Sparky Reviews Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

Copyright - Nintendo. This photo from the official Nintendo Website under the article, "Tomodachi Life™: Living the Dream."

Slice of Life Games Have Always Been Popular

Within the video game industry, there are a countless number of genres.  Gamers can play anything that can catch their eyes. Games can be in sports, adventure, fantasy, and otome games just to name a few.  However, there’s one genre that is always popular no matter how different the industry gets is the slice of life games. 

Slice of life games are anything that follows characters as they live their everyday lives.  Sometimes players can time travel so they can progress in the game.  Sometimes players have to play the game with accurate hours in the day taking time as they go.  Regardless of how the audiences play, slice of life games is incredibly popular. 

Games like The SIMS, Stardew Valley, and Animal Crossing are just some of the countless numbers of games in this genre.  One of the games that has completely sucked the internet in is the Nintendo 3DS classic, Tomodachi Life.

Originally, Tomodachi Life was released in Japan as a completely different game titled Tomodachi Collection in 2012.  Tomodachi Collection follows Nintendo’s little avatars named Miis as they live their lives.  They make friends with other Miis, get into all types of shenanigans, get into relationships, get married, and have children. 

From this synopsis, Tomodachi Collection just sounds like The SIMS. While yes there are some similarities, Tomodachi Collection gives a lot for audiences to play.  After a few years of tweaking out the bugs, Nintendo decided to release an international version of Tomodachi Collection named Tomodachi Life. 

In 2014, a new game came to Nintendo 3DS systems named Tomodachi Life with raving reviews.  Players were given the opportunity to create the islands they wanted to make.  As a result, gamers came out with some of the most creative islands, Miis, and Street Passes.  Yes, remember street passes? Tomodachi Life utilized Street Passes to trade not only clothes but children of the island members setting out on their own. There was a lot that Tomodachi Life had to offer for Nintendo gamers. 

So obviously, as the Nintendo 3DS became obsolete, many gamers were asking about a remake or perhaps a brand new Tomodachi Life.  This became much more apparent when Mii Topia got a switch version with some intricate details added to Miis. As a result, Tomodachi Life fans were frustrated that Nintendo was ignoring the fans.  However, on March 27, 2025, Nintendo came out with a final announcement during their Nintendo Direct that would literally blow up the internet.  This announcement was the long-awaited game, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. 

Fans finally got a game that they had been wanting for so long.  As the release date got closer, Nintendo really gave players more info that fans wanted to know.  Then on April 16, 2026, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream came out to eagerly awaiting gamers.  Many people, including myself, have been playing this game since release date.

Originally, I was going to review Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream last week.  However, this game really sucked me in, and I wanted to get a full feel for the game before I talk about it.  Trust me, we have a lot to talk about.  What about this game is it that drags so many people in? Does it hold up to the original game? Let’s find out together.  In this episode of Sparky Reviews, we’re going to be discussing and analyzing the highly anticipated game, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. 

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Allows Players to Make Any Mii Imaginable

One of the best things about Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the Mii customization.  In the previous game, players were only given a few selections to create whatever they wanted.  However, in this game, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has a ton more options!

From hairstyles to hair colors to different types of noses, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has a lot of different and new styles for players.  Granted, this isn’t anything new with customizable games.  In fact, it’s a given in 2026 to have a wide range of different customization.  However, for Nintendo, this is new to have more options particularly for the Miis. 

One of the things that is incredibly fun is feeling able to add face paint.  In the customization of the Miis, players can add face paint that can include more details. Some players with artistic tendencies will get a kick out of it.  Even if a player isn’t an artist, Nintendo made it incredibly easy for everyone to use this tool.  In fact, I’ve used it a few times to include some details on some of my Miis. 

With this amount of detail, players are allowed to make any type of Mii they want.  Which is amazing since Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream offers friendships, relationships, and more. 

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream offers Friendships, Relationships, and More

What makes Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream so much fun is what it has to offer. The Miis can have friendships, enemies, relationships, and more.  The Miis can be male, female, and nonbinary.  Additionally, the Miis can love men, women, nonbinary, everyone and even no one.  This wide range is huge especially since in the first game, LGBTQ+ relationships were not a thing.  So, players would make Miis are a different gender in order to get the relationships they wanted.  However, this is no longer the case! Even more so, people who identify as asexual and/or aromantic can feel seen with this option. 

