in another area, the same strategy will not prove as successful. There are a plethora of different tools and foods that can be utilized, but requires the art of patience to figure out which will work with what animals. Expect to spend at least half an hour trying to entice a pygmy boar to go home with you, or inevitably deciding to give up on bacon bits after that much time.

Simplicity at Its Best

PSMDS revolves around a very simple touch menu interface composed of self-explanatory pictures. Players who don’t know any Japanese will find it very easy to navigate this game due the picture-based characteristics and the fact that all text is displayed in simple Japanese characters (hiragana and katakana).

Happy-Go-Lucky

Overall, the incredibly simple style of this game may quickly wear off, but the abundance of different areas, pets, and items to discover will definitely keep a player hooked. Just when you think you’ve done all that you can do, this game’s pacing draws you in by opening up more areas to explore. I’m already on my 39th day and I’ve probably only discovered half of what it has to offer. With such a simple interface, this game is incredibly import friendly, and if you’re looking for a light-hearted game for your DS, this game will definitely assist you in losing track of time.

If only Pet Shop Monogatari DS were to have a baby with Nintendogs, it would result in the ultimate love child of pet games. You hear that Nintendo? Taito?

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Full Story » | Written by Janine Dong for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »