History VideoGame / Petz

There were also a large number of otherwise unrelated console games during UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames. 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: VideoGame/PetzDogzCatz2 is one such example.

There were also a large number of otherwise unrelated console games during UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames. These completely eschewed the “ball” style rendering in favor of more conventional graphics, and are completely ignored by the original fanbase.

There were also a large number of otherwise unrelated console games during UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleGaming. These completely eschewed the “ball” style rendering in favor of more conventional graphics, and are completely ignored by the original fanbase.

''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 ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'', they were among the first 3D characters, rendered in a non-photorealistic cartoon style. ''Petz'' has sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and [[MultipleDemographicAppeal appeals to both children and adults]].

[[quoteright:311:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/petzdifferences.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:311:To the left, a Great Dane (top) and Alley Cat (bottom) fresh out of the Adoption Center. Compare with the hexed Dane and Alley Cat on the right.]]

!!Creature Designz:
Body: (Ball style design) The petz are modelled as a set of balls joined by lines with variable parameters. The concept for this was developed in an early PF Magic title, the fighting game Ballz for Sega Genesis. Because of this design, Petz breedz, toyz, and clothez are relatively easy to modify, but the ball and line system also causes some glitchiness. This model was scrapped in the 2006 games "Dogz" and "Catz" for the PC for a more "realistic" look.

Colors: There are 10 default colors that occur naturally in the game. These are white, black, two shades of grey (known as blue and silver), cream, brown, red/ruddy/sorrel/russet, orange, tan and dusty. In addition to these coat colors is the pink found on some Poodle variations. Eye colors are not limited to these 10, although shades of brown, green and blue are most common, particularly in low generation petz. In "hexed" breedz/petz the range of colors can be much greater, although all colors must be within the 256-bit selection. Any coat colors other than the default 10 cannot be inherited properly and will mutate to inheritable colors in offspring.

Textures: Textures cover the ballz, imitating fur.

Paintballz: Some Breedz have splotches of color or texture on their bodies called Paintballz. The spots on the Alley Cat and Dalmatian are examples of this.

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* SelfImposedChallenge: Breeding lines of "selective breeds", like tamsins (Dalmatians with Mutt patches), hounds (Great Danes with Dalmatian ears), and [=MPCs=] ("Meezer-Pointed Calicoes", Calico mixes with Siamese points), just to name a few.

* ShoutOut: In the temple playscene in Petz 4, there is an Franchise/IndianaJones 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.

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.

** EldritchAbomination / TheMissingno: Breeding hexed petz can result in babies that resemble this.

* ShoutOut: In the temple playscene in Petz 4, there is an Franchise/IndianaJones mutt, simply named Jones. The Catz host for the Wild West scene is named after Wyatt Earp. The circus has a cat named after PT Barnum.

!!Creature Designs:

''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 ''VideoGame/{{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.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Spray Bottle. Jack o' Lantern. Watering Can. Snowballs. The list goes on. You can also choose to pick up and dangle a pet for as long as you want.

** Also setting a pet on a pillow, waiting for the pet to fall asleep, and then yanking the pillow out from under them.
** Tormenting the mice is a pleasure too. Their screams are cute. (To be fair to the people who enjoy siccing cats on mice, the mice can't actually die. Except in Catz 1, in which they can be bloodlessly swallowed in one gulp.)

* PowerPerversionPotential: And you might also be surprised by the occasional 'anatomically correct' Dogz some people hex. Most notably male dogz, but there is at least one instance of a female one.

* ShoutOut: 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 PT Barnum.

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'.

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 {{shrink ray}} and pogo-pad devices.

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).

!!This game provides examples of:

* FriendlyPlayfulDolphin: ''Petz Wild Animals Dolphinz'' is about training and taking care of dolphins. ''Petz Dolphinz Encounter'' allows the player to swim with wild dolphins.

* XtremeKoolLetterz: Duh.