I felt like I had hit unc status during one particular moment during the Nintendo Direct presentation for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream a few weeks ago.
For those who don’t know, Tomodachi is a series of life simulation games which focus on the social dynamics between various island inhabitants. The first game, the Japan-exclusive Tomodachi Collection, was released for the Nintendo DS in 2009, allowing players to create an island of Mii characters of their friends, family members, or their favorite celebrities. Players can customize their islanders’ personalities, buy them food, give them new outfits, remodel their apartments, and watch them interact with one another at the local fountain. The premise of the game helped to bolster the popularity of the Miis even further, placing them into a relatable, everyday setting when they weren’t preoccupied with playing tennis or flying around Maka Wuhu in a personal airplane.
Though Tomodachi Collection was never officially released outside of Japan, a fan translation was made by user jjjewel in 2013, which translated much of the on-screen text into English. This, coupled with the impending release of the sequel, Tomodachi Life, brought the series back into the public eye. After launching in Japan in 2013, Tomodachi Life was brought to international audiences in the summer of 2014, allowing Nintendo fans from around the world to enjoy the fun, chaotic nature of having themselves and their friends live on an island with Zendaya and Shaq (both of whom had special QR codes of their Miis made specifically for the game).
Tomodachi Life was a massive success, selling over 6.7 million units as of early 2025. It became one of the highest-selling 3DS titles of all-time, playing a valuable role in helping Nintendo to maintain a steady audience of casual gamers. Aside from the inability to let Miis engage in same-sex relationships, Tomodachi Life has been very well-received, with many fans clamoring for a follow-up to the 3DS life sim.
In March of 2025, Nintendo announced a sequel to Tomodachi Life, titled Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. A special Nintendo Direct was devoted to Living the Dream during the following January, which announced a plethora of new features to further enhance the user experience. Miis can now identify as non-binary, homosexual, bisexual, and aromantic in the game’s settings, allowing for a significantly more diverse group of residents to be present on the players’ islands.
This leads me to my unc moment from this Direct, which was when Nintendo spent a minute explaining Miis to newer players.
Miis were a cornerstone of Nintendo’s identity for a long time, with many games featuring Mii characters on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U systems. Players were able to insert themselves into these games, utilizing their personal avatars in games like Wii Sports (2006), Wii Fit (2007), Nintendo Land (2012), and Miitopia (2016), just to name a few. For Gen Z Nintendo gamers like myself, Miis played an essential role in introducing us to video games, allowing us to immerse ourselves into the experience through our many adventures with the Mii characters.
This all changed with the release of the Switch in 2017, as the Miis would take a backseat for Nintendo over the next several years. In addition to a more simplistic home menu, the Switch did not have a dedicated app for creating Mii characters. Unlike its predecessors, the Switch buried the Miis in the system settings, with no background music to accompany players while they created characters for themselves and their friends. (Rest in peace, Wii U Mii Maker music, my beloved. You lived a good life.)
Miis were still around, but they were nowhere near as commonplace as they were in years past. For every Miitopia re-release (2021), there was a Nintendo Switch Sports (2022), which prominently featured the short-lived Sportsmates on the game’s promotional art and box art despite still allowing players to use Miis. (Personally, I never used the Sportsmates in Switch Sports, and I’m glad that Nintendo allowed us to use Miis in that game.) The Miis’ popularity was gradually dissipating around this time, although many fans were still holding out hope for their eventual return to center stage.
Needless to say, Nintendo has listened to the fans, with Mii characters experiencing some renewed popularity after several years of being kept in the background. Aside from the aforementioned re-release of Miitopia, Miis have not been given many chances to shine since the Switch was launched nearly nine years ago (another unc moment), often being relegated to cameo appearances and optional extra features. While I am not sure if I will end up buying Living the Dream for myself, I know that a lot of fans are raring to see the Miis back in the limelight once again. I will gladly take one minute of feeling unc over never seeing Mii characters in another Nintendo game.
Featured image by Patrick Hood.
