The Rise and Fall of Petz

...And rise again, maybe?
What was your first virtual pet?
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Music used:
Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
The Entertainer by Scott Joplin
The Entertainer remix by Jay Anam ( • Video )
Gamasutra articles:
Multiple Character Interaction in Petz: www.gamasutra....
Interview with Tony Van: www.gamasutra....
"Official Interview with a Petz Dev":
petzforum.prob...
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Special thanks to the Petz Discord for help getting these ancient games up and running!

[@foxy6481]

this is horribly irrelevant

[@Rookiewompus]

With your permission, I might make that my channel motto

[@Red5rainbow]

What else am I to do at 5 AM but watch horribly irrelevant videos?

[@kaninekodiak]

thats what 4am youtube is for, baybee

[@MsTinkerbelle87]

But the nostalgia tho!!!

[@jessmorgan603]

@@Rookiewompus *poetry snaps*

[@orcashadow8989]

Wtf these people were so fucking ahead of their time, they deserve a lot more credit.

[@AgapeForgotten]

Yeah, they wanted to be xband before xband tried but was too early for people.

[@nex8939]

Love ur gold ship pfp

[@Weezeler]

You cant be known to be ahead of your time You have to be ahead of the current time Quite sad

[@YourMom-jd6jp]

Love ur gold ship pfp, nice to see another individual of culture

[@YourMom-jd6jp]

@@nex8939 Was just about to comment the same thing 😆

[@ripleyandweeds1288]

>ubisoft I feel like Ubisoft and EA buying a company is like the "Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked" for gaming communities.

[@fairygoat15]

and Bethesda, don't forget Bethesda lol

[@SeraidenAF]

Them with the Petz and with Sims stuff are why I stopped buying Ubisoft and EA Games stuff even back when I was a kid and never trusted them since.

[@redleaderrabbit]

Except maybe apex, because the user count is climbing, but I think ea is letting respawn do its own thing so they don’t mess up anything.

[@Suntaile]

Same sadly happened to Sims series

[@FaeMagic]

Don't forget Gamigo.

[@TheMysteryKitty]

My friend and I played this game on her grannie’s computer. We worked so hard over multiple weeks to get a chihuahua and a Great Dane to fall in love... never got to see those puppies because it literally broke the game. That chihuahua just never gave birth, she’s stuck forever pregnant

[@AussieBahstard]

That’s just a glitch, I got it a few days ago with quite a few of my dogs, you can indeed breed a chihuahua and a Great Dane without problem. Sad that your younger self never knew that cause there is a way to fix it by just skipping a few days while the game is open.

[@Aikoraz]

If it gives you any joy, I literally did the same thing a few days ago, and one of the puppies is so tiny, it's like the size of the cursor. The other puppy is the size of a full grown chihuahua.

[@JamiePackmule1]

@@Aikoraz what operating system are you playing it on? Tried to download it to windows 10 and the game just wouldn’t work :(

[@thecosmic8248]

One piece reference

[@JamiePackmule1]

@fi! I figured it out with lots of trial and error- and ended up with Norton too considering the viruses I gave my computer in the process lmao, your help would have definitely been useful hahaha!! All good now, thanks so much for your offer though!

[@erikag6980]

My mom was the founder of the All About Petz forums back in the day. Both Catz 2 and Catz 5 were a huge part of my family culture growing up, and she originally founded the forum to give lil tiny me (and later my younger sisters) a safe place to learn Internet safety and saliency where she could keep an eye on us as forum admin. Years and years later, I picked up Catz for the GBA on the cheap, and was just so disappointed. Catz and Nick Sherlock got me interested in coding as a wee lass, and to see it where it is today is such a bummer.

[@at552]

Oh hello! We may have met each other on AAP before! I had no idea it was founded for that purpose, what a sweet little fun fact. :)

[@Harry-nc5td]

This comment is so crazy for me to see. AAP was the very first forum I was on. I never knew that was the reason the forum was made - that's so sweet! I have so many good memories of being on that forum, especially the RP boards. I was like 11 or so and so didn't have a very good comprehension of the rules on the board at first so I know I must have been very annoying there for a while, but I've kept at the hobby every single day since I first started there. That board, and by extension the forum as a whole, literally changed my life. Without it, I wouldn't have gone down a path that got me my closest friends and even a job that I absolutely! I'm in a really good place in life where I wouldn't have been if I never found the forum. Man, I'm so grateful for your mum. She probably doesn't remember me but my username was Pollypup (if she does remember me, I apologise so much for probably being a super annoying kid haha) - please pass on my thanks to her if you have the chance!

[@oopqooify]

​@@Harry-nc5td I remember your username! I often wonder how old members of the forum are getting on, it was such a wholesome community for the most part, and hearing that the people who helped shape your childhood are getting on well is wonderful.

[@debayeuxchats5607]

That's so wholesome! TT^TT

[@momokitten5097]

Hey I used to play petz, I wanna get back into the old pc games but which one is most used by people? Petz 5? 4? Loll sorry

[@KyuumiIwasawa]

In my school nobody played catz except for me. I thought it was a small game and something that not everybody knew about. And now 15 years later I find this.

[@flowergirl5962]

Same!!

