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Thoughts on Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

For those unfamiliar, Tomodachi Life is a series of games where you take care of a small island populated by characters you are in full control of creating (they are called Miis, and they have a very simple, flexible design). It's like a Tomogatchi, basically. You create a Mii using the vast customisation offered to you, place them in your island, and take care of their wants and needs. It's a power fantasy.

Wee babby Kyle loved Tomodachi Life back in 2014, so I was very excited to see if this new one holds up at all. It's completely uncensored, so I had my hopes up. I like having complete and total freedom in my games because I'm a bit of a control freak, and I don't like being pigeonholed into a specific method of playing. The one negative is that I had to download an emulator, and I do not like downloading software on my PeeCee. It's a bit choppy sometimes, but Ryujinx holds up decently -- at least for now, we'll see what happens when I reach the maximum amount of 70 Miis on the island.

The game is good. It's as sandbox-y as I would have liked it to be, but that's also to its detriment. The game expects you to do everything, and that's fine for when you're making the Miis, but it can be difficult to create custom food and treasure for them (you're essentially given a small blank canvas to draw what you want on). You can even make items to put in the environment, and I've had fun with that, but it's so time consuming to make anything. You have to draw it out or clumsily stamp a bunch of existing items to create something, and if you're not good at drawing (me) then there's only so much you can do, especially with the environmental objects, where there's a bit of UV mapping involved. It has the same problem as that Animal Crossing game from covid times, in that it piles responsibility on the player, but doesn't actually offer them much in the way of complex game systems to motivate them to create.

The first character I made in the game was me, obviously. I think self-inserting is a little cringe, but that's sort of what you're meant to do in the game. Then I made my Chinese friend. Then I made Tony Soprano. I eventually got married to Chie from Persona 4 (best girl) and had two lovely children. I have about 50 miis, and most of them are fictional characters. I actually started dipping into OCs, mainly female ones because I'm a man of equality and I don't have as many fictional women I want to make. I made a blue grandma with fluffy white hair and teardrop eyebrows and called her Rainy-chan, and I made a spider lady, followed by a bean lady (I just put a PNG of beans on toast right on her head). I love my little guys. Rodney Dangerfield is married to Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction. My Chinese friend is married to a hideous gooner character I dare not speak of. Carmela Soprano and the Nostalgia Critic hooked up. Tony Soprano and my WEB CORPUS friend even got hitched. I'll grab some screenshots next time I play and show them here, because this game is basically a dollhouse, and you really need to reach in and see it all to get it.

This is my island so far. I sort of just made it all up as I went along, as you can see. The bottom left contains the low-class desert area, with mud huts containing any non-white residents. This is an important containment zone to make sure the other miis feel completely comfortable in a high-trust society, and you'll notice large wind turbines near the exits to ensure any unwanted invaders are swiftly blown away. The upper right is the wealthy district, where the miis who own mansions reside. There is also a small cul-de-sac for any mii who wants to live a simple suburban life. Centred in the middle of the island is the main shopping and residential districts, a completely walkable city that even has a public park and a boardwalk area down south! The upper right is undeveloped, and is a containment zone for newer residents, with the exception of a hedge maze. Finally, the bottom right is the luxurious Sakura forest, where only the most loved of my miis live. I've seen people go really overboard with how they've styled their city, but I value my time, and don't wish to paint out apartment block buildings pixel by pixel. I'm autistic, yes, but I can't bring myself to spend that much time on tedious videogame tasks.

The game does not cater to the people who love autistic amounts of detail anyway, because this island is extremely close to reaching the maximum number of items allowed. It is unfortunate, as a compulsive fencer and gardener, to restrain myself and only plant what is necessary to hint at detail. Nevertheless, this is likely the most in-depth customisation put into a Nintendo game. I would show you my custom made items, but they are mostly unimpressive and not very large in quantity anyways. My most impressive creation is a hairty scrotum on a plate that I force my miis to eat.

This is my own mii. It does not resemble me too much, but it's close enough I think. You can get a general idea of how I see myself through this image, but don't read too much into it please. The clothing options in this game are quite impressive, I must say, but my one criticism would be the abundance of clothes that are only made to suit one purpose, such as large animal costumes or a mariachi outfit. Again, Nintendo mostly wants you to make your own clothing, which can be hard and time-consuming with the finnicky painting system they have implemented.

Here is my Chinese friend with a turtle. She lives with her horrendous coomer husband, her abhorrent gooner daughter, and some other characters I can't recall. I like my Chinese friend. She is my only online companion I have currently. I enjoy messing with her by putting her through hell in this.

The miis in this game are fun to just simply observe. It does get a little stale after a while, but it's fun while it lasts. The only current enjoyment I get out of it is when they say something that is oddly fitting for the situation or the character. Otherwise, it's a bit too shallow for me. I enjoy the game, but I feel as if i've gone through all the existing interactions and scenarios, which is worrying for a game I've only been periodically playing for roughly a month or two. I think it is time to move on, and revisit it at a later date. In the meantime, see if you can identify all the Miis on my island, based on the image at the top of this page! Identify OCs and real life acquaintances. In return I will give you nothing.