Lost Bark Mode Events

This is a sub-page of Nintendogs.

From 2005 to 2007, Nintendo handed modified Nintendogs games to select stores, including GameStop, which were used to host promotional events during which players could receive items or unlock new content. This method was also used by Pokémon games for a very long time and works in a similar fashion. The Pair of Star Glasses accessory was exclusively distributed through events, making it the rarest item in the games.

Every Bark Mode cartridge contains a modified ROM of Nintendogs Dachshund and Friends that is set to distribute specific content. Two kinds of cartridges were used:

• Broadcast Mode: The game distributes static Bark Mode data to all games that connect to it.
• Relay Mode: The first player to connect receives the Bark Mode data from the cartridge. However, their information will be stored on the relay cart, meaning that the next player to connect will encounter the previous player's dog. However, the hardcoded gift item stays the same.

Whenever a player connects to the event cartridge, the "Total Dogs" counter will be incremented. The game directly goes to the Bark Mode screen after the copyright notice, rendering the actual game inaccessible.

As of now, we know about the existence of at least five cartridges, one of which hasn't been dumped yet.

Interestingly, the files for the different events contain more static Bark Mode data, some of which appear to be unreleased. The files can be found in the NPC directory. However, the contents are not consistent across all versions, as can be seen in the table below.

By taking all known files into account, we can make out the discontinued or unreleased events:

うちのしんちゃん
よろしくね　　　　うただ

I ♥ my
  Nintendogs!

Du bist
ja ein Süßer!

Que suerte
la mía

Hey! It's-a
me! Miyamoto!

Hi, It's me!
Mr Miyamoto!

Hey! It's-a
me! Miyamoto!