[@dushdush9]

My dad’s windows 95 had catz and as a kid i thought it was like a built in part of the computer (i thought the same about super mario)

[@Dr3Mc3Ninja]

I know, right? I loved cats and I loved computer games, so my mother got me Catz5. I put so many hours into it, and the game just spontaneously kept getting corrupted. Uninstalling didn't fix it. I had no idea there was an online community. I've never even seen or heard of this game in over a decade, and yet YT knew to recommend this to me, weird.

[@LadyAltaria]

Me too! I thought it was an obscure little game from my childhood but now I’m finding out that it was massive. Wild times

[@stefanikaye8710]

Same! None of my friends had heard of it so I assumed it was basically one of those cheapy games no one cared about (i.e. what Petz became later) even though I loved it haha!

[@chickenscratch_]

Ah yes Horsez 2, the game that would make little me cry while this lady would commit arson on your barn and you had to put out the fire and put this puzzle together under a timer for a coupon to get a new barn but I thought my Horses where burning alive in it. I was so afraid of screwing up and the thought of the death of my virtual horses being my fault was to much pressure so I'd make my sister or mother do it. Good times

[@astridbarzaghi5003]

I was scrolling the comment section hoping to find this comment! I only played Horsez2 of this series and I too had to go through the arson minigame several times. I went back to it randomly a few weeks ago and am still shocked at how difficult it is to level up the horses. In the whole time I played that game as a child I only got one horse "worthy" of breeding and I was never able to understand the mini games with foals so they never grew up and most got sick

[@chickenscratch_]

@@astridbarzaghi5003 Same! Can't remember a single time I got a horse worthy of breeding and my foals kept getting sick. I also went back to it a couple weeks ago just to experiance it again and I sadly have to admit I had to look up how to brush the horses because I kept losing the minigame. I also happen to have the first Horsez games in the series, haven't played it in forever but can confirm there is a lack of arson

[@Red5rainbow]

Omg I had no clue that happened! I had that game but didn’t get very far in it because I was really little and didn’t know how to progress

[@chickenscratch_]

@@Red5rainbow In all honesty I most likely had my sister progress for me or accidently progressed by doing random stuff, since I didn't realize there was a story until the fire and then after that I forgot there was a story again

[@kavlara]

OMG. I was honestly terrified of this game bc of the arson opening, never got to enjoy it, and totally buried its existence. I'll stick to barbie: horse adventures.

[@Jamie052290]

I recently bought a copy of Bunnyz for the DS and I was really thrown for a loop when it told me that bunnies couldn’t talk then the bunnies proceeded to talk.

[@Sku77k1d]

oh my god the hamsterz also talk. Do they just straight up say full sentences like the hamsters and you can teach them words?

[@Jamie052290]

I’m not sure about the teaching part but they do talk in complete sentences...almost immediately after the game tells me bunnies can’t talk.

[@vamppanic]

omg yes i had this game and it was bizarre. if you had a “well” trained bunny they would talk constantly

[@Jamie052290]

breer As a rehabilitator and owner of actual bunnies, no “well trained” bunnies speak, despite what that game says and when they do start speaking, I’m retiring.

[@Jamie052290]

Madeleine L The Bunnyz devs do

[@iara0]

It was so wholesome, to see the game still alive. There's just a "je ne sais quois" when it comes to old games...

[@advertisedmanpower7155]

Was that a stroke wtf does that mean

[@Moshimoshijade]

@@advertisedmanpower7155 just Google 🙄 it's french...idk how you can be so mean, yet so stupid. At the same time. 🙇🏾‍♀️

[@advertisedmanpower7155]

@Babydoll no translators it means "I do not know why"

[@OrangeFluffyCat]

@@advertisedmanpower7155 nah, that’s the literal translation, not the meaning.

[@hashtagwoke8506]

It's called nostalgia

[@LiobaBrueckner]

OMG I made some of these websites myself! I had literally hundreds of dogs and cats in all different shapes and forms!!! I LOVED these games SO MUCH! Thanks for the nostalgia trip!!!!!😭

[@Wakeupgrandowl]

Right!? I would literally DREAM about these games, and each new version was always on my my Christmas list. I was in deep with this series! Joined virtual kennel and cattery clubs and downloading all the newest breedz. Obsessed.

[@bladethewolfartist7095]

does nobody else remember the Petz/ Petz 2 game (depending on where you lived) that was just straight up an adventure game from japan disguised as a pet simulator? I think they were called Kitten/puppy And The Magic Hat (depending on version) originally in japan and I just remember it being a fun little game and being disappointed that the rest of the series was not the same as the game I had been introduced to the series with.

[@serpenking]

Ok that's the game I played as a kid so coming into this video was very confusing for me like, where's the evil warlock wolf. what about saving the universe

[@dragondog7886]

@@serpenking I always wished we got more of that game. Unfortunately, we never did ;-; Although some other fans of that game on Discord have talked about making a fan sequel for it since there's no official one

[@dragondog7886]

If you want more background information about the game's development, there's a bunch of fans of it on Discord who have managed to datamine some stuff

[@inalosia7457]

@@dragondog7886 I'd love to know more about it! Can I get your tag or a server invite? It was one of my favorite games as a kid.

