Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream released on April 16, pulling several students away from the stress of finals towards a chill, make-your-own utopia island.
The first Tomodachi Life was released in 2009 on all Nintendo handheld systems. Its popularity grew due to the usage of Miis—mini characters you could interact with on Wii platforms, each with their own customizable personality and looks.
Ryutaro Takahashi said that his reasonings for creating Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream began almost a decade ago, after he and Yoshio Sakamoto discussed how they had already “squeezed all they could” out of the 3DS platform for Tomodachi Life. The development team ultimately decided to focus on user customization rather than new content, because it would have “eventually turned into a quest for quantity.”
Some aspects added to Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream that several users enjoy is the unique customization of features for Miis. You can still choose the typical eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth, but you now have the opportunity to draw the face yourself or even import one from an image. With Tomodachi Life, many would try to create their favorite characters from TV shows or video games, but the results lacked definition and… well, character. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream provides a much more artistic approach to character design and allows for recognizable characters to be added, while still keeping that old, bitrate look to the game.
One of the few complaints against Tomodachi Life was its lack of user interference. You might have made Katniss, Peeta and Gale, expecting Katniss to obviously fall for her childhood best friend—but Peeta gets in the way of that. In Tomodachi Life, you would have to remove Katniss and try again with a different (and hopefully more sensible) Katniss Mii. Living the Dream allows you to intervene more directly with relationships, without smiting someone out of existence. Some luck still exists within these relationships, and love really will be found in the weirdest of places at times, but those chances are much lower this time around.
One of the main complaints, as is with every recently released Nintendo product, is the absurd pricing. Do not get me wrong, Nintendo games are a step above what most simulator or slice-of-life games could ever hope to achieve. The entire Mario Kart franchise has permanently affected the way developers design racing games.
No matter the quality of the releases, the company is downright greedy. Fans of Tomodachi Life who do not own a Nintendo system, such as a $339.99 switch or $229.99 switch lite, emulating the $59.99 game has been their go-to. I cannot say that I support the emulation of video games, but I can understand the desire to do so when the process is easier than acquiring the game legally. I own a switch lite, so the only barrier for me was the price of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream itself.
Controversies aside, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has been a relaxing, funny experience allowing me to turn off my brain during my free time and chill. If you were a fan of the original Tomodachi Life, or if you enjoy Animal Crossing: New Horizons, definitely look into it as summer break approaches. I would not recommend buying it before finals, though, as you might find it hard to study between all the relationship drama your Miis will create.
