Tomodachi Life, known in Japan as Tomodachi Collection: New Life,[a] and in South Korea as Friend Gathering Apartment,[b] 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, often referred to as "islanders", as they build relationships and solve problems, all overseen by the player.
The game was released on April 18, 2013 in Japan; June 6, 2014 in North America and Europe; June 7, 2014 in Australia; and July 17, 2014 in South Korea. It sold over 400 thousand units in Japan in its debut week and has sold 6.72 million copies worldwide, making it the eleventh best-selling 3DS game of all time. The game received mixed-to-favorable reviews; it was praised for its humor and overall charm, but criticized for its repetitive gameplay and lack of user control.
A screenshot of a Mii, who is wearing a hamster costume and currently has a problem, inside their apartment
Tomodachi Life is a social simulation game[1] that centers on the everyday lives of Mii characters who live on a remote island, the player being their creator and omniscient observer.[2][3] The player can either create Miis from scratch or import them from the 3DS's built-in Mii Maker application.[4] While constructing Miis, players assign them a distinct personality by selecting various temperament attributes in a dedicated menu.[5][6] Miis speak through a robotic text-to-speech voice that can also be manually altered.[7]
Gameplay begins with the player naming their island and creating a Mii "lookalike", who is intended to visually resemble the player.[8][9] The Miis, including the player's lookalike, together populate several apartments located in the Mii Apartments building.[7][8] By continously adding Miis and completing miscellaneous objectives, additional buildings, shops, and attractions throughout the island become unlocked. These include a clothing vendor, amusement park, observation tower, café, and other venues that Miis can occasionally visit in their own time.[3][7][10]
Tomodachi Life is open-ended, having no clear end condition.[11] Instead, the game's primary objective is for players to continuously maintain each of their Miis' happiness, which is indicated by a personalized meter.[8][12] 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.[3][13][8] Appeasing a Mii increases their happiness gauge, which awards the player with in-game currency usable for purchasing items. This currency is also obtained elsewhere through daily donations from the Miis and selling items at a pawn shop.[8] Each Mii has a "level" that goes up every time their personal happiness meter is filled, upon which the player must gift them a present.[8]
Miis have the ability to form social bonds autonomously, largely outside of the player's control.[14] Miis can become friends with one another.[15] fight amongst each other, and the player can assist in remedying the conflict. Whether the Miis ultimately reconcile is left to chance.[8] If two Miis of the opposite gender and similar age are friends for a sufficient duration,[5][8] one can harbor romantic feelings for the other. If the player approves of the relationship, the Mii will confess their love, and if successful the two are paired as a couple. This can lead to marriage after further interactions.[9][16][17] 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][18]
Development
Tomodachi Life was originally released as Tomodachi Collection: New Life in Japan as the sequel to Tomodachi Collection. On March 13, 2013, Nintendo announced in their latest Nintendo Direct that along with two new special edition 3DS LL[c] colors, a sequel to Tomodachi Collection was going to be released.[20][21] In another Nintendo Direct broadcast on April 3, 2013, Nintendo revealed more details related to the 3DS sequel, including the ability to import Mii data from the original game to the sequel.[22] On April 18, 2013, the game was released in Japan. It released alongside a special edition Mint x White Nintendo 3DS XL, with speech bubbles representing the game.[23]
Worldwide release
A release for Tomodachi Collection: New Life to other regions was heavily considered during and after the game's release in Japan. On January 29, 2014, Satoru Iwata told The Wall Street Journal that "the company is now working on the right balance of localizing Japan-oriented games just enough so that foreign audiences can enjoy them", hinting directly at an overseas launch for the game.[24] Although Nintendo still had not announced the release of Tomodachi Collection: New Life for regions outside Japan at the time, in late March 2014, Nintendo of Europe launched a survey containing multiple screenshots of what appeared to be localized versions of the game in English, French, and Spanish.[25]
On April 10, 2014, Nintendo announced in a Nintendo Direct that Tomodachi Collection: New Life's localization would be releasing as Tomodachi Life in North America and Europe.[26] 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.[27] The game was bundled with two Nintendo eShop download codes for a "Welcome Version" demo, which could be given to friends.[28]