[@dragondog7886]

@@inalosia7457 Here's the link to the Petz 2 server: discord.gg/F6suyrAwYV I don't know if you also played Dog Island as a kid, but if you did, there's also a server for that here: discord.gg/3t68sZbD6P

[@bilong92]

does anyone remember the Babyz came from the early 2000s made by the same Petz people? There was a whole community of us who'd edit the game and create so much additional custom content for the game (except I didn't because I was like 10) and then newer computers couldn't play the game and it kinda died but it was pretty fun and intense while it was a thing. (although a quick google tells people the community is still alive and somehow patched the game to make it work again)

[@Sugar735]

yes! I still have a lot of mine :)

[@at552]

Much like the Petz community, the Babyz community is also still alive (albeit a bit small I think)!

[@jaella1692]

Omg yes! I remember distinctly that my baby couldn't say carrot 😂 she would say "katoo"

[@Twinklethefox9022]

Yeah. It's like a babysitter game right?

[@ItsYaBoiV]

PetzA is a program that makes petz and babyz work on modern computers. The community is still very much alive, but honestly what I miss are the early internet days where people made really silly and interesting web pages to show off their petz, hexes, and unique items. Good nostalgic times.

[@Feanne]

The way they animated the catz and dogz was so incredibly lifelike, truly capturing how real dogs and cats move, with just enough exaggeration to bring out their personality and emotion! Honestly still blows all other virtual pet games out of the water in this regard. Virtual pets now all look so stiff compared to catz and dogz.

[@Rat-Baby]

The Petz community has powerful Mom Energy. Solidarity to all hobbyist coders.

[@maeganmonster]

Ubisoft took the DS game of Ochaken, a Japanese IP about dogs with tea leaves for ears, completely stripped the IP from the game and sold it in the west as Dogz 2. I had Dogz 2 as a tween, got into Ochaken as an adult, imported the Ochaken game, and couldn't help but feel deja vu until I dug out Dogz 2 and played both side by side. It was so weird. Anyway, it's a mini game collection that somehow helps me fall asleep. Highly recommend either version

[@Rookiewompus]

I just Googled this and oh my gosh, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I need to check it out!

[@ComfyCatNya]

Confusingly enough, Dogz 2 is also on PS2 but it’s an entirely different game just with the same name! It’s actually super fun but like.. nothing like a Petz game.. it’s basically an adventure game where you are a dog from a little village of dogs and go through the world to rescue the world from a bad guy o_o I remember it being really enjoyable

[@Narwhal39]

omg I have vivid memories of that game... it was iconic even with the Dogz 2 branding

[@clawcakes]

@@ComfyCatNya YES, AND THE WOLF MFER IN JAIL WHO STOLE THE MAGIC HAT... YES...

[@perfectcyan1153]

I have the ds game Ochaken too. My hyper fixation was the reason for that. I kept translating the name so I could see more images on Google, and then liked what I was seeing and ended up ordering it from Buyee.

[@teeeessXD]

Okay but I remember crying hysterically when my favourite dog "ran away"... I checked the noticeboard religiously to see if she came back but she never did :(

[@Emma_The_H0ppin_H00ligan]

I vaguely remember playing one of the DS games when i was around 8 and thinking that you had to raise your pets until you had to give them away to be able to buy new ones (i don't remember why) and i legit cried for an hour or so and never played the game again because i didn't want to lose my babies

[@Deafsnivy]

Oh my gosh, that happened to my sister and me too!! I was watching her play one of these games and she put so much effort to raise a dog. When it became old enough, we both thought it had to be given away and cried so much. Glad that we weren't the only ones, haha.

[@screamingbanshee1282]

It' still hurts me

[@twilightsky1580]

@Deafsnivy that's kind of a weird thought process for a kid though...I'm curious as to why a kid would think something like this.

[@itsstudytimemydudes4345]

this was me with the ds version of the Catz game, I was scared of breeding cats cause then I would breed too many and the game would force me to give one up

[@byakuyatogami2905]

@@itsstudytimemydudes4345 my young dumbass made all of the cats in my Catz game female but then there was a male cat at a park and I was happy to get a kitten but I didn't know how to get more stars for more capacity and I didn't want to give any cats away

[@plushyblushykitten2740]

So uh You caused me to jump back into the petz 4 and 5 rabbit hole again And I cannot thank you enough??? It reawakened some very treasured memories from my childhood, and I am having the time of my life playing again!! Currently on my 4th gen of my huge cat family!

[@Crayon_Egbert]

how did you manage to play it?

[@dynamitegal3295]

This definitely explained why one of my DSLite Petz games was straight up just a Veterinarian simulatior.

[@CosmiColor]

I was just about to comment about this and ask about it!! Is it the one where your character can like, get married and stuff? Tbh i felt like i fever dreamed it up, I'm kind of glad others played it!

[@dynamitegal3295]

@@CosmiColor if you could, i never got that far. I just remember having to take care of endless tortoises

[@CosmiColor]

@@dynamitegal3295 i guess it had different endings? Thats actually kind of neat!

[@emn7960]

I think you’re referring to Petz Vet! It’s a different company entirely. I loved that game.

[@dynamitegal3295]

@@emn7960 See but I don't recall it being called Petz Vetz, I legit have no idea and Google won't help me. It was a Vet Sim or a Pet Hotel??

