Rough.

DS mega-hit Nintendogs has sold millions of copies worldwide, shifting more DS units than you can shake a stick at, so the revelation that series creator Shigeru Miyamoto considered bringing the series to Wii shouldn't really be a surprise.

The latest Iwata Asks finds Miyamoto and colleague Hideki Konno discussing the abandoned attempt to transport the cute creatures over to Wii, with the main stumbling block being the lack the DS's technical features.

Konno: Yes. We actually considered it for the Wii system. But it doesn't have a microphone, so you couldn't talk to your dog.
Iwata: Oh! So if the Wii Remote controller had a mic, there might have been a Wii version of Nintendogs?
Konno: Yeah. We might have moved forward with it.
Miyamoto: But there's a distance between the Wii Remote and the television, so it might not have felt like you were petting your dog.

Of course, the titular pets made their way into a couple of Nintendo titles on Wii, appearing as a minigame in WarioWare: Smooth Moves and a huge distraction in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but there was no dedicated pet simulator for Wii from Miyamoto.

Nintendogs + Cats is advancing the series with the addition of felines, but they're not the only animals Nintendo thought of adding to the mix: dolphins and horses were discussed at one point as new titles, but again fell foul at the planning stages.

You'll be able to get your fix of cute pets soon, as Nintendogs + Cats is one of the 3DS European launch games available on March 25th.

[source iwataasks.nintendo.com]