Producer Yoshio Sakamoto, best known for his work on the Metroid series, stated that development begun when the team considered making a game both fun to play and entertaining to inform others about.[29]Bill Trinen, senior director of product marketing for Nintendo, said that the company's focus in developing the title was to increase its worldwide appeal outside of Japan.[30] One of the most difficult challenges during production was regional localization, with minigames such as sumo wrestling being replaced with football in the US. Trinen remarked that localizing Tomodachi Life was similar to Animal Crossing in that determining how to market the title to American consumers heavily guided the development process.[31] However, in an interview with IGN, Trinen noted that the word "tomodachi"—literally "friend" in Japanese—was retained in the game's overseas name to elicit intrigue and make itself distinct.[30] In North America, it released alongside the Sea Green color variant for the Nintendo 2DS.[23][32]
Promotion
On April 10, 2014, Nintendo released a Tomodachi Life Direct to their YouTube channel, featuring the Mii characters of Nintendo's staff, such as Bill Trinen, Reggie Fils-Aimé, and Satoru Iwata, in the style of the game's "Mii News" broadcast. Other Nintendo employees and Nintendo characters are used to demonstrate the gameplay mechanics, such as Eiji Aonuma, creator of The Legend of Zelda series, conversing with Princess Zelda. The Direct goes into detail about Tomodachi Life and the idea of creating Mii characters of anyone.[33]
On the American Tomodachi Life website, certain Miis of celebrities were shown that could be added into the game with the QR codes attached to them, such as Christina Aguilera and Shaquille O'Neal, each including their own custom clothing.[34] Nintendo of Australia collaborated with singer and songwriter Dami Im to promote the game, with episodes featuring her playing Tomodachi Life with her Mii in a YouTube series.[35]
Tomodachi Life holds a rating of 71/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, (72.36% on GameRankings) indicating "mixed or average reviews".[36][37]
Most critics commended the title's humor as quirky and unique. Both The New York Times and Jose Otero of IGN called Tomodachi Life comedic.[17][46] 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 comedy to that of the WarioWare and Rhythm Heaven series.[14]Polygon's Griffin McElroy praised Tomodachi Life's humor as its triumph.[15] Many hailed the game's status as an informal crossover, with players incentivized to make Miis of friends, celebrities, and fictional characters, as compounding its comedy.[d] However, Eurogamer's Martin Robinson felt that the surreal humor could not single-handedly remedy Tomodachi Life's tedious gameplay.[18]
An overall lack of deliberate user agency was criticized, and some felt Tomodachi Life's core gameplay quickly became monotonous. Many reviewers perceived the player's inability to directly control which specific Miis would enter romantic relationships as jeopardizing the game's focus on imitating real-life interactions.[15][40][43] Critics widely lamented the impossibility of same-sex relationships as needlessly restrictive for player freedom.[e] Martin Robinson critiqued the gameplay loop of making islanders happy as exceedingly trite.[18] Some critics thought the minigames were too rudimentary,[14][43] and Griffin McElroy criticized some of them as mechanically frustrating.[15] Daniel Bischoff of Game Revolution felt Tomodachi Life's simple control scheme, with most actions requiring no more than tapping the 3DS's touchscreen, led to an unengaging and detached experience.[7] Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica opined that Tomodachi Life would better fit as a smartphone game, owing to its basic controls.[4]
Tomodachi Life was a best-seller in the Japanese video game market during the week of its release, selling about 404,858 units.[47] By September 2014, its global sales reached 3.12 million units.[48]As of March31,2023[update], Nintendo has sold 6.72 million units of the game worldwide,[49] which made it one of the best selling games on the 3DS.
Same-sex relationships
Following the announcement of a worldwide release, the absence of same-sex relationships led to significant fan controversy. In May 2013, a rumor emerged that a bug in the original Japanese version of the game that enabled such relationships was patched by Nintendo.[50] This was refuted by Nintendo in a statement made April 2014, explaining that same-sex relationships were never possible, and in fact a different issue was fixed.[51] Nevertheless, many players remained angered by the lack of such relationships, starting online campaigns to add in the option.[52]
Despite this, Nintendo stated that it would not be possible to add same-sex relationships to the game, as they "never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of the game", and because it would require significant development alterations which would not be able to be released as a post-game patch.[53] The company later apologized following fan backlash, and stated that if they were to create a third game in the series they would "strive to design a gameplay experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players."[54]
During a Nintendo Direct livestream on January 29, 2026, for the third entry in the series, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, it was confirmed that same-sex relationships would be possible, with additional options to make Miis non-binary or aromantic.[55]
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.[56]
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