[@aubreyh1930]

I loved the ds ones as a kid, they made up the majority of my library because they were always only about 2 bucks at GameStop and that’s all we could afford (I still remember perfectly the little rack they had them in and where it was, and the feeling and sound of looking through them). The one I remember best was a rabbit one, probably called rabbitz

[@sentientricecake3125]

Petz Bunnyz was my childhood

[@apatheticsticker8137]

SAME!! I still have Petz Bunny Bunch...I wonder how my rabbits are doing?

[@princessjellyfish98]

Dogz DS and Hamsterz Life DS were extremely formative for me in my childhood, showing the footage of the inside of the house unlocked so many memories

[@sk00ks41]

This is a fantastic video! I grew up with a few of the DS petz games and I always wondered why Dogz was so drastically different from Catz. I wish I was around to play the originals, the whole breeding system and community sounds so cool and complex. I really hope this blows up! Very interesting and informative.

[@PurpleDog06]

The petz community is alive and well, though smaller!

[@ItsYaBoiV]

There's a program called PetzA that allows you to play the pc games on modern computers. 3 is my personal favorite, but 4 and 5 have some neat features that were added as computers advanced.

[@kalublah]

You literally just brought back a FLOOD of memories from my childhood. I still have Petz 5 to this day and the amazing Hex breeds I managed to snap up eons ago. I am so happy to see someone take an in depth crawl into the originals and the "Petz" games from the DS age that fooled so many of us into thinking they were going to be a real sequel. I owned both Dogz and Katz on DS and you bet I was disappointed. I hope you revisit this because I want someone to cover the PKC (Petz Kennel Club) community. The fact they are STILL going is CRAZY TO ME.

[@PurpleDog06]

I grew up in PKC, and 20 years later I still have friends I made around 2000 playing petz. It honestly has changed the course of my life.

[@kalublah]

@@PurpleDog06 I was really hoping someone familiar with PKC would respond!!! That's amazing and very sweet! I wish I coulda experienced more of it, but I never really had the time in the mid 2000s. Mad respect!

[@kipsnax]

I played Petz Dogz 2 as a kid (not Dogz 2) and it was one of my all time favorite games. I had no idea that the Petz franchise was meant to be a pet raising simulator and for the longest time thought thought they were all story-based Legend of Zelda-esque games like Petz Dogz 2 was.

[@samanthaposey4553]

Yes!! We had both Petz Dogz 2 and Petz Catz 2 (parents bought them at the same time, not realizing they're the same game just reskinned)

[@bubbles993]

The community is still alive!? I might actually go back to this game and mess around. I guess I'm a little old for this but whatever.

[@at552]

Most of the people in the community played this game when it was new and they were kids, sooooo... I promise no one will care about your age hahaha.

[@jessmorgan603]

yessssss go back. A lot of folks in the community are close to are already in their 30's now and still getting a kick out of creating things for each other.

[@knoelle1357]

I’m gonna try to find a way to play it, for sure, I played this as a kid and I’m like almost 35 now lol

[@oraclerat]

the dog running and stumbling animation of dogz 4 and 5 brought back so many memories! great video!

[@briginator9391]

The breeding being introduced and blowing up the game reminds me of the Webkinz reboot. While you can't adopt them out to other players, breeding the pets and raising the babies is the part of the game that gets the most focus from developers and paid players. It seems like Petz made it far more worth your while

[@PanTran]

CATZ AND DOGZ ON THE GBA!!! OH MY GOD!! THIS GAME IS MY CHILDHOOD I PLAYED IT SO MUCH 😭😭😭 Absolutely crazy to learn that it was actually a different game in Japan. One of my abdolute fave gba games ever

[@Angel-jt2pl]

Same !! I need to learn how to emulate these or just pick up a gba heh

[@PanTran]

@@Angel-jt2pl me, who still has my childhood gba and bought the game off eBay 😳 (I'd still have all my games if my brother didn't steal and pawn them all oof)

[@agentadvocate]

I learned basic coding and what an online fandom was through Dogz 3 and Dogz 4! I was obsessed. Was anyone else part of the Dogz show community around 1998 reading this? 👀 I never thought I'd think about my old custom breedz files again. Good times.

[@sraluvssnakes1]

I swear this was half my childhood, spending countless hours hexing files, making websites, breeding lines of great danes lol

[@MjayMuah]

Great Danes and Dalis ❤️ but especially the Great Danes. They were the perfect base

[@katyesyes]

I decided to run my petz 5 game during the video, so my crossbreed abominations could accommpany me(you feel like some sort of mad scientist when you start to cross dragons and turkeys, both already a user made custom species)

[@PurpleDog06]

Those were Carolyn's Creations, right? So many memories.

[@katyesyes]

@@PurpleDog06 yes! I remembered them from my friends copy of petz from back in my childhood(didn't know they were customs back then) and was so glad that I found them when I installed my own version ten years later, good that the petz community and the website were still active and availiable

[@erikag6980]

Aaah Carolyn's! She had a teeny breed of rainbow Chinchilla Persians that were so fun to breed with the original breeds to get abominations going.

[@GlobalsoftPirka]

This was exactly what I used to do, too. I had so many weird cross breeds of modded species.

[@Ash-nh6li]

I bred purebred huskies for awhile- after a few generations there starts to be mutations where they start coming out weird colors. No downloads required.

[@Azazelea]

As someone who discovered you through your iceberg this was VERY good!! Now I'm interested in getting into petz 4 myself...

