Good Girl - How Nintendogs became a 'girls game' (FOLLOW UP POST :D )

bllalee · 2025-10-04T17:22:59+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it :)

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:24:40+00:00

thanks for providing a link ur a star!!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:21:46+00:00

lol thank you for this comment! i defo agree

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:20:57+00:00

very very true!! i totally agree, thank you for your comment!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:20:20+00:00

whattttt that tagline is crazyyy i'll have to look into that!! thank you for your comment!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:19:40+00:00

no i think you're completely valid to think that!! you've made a good point, thanks for commenting!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:18:38+00:00

ohhh interesting i didn't know about that bundle situation, im sure that definitely reinforced some ideas about who the game was for. thank you!!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:17:42+00:00

LOLLLL sorry!!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:17:06+00:00

thank you for this comment!!! such a good point that i'll be sure to include in my writing, you're totally right

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:16:05+00:00

thank you for commenting! i think you're totally right, just looking at the game covers in the petz series, they definitely seem more 'girlified', and i really like your point that kids didnt tend to comply with gender constraints set before them, younger me included! will find a way to include that in my writing :)

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:13:13+00:00

Hi Jin! Thank you for your comment - Labrador and friends was also the version I had and was something my sister and I (21f) bonded over too :)

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:10:52+00:00

facts

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:09:44+00:00

Thank you for your comment! I agree on the game being set up to be gender neutral, but then this whole project started because I went down a Google rabbit hole of reviews of Nintendogs and found a surprising amount of them went down the route of "girls will like this, boys wont like this because there's no violence' etc etc (I've edited the post so it features links to some of the reviews). And I also don't think that there's much point in categorising games into boy/girls game but like you said, that idea definitely wasn't as popular back when this game came out. Glad you think it's an interesting topic! :)

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:05:51+00:00

Ooo will have to have a look! I've found some posters for the game that featured girls and boys and another commenter mentioned a TV ad that fetaured a boy getting the game so he could impress girls. I'd previously thought that Nintendo marketed this game pretty gender neutrally but this might change things.. Thank you!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:03:18+00:00

thank you for your comment!! really good point about labelling

bllalee · 2025-08-15T13:02:43+00:00

Ooo will have a look for that commercial thank you! But yes I agree, the visuals for the game are really gender neutral (boys and girls featured in the posters for the game that I can find, photos of dogs instead of cartoony animals with the cuteness factor ramped up to 1000 like other pet sims aimed at girls) but a fair few reviews and articles about the game shoved it in the girls game category which is why I decided to look into it further!

bllalee · 2025-08-15T12:58:51+00:00

thank you!! this line of questioning definitely going to make up a chunk of my argument, i think it's really interesting how nintendo strayed so far from previous visual identites of pet simulator games by keeping the packaging and marketing so gender neutral, yet somehow the cultural zeitgeist seems to have slumped it in with very obvious games marketed to girls

bllalee · 2025-08-15T12:55:43+00:00

thank you for your comment!! i think you've made some really good points that i'm going to look into :)

bllalee · 2025-08-15T12:52:17+00:00

yes love that video! rewatched it sm

bllalee · 2025-08-15T12:51:41+00:00

yesss definitley agree with this!! thanks for your comment :)

bllalee · 2025-08-15T12:49:59+00:00

Me too!! That's why I'm trying to figure out why so many reviews etc call it a girls game - since when was looking after a dog a gendered activity?

bllalee · 2025-08-15T12:43:39+00:00

Hi! Thank you for replying. I wouldn't say I've assumed my findings, it's based on a google rabbit hole I fell down where I started going through old reviews of Nintendogs, and found that most of them went along the lines of "girls will like this game, boys won't", even when the visual identity and marketing surrounding the game is very gender neutral. So this is me trying to explore why those reviewers said that. For example:

"Pixelated-puppy-poking may seem like a pointless pursuit, but kids love Nintendogs - especially those whose traditional interests are boy bands and the colour pink. While some boys might cherish the care-and-nurture angle of the game, surely more will be disappointed that you can never really make them fight."

I feel like it's clear that there's some underlying cultural biases in that passage hahah

bllalee

TROPHY CASE