Purr Pals

Adopting Your Kitten

At the beginning of the game, you select a kitten based on the amount of money you have (if you're starting out, you can only pay the adoption fee for one kitten and you're left with a little left over in order to buy the supplies (food, litter, toys) you'll need. You have a choice between 40 breeds of kittens, with the average adoption fee at $85.00 (more or less for "special" breeds):

You may pick your adoptive kitten's markings, eye color, tail, teeth, whisker colors, gender, name etc. before you take him/her home. All of these choices are many steps beyond the game's canine counterpart, Nintendogs; however, gameplay is slightly different.

At the beginning of the game you'll have a veterinary "guide" woman whose face pops up on the screen to guide you through your first few steps. After you've started, she will only be present during after grooming and to remind you of an upcoming cat show (or if you've missed a cat show).

You use the touch screen to pet, play, feed and groom your kitten. The kittens, however, do not respond to voice commands like in Catz DS and Nintendogs. You will be able to buy food, cat litter, cushions, food/water bowls, toys, hats, collars, tags, sunglasses and "noses" at the Purina Kitten Store (the game is sponsored by Ralston Purina). You will earn the money to buy these items with a daily $9.00 allowance that drops into a virtual piggy bank (granted you take care of your kitten properly) plus mini-games and cat shows.

Taking care of your kitten properly means monitoring its need levels; those are visible when you tap the purple question mark in the upper left corner of the touchscreen. If you fail to keep the levels down and satisfied, then you will lose some of your allowance, depending on what needs you ignored. You will also place lower in the cat shows.

Loving Your Kitten

To pet your kitten, tap the heart icon. Your kitten will need affection in order to maintain its friendliness (depending on the breed you chose, a kitten may need either a lot or not so much love). Use your stylus to pet your kitten; streams of hearts will waft from the kitten, depending on where you pet it. Pet it enough so that it sits down and puts its paw up; that's when you know he or she's all set. If you fail to give your kitten affection, you will lose points in the Friendliness category in the cat show.

Feeding Your Kitten

To feed your kitten, tap the food bowl icon on the main screen. You must buy food at the Kitten Store (you're given some food when you first adopt a kitten) and "shake" the bag of food up and down with your stylus over the empty food bowl until the bowl fills and you hear a sparkling sound (the same sparkling sound you hear when you successfully groom your kitten). If you fail to keep your kitten fed properly, you will lose points in the Health category when you take your kitten to the Cat Show. A hungry kitten will "stand up" on its hind legs, wave its front paws in the air, and meow at you.

You may purchase four types of cat food at the Kitten Store, each type geared towards your kitten's needs: Hungry Kitten ($5.00), Shiny Kitten ($5.50), Cuddly Kitten ($5.50) and Playful Kitten ($5.50). Depending on its needs, if you've groomed all that you feel you could for the moment and the kitten is hungry, feed it Shiny Kitten and its grooming meter will go down for you (same goes for the other needs). The grooming, love, and play meters will not go down, however, if your kitten isn't hungry.

Litter and Grooming

Clean your kitten's litterbox daily. Tap the scoop icon on the main screen and move the stylus back and forth over the little mounds of poo in the litterbox. An easier way to clean the litterbox is to tap the cat litter icon in the upper right hand corner of the screen; it'll clean the box automatically and refresh the litterbox. The litter should be replaced on a fairly regular basis, otherwise the box tends to get dirty quicker make sure you clean the litterbox .

You may purchase four types of litter at the Kitten Store: Buried Treasure ($10.00), Buried Treasure Silver ($10.50), Buried Treasure Gold ($11.00), and Buried Treasure Gems ($11.75). The cheaper the litter, the more you have to clean the box.

To groom your kitten, tap the brush icon on the main screen. You'll be given a set amount of time to groom your kitten, and if you fail, you'll have to start all over again. The more you groom your kitten, the cleaner he or she is; if you fail to keep your kitten clean, you will lose points in the Cleanliness category of the cat show.

Playing with Your Kitten

You can purchase six toys at the Purina Kitten Store: A ribbon toy, a butterfly (blow into the mic to make it fly), a wind-up mouse, a fishing pole, a ball, and a truck (that you can either carry or chase the kitten in); if you play the game well enough, you can ascertain all of these toys in your first couple of days. Use your stylus to move the ribbon and the fishing pole in whatever direction you choose; your kitten will follow. Move the stylus around the circle and then tap the center of the circle once it's filled in order to play with the mouse; you must pick up the mouse after it runs out of steam in order to make it go again. The ball can be "thrown" and "picked up" with the stylus. The truck can be steered with the stylus (your kitten will have much more fun if you carry it, rather than chase it; If you chase the kitten, it'll think you've stopped loving it). If you fail to keep your kitten entertained, you will lose points in the Playfulness category of the cat show.