[@karjo1000]

I never played the originals, but I grew up on the GBA Dogz, Catz, Hamsterz, and Horsez. Even as a kid, I was confused as to why all of these games were nothing alike-- Dogz was more like an RPG, Hamsterz was almost like a visual novel at times, and Horsez was more like a ranch simulator. And trying to find information on those particular games was next to impossible.

[@Blubableful]

I remember that I changed Clippy to the dog in Microsoft Office, because I wanted a dog so bad and didn't have any virtual pet games. I remember "petting" him with my cursor. Kind of sad :'D

[@xmeygan]

that's.... sad, yes, but also so cute hahah

[@Dr3Mc3Ninja]

I just hated Clippy. Kids today don't know the struggle of having to tell Clippy to flip off.

[@Lordodragonss]

We all did it!

[@umbretheumbreon5166]

I remember playing Catz5 religiously as a kid, I've recently gotten back into the community and gotten Petz4 and I'm honestly so glad it's still going after so long.

[@un3hcorn]

oh WOW this was such a cool video!! i was born in 98 so i'm a little too young to have dealt with the original games but i remember looking at so many of the older petz games after my big nintendogs phase but i never ended up buying any.... really really interesting to see just how ahead of the time people were back then wow

[@lovelyhammy]

i know i just commented but i also wanted to add that i really love how the community participation is what's led to this game being what it is (the positive parts, at least). especially as the games industry feels more and more hostile to this kind of environment, it really is a reminder that the community surrounding a game can be just as if not more important than the game itself- ESPECIALLY when that community is allowed to be creative and curious, and add their own flair.

[@QuesadillaWizard]

This brought back so many memories! I spent HOURS looking through the kennels and catteries for new breedz. I only managed to hex one thing and it was a poor chinchilla persian with a weird eye XD Fantastic vid!

[@Shyhearted]

I remember buying Hamsterz on the DS as a kid. For some reason the game asks for your blood type.

[@peliukun8164]

bunnyz does that too, somethin in japan where its considered of some importance over there.

[@positronixartandlife4545]

@@peliukun8164 Not just 'some importance', there's a belief among a number that blood type corresponds to personality. If you're type A you're sensitive, a perfectionist, and a team player. Type B and you're cheerful, eccentric, individualistic, and selfish. Type O is curious, generous, and stubborn, while AB is arty, mysterious, and unpredictable. This came about from some books published in the 1970s, and while some find it a fun little fact, others have been bullied and harassed for being outside the norm (i.e. types B and AB).

[@peliukun8164]

have ya ever heard of the barnum effect? its the reason these 'specific' beliefs exist. note theres nothin particularly standouty among ur descriptors of each type. u have these traits, but this other guy also has these traits that match that ones traits just with a different word. when i mean 'some importance' only some put credence on horoscopes for example. they exist but only in a minimal form. that'd be the equivalent of how they care for blood types. no better than horoscopes. an if u take a horoscope or descriptions of blood types perfectly then congrats, ur the reason the peeps that write those for a living r still in business

[@grumpysphinx4911]

I wonder what they would say about something like rA null, the rarest blood type in the world

[@andyz6306]

Oh hey its the game series that was my first childhood fandom online. I still love the series and it meant so much to me.

[@jcthegirl]

I love these kinds of videos where I get to learn the history of something I've never heard of, so glad I found your channel! Especially as a neopets fan

[@gretchenl5306]

hi love! I wanted to reach out and say I’ve done an entire research paper mainly about Petz Dogz/ Catz 2!! Im so happy someone else has interest in the crazy phase Ubisoft was in, buying japanese games and rebranding them to America! I also reached out to them a few years back and asked about why they did this, but I didn’t get too far into it (but I did put their responses in the paper)! If you’re interested in reading about rebranding and the misleading of the brand Petz cover art slapped on small localized games, let me know! I’d love to share my work with you :)

[@claudiapawlak3971]

I played Petz 5 RELIGIOUSLY as a kid. I have the best memories on there, and would download so much custom content. I remember picking up a copy of Dogz for the Gameboy and being so confused about the art style changing, as well as overall gameplay. This video answers all my questions about the branding change. Thank you so, so much. I'll be looking to find a copy of Petz 4 so I can play again!

[@Lupiniunstar]

I love video game history type videos! This was super interesting! I have a big fascination with games being changed into something else when they’re ported to the west, and I’d love to hear more about the later entries in the “Petz” series too if you’re ever interested in talking about them.

[@lavymaplemagic]

I'm taking a time warp back into my dial-up days thank u for this

[@muskellungeton]

This was a great video! I never played Petz myself, but I had an older cousin who had either Petz 3 or 4 and I remember being so fascinated with it. Watching this brought back some long lost memories and it's really cool to hear that there's been a community around the games this whole time.

[@lovelyhammy]

this video along with a tumblr post i saw are what got me interested in petz games, and just the other day i downloaded petz 4 for the first time. the first pet i made was a baby version of my childhood cat i lost during the pandemic, and her personality in game happens to match up really well to how she was irl (sweet but also crabby towards other cats, if her interactions with my aisha are anything to go off of). being able to have a little version of her in my computer is... really nice, actually. i'm so glad i found this video, and by extension, this game. came back for a rewatch just to catch myself up, since i first saw it about a year ago. still a wonderful video! (oh, also, if any veteran petz players want to leave tips or anything like that over here, be my guest hehe)

[@lunaredelvour2972]

Bruh I hit this video thinking you were talking about Petz Catz/Dogz 2, it was basically an adventure where you played as a cat/dog working to defeat the evil wolf that took the Magic Hat and corrupted its power after you and best friend Victor give it to him when visiting in jail....... God, I loved that game

[@FauxFemale]

I always wondered as a kid why the Petz GBA, DS and PC games were so different from each other. Thanks for covering a huge part of my childhood!

