Self-isolation has catapulted me down a rabbit hole of gaming nostalgia and my latest discovery is Nintendogs.
After nearly a month without seeing another human being outside of my immediate family, I have frankly lost my fucking mind and I’m grasping at games from my childhood in a desperate attempt to preserve my last remaining brain cells. But while games like The Simpsons Hit & Run and Animal Crossing still very much slap, I can’t say the same for our beloved Nintendogs.
After a few too many glasses of wine, I reached for my DS lite and my copy of Nintendogs: Labradors and Friends and began to relive my childhood.
As a certified Big Fucking Nerd™ from birth, I loved my Nintendogs as much as I loved my real life pets, so I figured playing this game would’ve warmed my cold, dead heart in the midst of this wild self-isolation period. But unfortunately, my favourite childhood game didn’t bring me the joy I was expecting.
Instead of filling me with feelings of nostalgia, joy and child-like happiness, it just reminded me that I have commitment issues.
Don’t get me wrong, the novelty of the game is still there. For the first few hours, I lost my fucking mind over the adorable virtual dogs. I named them, we went for a W-A-L-K, I gave them a bath and I even made them wear the Mario and Luigi hats. It was incredible.
But this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to revisiting nostalgic games. I’ve recently revisited classic like Mary-Kate & Ashley’s Sweet 16, The Sims 1 and The Simpsons Hit & Run. All of those games gave me hours of enjoyment and I have genuinely found myself reaching for them again and again. And unfortunately, that’s where Nintendogs falls short.
The nostalgia factor is strong, I’m not saying this is a bad game at all. But after a long, hard day of work, I just didn’t find myself reaching for my Nintendogs cartridge to give my dogs a bath.
And do you know what? I feel really fucking guilty about it.
These are not real dogs. These are a bunch of pixels on a screen. But here I am, cringing as I write about my disappointment, as if I’m telling my own real life dogs that I don’t love them.
I think that’s why I can’t handle this game anymore. I am an adult, and this game just proves to me that I’m probably not ready for the commitment of a real living, breathing dog. I can’t handle the guilt of not dedicating every waking second to these virtual dogs.
Unlike Animal Crossing, which is wildly unrealistic, Nintendogs hits close to home. These are real animals (they’re not, but they sure as fuck feel like it) and they’re depending on you for love and protection.
Maybe it’s because I’m an adult and I understand that dogs are a long-term life commitment and not just a happiness quick-fix, but I simply cannot handle the pressure of keeping these virtual dogs alive. What if they get sad when I leave? What if they’re lonely? Do they know how much I love them?
Is Nintendogs the reason I have commitment issues? All I wanted was a relaxing afternoon playing a fucking DS game and now I’ve ended up having a mid-life crisis at the ripe old age of 21. Send help.
