Nintendogs is being revived for mobile according to new patent

The Nintendogs titles are some of the best games released this century, and I refuse to hear otherwise. Back when the Nintendo DS first released, there were very few better ways to while away the time than by training up cute puppies and taking them on the path of glory to becoming agility trial champions.

There’s not been a new Nintendogs game in a hot minute, though - when the 3DS first launched, three different versions of Nintendogs + Cats arrived on launch, and expanded the roster of fluffy virtual pets even more with the titular kitties. It’s been almost 12 years since then - the fact that there’s not been a single version released on the Nintendo Switch astounds me. Finally though, as TheGamer reports, it seems that the series is making a comeback. That’s according to a patent which was first filed all the way back on 16 November 2021, and finally got approved on 17 January this year.

Last year, Nintendo revived Wii Sports on the Switch - take a look at the trailer below.

Based on the pictures and diagrams in the patent, it appears that the company is working on a mobile virtual pet game, which can only be Nintendogs, right? It looks as though there are plans to include a “virtual camera”, which would allow players to take pictures of their dogs in their real-life rooms. Prepare for social media to be absolutely flooded with those if the game actually goes ahead.

Over on Reddit, Nintendo fans are thrilled about the prospect: “Finally! Nintendogs would be the perfect mobile game. I'm surprised it took them this long,” RabbitFanboy wrote. “This is going to be absolutely massive I can feel it,” added Reindeer_Boy_69.

We’ll just have to wait and see if anything gets announced now that the patent has been approved - Nintendo’s previous mobile games have been received well, so it definitely has the potential to be a hit. Let’s just hope that it’s not too microtransaction heavy.