[@pokemario99]

why is a video essay on the history of a pet simulator that i had viewed as a shovelware series this interesting?? i’m actually very impressed

[@tobycutler80]

Thanks for doing such a lovely video for my beloved community! I picked this game up as my first video game when I was 4 or 5 and I just keep coming back, even at 31 now... There is just so much to do!

[@LilGian1]

I was OBSESSED with Dogz and Catz on the Gameboy Advance! They are in my top 5 favorite games on the DS! I would love a new game like that on the Nintendo switch even though it would never happen! I have such a feeling is nostalgia for those games! I’m so shocked to find out they were just Japanese games that they just put the Dogz/Catz logo on!

[@gabriellaberman]

I had Dogz on my GBA! I still have the game + a DS Lite to play it on. It’s not as fun as I remember, but so nostalgic

[@SarcasticService]

Thank you for making this!! I spent a great deal of my childhood playing Petz alongside The Sims, and it's nice to know the community still exists somewhere!!

[@PsychoSavager289]

I'm a little sad there was no mention of Oddballz. My sister and I grew tired of Dogz fairly quickly, but we really got into Oddballz and the challenge of trying to get all the eggs in a pre-internet world.

[@jillianikehara5425]

petz dolphinz encounters is still one of my favorite games to play on my DSI. originally i was confused when the game wasn’t about taking care of dolphins specifically, but instead about exploring the oceans and taking care of marine life (since that’s what the petz franchise is), but either way, i’ve grown to love the game and all the nostalgia it brings me :)

[@kota4627]

Oh my god I thought nobody else remembered these games. I used to play them obsessively as a kid and I even scraped the surface of the breeding, hexing, and adopting community. I was only like 9 at the time so I couldn’t figure out the hex coding (although I remember definitely trying, seeing the screenshot of the program used to edit them gave me ptsd). So I would just use MS Paint and draw over screenshots of my pets to make them look cool and post those in the fan art section of the forums. Even if I couldn’t figure out hex coding though, I did figure out how to apply for unique puppies that other users had bred. I remember being so happy when I was selected to adopt a really cute puppy from a closed breed, created by one of the most popular hexers on the website. I’m sure she knew I was a kid from the way I typed, but I’m not sure she knew how much it meant to me. I’ll always have fond memories of my time with that puppy, and of her kindness and patience.

[@acecreates4299]

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS! I was a huge diehard Petz fan and followed so many Petz blogs back in the day. I was so excited to see an in-depth video about my whole childhood, haha!

[@Johnny_Three-hats]

It's very satisfying to hear anyone at all acknowledge the fact that, after the PF Magic games, the majority of Petz titles are localizations of either Japanese games (For Dogz, Catz, Hamsterz, Petz Vet GBA) or European games (Horsez is derived from the European Pippa Funnell games). I have something of an unhealthy appreciation for shovelware, and while I never played the original PF Magic games, I had a ton of Ubisoft Petz brand titles, and while I know they ain't great games, they still fascinate me in their origins and sheer widespread nature. Petz Vet on GBA struck me very much as a Japanese RPG type game with a vet theme where a lot got lost in translation, but I have no idea what Japanese game it was based on. Same thing with Petz Rescue Ocean Patrol on DS. Distinctly Japanese feeling games, even though they were not in any way marketed as such. I'd like to compile a list of Petz games and the original games they were based on. I know which Pippa Funnell games (games which have always been Ubisoft published) correspond to which Horsez, but the rest of the games are a bit of a mystery, saving the ones that were developed specifically to be Petz games like the later 3DS titles. I know this video mostly focuses on the Ubisoft titles being a fall from grace, but I find that tangled web fascinating in its own right. I'm glad to see that there's still a community for the original Petz games though, and it's interesting to hear about a side of the games I didn't personally experience. Great video on an underdiscussed topic.

[@Rookiewompus]

If you get that list of all of them together, shoot it over my way! So many people seem to have fond memories of these games, it's making me wanna give more of them a try!

[@Johnny_Three-hats]

@@Rookiewompus Well, I put together a fairly rough list of everything I'm certain of about each Ubisoft Petz game, based primarily on the games' credits and copyright screens. Found some very interesting tidbits. Many of the developers have some colorful shovelware history. Could be some inaccurate information too, some of the games I either couldn't find adequate footage of or simply lacked adequate credits, but hey, it's more comprehensive than any other list I know of. docs.google.com/document/d/1SrbtfJB6I4auucIyUPGrufIZb5rpOvE6leI870SE3DY/edit?usp=sharing

[@Doshirrosden]

I played with the demos for Dogz, Catz and Oddballz for hours on end as a kid. I always assumed they were these quirky little diversions that barely anyone else had ever even heard of. It’s insane to learn that there’s actually a thriving community of fans keeping the series alive. Thank you so much for making this video.

