I Tried Out the New Tomodachi Life Demo

Just under one year ago, we saw the next instalment in the hugely popular Tomodachi Life series announced for the Nintendo Switch. I was quietly excited for this title; I never got to play the original 3DS game, but I had seen plenty of people talking about it and sharing memes all over social media since its launch back in 2014. Old and new fans alike were eager to see the improvements and differences made in the new title, Living the Dream, which will be coming out in April.

The moment the demo was released, I was seeing hundreds of photos and videos from fans who immediately wanted to test the limits of what they could make their silly little Mii characters say. And it turns out there is no limit because it looks like there is no censoring in the demo at all. Nintendo also didn’t allow sharing of screenshots or videos from the demo on social media directly from the console, so it felt like a blast from the past watching videos filmed on people’s phones with their giggling in the background.

It was obviously very amusing to see some of my favourite fictional characters say some truly outrageous things, so I had to try the demo for myself. While I wasn’t going to recreate fictional characters, I tried my hand at creating myself and some original characters from my creative writing projects and Dungeons and Dragons. While I couldn’t recreate my purple-pink split dyed hair, I was able to make my DnD character’s age accurate at 103 years old!

No split dyed hair, but you can age up your Miis to 150 years old if you’d like, so I was able to make my 103 year old DnD elf age accurate! (Please excuse the photo of my Switch screen; Nintendo doesn’t allow uploads directly from the demo!) Source: Nintendo

The demo had me create up to three Miis, feed them, introduce them to each other and gather “warm fuzzies” (I’m unsure if these are named differently outside of the UK!) I could then use this warm fuzzies currency to power up a wishing well and buy new gifts (or “prezzies” in the UK version) or quirks for my characters. I of course had to make my Mii stand in the most stereotypical UwU pose ever, while my OC constantly stands with his arms crossed.

I found that the Mii creation was pretty broad, with plenty of great customisation options to choose from. It’s definitely expanded from what I remember on the Wii! Even if what you’re looking for isn’t available, there’s no need to worry because you can actually paint on your Mii characters and customise their eyes, nose, mouth and hair to look however you want. The only limit is your artistic skills on the Switch screen. The customisation doesn’t stop at appearance, as you also fill out a little form to decide your character’s personalities, and you can decide their height, gender and dating preferences. There’s even a safety net where you can tick a box to say if your new Mii is related to another Mii on the island, to avoid any accidental incestuous relationships.

The game was pretty entertaining; as I’ve mentioned before, I love customising characters so I had a lot of fun with character creation and deciding their personalities. I loved the breaking news and character interaction segments, seeing my characters talk amongst themselves and bond over being a weeb. Deciding on not only my island name but also what the Miis were going to address me as was also pretty fun! I also liked the location specific dialogue and inclusion of British slang words within the tutorial and game itself, it really caught me off guard and made me laugh!

*My time on Sweetie Island came to an end pretty quickly, as I didn’t know which triggers caused the demo to be over. Source: Nintendo*

I do wish there was more to do in this demo though, especially when it came to character interactions. The way characters talk amongst themselves is the main draw of this game, whether you want to see interactions between yourself and real life friends or your favourite fictional characters. As I didn’t know when the demo ended, I only really ended up with one or two interactions between my Miis, and my third Mii didn’t really end up becoming friends with anybody. Once the demo is over, the Miis lock themselves in their houses, you’re unable to earn any more money and they just talk to you about the possibilities available to you in the full version. I get it, they want you to buy the full game, but at least show me a bit more of the possible character interactions that are available without me having to know which activities trigger the demo to be finished!

I did find Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream to be fun, and I can definitely see myself enjoying the full version. I may have to pick it up when I have some money to spare for it; it’s definitely not a super cheap title!