Petz (Dogz and Catz) is a series of games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Petz were the world's first virtual pets, and were shown to people to be revolutionary. First released before Tamagotchi, they were among the first 3D characters, rendered in a non-photorealistic cartoon style. Petz has sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and appeals to both children and adults.
The player starts at the Adoption Center, where they may choose a dog or cat to adopt of a breed and gender of their choosing. Once they have found a pet they like the user can adopt and name the new puppy or kitten. After around three days (real time) the petz become adults. Adult petz can then breed and have kittens or puppies of their own in Petz 3, Petz 4, and Petz 5 (this was not available in the first two games). Cross-breeding can create different types of petz, called 'Mixed Breeds'.
There are a number of toyz, food/water bowls and treats available. Petz can learn tricks with positive rewards such as tickling and treats, or trained not to do something using the punishment (water) spray bottle. Petz must be looked after properly; abused or neglected petz may run away.
Users soon learned how to reverse-engineer the system, and began producing additional breedz, toys, playscenes, clothes, and developer tools for the games, as permitted by PF Magic, Mindscape, and Ubisoft Entertainment. This is called 'hexing' by the Petz Community, as it was originally done with hex-editing tools.
A related, but much less well-known, game is Oddballz, also by PF Magic, which revolves around bizarre creatures as pets that can be temporarily shapeshifted into more normal animalz (including dogz and catz). Their toyz and food are equally strange, including a shrink ray and pogo-pad.
But perhaps the oddest outlier is the late-comer "Babyz" which broke the mold, both entirely and not at all. By providing pretty similar mechanics, but adapted for immortal baby/toddlers (that can learn to walk, but not talk)
There were also a large number of otherwise unrelated console games during The Seventh Generation of Console Video Games. These completely eschewed the “ball” style rendering in favor of more conventional graphics, and are completely ignored by the original fanbase. Many are imported and rebranded games from other region: Petz: Catz - Dogz 2 is one such example.
Breedz:
- Catz: Alley Cat, Black & White Shorthair (B&W), Calico, Chinchilla Persian, Main Coon, Orange Shorthair (Oshie), Persian, Russian Blue, Siamese, and Tabby. Added in Petz 5 were the Desert Lynx, Egyptian Mau, Honey Bear, Japanese Bobtail, and Scottish Fold.
- Dogz: Bulldog, Chihuahua, Dachshund, Dalmatian (Dali), Great Dane, Labrador Retriever, Mutt, Poodle, Scottish Terrier (Scottie), and Sheepdog (Sheepie). Added in Petz 5 were the German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Jack Russel Terrier, Papillion, and Pug.
- Oddballz: 102, Dynaroo, Grinnz, Honker, Jester, Lips, Modvark, Norvil, Quadrpus, Scorch, Snowbow, Walret, and Zott.
The Catz game also comes with the (already spayed/neutered, so no freakish hybrids unless you do a bit of tweaking) Bunniez breed, and Dogz players get Pigz.
The original series provides examples of:
- Breeding Sim: From Petz 3 onward, the player can breed their Dogz and Catz to produce "Mixed Breedz" that have a blend of their parents' traits.
- Casual Video Game: The Petz series is a game all about taking care of virtual animals. There is no plot, the animals cannot die and there is no skill involved in the gameplay.
- Downloadable Content: Several toys and clothes for II and 3 were originally released as free downloads.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first game released, Dogz, used simple illustrations to represent toys. Future games would use 3D models for the sprites instead.
- Gonk: The Alley Cat breed is naturally Gonk, with bent tails, mismatched eyes and a skinny body. The breeding system can produce strange creatures, especially between Petz with drastic differences in their sizes or features, like chihuahuas and sheepdogs.
- Game Mod: A massive number of custom petz, playscenes and toyz can be found on various fansites.
- Haunted House: The fifth games introduce the Haunted Mansion playscene, with an animated skeleton as the minigame host and a variety of Halloween-themed toys.
- Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: You just need a male and a female (but they must both be either dogz or catz) and have them fall in love to get the female pregnant. This can be fun in both games with hexed breedz and those with the original ones. Let's just say Chihuahuas don't breed well with anything, and their mixies often have grotesque and enormous heads. And with hexed breeds, you can have some insane mixes, such as parrot/badger or oriental dragon/bison.
- Level Editor: 4 and 5 have a surprisingly detailed editor for making custom playscenes, using image files on your computer and the game's internal library of sound effects and other miscellaneous options.
- Love Potion: With the third game introducing breeding, it also introduced the Love Potion, a perfume in a heart-shaped jar that helps to get your petz in the mood.
- Message in a Bottle: Bottles with paper inside can sometimes be found in the South Seas Island playscene. Interacting with them will reveal a random message.
- Rock–Paper–Scissors: The minigame in the Castle playscene consists of playing a game of rock-paper-scissors with the knight's armor.
- Shout-Out: In the temple playscene in Petz 4, there is an Indiana Jones mutt, simply named Jones. The Catz host for the Wild West scene is named after Wyatt Earp. The circus has a cat named after James Anthony Bailey.
- Simulation Game: The game's purpose is to be a simulation of caring for dogs and cats.
- Snake Charmer: Exclusive to the Arabia playscene is a snake basket. Hovering the flute toy around it will trigger an animation where the snake comes out and sways.
- Stock Animal Diet: The Cheese toy exists to lure mice out of their holes, and they may even run off with a piece of it.
- Surprise Jump: If a mouse gets scared (which happens very easily), it jumps into the air and screams.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Petz will display gratitude when pet, fed or bathed, and it's in the best interests of the player to keep their petz happy so they don't run away.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential:
- Any item that causes Petz to flinch like Spray Bottles, Jack o' Lanterns, Watering Cans and Snowballs. Constantly disciplining Petz with a Spray Bottle counts as abuse and will cause Petz to become runaways.
- Aside from being bad to your petz, you can torment the mice. Their screams are cute. And the mice can't actually die - except in Catz 1, in which they can be bloodlessly swallowed in one gulp.
- What the Hell, Player?: Beginning with Petz II, abused or neglected Petz can run away and never be played with again. They will have a "Runaway" tag on their icon, and if you attempt to play with them, the game will scold you for abusing or neglecting them and remind you to take better care of your Petz in the future.
- Wide-Open Sandbox: And how. With hexing, you can mess with spots (paintballz) and made fantastically designed Petz, or if you're more of a mad scientist, you can turn dogz and catz into anything from Pokemon, to fish, to horses, to dragons, and to just about anything (including specific, separate breeds if you want them to breed true or have color variations). Some people have also made breedz specifically designed for showing (getting your petz to pose in a certain way and taking a picture of it, it's a bit hard to explain) which are incredibly play-unfriendly and move like tables.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: One of the series' signatures is replacing plural "s"s with "z"s.
The new series provides examples of:
- Casual Video Game
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Petz Wild Animals Dolphinz is about training and taking care of dolphins. Petz Dolphinz Encounter allows the player to swim with wild dolphins.
- In Name Only: In comparison to the old series, as the new games have abandoned the breeding sim aspects