Tomodachi Life

Tomodachi Life, known in Japan as Tomodachi Collection: New Life, 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 converse with the player. Tomodachi Life begins with the player naming their island and creating their lookalike, which is usually 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.

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. The player is awarded 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. 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, which can lead to marriage after further interactions. 

Eventually, if a married couple is on the island, 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 islands as an explorer.