Player receives a Teddy bear in Nintendo 3DS Teddy Together (RRP£34.99, pegi 3), which comes to life and become his/ her new best friend. You'll get to name the teddy bear (I'll call it Teddy here) and care for it, while Teddy will use opportunities to learn more about the player as well. Players will learn later on that Teddy would like to find out something about himself, starting by finding out what the key that came with him unlocks.

Save Game:
There is a save option on the touch screen when player and Teddy are in the main room to save the game, but Teddy's status (hunger, cleanliness, etc) will change in time, and if the player hasn't come back for a while, Teddy will appear dirty and hungry, even though the game is saved before logging off.

Time:
The game offer seasonal items, which is controlled by the handheld console's time setting.

Sound:
Unlike other games, Teddy will actually have a voice and speaks English, like in Tomodachi Life. this is a brilliant feature for children who can't quite read yet. However, if you are used to playing games without the voice over and have no problem reading, you can simply turn the voice volume down or off through the Volume control in the game's setting.


At the beginning of the game, players are only able to bath Teddy, cook for it (I use it instead of him or her as Teddy will tell the player that it is not a boy nor a girl because it is a teddy bear) and interact with it by stroking, tickling, talking and giving treats, until their friendship reaches level 2 (see Friendship Level section below).


Bathroom:


To bath Teddy, you scrub soap on it, then rinse it to make it squeaky clean. If you haven't bath it for quite some time (you can check Teddy's status to see what it needs. See Notebooks section below), you'll see some grey bubbles coming out. Teddy is clean once all the grey bubbles has turned white.


Kitchen:

Left: Burnt toast!

Cooking for Teddy is a mini game in Teddy Together. You follow the instructions and try to cook the food to perfection without over or under cooking it. You can cook the same dish again to achieve a better record, or try other recipes, which will gradually be added to your recipe book (see Notebooks section below).

You'll then get to feed Teddy bite by bite, and are allowed to tease Teddy too!


Talk:


Before Friendship Level reaches 2, it's all about getting used to looking after Teddy and interact with it. As you can only cook for Teddy when he's hungry, and bathing it over and over again can get repetitive, talking, stroking, tickling and giving it treats (until it's all gone) will be the main thing to do with Teddy until Friendship Level reaches 2. By then Teddy would have asked 10 questions about you, and stored the answer in the Notebook under Notebooks section (see Notebooks section below).

One thing that's really cute is that players get to name the treats instead of just calling them lolly! We called our treats Rainbow Yum Yum!


Friendship Level:


Each action you do with Teddy will fill the bear icon on the top left corner of the main screen. Once it's filled and when you go back to the main room (exit into main menu above), Teddy will have a question for you. Each answer brings Teddy closer to you, which raises the Friendship level. Answers will also be used in Teddy's conversation to you, which can be changed any time in the Notebook (under Notebooks section).

After Friendship level has reached 2, players will have access to Wardrobe and Outside. Interactions will also give players stars, which can be used in the Garden (see Garden section below).


Outside:


Once players have access to Outside, you can either visit the Garden to make money by growing and selling produce, buy things for Teddy and the garden at the Shops, or if Teddy has an Adventure Outfit (see Wardrobe section), visit the Station to go somewhere else with Teddy.


Garden:

Adorable Chick Pea Plant!

Right: Unharvested garden with some really interesting plants!

Another mini game in Teddy Together, which is my favourite thing to do in the game. Players can grow different plants by planting seeds and water them, which uses 20 stars every time you water. Produce can be harvested when they are fully grown, which gives you money for shopping. You can also use stars to buy fertilisers.

What's so fun about this mini game is that players can combine up to 3 seeds in the same plot to grow something different that most of the time comes with a higher Rarity level, which gives you more money. You can choose any seeds under Flowers, Vegetable and Trees to combine. This calls for a proper research and see what makes what!

The process is fun, and the extra money is added bonus. The plants are really cute as well! You'll have the normal ones that look just like actual plants, and you'll have the fantasy ones like Chick Peas that has little chicks on the plant, or Blood Tomatoes that has blue leaves and a bat flying next to it!

I think it is one of the best collecting game I've come across for a while!

Once you have enough money, it's time to go shopping!


Shops:



Players can buy more seeds (for the garden), treats and clothes from the shops. There are limited edition clothes, seasonal and adventure outfits. Even lollies have limited editions too.

All items bought can be accessed at where they are used.


Wardrobe:



As Teddy is neither a boy nor a girl, it's up to the players how they want to dress Teddy.

I assume that there is a new Seasonal outfit per month. We received January outfit by accident as the Nintendo 2DS had a wrong date and time on, but the Kimono was very pretty! July's outfit is is all about Summer seaside or pool side fun!

Adventure Outfit will be related to a country, or you can also get a pirate outfit! Once an Adventure outfit is completed, a message will pop up to tell you to dress Teddy up and bring it to the Station for an adventure!


Station:


When Teddy is dressed up in an Adventure outfit and visit the Station, Teddy and the player will be taken on a ride to the relevant country for tour. We went to The Netherlands and Teddy had an amusing shot to add to his Travel Album!


Notebooks:




The Notebooks section stores information about Teddy, collections, your answers to Teddy's questions and video clips and photos taken of Teddy.


amiibo:
Mario, Peach, Luigi, Bowser and Toad amiibo figurines will work with Teddy Together. Once a day one of the 5 amiibo figurine will become a special amiibo, and once scanned will give the player bonus coins.


Safety:
Teddy Together is created with child safety in mind. Although the child will tell Teddy a lot of things, Nintendo has clearly stated in their Parents FAQ that this information is not collected by any means. The game does not support any online features nor communications, and if a child wants to introduce Teddy to someone else, they will just pass their handheld console to that other player. You can read more in the FAQ about children's online safety.


Overall:
Teddy Together is a really adorable game, and both the kids couldn't resist Teddy's cuteness! It is well looked after by the 3 of us, although since the game is installed in Clay's 2DS, Clay is its main companion, and he has been practising his reading and writing skills with Teddy!

We love the graphics, and love the different things we can do with Teddy. The mini games are really fun, and it's not completely detached from the main game (you'll need to care for Teddy to earn stars so that you can do gardening, which earns you money to buy things for Teddy. And you'll need to cook to feed Teddy), so even if you are playing the mini games, you know that you are still playing Teddy Together.

I especially like it that they taught children that Teddy is a toy, hence isn't a boy nor a girl, and you can dress it up in any way you like. This encourage children to be as creative as they want to be and not limit themselves by the sex of their companion.

The only thing I think will make it even better is to allow children to change to voice and tone Teddy has, so that it speaks to them in the way they imagine their teddies do. 

Overall a trustworthy, fun and educational game for preschoolers to play.