Super Dog World

Super Dog World (スーパードッグワールド) is one of Koei's many life simulation titles. This time the theme of the game is to raise a champion dog for the game's version of a dog Olympics. It has a cult following with Japanese retro game fans since it offers a quirky change of pace within the simulation genre.

Plot
The friendly bonds between dogs and humankind have lasted for ages, a relationship that benefits both species. Dogs have been taught tricks and are rewarded with easily earned comforts as pets. However, one dog is not satisfied with performing menial tasks and posed a challenge to his fellow canine mates to prove their real talents to humanity. His name is Samawench, a genius dog born in the year 1984 in England. Many answered the call and went to London. Thus was born the first dog only Olympics, the London Bow Wow Cup.

His dreams continue for the second 1996 Bow Wow Cup, scheduled to be held in Atlanta.

Gameplay
While people appear sporadically to cheer for the event, the real stars are the dogs. Players are given the choice to act as a Labrador Retriever, Silken Wolfhound, Poodle, Bull Dog, Akita Inu, Shiba Inu, Dachshund, and Siberian Husky. Over 60 different breeds are featured within the game, each competing to become the champion of the Bow Wow Cup.

Once the player has decided on their character's name and breed, they will be given a time limit of four years to prepare for the Bow Wow Cup. Players can train their canine avatars to increase their speed, endurance, power, versatility, charisma, and so on. Training is done through mini-games to increase a specific statistic. For instance, running across a balancing beam increases versatility and swimming boosts a dog's endurance. Four years may sound like a long time, but each training session can drain weeks or months just to perfect. Even then the rewards for finishing a training sequence are purely based on the player's performance and stats. If a dog is lacking intelligence, it will be harder to finish their quiz training even if the player acts well.

Additionally, the player is surrounded by a group of canine teammates. These other dogs may help the player decide on what to do for raising themselves. They advise which parameter the player should focus on and what else is needed to finish the games. Miniature story arcs and characters can be introduced through these conversations, and help brighten the game's mood. Stay friendly with teammates because they are pivotal for the player's success; they may give points to increase a certain stat without a grueling training session. Additional points not earned through training are necessary components to obtain gold medals in the Bow Wow Cup.

Eight events are in the Bow Wow Cup. They are: critical thinking, mathematics, long jump, balance beam, 100 meter dash, vaulting, swimming relay, and a 50 meter swimming and sprinting relay. The goal to getting the game's true ending is to obtain gold medals in all eight categories. A cheery sounding objective, but it's actually quite challenging since players cannot simply retry from their previous save if they should fail. There are no continues available and the game will automatically restart from scratch if the player does not score first every time.

Combined with the strict training sessions, Super Dog World is actually an unforgiving simulation despite its light-hearted tone. Players will need learn from their mistakes and correctly balance their character's stats in order to succeed, requiring practice and several playthroughs to master this game.

Allusions

 * Famous dogs are given small mentions in the game's narrative. A few of these dogs include Hachiko, Greyfriars Bobby, and Balto.