Here's another pawfect Switch game to fill that Nintendogs-shaped hole in our lives

Little Friends: Puppy Island
(Image credit: Big Blue Bubble)

Nintendogs-like Little Friends has a sequel on the way that features more of the adorable pups we've come to expect from the pet sim. 

As spotted by Nintendo Everything, we're getting a follow-up to the 2019 Switch hit Little Friends: Dogs & Cats. Seemingly focusing on just one of those critters this time around, Little Friends: Puppy Island will see players taking their four-legged friends on holiday to meet new puppies, dig up treasure, and take relaxing walks in paradise. 

Developer Big Blue Bubble released a trailer to go along with this announcement, and in it, we get to see even more of the adorable adventures our little friends got into in the last game in the series, plus a tonne of features that'll take you right back to playing Nintendogs in 2005. Not only can you play, walk, and bathe your pooch, but you can also dress it up in over 350 colourful outfits and accessories, what more do you want from a pet game?

We haven't got a firm release date for Little Friends: Puppy Island yet, but we know it'll get a digital and physical release in "summer 2023". This isn't the only Nintendogs replacement you can get for your Nintendo Switch either, as the resident pet simulation game fan at GR+, I've also reported on another similar game called Puppies & Kittens, which was released for the Nintendo console in 2021. 

If you're still holding out for some kind of Nintendogs-related announcement one day soon, well, we do have a very small glimmer of hope. Earlier this year, a Nintendo patent that looks a heck of a lot like Nintendogs mobile was found, and it sees players interact with a puppy via augmented reality on their smart phone - not too dissimilar to Pokemon Go's AR Mode.

Find out what you should play while we wait for Little Friends: Puppy Island with our best dog games list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.