Dressing Up Your Kitten

Dressing up your kitten has no effect on its mood, grooming, or standing in the cat show and is purely for your own amusement. There are many hats, collar colors, tags (with various icons on them), sunglasses, and fake noses to choose from in the Kitten Store.

Dressing Up Your Environment

You may also purchase upgrades to your environment. Your environment consists of four spaces: The Livingroom, the Kitchen, the Bathroom, and the Garden. To get to the choices, tap the jack icon on the main screen ("Extras") to get to the secondary screen. The icons on this screen are (left-to-right, top-to-bottom): Rooms, Shop, Games, Customize, Shows and Friends. Tap the open door icon (rooms) to get to a screen where your choices are and tap your choice; a white-gloved hand will pick your kitten up by its scruff and "take" the kitten to that area. Each area is a customizable environment where you may purchase many types of wall colors, flooring, rugs, trim, fabric, wood, stone, countertops, ceilings, prints (artwork), and doors at the Kitten Store. Your environment has no effect on the kitten's mood and is purely for your entertainment.

Entering a Cat Show

You may enter a cat show as soon as you adopt a kitten. The typical cat show at that point is a 1-Day Purina Cat Show has a $5 entry fee. Subsequent Purina Cat Shows will cost you $10 (2-Day), $15 ($3-Day), and $20 (5-Day) to enter, but won't be available until you've had your kitten for a little while.

Once you enter a cat show, you will be given time to prepare. You must take good care of your kitten, otherwise the kitten won't win first place. On the day of the cat show, the veterinarian will show up to remind you that you have a cat show that day. Be sure that you received your full $9.00 allowance the day of the cat show; losing allowance money means losing cat show points. Feed, love, groom, and play with your kitten until its meters are all the way down before you "go" to the cat show; go to the cat show by tapping the gold and blue ribbon on the extras screen.

Judging

Once you're at the cat show, you'll tap the button to proceed with the judging. Your kitten will be judged on health, cleanliness, friendliness, and playfulness, respectively.

Health

There is no way to predict what your kitten will receive; it is judged by that familiar white-gloved hand, scruffing its neck. The best you want is a 10, but a 9 could still win you first place, depending on your other scores.

Cleanliness

Your kitten should be standing on all fours if it's clean (9 or 10). If it's not, it will be on its side, licking its behind (8 and below).

Friendliness

Your kitten should be jumping up in the air and twirling in circles (9 or 10). If it's not, it'll be sitting upright and "scratching" at you (8 and below).

Playfulness

Your kitten should be lying on its side, paws out and "wanting to play" (9 or 10).

Winning/Losing

Your kitten will place 1st (with the biggest cash prize), 2nd, or 3rd. Cat shows are the easiest way to amass the largest amount of money at once in the game (with the 5-Day Cat Show 1st prize being $90, enough to buy a new cat).

Miscellaneous Cat Behaviours

Along with the dollar sign and purple question mark icons in the upper left, you will also find a water squirt gun. Use the water squirt gun on your kitten when it's misbehaving, otherwise you could lose some of your allowance under the "house damage" category. The most common misbehavior of the kittens is jumping onto/near the fishtank in the livingroom.

Minigames

There are four minigames in Purr Pals, all of which have the potential to earn you more money for your piggybank. These include:

Music

"Music" is a DDR-like game where you tap the circles when the colorful notes drop on them. There are three levels of songs: Easy, Medium and Hard.

There are four kittens on the top viewscreen that each correspond to one of the four notes; each time a note is successfully tapped, the kitten will "sing" it. If you miss a note, the kitten will shake its head.

Cupid

Perhaps the least profitable game next to Alley Oop!, you will be pulling back arrows on a bow in order to "shoot" the hearts that come out of the kittens' mouths (on the top screen) as they sing "Toreador". Depending on how many hearts you hit, you can earn $1.50-$2.00 (and that's with 85 points scored).

Copycat

A memory game where profit is dependent on how well you're able to keep track of your kitten popping in and out the holes of an animal-print crinkle roll. Very much like the game Simon.

Alley Oop!

Hoops, Purr Pals style. Use your stylus to try to get the ball in the hoop (which is "located" in your garden). If you move the stylus just right, your kitten will help you slam dunk the ball for double the points. It can be difficult to move the stylus just right to do so, and like the previous two games, isn't as profitable as Music.

Other Information

Purr Pals is only released for the Wii and DS by Crave Entertainment in the U.S. The PAL versions of the game on Wii and DS are released by THQ, unless noted otherwise.