So, Miis can be made however you want them to be.  They can be friends or enemies depending on how they interact with each other.  At first, they will not know each other. So, it’s up to the player to get the Miis to interact at first.  If two Miis hang out enough and a little spark happens, one of them can fall in love with the other.  That can result in one Mii asking another out on a date which results in dating. 

The Mii dating scene can be incredibly interesting since up to three Miis can confess their love for another Mii. Other Miis can crush on other Miis which causes drama. Once the Miis start dating, eventually, they can propose to each other and get married.  I do have to say, the mini game in order to propose is much easier than the previous game. 

In the previous game, players would have to play a game of selecting where the Mii that is being proposed thinks of the one who’s proposing.  In Living the Dream, the player just has to play a shooting game in order to destroy the various thoughts before finding their love. 

After two Miis get married, they can eventually have children.  Which means any couple regardless of age can have a family and children.  One thing that I do like and don’t like about the children is that the player doesn’t help raise them.

In the 3DS game, babies were babies for a few days, and the Miis would reach out to the player to ask for help if they needed it.  However, in Living the Dream, this is not the case.  The Miis take care of their children and then the player sees how they grow up.  Which I see why in the 3DS game, some of the mini games to take care of the children was annoying.  However, it created a bond between the player and the Miis child.  In Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the player doesn’t really have that connection with the Mii’s child. 

So, I do wish that there was some interaction between the player and the Mii’s child because not only would the player see their Miis become parents, but the player can also have a bigger connection with the child of said Mii.  With that said, one of the things I do love about Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the removal of the Nintendo filter. 

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Has NO filter Which Means More Chaos and Fun Moments

One of the things that makes Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream so fun is Nintendo’s decision to lift the Nintendo filter. For anyone who isn’t aware, the Nintendo filter is a filter that is put into Nintendo games so players can’t swear.  This is done mostly because of the fact that Nintendo has to keep a family friendly image.  Some players have tried to get around this filter by saying things like $h!t or fck.  However, Nintendo isn’t dumb and continues to change their filter.  However, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream completely gets rid of the filter.

So, this means that Miis can chat about some more adult topics in some cases some hilarious situations.  However, please keep in mind that while Nintendo did remove the filter, clips taken by the Switch 1 or 2 cannot be shared. Sure, players can use a capture card to record the clips that are happening.  However, many is not most people do not have this access.

Honestly, I feel that this is a double edge sword.  This game is absolutely a blast with everything that you can do and make.  However, Nintendo making it harder to share clips or even content is frustrating.  Again, I do understand why they did it.  However, it is annoying why Nintendo still does what they do to keep a family friendly company.  Even though Nintendo limits the ability to share, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream gives players a lot of customization on their island. 

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Allows for A Lot of Customization on the Island

While Nintendo is not giving a lot to players being able to share, the customization is on an all time high.  The entire island on Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream can be customized.  This includes adding ground, sea, customizing the exterior of the houses to match the island, and so much more. 

Some might see this list and think, wow. This customization sounds incredibly similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.  Sure, there are some similarities.  However, I feel that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream offers what Animal Crossing should have gotten. 

If players want to make a whole city, they can.  If players want to make a cookie island, they can with a little tweaking.  The wishing fountain can also help with the customization factors.  Yes, you read that right.  In the game, there’s a wishing fountain that takes a type of exp named warm fuzzies. 

Then, if the player interacts with their miis and makes them happy, then they will give more warm fuzzies to the wishing fountain.  Then, the player can get some items to customize their island even more. 

The difference that I see from Animal Crossing and Tomodachi Life is that Tomodachi Life is much more interactive and creative than Animal Crossing.  To be honest, I find Tomodachi Life more fun than Animal Crossing: New Horizons because there’s actual drama in Tomodachi Life that isn’t available in Animal Crossing.  There’s so much more to love about Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.  This game is really creative, allows audiences to turn their brains off, and just create the island you want.  Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream isn’t going to resonate with everyone which is fine.  However, for those who are open to playing the game will gain a never-ending experience of laughs and fun times. 

What Do You Think About Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream?

Thank you for reading my review. I know it’s a little bit longer than what I usually do.  However, I really wanted to talk a lot about it because there’s a lot to talk about.  So, now I want to ask all of you? What do you think of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream? Do you like it? Who have you brought to your island? Let me know in the comments what your island is like and what you think of the game. 

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If you want to check out Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, be sure to head on over to Nintendo’s website to check out more about this game.  This game does have a demo if you want to check out the game first. Rest assure, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is available for both the Nintendo Switch 1 and the Nintendo Switch 2.

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