Tomodachi Life
2013 video game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tomodachi Life, known in Japan as Tomodachi Collection: New Life,[a] is a social simulation game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the sequel to the Japan-exclusive Nintendo DS title Tomodachi Collection (2009). The game follows the day-to-day interactions of Mii characters residing on an island as they build relationships and solve problems, all overseen by the player.
Ryutaro Takahashi
Eisaku Nakae
| Tomodachi Life | |
|---|---|
North American cover art | |
| Developer | Nintendo SPD |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Directors | Noriyuki Sato Ryutaro Takahashi Eisaku Nakae |
| Producer | Yoshio Sakamoto |
| Designer | Mai Okamoto |
| Programmers | Masanori Nakagawa Masanori Unno Takaomi Ueno Masaki Wada |
| Composers |
|
| Series | Tomodachi |
| Platform | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release | |
| Genre | Social simulation |
| Mode | Single-player |
Much of Tomodachi Collection's staff returned to produce the sequel, including directors Ryutaro Takahashi and Eisaku Nakae. The directorial foundation for Tomodachi Life was set to be a more focused and grounded process compared to its predecessor. The team sought to establish a sociable and warm atmosphere, wanting to inspire players to observe their real-world relationships more positively through the Miis. Art director Mai Okamoto wanted to elevate the series' visuals, and worked closely with returning programmers Nakae and Masanori Nakagawa to develop the game's surreal situational comedy.
The game was initially released as Tomodachi Collection: New Life on April 18, 2013, in Japan. Unlike its predecessor, Nintendo rereleased the game overseas, and undertook major localization efforts to appeal to differing regions. Under the title Tomodachi Life, it released on June 6, 2014, in North America and Europe; June 7, in Australia; and July 17, in South Korea. It sold over 400 thousand units in Japan in its debut week and sold 6.72 million copies worldwide by March 2025, making it one of the best-selling 3DS games. The game received generally mixed reviews; it was praised for its humor and overall charm, but critiqued for its repetitive gameplay and lack of user control. An inability for Miis to have same-sex relationships was criticized by reviewers and the subject of online controversy. In the years following its release, some publications have deemed Tomodachi Life a cult classic among audiences.
A sequel for the Nintendo Switch, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, is scheduled for release on April 16, 2026. Among other customization additions, the player can manually select their Miis' romantic preferences, permitting same-sex pairings.
Gameplay
Tomodachi Life is a social simulation game[1] that centers on the everyday lives of user-customizable Mii avatars who reside on an island, the player being their creator and omnipotent observer.[2] The player can either create Miis from scratch, import them from the 3DS's built-in Mii Maker application, or scan a specialized QR code attached to an existing Mii.[3][4] While constructing Miis, the player assigns them a personality by selecting various temperament attributes.[5][6] Miis speak through a robotic text-to-speech voice that can be manually altered.[7][8] Much of the game's interactivity, such as talking with the Miis and visiting island landmarks, comes in the form of physically tapping a desired target on the 3DS' touchscreen.[7] Time on the island passes parallel to that set on the 3DS' internal clock.[9]
Gameplay begins with the player naming the island and creating a Mii "lookalike", who is intended to visually resemble the player.[10][11] The Miis, including the player's lookalike, populate several apartment units located in the Mii Apartments building,[7][10] which is limited to 100 residents.[3] By continuously adding Miis and completing miscellaneous objectives, additional buildings, shops, and attractions throughout the island become unlocked. These include food and clothing vendors, an amusement park, a concert hall for Miis to perform live music, a café, and other venues that Miis can occasionally visit in their own time.[4][7][10] In-universe news broadcasts periodically occur to inform the player of recent events on the island.[12]
Tomodachi Life has no definitive end condition.[12][13] The player's primary objective is to continuously maintain each of their Miis' happiness, which is indicated by a personalized meter.[10][14] At random intervals, Miis will notify the player of a particular problem they have. These issues range from requesting food or clothing, soliciting relationship guidance, and asking to compete in short minigames.[10][8] Appeasing a Mii increases their happiness gauge, awarding the player with in-game currency usable for purchasing items. This currency is also obtained through daily donations from the Miis and selling valuables at a pawn shop. Each Mii has a "level" that goes up every time their personal happiness meter is completely filled, upon which the player must give them a present.[10] The player can optionally eavesdrop on the Miis' dreams while they sleep at night.[15]
