Pony Friends

by Square Enix

Product Features

• Brush your pony with the stylus to make sure it's the best-groomed pony in the stable
• Clean your pony with shampoo and conditioner to give it a shiny coat
• Find new trail entrances and hidden gifts by touching the screen on a trail ride
• Spot animals on trail rides with the stylus
• Use the stylus to write the name of your pony

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000N2HF3U
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 5 x 0.5 inches ; 3.5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: May 29, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,600 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #81 in Video Games > Nintendo DS > Simulation > Life
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Pony Friends DS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Money supply makes this game come up short, August 12, 2007

By 

cbcbcb (Redmond, WA United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Pony Friends (Video Game)

My daughter is 5 and a half. We just got this game and she is already stuck in a catch 22: The pony is sick and we have no medicine -- but we have no money to buy medicine BUT you can't earn money until you complete your chores for the day which include giving your pony medicine -- see the problem? This is really really disappointing. Bascially we need to start the game over with a new horse -- which means we delete the current game, which means all the things she has bought and all custom saddles she has created will be deleted too. :-(

Money is always in short supply and extremely hard to get, not to mention, if you bought too much stuff, there is no way to sell it back to the store to get cash to get what you really need (like medicine). Another way to earn money is to race the pony, but we can't do that either because she is sick.

The menus are confusing, and it is somewhat hard to figure out how to get where you want to go. You can only do chores once a day (which means limited game play time each day unless you continually set your system clock ahead), and you can only really ride a path once a day and expect to get any pictures or money.

The good parts of this game: You get to choose and customize a pony, take care of it, ride it (although, it is from a 1st person point of view and you can't really guide the pony, just look right or left), take pictures of animals, and race it (although you can't control the pony-- the only thing you can do is shout encouragement into the mic and hope that this encourages the pony to go faster).

Accessorizing the pony is one of the biggest draws for this game (just like in Nintendogs where you can put ribbons, hats and sunglasses on your dog); but if you have no money to buy accessories, it's no fun... and neither is trying to play with a sick pony.

I've seen reviews where it says Pony Friends is much better than Nintendogs. I completely disagree. Nintendogs is a very well done game, whereas Pony Friends is a very sloppily implemented, limited clone of Nintendogs. (PS: In real, life I am a video game producer if this lends any credence to what I am saying).

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Flaws Pull This "Nintendogs for Horses" Up Short, November 1, 2007

By 

M. Schwinn (Huber Heights, OH, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Pony Friends (Video Game)

PROS:

> Beautiful and imaginative trail-ride scenarios, easily the best part of the game.

> Lovely introductory video clips to each section

CONS:

> One bug that I've found: The chores list from which a player derives income often refuses to credit the player with chores done.

> Money for horse care accrues so slowly and in such small amounts that it's far too easy to run out of money.

PRO OR CON: This is not an action game and lacks the interactive contests of "Nintendogs." Winning a horse race, for example, comes down to shouting into the microphone; that's the only contest in the program. Players who like caring for and walking their "Nintendogs" will enjoy similar activities here, particularly the superior trail rides, with their lovely scenery. Players who want more excitement may be disappointed.

* * *

THE FLAW: I'm an adult who's played the game extensively over the last week, and I've encountered the same problem on two different cartridges. A player earns daily money by performing three chores for the ponies owned. Supplementary income and possessions come from finding items on trail rides. Unlocking such an item, however, may freeze the "chores checklist" so that you get no further credit (or money) for chores you perform. This effectively shuts down your primary income to support your horses. The only solution I've found is to erase all progress and start again from scratch. The first time this happened, I called the developer and left a message but heard nothing either via phone or email. In subsequent play I've found that often a player gets no credit for the feeding chore when owning multiple horses.

That said, people who like "Nintendogs" will find the same relaxed pace in this game. There are a number of trail rides, and the graphics for these are pleasantly scenic and to me the best feature of the game. So long as your horse is rested and healthy, you can take any number of trail rides, and I used this feature of the game the most as a quick relaxer.

A player gets the full view of a horse only when it's being cared for or in the field. Don't expect the quality of the horse figures to equal that of the "Nintendogs," and multiple horses grouped in the field do not interact in the way multiple "Nintendogs" do at home.

If you're interested in practicing delayed gratification, this game will help! Money accrues in modest amounts ($27 to $43 for daily chores), and though I never hit a zero balance, I can see how you could, as a previous reviewer did, have a sick horse and no money, thus stalling out the game. Once a day a trail ride will offer a small reward for a completed task; the unlocked items, as mentioned above, sometimes locked the chores checklist; the photo assignments about half the time were hard to complete and in one case never registered. There's no way to resell items to get extra money. A lucky and canny player might accrue enough to get a second horse in ten days or so (Horses cost from $200 to $230. The fact that money comes slowly to a player and must be so carefully managed can be either a drawback or a plus, depending on your point of view. Another patience-tester is that most of the trail rides must be unlocked by either opening a gate on an already-open trail or riding a certan number of trails, and finding the gates requires swiveling your viewpoint and thus at least two rides. This gets pretty time-consuming, and a child might find the wait too frustrating.

The game is good at teaching basic horse care, requiring the player to periodically groom and wash a pony and clean its hooves. However, the cost of washing and feeding your horse may eat up half your daily allowance. Similarly, the game warns you via a meter if your horse is getting too tired or ill to ride, and an ill horse might need treatment every two to three days (more money).

I can't comment on the advanced game features: what happens when a pony achieves all goals, because the flaw I found made it necessary to restart twice long before I reached that point.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good game but has its faults, June 29, 2007

By 

Jessica C. Bullock (Sandwich, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Pony Friends (Video Game)

Pony Friends is a great game for people who don't know horses that well as it's very basic. I'm 19 and I got it on sale where I work so I play it for fun. Although its a good game, it does have its faults, as they all do.

Pros:

There's always something to do.
You can create a pony to look however you want it to with alot of color options
It's simple to understand and play

Cons:

It can get repetative
The graphics are choppy at times when the horse moves
Not challanging enough for someone who knows horses