Petz Sports (2008)

* NA cover
* EU cover

## The Game

Petz Sports (Petz Sports: Dog Playground in the EU) is a life sim game with sport elements. In this game the player adopts a dog, pets it, dresses it up and performs different activities with it.

The shelter offers dogs of 18 different breeds, the player can adopt only 1 dog per breed. Adopting a dog costs 1 coin, the player is given a coin when starting a new game. Over the course of gameplay they can earn up to 7 coins, optionally allowing to have up to 8 dogs in the game profile. You can return to the adoption menu by clicking on the toy house in the left part of the room.

**Dog Breeds**

LabradorYorkshire TerrierGerman ShepherdRetrieverBeagleBoxerPoodleShih TzuSchnauzerChihuahuaPugBoston TerrierRottweilerBichon FriséPinscherSiberian HuskyDalmatianBernese Mountain DogActivities are accessed via objects found around the house.

In the PC version the player can play using their mouse or keyboard.

**The Player's House**

Home, leftHome, middleHome, right
### Activities

#### Petting

There are times when you need to pet your dog. Click on the dog bed in the middle of the room to proceed.

Watch the dog’s movements, it will show you where it wants to be pet, and if you wait longer the spot of interest will sparkle. Move the cursor on that spot, press and hold, and move the cursor left and right or up and down to pet. The spot will then switch. The dog may take a different position. As you pet the dog where it wants you to, the bar in the top right fills up. The bar slowly empties when you’re not petting the right spot. When the bar gets full, you earn a heart. The further you progress through the game, the more petting spots your dog offers, and the more hearts you unlock and need to earn. Just for fun, you may pet the dog when there are no hearts to earn.

#### Racing

Racing is the most significant activity in the game. To enter the racing menu, click on the cupboard on the right side of the room, then choose a race by clicking on its flag or award (if it's already completed). In this minigame you help your dog compete against other dogs in obstacle courses, earn rewards and gain access to more prestigious and challenging races. There are a total of 36 races divided into 4 cups: street, city, national and world. Each cup consists of 4 normal races (except in the street cup these are solo practice races), 4 profi races and a final race. In normal races you must finish 3rd or better, in profi races - 2nd or 1st, in final races - 1st.

Swing the cursor left and right to gain speed. While approaching a barrier, click to jump over it. Move the cursor in circles to run around traffic cones. Swing the cursor up and down to move between poles. Move the cursor left and right to help the dog balance on bridges. Winning the final city race grants you the ability to get a speed boost by clicking at the start of the race and after passing most obstacles. To jump over sand pits you need to gain enough speed, then click. If the dog gets distracted, press the displayed buttons to get it back to racing.

Winning normal races awards you with medals, profi races - trophy cups, final races - unique trophy cups. Normal victories earn you gold, beating the preset highscores earns you platinum.

##### Multiplayer

Racing has a multiplayer mode which is accessed from the Main and Pause Menus. The players can use their dogs from existing profiles or any homeless dog. In the Nintendo Wii version up to 4 people can play. In the PC version only 2 people can play, both use the keyboard for balance.

Street raceStreet race victoryStreet Cup awardsCity raceCity race victoryCity Cup awardsNational raceNational race victoryNational Cup awardsWorld raceWorld race victoryWorld Cup awardsMultiplayer race (PC)Menu in the Wii version where players join
#### Tricks

In this minigame you teach your dog tricks with the help of treats. To enter the Tricks menu, click on the box of treats in the left part of the room.

Select a trick. Place the treat onto the bone icon and hold it there until the minigame starts. Carefully move the treat along the path until you reach the trick’s icon. You can rotate the treat. The path will slowly disappear from the beginning. The paths for Medium and Hard level tricks have narrow sections. If you stray off the path too much or move too slowly, the dog will steal the treat and you’ll have to start over. To teach the dog a trick, pass the treat along the path 3 times, then place it in the dog’s mouth.

If you replay tricks you can earn gold medals. To do so, complete them quickly. If you’re too slow, the gold trick icon in the end of the path will change back to silver.

##### Exercises

Exercises are sequences of tricks. You can perform an exercise after teaching the dog all the tricks it consists of. To do an exercise, complete all the tricks in a row.