Miis can autonomously form friendships or engage in heated conflict, the latter of which the player can indirectly remedy.[10][16][17] If two Miis of the opposite gender and similar age are friends for a sufficient duration, one can harbor romantic feelings for the other.[5][10] Once the player approves of the relationship, the Mii will confess their love; if the confession is successful, the two are paired as a couple. This can lead to marriage after further interactions.[11][8][18] Married couples can have children; once the child grows up, the player can either move them to Mii Apartments or dispatch them via the 3DS' StreetPass mechanic to appear on other players' islands.[5]
Development and release
Tomodachi Life was developed by Nintendo SPD[10] as a direct sequel to Tomodachi Collection (2009). Many of Collection's key developers returned to work on New Life, including directors Rytaro Takahashi and Eisaku Nakae. In an interview with Satoru Iwata, Nakae stated that he consulted with programmers and designers to establish a clear directional foundation for New Life. This mentality was divergent from that used during Collection's development, which Nakae said was a less focused process.[19] As with its predecessor, the team wanted to give the Miis defined personalities to contrast their usual status as symbolic avatars. Producer Yoshio Sakamoto stated that a primary goal during development was to create "entertainment which is fun just by watching."[12]
Mai Okamoto served as New Life's art director after doing so for Collection. Okamoto sought to remaster Collection's visuals to elicit a "next-generation" aesthetic, but was particular about retaining the Miis' robotic voices, deeming them integral to the series' identity and players' perception of the characters. Incorporating surreal situational comedy was a primary goal of Okamoto, and to this end worked closely with returning programmers Nakae and Masanori Nakagawa.[19] One gameplay mechanic introduced in New Life is the ability for married Miis to have children. An issue encountered during conceptualization was the potential for the game to pair two children, or a child and an adult, with one another as the game's age specification system could not differentiate between the two groups. This was partially remedied with the addition of an "adult spray" item that is applied to an underage romantic partner that physically converts them into an adult. New Life's StreetPass functionality, allowing child Miis to visit others' islands, was conceived as a means for players to grow emotionally attached to their Miis. The development team incorporated an atmosphere of "familial love" to New Life. They hoped the title woud inspire players to see their real-world interactions with friends and family in a more genuine, positive light through the Miis.[19]
Localization
Nintendo had previously considered localizing Tomodachi Collection for Western markets. The plan was scrapped because the voice synthesizer used for the Miis, having been originally built for Japanese, could not replicate English phonemes. Concerns were also raised over a potential lack of cultural appeal overseas.[21] Sakamoto reportedly remained interested in the concept, believing localization could be revisited whenever more powerful hardware became available.[22] In late March 2014, Nintendo of Europe launched a survey containing multiple screenshots of what appeared to be localized versions of Tomodachi Collection: New Life in English, French, and Spanish, although an official worldwide release had yet to be confirmed.[23]
Bill Trinen, senior director of product marketing for Nintendo, said that a key focus of localization was to elevate the game's appeal for those beyond Japan without sacrificing its core gameplay.[24] Some cultural imagery native to Japan was adjusted; for example, a sumo wrestling minigame in the Japanese release was replaced with gridiron football in North America. Trinen recounted that the localization of Tomodachi Life for North America was approached similarly to that of the Animal Crossing series, in that determining how to market the title to customers in the region through a "relatable cultural context" heavily guided the process, which took over a year. In spite of this, the Japanese word "tomodachi"—literally "friend"—was retained in the game's overseas name to elicit intrigue and make itself distinct.[20][24] Sakamoto spoke of localization as requiring significant alterations to make "the [Miis] feel like real Western people." Such changes included replacing some of the Miis' body gestures with those found in foreign cultures, rendering local currencies, and extensively reviewing the translated dialogue to ensure it felt natural to speakers of other languages.[12] Sakamoto hoped that the game would resonate with players in North America and Europe as it did with those in Japan, stating, "I honestly do not know if Tomodachi Life can be similarly accepted overseas ... however I believe that the emotion of caring for and loving others is universal."[12]