[@sushiroll7]

Omg I saw "oddballz" pop up on one of the sites you showed and that's something I COMPLETELY forgot about!! But I used to download so many custom breeds for dogz/catz and would spend hours browsing kennels when I was like 8 or 9. I distinctly remember one I used that was called like "flower power" or something like that, haha. Would love to get back into these sometime!

[@michiyaslana5974]

Hooooly, Petz 5 was my LIFE as a kid! I loved it so much, it's insane to see the community is still alive. Maybe I should go get myself a nostalgia trip...

[@hedgehogzilla]

Petz 4 and 5 was such a key part of my childhood that I’ve honestly always be surprised no one else has spoken about it haha xx

[@CannonZeroKiryu]

Petz Dogs (gba), Petz Hamsters: Hamster Life (gba), Petz Horses 2 (ps2), and Petz Dogs 2 (ps2) were my childhood jams!

[@haleyhodge1321]

SAME! I mostly played the PS2 ones lol they were a blast to me !!! 😁😁

[@caleebee1122]

This was such a great video, thank you so much! I remember playing this game a TON in grade school, and browsing the baby net for hexes/mods. I also remember the clothing for the catz & dogz being a BIG THING. This really makes me want to track down a way to play.

[@MikoEffect]

I only ever owned a few Petz games, but I didn't know so many were just localized Japanese games with Petz slapped on the title! My favorite game as a kid was Petz Vet for the GBA and I was curious why it had such an anime style. It wasn't until last year I learned it was originally called Himawari Doubutsu Byouin and decided to find the original Japanese version of the game and do some translating, and I'm surprised to find out how much was changed in the localized release. I will say because of this I developed an interest in the series the original game is from, and even the other games made by the original devs.

[@EleriDragonfly]

I have fond memories of playing Catz 4 and 5, I remember the love potions and heart shaped biscuits to try and have them fall in love.

[@BlackLabsLikeRuleDog]

Omg fun fact, when “Dogz 2” by Ubisoft was announced for the DS, there was MAD rumors that it would basically be like classic Dogz 3. So I anxiously got it. The fact that it wasnt Dogz 3, but just picking random non-personal Dogz to run through 6 mini games and THATS IT…..omg I was SO mad as a kid

[@Red5rainbow]

I had (and still do have) Petz Horsez 2 for the DS. I remember enjoying it a bit but I could never really get too into it. The title gave me the impression that there were a bunch of Petz games and I later learned that they did make a bunch of other shovel-ware looking games and that’s all I knew the Petz franchise for. I had no clue about how it started as an early PC game- a *good* PC game, so it was really cool to gain this insight on it, I have more respect for the Petz games now... or, rather, I’m not gonna let the bad ones tarnish the name of the franchise in my head.

[@mar-je9ir]

this was actually really interesting... i had no idea that the petz series was this old

[@lamegamecosplay]

The nostalgia that hit me when you showed clips from Petz 4. I used to spend hours playing that in my basement, it was so charming and I didn't even know there was an online community! Absolutely my favorite game growing up, I miss my pets :'( I always wanted to get some of the DS games but I'm kinda glad I didn't, they don't seem to have the same charm

[@vstra5020]

I cannot believe this content exists, and I am deeply appreciative of it.

[@Heriarka]

I tuned in to hear about shovelware game shenanigans, I didn't expect to learn so much obscure game history trivia, that's amazing.

[@stampie6881]

Hamsterz 2 was actually one of my favorite games ever because I had it as a kid and loved playing through it, it was lots of fun, especially the cute cutscenes and competitions you could enter your hamster in

[@dramatictrauma331]

Oh boy, I remember those shovel ware petz games super well. Some of them were actually pretty charming and had really cute, retro pixel aesthetics, while others were...not so great ahaha. I never thought that the franchise was so old though. Kudos for making me interested in a pet sim from nearly 20 years ago!

[@jackpearson1452]

Amazing video, you awoke some deep nostalgia in me that I completely forgot about! I love all the research that was put into this.

[@carolinewheeler77]

So...what about petz dogz/catz 2 for the Wii and ps2? Those were story based adventure games and were some of my favorites as a kid. Were they also localized? Oh, and why does the dog island have such a similar vibe despite not being part of the petz series?

[@Rookiewompus]

Dogz 2 was developed by Japanese developer Yuke's, who also made the Dog Island game! That probably why they feel so so similar. I wish I could have gotten more into the later games, but there were just so many, I just wanted to cover it generally. About half of the later games were localized versions of Japanese games.

[@NemoCat20]

This was my first video of yours. Loved it! Petz 3 holds a LOT of memories for me! I played it so much as a kid. I used to adopt pets online(my dad helped me - I was 12….) and did lots of breeding. This video was fascinating to see how the franchise came and went(mostly). I love knowing there are still fans of the original out there still going! 😄

[@Meganstaek]

I got really into Petz a couple years ago, RKC forum and everything. I should get back into it if the community is still kicking!

[@RatQueer]

I had vivid memories of Dogz in my childhood. I had no idea they made the GBA games as well. I completely forgot these games existed, thank you for bringing this back into my brain.

[@diretrip]

Petz 4 was my LIFE as a kid. Edit: I didn't realize you had so few subs! I went ahead and linked several old friends to this.

