Iwata Asks: Nintendogs almost ended up on Wii, addition of Cats proved to be a challenge

In the latest version of Iwata asks, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, Hideki Konno and Shigeru Miyamoto chat about Nintendogs, how cats play a role in the latest game, and why the series was never released for Wii.

According to Miamoto, in Nintendogs + Cats, dogs are still the star but cats will come along and interact with the dog. This caused the team to implement a lot of extra camera angles and the like because cats can jump high onto things.

"I wanted you to be living with a dog, but then a cat would come along for some reason," said Miyamoto. "When you started the game and went to the shop, I didn't want it to ask, 'Do you want a dog or a cat?' I wanted to make it so the cat suddenly shows up, embellishing your life together with your dog."

Konno added that dogs will be able to remember their owners in the game as well as family members, and will show preference to the family member that takes care of it the most. Also, should a stranger open up you 3DS, the dog will bark or cringe at them.

Nintendogs was also originally looked at for Wii after experimenting with it on GameCube, but according to Konno, Wii's lack of a microphone meant you would not be able to talk to your dog which is a huge part of the game. Also, the coats of dogs in 3DS will be shown off better with 3DS, unlike the DS series.

Miyamoto also let slip that he wanted fifteen or sixteen versions of the original Nintendogs released instead of three, so that when players where at the shop, they could select their dogs right there; however, Nintendo's sales department thought such a thing would be tougher on retailers.

Thanks, Andriasang.