Last week Nintendo released a direct all about the new Tomodachi Life Nintendo Switch game and I am super excited about it! I really enjoyed the 3DS version of the game when it came out, I had created all my Miis based on real-life people and it was interesting to see how their lives played out in this mini simulation. There was never a dull moment in my little Tomodachi Life and I even documented it on a Tumblr blog. Maybe I will revive it for the Switch game who knows?
So let’s get into what Nintendo have shared about the new Tomodachi Life because you know I have thoughts.
First off, when we create a Mii you can do it from scratch or you can use prompts. I am disappointed they did not show what the prompts were to create the Mii, I wonder if it is similar to the Sims where it asks questions and will set their personality based on the questions and randomise the appearance or if there are some questions which will help determine appearance? It will be interesting to see what they are.
One of the big new features in Mii creation is that we can now set the gender as non-binary. Some people may have issue with this but I think it is a huge move for Nintendo. You can also set dating preferences as well which is nice; it reminds me of when they added pronouns and relationship preferences in the Sims. It’s a small feature but allows for more realistic and inclusive gameplay which I am all for.
I assume we can also import Miis as we could for the 3DS, not sure how it would work here as the 3DS had a camera to scan QR codes but it could be similar to how you read QR codes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, by using the Nintendo app on your phone and linking to the game.
We can also create Miis which aren’t human? As they showed us a Teddy Bear Mii and an Alien in the direct. These are just regular Miis but with custom face paint and high voices which is fun. Probably not something I am into but people have been making crazy looking Miis since they were invented in the Wii days so I am looking forward to seeing what people create.
The other big feature they have for Miis are quirks which can be added to your character over time. I wonder if this works similar to the Sims, where your Miis develop quirks on their own, or if you can set them yourself. Most likely, I think it will unlock over time and then you can apply whatever quirks you want to your Miis. I am looking forward to seeing how it adds to their personalities.
While watching the gameplay, I was thinking about how weird it will be to control everything with the controllers verses the touch screen controls using the 3DS. And then I remembered that the Switch is touch screen but I think that’s something Nintendo forgot because they don’t utilise it very often so it’s essentially useless. I think if I remember, and the game supports it, it would be handy to use the touch screen for dragging and dropping characters around and potentially decorating but I will see how it feels when the game is released.
Also, I noticed that the design style for furniture in the game is very similar to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons style, which I am not mad about. I think it’s cute and I’m looking forward to seeing all the new furniture items we can decorate with. Similarly, the camera controls in the photo studio look like the ACNH controls but I am not complaining because then I don’t need to learn any new controls to take cute pics.
Another similarity to Animal Crossing was the island designing in the fact that it exists. Unlike Animal Crossing, the designing in this game seems to be grid based which is understandable but it also looks a bit clunky. And I imagine as the island expands, it will take some time for the changes to save and adjust, for example, if you are rearranging the whole island that is going to take some processing power. So we shall see how it is handled on the Switch. I am glad the island is fully customisable and am looking forward to seeing what people create.
With the island expansion, I will be interested to see how many total Miis you can have on the island. On the 3DS version, you could have a total of 100 Miis and they all lived in one big apartment block. In the Switch version of the game it looks like everyone starts out in their own individual house but you can then have Miis move in together and have a total of 8 in one apartment block. Which will be fun to see the different living situations. Personally, I am hoping you can have admin where you can separate and join households similar to the Sims, I know that the Miis can decide things on their own but sometimes you don’t want that so it will be good if we have options to change how they’re living. But there was not much information on this.
One thing that I didn’t like in the direct was how slow the Miis were speaking. I just thought they were taking an age to say anything but I think you can change the speed they talk at because you could in the 3DS game. I remember having most of my Miis talk fast because I live in the Gilmore Girls age of dialog – if it’s not 100 words per minute it’s too slow lol. I imagine the speaking was slower just so everyone could understand the direct.
I also am disappointed we didn’t get any information on possible mulitplayer or WiFi game play. The 3DS game did not have any multiplayer functionality that I remember, but we did have StreetPass back then and when you passed someone in real life you would have one of their Miis come be a tourist on your island and it was pretty cool. I wonder if they would do something like that on Switch or some sort of trading functionality? I feel like they have to do something.
We didn’t get any information on how or if the game was going to differ between the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 versions which I’m surprised about, I feel like they would have given us something for that. Especially since the game is releasing in April so this is information we should have soon.
Also something which is kind of fun is that the Nintendo UK direct and Nintendo America direct had different voiceovers and characters. I think it was done purposely to choose names and accents that appealed to the different regions but I like that it’s a fun Easter Egg. So they’ve clearly put time and effort into producing these.
Overall, it was a solid direct and showcased a lot of what the new Tomodachi Life game has to offer. I will definitely be picking it up in April and am looking forward to seeing how my Miis develop over time. My main hope is that there is a lot more variety in the game, I feel like it didn’t take long for the original game to get repetitive. And I know there is a limit to how many different scenarios/storylines can play out but I hope that there is a decent amount of content that goes into the game that it won’t happen for a long time. Especially if you play daily. But that’s something we only know once the game is out and we can play it. Until then, I will continue to work on my hotel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
You can check out the Tomodachi Life Nintendo direct below:
Courtney's Blog 