Tomodachi Life

Tomodachi Life, known in Japan as Tomodachi Collection, is a series of social simulation video games developed and published by Nintendo. The games feature customizable casts of Mii avatars who populate an island, autonomously forming relationships and requesting help with problems while the player serves as an external observer.

The series began with the Nintendo DS title Tomodachi Collection (2009). Originally conceptualized in 2005 as a derivative version of the Game Boy Color game Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu (2000), the title's development stalled when its preliminary character-creation system was adopted for the Wii console to create the Miis. The game released solely in Japan.

The series made its international debut with the release of Tomodachi Life (2013) on the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo spent a year localizing the game for Western markets, adapting regional dialogue, cultural imagery, and currency to suit European and North American audiences. Ahead of the game's worldwide release, an online controversy emerged regarding the inability of Miis to enter same-sex relationships. Nintendo ultimately apologized for this absence, and pledged to add more inclusive customization for Miis if they chose to make a sequel.

Following a decade-long series hiatus, said sequel was released as Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (2026) for the Nintendo Switch. Among other customization additions, players are able to modify their Miis' romantic preferences, permitting same-sex relationships. Living the Dream deviates from prior entries in having Miis roam the island freely and its emphasis on user-generated content.

Between the releases of Life and Living the Dream, other Mii-centric titles released that included simulation elements. These included the social networkMiitomo on smartphones, and the role-playing gameMiitopia (both 2016) on the 3DS; the latter title received a remaster on the Switch in 2021. The main Tomodachi Life series has collectively sold 18.49 million copies worldwide as of August 2026; Living the Dream is its best-selling entry, having sold over 8 million units. The series has received praise from critics for its comedy and presentation, while opinions towards its core gameplay have been more mixed. Tomodachi Life on the 3DS amassed a cult following among players in the years following its release.