Gold medals can also be earned for exercises. This is accomplished by completing all the tricks in the exercise quickly.

Tricks menuTricks gameplayEarning gold in TricksExercises menu
#### Jump Rope

In this minigame you swing a jump rope for your dog and help it jump in rhythm with music. To enter the minigame menu, click on the jump rope in the left part of the room. There are a total of 9 songs to dance to.

Select a song, then click on the jump rope to start the minigame. Different arrows will slide down and pass through the space. When the up, left and right arrows pass through the space, swing your cursor in the same direction. When a double up arrow passes through the space, swing your cursor up and press the displayed button. When a lot of yellow arrows are passing through, shake your cursor from side to side. The better you play, the more you fill up the bar. If you do extremely poorly, the bar will become empty and you’ll have to start over. Keep dancing until the song ends (progress shown by the bar in the top) to win.

If you replay songs you can earn gold medals. Play well enough to fill not only the bar, but also the music note icon.

Jump Rope menuJump Rope gameplayEarning gold in Jump Rope
#### Fetch

In this minigame you shoot a ball into targets, and your dog fetches it. To enter the minigame menu, click on the ball in the right part of the room.

Select a level. Press, hold and wait for the countdown to finish to start the minigame. Move your cursor while holding to aim at targets, release to shoot. If you wait too long to hit a target, it will disappear. Hit the middle of the target for a bullseye shot. Some targets move, which makes bullseye shots more difficult. Blue targets must be hit twice. At some point the game introduces series of 3 targets, all of them must be hit in the right order to count. Hit the specified amount of targets before time runs out to win. Double targets and 3-target series count as one target.

If you replay levels you can earn gold medals. Complete the usual target goal, then make 3 bullseye shots.

Fetch menuFetch gameplayEarning gold in Fetch
#### Activities Unlock Requirements

Tricks, street races – N/A

Jump rope, Fetch – final street race

City races - final street race, easy Tricks, easy Jump Rope levels, easy Fetch levels, petting

National races - final city race, medium Tricks, medium Jump Rope levels, medium Fetch levels, petting

World races – final national race, hard Tricks, hard Jump Rope levels, hard Fetch levels, petting

Exercises aren't needed to unlock anything.

### Dressing Up

Dressing up is an optional cosmetic feature. Click on the closet door in the middle-left of the room to enter the dress up menu.

Over the course of gameplay you can unlock up to 100 clothing items, which include 50 costumes, 30 hats, 10 glasses and 10 nose accessories.

You can also unlock a special skin for your dog, which can be toggled in the Adoption menu.

### Beta Screenshots

A few screenshots from the game in development were uploaded on the Web. In these images, the graphics were still being worked on (particularly, dogs didn't have lighting), the UI and the petting hand looked different, and the garage in Jump Rope's background was closed.

## Manual (PC, Russian)

Page 1Pages 2-3Pages 4-5Pages 6-7Pages 8-9Pages 10-11Pages 12-13Pages 14-15Pages 16-17Pages 18-19Pages 20-21
## Trivia

* Although the game revolves around pets, it has little in common with a typical virtual pet game.
* The start screen in the NA and EU releases is different and matches their covers.NAEU
* The trophy cup for the final world race has Toyota's logo embedded in its design.
* The final national race and credits use the same OST.
* The OST for Fetch is an extended version of the game's main theme.
* Two toys of Raving Rabbids (another franchise owned by Ubisoft) can be found in the interior. One is on the shelf in the right part of the room, the other one is on the top shelf in the closet.
* Depth of Field is used only in the PC version.
* Playing through races quickly while skipping cutscenes will likely cause the game to crash soon.
* After a long gaming session visual glitches may occur.
	+ The dog’s model may get messed up. Fixed by choosing a different part of the game.
	+ In the petting section, the animation and the hand’s placement may not match.
* For the PC version, if your save file gets corrupted, the game will crash every time it tries to load the save. Unfortunately you'll have to remove the file, resetting your progress. Go to C:\Users\(your name)\AppData\Roaming\Ubisoft\PetzSports, find the file profiles.petz and delete it (deinstalling the game won't remove it). Start a new game, adopt a dog, and the game will create a new save file.

Glitched dog modelGlitched petting animation