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Tomodachi Life, known in Japan as Tomodachi Collection: New Life[a], and in South Korea as Friend Gathering Apartment[b], is a social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS, which is the sequel to the Japan-exclusive Nintendo DS title Tomodachi Collection. The game follows the day-to-day interactions of Mii characters, referred to as "islanders", as they build relationships, solve problems, and interact with the player.
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| Tomodachi Life | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Nintendo SPD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Noriyuki Sato Ryutaro Takahashi Eisaku Nakae |
| Producer(s) | Yoshio Sakamoto |
| Designer(s) | Mai Okamoto |
| Programmer(s) | Takuya Yokota |
| Composer(s) | Daisuke Matsuoka Asuka Ito |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Social simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-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 tenth best-selling 3DS game of all time.[1]
The game received mixed reviews; it was praised for its gameplay and overall charm, but criticized for its simplistic minigames and lack of general user control. It introduced new features for Mii customizability that would be expanded upon in future Nintendo games, such as Miitopia and Miitomo, which allow for more complex outfits for Miis, and in the Switch port of Miitopia, makeup that is customizable.
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Tomodachi Life begins with the player naming their island and creating their "lookalike", which is intended to represent their personal Mii. The Miis are given unique personalities based on the player's choices for their stats, such as walking speed, speech, and quirkiness.[2] The player is prompted to give their lookalike food to eat and a friend to interact with. The Town Hall will then open, allowing the player to create more Miis. Miis can perform various actions, including interactions such as friendship, romance, conflicts, and other social events. Over time, the player unlocks more locations, clothes, food, and things for the Miis to interact with, such as items to give them and special interiors for their apartment.[3][unreliable source]
The player is rewarded with in-game currency by interacting with the islanders, resolving their problems, and giving gifts. In-game currency can also be gained by going to the Fountain for donations from the islanders and selling non-interactive items gained from Miis at the Pawn Shop.[4]
Tomodachi Life is set in real time and encourages players to play at different times of the day to observe different interactions with islanders. Over time, the islanders will interact and develop friendships with each other at random intervals. If two islanders of the opposite gender and similar age interact, one can confess their love to the other, which, when successful, sets them as their "Sweetheart", or "Special Someone" in the European version. This can lead to marriage between the two islanders after further interactions.[5] Eventually, if a married couple is on the island and the player allows the feature, the player will receive a phone call from either the mother or the father, informing them that they had a baby, and allowing them to name it and edit its face. After this, the married couple can ask the player to babysit the child, which will start a minigame that changes depending on the child's age. After the child grows up, the player can either move them to the apartments or send them off via StreetPass to appear on other players' islands as an explorer.[6][unreliable source]
Local and online capabilities
The player can unlock special items and transport islanders using SpotPass and StreetPass. Nintendo would release free SpotPass items monthly to all players that had SpotPass enabled, which would be purchasable in "Import Wear".[7][unreliable source] On May 16, 2016, the last "Import Item" was released, discontinuing the service.[8][unreliable source] Using StreetPass, the player can choose a specific item to give to players nearby their Nintendo 3DS System, which is also used to transport a married couple's child to other islands as a traveler.[9] Using the Nintendo 3DS Image Share service, players could share screenshots taken in game to social networks such as Twitter or Facebook.[10][permanent dead link]
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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 soon going to be released to the public. The first color showcased in the direct was a mint white edition 3DS LL,[11] and the second was included as a part of a hardware bundle with Tomodachi Collection: New Life included, designed with the game in mind.[12] In another Nintendo Direct broadcast on April 3, 2013, Nintendo revealed more details related to the 3DS sequel and introduced software used to transfer Mii data from the original game to the sequel called Tomodachi Collection: New Life Mii Moving Software, which could be downloaded from the Nintendo eShop.[13][14] On April 18, 2013, the game was released in Japan.