[@toxoplasicity]

i've been in the Petz community since i was little ( not THAT long ago, but still ) and it makes me very happy to see people making videos about a game and it's attached community that seems to be largely forgotten by the internet. I learned how to hex my own petz but only with Petz Workshop and LNZ, and i've had my own handful of websites over time that i've hosted these Petz on. (still have one! i should really start making new hexies.) nice video!!!!!!!

[@mayrahemmerechts5867]

What is the name of your remaining petz website if i may ask? Id like to explore it for adoptions, hexies, downloads and other stuff

[@itsstudytimemydudes4345]

the GBA version of Dogz was my first experience with the series, even if it was just a reskin. my favorite dog was a corgi named Oil, but I was scared of playing with her because you could only play for a couple weeks before the game made you choose to either delete your dog or enter a freeplay mode that was way less fun. I still miss Oil and I still dont think I ever finished with her-- its been over 10 years now

[@CosmicLoveSongs]

Oh man, I was a Petz 3 fanatic. I remember being like nine years older and being in these NetZero communities dedicated to breeding and showing Dogz. This is giving me so much nostalgia!

[@jessl365]

I spent so much of my childhood on the AKPC forums! This is such a nostalgia trip ❤️

[@TheRedMenaceProductions]

loved playing Petz as a wee lad. Lots of memories, thanks for the vid

[@PristinePanda]

oh god the nostalgia. as soon as those website screenshots showed up for pine cone cattery a part of my brain i had forgotten about was activated

[@duskky]

this makes so much more sense. i loved the original petz on the pc and i loved dogz on the gba and i LOVED dogz 2 on the wii but somehow never put two and two together

[@TheIndulged1]

Tamagotchi got me to say out loud in science class "but sir, he's dying in his own poop!"... He killed my pixel baby.

[@JesamyPorter]

I was a crazy Petz player when I was a kid. I got hooked in on Dogz 3 and then bought everything. Does anyone remember the Dogz and Catz stuffed toys made to look like the ones in the game? I even had those. A couple years ago I checked in on the community after finding the disks for the games and wanted to get back into it. It’s amazing how fast it runs on even an older laptop and the mods are amazing and Petz 5 is still oddly painfully unplayable and I don’t know why. It’s just it was blah when it came out. It barely ran and it was just the same game, same places to visit and everything from Petz 4. I appreciate this video sooo much! I’ve always wondered what happened. I did some research but this was so much more.

[@yolklor]

another great vid!! i honestly would love if you did a video on babyz lmao. weird old pc games are so fascinating, and the old petz games are proof that if a company truly puts their heart and effort into making a good game it'll never die. :')

[@jillcipher]

Petz Dogs 2 was my childhood!! I’m shocked that it used to be a completely different series

[@Hwarming]

My dad used to somehow get the demos for me when I was a kid, and eventually bought me Catz 4, I remember spending all day playing it, I also remember another game from these guys where it was like an alien or something

[@fafnir8714]

You're thinking of Oddballz!

[@SydneyPlays]

Why have I watched this video 7 times over the last few months. It’s my favorite.

[@HamiGirl1]

THIS IS THE LORE VIDEO IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!!! i LOVED dogz/catz 5 when i was a kid. i played it ALL the time, and i think my cousins had petz 3? I'm surprised at how similar each game in the core series was, and i didnt know there was such controversy from 5 lol. i had some of the other -z video games from ubisoft and such but i always had a hard time telling how or if they were related or not :p

[@BlackLabsLikeRuleDog]

Petz, as in the CLASSIC PETZ as I have to say now, was ahead of its time and is genuinely TIMELESS now. I still find ways to make it run on my modern computers. I’ll make videos on it. I loved it as a tiny kid, still love it at 26. I’m only like 5 min in but like…THANK U for making a detailed video about the classic history

[@Azumarito]

Petz Dogs 2 and Petz Cats 2 were such wholesome games

[@moonmoo5593]

After watching this video (some months and) I've spent lots of my extra time researching almost every Imagine and Petz(and Ubisoft Shovelware) game in order to find the series the games came from. I've discovered so many things! A few with the help of other people who seem to research and play these games also. So glad I came across this video! It's still extremely helpful in many ways.

[@Rookiewompus]

This is so cool! Do you have a resource somewhere? I'm working on a follow up to this where I play some of the Ubisoft Petz series, and would love to share your hard work!

[@moonmoo5593]

@@Rookiewompus I made a long reply and I think it got lost 😭 let me try again.

[@moonmoo5593]

@@Rookiewompus The reply I gave got lost again. I have no idea if KZbin is deleting it or what. I am so sorry 😔. Is there any other way to contact you?

[@Rookiewompus]

sure! my discord ID is caninesuffragette#7412 or you can email my business email which I think is on my about page!

[@moonmoo5593]

@@Rookiewompus I will try the business email! I don't use discord anymore unfortunately.

[@valerieb6533]

bunnyz and horsez were my favourites as a kid, i actually started replaying them lately as a blast from the past yknow? they hold such fond memories for me, just as nintendogs did.

[@argotsambience]

i looooove that the community is still going!

[@becwikel951]

The first petz Game I played was DS Dogz, and honestly I was always so disappointed the other games weren’t like it because I LOVED the rpg style, but it makes so much more sense knowing they were originally a Japanese game