Promotion
On March 13, 2013, Nintendo announced in a Nintendo Direct presentation that along with two new special edition 3DS LL[b] colors, a follow-up to Tomodachi Collection was to be released.[26][27] In another Nintendo Direct on April 3, 2013, Nintendo revealed more details on the 3DS sequel, titled Tomodachi Collection: New Life, including the ability to import Mii data from Collection to the sequel.[28]
On April 10, 2014, Nintendo released a dedicated Nintendo Direct presentation for Tomodachi Life to their YouTube channel, featuring Mii caricatures of Nintendo's staff, such as Bill Trinen, Reggie Fils-Aimé, and Satoru Iwata. Other Nintendo employees and fictional characters were used to demonstrate the gameplay mechanics, such as Eiji Aonuma, creator of The Legend of Zelda series, conversing with Princess Zelda.[29]
On the North American Tomodachi Life website, certain Miis of celebrities were shown that could be added into the game with QR codes attached to them, such as Christina Aguilera and Shaquille O'Neal, each including their own custom clothing.[30] Nintendo of Australia collaborated with singer-songwriter Dami Im to promote the game, with videos featuring her playing Tomodachi Life with her personalized Mii released via YouTube.[31]
Release
On April 18, 2013, Tomodachi Collection: New Life was released in Japan. It released alongside a special edition Mint x White Nintendo 3DS LL.[32] On the same day, a booklet in the style of a fashion catalog, featuring Miis wearing a variety of in-game clothing, was released as a promotional reward for Club Nintendo members.[33]
On April 10, 2014, Nintendo announced in a Nintendo Direct that Tomodachi Collection: New Life's localized edition would release as Tomodachi Life in North America and Europe.[34] In May 2014, a playable demo of the game was distributed to Platinum members of Club Nintendo in North America, the data of which could be transferred to the final version to unlock a bonus in-game item.[35] In North America, it released alongside the Sea Green color variant for the Nintendo 2DS on June 6, 2014.[32][36][37] Tomodachi Life would later release on June 7, 2014, in Australia[31] and July 17 in South Korea respectively.[38]
Reception
Critical response
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 71/100[39] |
| OpenCritic | 49% recommend[40] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 7/10[41] |
| Eurogamer | 5/10[15] |
| Famitsu | 9/10, 9/10, 9/10, 9/10[42] |
| Game Informer | 7/10[2] |
| GameRevolution | 3/5[7] |
| GameSpot | 7/10[5] |
| GamesRadar+ | 4/5[16] |
| IGN | 8.4/10[8] |
| Nintendo Life | 8/10[10] |
| Polygon | 7.5/10[17] |
Tomodachi Life received mixed or average reviews according to review aggregate site Metacritic.[39] Fellow aggregator OpenCritic gave the game a fair rating, with 49% of critics recommending the title.[40] In the years following Tomodachi Life's release, some publications described the game as having become a cult classic among audiences.[43][44][45][46] Scott McCrae of GamesRadar+ attributed its popularity to viral social media posts of numerous outlandish events occurring between Miis.[47]
Critics commended the title's humor as quirky and unique.[8][48] Polygon's Griffin McElroy and Nintendo Life's Damien McFarren applauded the game's humor as its triumph.[10][17] The various in-game cutscenes depicting the Miis interacting with one another were seen by GamesRadar+'s Henry Gilbert as amusing and "well-written," comparing the humor to that of the WarioWare and Rhythm Heaven series.[16] Jose Otero of IGN appreciated that the Miis communicate in intelligible speech, contrasting with the constructed language featured in fellow simulation series The Sims, feeling that the Miis' dialogue "adds an extra layer of context and dimension" to the virtual world.[8] Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica had conversely mixed opinions on the game's writing, believing it was targeted towards preteens and thus would not appeal to older age groups.[3] Many critics hailed the game's status as an informal crossover, with players incentivized to make Miis of friends, celebrities, and fictional characters, as compounding its situational comedy.[c] Robert Marrujo of Nintendojo enjoyed the exaggerated surreal humor, but noted it might not appeal to all players.[4] Eurogamer's Martin Robinson was more critical, opining that Tomodachi Life's quirky comedy could not single-handedly remedy what he felt were significant gameplay issues.[15]