Western release
A western release for Tomodachi Collection: New Life 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.[15][16] 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.[17]
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.[18] 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.[19] The game was bundled with two Nintendo eShop download codes for a 'Welcome version' demo, which could be given to friends.[20]
Former Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto stated "development began when we started thinking about if it was possible to make a DS game which players could not only enjoy inside of the game, but one which could also trigger communication outside of it".[21] Bill Trinen, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Nintendo described the idea of Tomodachi Life's interaction system in an interview with Polygon by using the following scenario: "What if everybody you say [sic] in those funny videos on YouTube were actually people that you knew, and those crazy things that were happening were happening to people that you knew?" Trinen also said that Nintendo is "always looking for ways to create gameplay that appeals to the entire world".[22] One of the most difficult challenges for the game was localization, with minigames such as sumo wrestling being replaced with football in the US. According to Ryutaro Takahashi, director of the project, "the dialogue of the characters for example is not just simple translation from Japanese; we have reviewed it so that it feels more natural." Trinen remarked that the idea behind developing Tomodachi Life was similar to Animal Crossing's development, in which the question "How do you bring those key moments to live in a way that's relevant to the American consumer?" led the development process.[23]
Promotion
On April 10, 2014, Nintendo released a Tomodachi Life Direct to their official 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". The Direct goes into detail about Tomodachi Life and the idea of creating Mii characters of anyone.[24][better source needed]
On the American Tomodachi Life website, certain Miis of famous 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.[25]
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| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 72.36%[26] |
| Metacritic | 71/100[27] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 9/10[28] |
| Edge | 7/10[29] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 7/10[30] |
| Eurogamer | 5/10[31] |
| Game Informer | 7/10[32] |
| GameRevolution | 3/5[33] |
| GameSpot | 7/10[34] |
| GamesRadar+ |   [35] |
| GamesTM | 5/10[36] |
| GameTrailers | 6/10[37] |
| IGN | 8.4/10[38] |
| Joystiq |  [39] |
| Nintendo Life |   [40] |
| Nintendo World Report | 9/10[41] |
| Official Nintendo Magazine | 80%[42] |
| Pocket Gamer | [43] |
| Polygon | 7.5/10[44] |
| USgamer | 4/5[45] |
Reception
Tomodachi Life holds a rating of 71/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, (72.36% on GameRankings) indicating "mixed or average reviews".[26][27] IGN gave the game a score of 8.4, calling it "a surprisingly funny and rewarding experience", and The New York Times called Tomodachi Life "comedic".[38][46] Polygon gave Tomodachi Life a 7.5 out of 10, praising its likeability despite certain aspects being repetitive.[44] GamesRadar gave the game 4 out of 5 stars, praising its weird humor and relaxing gameplay, whilst criticizing the minigames for being too simple.[35] GameTrailers gave the game a score of 6.0, stating "the pervasive sense of quirkiness in Tomodachi Life works, but can't sustain the entire game."[37] Similarly, Martin Robinson with Eurogamer noted "Tomodachi Life is a simple, throwaway toy, then—one with plenty of cute tricks, but not quite enough of them to stop you from tossing it aside after a handful of hours."[31]
The game introduced unique mechanics that were noted for its charm and humor, such as a "dream" state that players could enter when an islander was asleep. According to Takahashi, this would have been difficult to implement in the west without the westernization.[21]
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 March 31, 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.[50]
Controversy
Following the announcement of a worldwide release, controversy arose concerning the impossibility of same-sex relationships. 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.[51] 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.[52] In reality, fans had been making their Miis appear to be a different gender, which did not change the Miis' pronouns while a workaround.[53] They were angered by the lack of such relationships, starting campaigns to add in the option.[54]
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",[55] and because it would require significant development alterations which would not be able to be released as a post-game patch. The company later apologized 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."[56][57]
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A stage based on Tomodachi Life appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[58]
WarioWare Gold features a Tomodachi Life–themed microgame, as a fast-paced minigame.[59] The microgame is based on picking a foreign object, like a leaf, off a Mii's face. The items picked off the Mii's face are similar to the actual items that can be found on a Mii. The game's text-to-speech voice is also similar to the one used in Tomodachi Life.
Miitomo, a social networking mobile app for iOS and Android devices, was released in March 2016. The app was created by the same core team who developed Tomodachi Life, and features very similar ideas. Miitomo was discontinued on May 9, 2018.[60]
Miitopia, a role-playing video game which similarly uses Miis as in-game characters, was released for the 3DS in Japan in 2016, followed by a worldwide release the next year.[61] In a Nintendo Direct on February 17, 2021, it was announced that an enhanced port of Miitopia was being made for on the Nintendo Switch.[62] This port was later released on May 21, 2021.[63]
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- Animal Crossing – A Nintendo franchise with similar mechanics, albeit in a more laid-back tone
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