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Parents' Guide to

Discovery Kids Puppy Playtime

By Jeff Paramchuk, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Puppy simulation game to train your own rescue pet.

Game Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi 2009
Discovery Kids Puppy Playtime Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

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What’s It About?

DISCOVERY KIDS PUPPY PLAYTIME is the latest in pet simulators to hit the Nintendo DS, and this time rather than just play with a pet you take on the role of a trainer for a service animal. Choose one of three breeds and raise them from the age of two months through one year old, and watch as they learn simple commands and tougher actions like ignoring a cat.

Both a story mode and a free play mode are included. The story progresses through the aging of the dog while free play allows you to play any of the training games at any time. Most of the training exercises are fairly simple, a series of gestures on the touch screen or tapping a specific location to do a trick is all it takes. However, some of the later challenges rely on a very fast pace of taps on the screen, which can be quite demanding even for experienced gamers.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (4 ):

Given the sheer amount of minigames and training exercises to do with your selected dog, Discovery Kids Puppy Playtime will provide many hours of entertainment. Since some of the challenges can be difficult, younger gamers will need some help playing, but the cute animals are sure to keep their interest when other things may have failed. Even when adult gamers tire of the monotony of these types of games, kids seem to want to keep coming back and checking on their pet – seeing them doing life saving tasks later in the game gives a great sense of ownership and pride as well. Puppy Playtime may not have the polish of titles like Nintendogs, but it stands proudly in that genre as a high quality title.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what it is like to raise a real puppy. Is it as simple as the training here makes it seem, or do they think there is more to it than a few minutes to learn a new trick? And what makes some breeds of dog better suited to a task than others? Could a Beagle make a good firedog, or is a Dalmatian the best for the job?

Game Details

  • Platforms: Nintendo DS , Nintendo DSi
  • Available online?: Not available online
  • Publisher: 505 Games
  • Release date: March 26, 2009
  • Genre: Simulation
  • ESRB rating: E for (No Descriptors)
  • Last updated: November 5, 2015

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