Because Nintendo couldn’t do anything as normal as just release a trailer with a press release, today greeted us with a Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Direct, in which the Japanese giant revealed lots more details about its upcoming threequel to 2009’s DS Mii-based social sim game Tomodachi Collection and its 2014 3DS sequel, Tomodachi Life. We’ve picked out the most interesting news, and you can watch the whole Direct below.
The Tomodachi games are all about the social lives of Miis, the user-created characters best known from the Nintendo Wii, that still sort of persist today. Think The Sims, but with much bigger heads and far more complicated interpersonal issues.
An all new Mii creator
Living the Dream isn’t reinventing the wheel, once again having you design your own residents for an island by designing Miis. You can either have the game generate their look by asking you a series of questions, or make use of a far more in-depth character creator than we’ve seen for Miis in the past. There are ear-shape choices for the cartoon creations.
You can choose ‘dating preferences’ and be non-binary
Tomodachi fans have long been hoping that this third entry in the series will finally introduce same-sex relationships, and a promise that during character creation you can choose “dating preferences” confirms that. You can also choose to be non-binary as well as male or female.
You can medal in everyone’s relationships
At one point during the Direct we see the player character deep in thought in her house. She’s musing about matchmaking a local doctor with a resident jester, and you can suggest a talking point to help the pair hit it off. In this example, the unlikely subject of “monster trucks” is typed in, and despite this they do manage to find something in common.
There’s a bonkers news network for the island
MiiNews Network provides updates for what’s going on in and around the island on which all your Miis live, although it appears to be providing some deeply surreal offerings. Clips shown in the Direct include a trip through time for a research crew searching for the origins of life, and news of a “nearby faucet that appeared to be dispensing Patrick,” as a man emerges from an outdoor tap. Which makes it slightly more grounded and realistic than Fox News.
You can make your house look like a supermarket
Home decor is of course available for making your Miis’ homes unique. The options on offer seem pretty vast, with the Direct showing off that you can make a house look like a supermarket with shelves packed with produce, or a library complete with hundreds of books.
Patrick seems like a douche
Patrick appears as the generic love interest during the trailer. But look at him. What a douche. Thankfully, after he turns down our main character, she instead starts to notice just what a lovely chap that jester Hugh Morris seems to be. She’s in love! But she matched Hugh Morris with Dr. Winters! LOVE TRIANGLE! And they force him to choose! Well, gross, and it serves our character right that she completely loses out.
Oh lord, you can design your own ‘animals,’ buildings and clothing
Who’s ready for an island made of dicks? That’s what Nintendo’s apparently inviting with the ability to draw your own creations and have them appear in the game. This can take the form of a pet (a pet dick), designs on clothing (a dick shirt), or the ground and outsides of buildings (dicks dicks dicks).
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is out April 16
Well, there’s not a lot to add there, other than to note that it’s coming to both the original Switch and the Switch 2.