An overall lack of user agency was criticized, and some felt Tomodachi Life's core gameplay quickly became monotonous. Many reviewers saw the player's inability to directly control which specific Miis, especially those based on non-fictional people, would enter romantic relationships as jeopardizing the game's focus on imitating real-life interactions.[17][41][51] Robinson critiqued the gameplay loop of making islanders happy as exceedingly trite.[15] A few reviewers thought the minigames were too rudimentary,[16][51] and McElroy criticized some of them as mechanically frustrating.[17] Daniel Bischoff of Game Revolution felt Tomodachi Life's simple control scheme of tapping the 3DS's touchscreen led to an unengaging and detached experience.[7] This view was shared by Machkovech, who thought that Tomodachi Life would better fit as a mobile game, owing to its basic controls.[3] McFarren acknowledged its potential lack of appeal for non-casual gamers, and also likened it to mobile titles.[10] Reviewers for Famitsu were more positive, perceiving the title's simplistic gameplay as comfortable.[42]
Same-sex relationships
The barring of same-sex relationships was lamented by critics as needlessly restrictive for player freedom.[d] Machkovech disapproved of this absence as thematically jarring given the game's emphasis on interpersonal connections, writing, "If you’re gay, Tomodachi [Life] will reinforce feelings of exclusion regularly."[3] Otero felt the lack of same-sex romance was unrepresentative of the cultural climate in the contemporary real world.[8]
Following the announcement of a worldwide release for Tomodachi Life, this impossibility led to controversy among fans online. In May 2013, a rumor emerged that a glitch in the original Japanese version of the game that enabled such relationships was patched by Nintendo.[52] This was refuted by Nintendo in a statement made in April 2014, explaining that same-sex relationships were never possible, and in fact a different issue regarding data corruption was fixed. The company attributed the misconception to the patch being released while Japanese players were sharing screenshots of attempts to circumvent the lack of same-gender romance by assigning Miis a particular sex, but giving them the physical appearance of the opposite sex. Trinen, in an interview with IGN, added that he felt the confusion was a mostly Western phenomenon: "As it was reported in Japanese, they had an understanding of what the [data corruption] issue was. The [same-sex workaround] wasn’t an issue. It was just a unique way that people were playing the game.”[53][54]
Nintendo formally stated that it would not be possible to add same-sex relationships to the game after the fact, as they "never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life," and because it would require significant code alterations unable to be released as a post-game patch.[55][56] The comment garnered backlash from LGBTQ+ players, with Tye Marini, a gay Nintendo fan, launching the #Miiquality campaign on social networks.[57] On HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, comedian John Oliver parodied the controversy with animations of various Nintendo characters in same-sex relationships.[58] The company later apologized, stating that if they were to create a third game in the series they would strive to make its gameplay more inclusive. Marini was reportedly pleased with the response, saying, "I don't believe [Nintendo is] a homophobic company at all ... I think that the exclusion of same-sex relationships was just an unfortunate oversight."[59]
Sales
Tomodachi Life was a best-seller in the Japanese video game market during the week of its release, selling 404,858 units.[60] By September 2014, its global sales reached 3.12 million units.[61] As of March 2025, Nintendo has sold 6.72 million units of Tomodachi Life worldwide, making it one of the best-selling titles for the 3DS.[62]
Sequel
On March 27, 2025, Nintendo announced a sequel, titled Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, via a Nintendo Direct presentation. The sequel is scheduled for release for the Nintendo Switch on April 16, 2026, and will also be compatible with Nintendo Switch 2.[63] During a dedicated Nintendo Direct livestream for the game on January 29, 2026, it was confirmed, alongside added customization features for Miis' physical appearances, that same-sex relationships would be allowed, with additional options to make Miis non-binary or aromantic.[64]
See also
- Animal Crossing – a Nintendo franchise with similar game design
