Tomodachi Life

Tomodachi Life (known as Tomodachi Collection: New Life in Japan) is a life simulation game on the Nintendo 3DS made by Nintendo, released in 2013 (Japan) and 2014 (North America, Europe, Australia, South Korea). It is a sequel to the Japan exclusive DS game Tomodachi Collection. The game features Miis, player-created characters featured in many Nintendo games since their introduction on the Wii, living in an apartment building on an island named by the player. Over time, Miis start to have different types of problems, including hunger, wanting new clothes, or forming relationships with other Miis, and it is up to the player to resolve them. There are many unlockable locations on the island, many of which have events which activate at different times of the day.

This game contains examples of

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Miis talk directly to the player whenever they are visited, referring to the player as [the first Mii added to the game]'s lookalike. They occasionally acknowledge the existence of the player's world as well.
• Burning with Anger: Happens when Miis get into huge fights.
• Cartoonland Time: Although the game's time is in real time, many of the activities in the game happen much faster than they would realistically.
  • Using travel tickets, the characters can fly to a country, take photos in different destinations and return in just a minute or less.
  • After a successful proposal, the characters have a wedding and a honeymoon in just over a minute, as it is essentially using a travel ticket with an extra cutscene for the wedding. During this time, a house is built for them as well.
  • Characters can have a problem asking if they should have a baby. If the player allows it, the couple introduces the player to their newborn baby the following day. Babies also grow up in just five days.
    • After the decision to have a child, the child can be born, move out, start dating, get married and have a child of their own in less time than pregnancy takes in real life. And this can happen for multiple generations.
• Character Class System: In Tomodachi Quest, each character's abilities and HP are determined by their personality. Each set of abilities matches an RPG class (Confident: Fighter/Brawler, Independent/Reserved: Mage, Easygoing: Cleric, Outgoing/Energetic: Warrior/Swordfighter)
• Character Customization: Miis in this game is created by the player or created by someone else and added with a QR code. Tomodachi Life includes more than the typical Mii Maker, including a voice and personality. An exception is the generated in-game babies, but even they can be customized in the same way as other Miis if the player chooses to do so.
• Face Doodling: The player can draw on sleeping Miis' faces using 9 different colors and an eraser. There is also a clear all button which erases not only what the player has drawn, but also the Mii's facial features. The effects of doodling are temporary and the Mii's face restores to normal as soon as the player leaves the face paint view.
• Fifteen Puzzle: One of the items the player can give to Miis is a slide puzzle, with a 3×3 image of a random Mii with a random one of five backgrounds. The player can either solve the puzzle or give up, but either way, the Mii who is given the puzzle gains happiness.
• Fountain of Youth: The kid-o-matic. (Reversed with the age-o-matic.)
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: The four personality types (Choleric: Confident, Melancholic: Independent/Reserved, Phlegmatic: Easygoing, Sanguine: Outgoing/Energetic)
• Health Damage Asymmetry: Present in Tomodachi Quest. The four playable characters only have about 100 HP each, yet many of the attacks they deal (excluding the weaker attacks) deal about 100 or more HP of damage. It still takes multiple hits to defeat the enemies. The final boss has attacks which either deal a maximum of 63 damage on one character, or 20-something on each of the party members.
• Hit Points: In Tomodachi Quest.
• Holiday Mode: Certain holidays, as well as birthdays, are acknowledged in-game depending on the in-game date. Holidays may include shopkeepers wearing specific outfits and the shops having decorations, characters having specific greetings and sometimes even exclusive food. Birthdays include a special newscast and the Miis acknowledging that it is their birthday. The player's birthday (based on the birthday of their lookalike Mii) also includes a special cutscene and receiving a birthday cake.
• In Universe Game Clock: Works in real time and can be changed by changing the system time or by changing the time in the office.
• Lost Love Montage: After a breakup, tapping a speech bubble of the Mii who was broken up with activates this.
• Love Triangle: When a Mii is confessing their feelings to another Mii, there is a chance a third (and sometimes even a fourth) Mii shows up to interrupt the confession. In this case, the target crush has to choose between the two or three different Miis, but may also end up rejecting all of them.
• No Fair Cheating: If the time in the game is changed, no new daily or seasonal items will show up and characters won't give donations for a few days. Unlike most Animal Crossing games, there are no punishments for closing without saving.
• Older Than They Look/Younger Than They Look: Depending on how the Miis are customized. Each Mii can have the same appearance regardless of what their in-game age is.
• Overnight Age-Up: The age-o-matic. (Reversed with the kid-o-matic, or divorce when it's used to let a child Mii get married.)
• Power Dyes Your Hair: The Superhero dream, but with the addition of also gaining a robo-hero suit or superheroine costume.
• Random Event: The problems happen mostly at random. The hangouts at the Café also happen at random times of the day.
• Real Time: The in-game time advances in real time.
• Ridiculously-Fast Construction: Every location is built instantly as soon as it is unlocked. The apartment building renovations (when more apartments are added after a certain number of Miis has been reached) are also instant.
  • In-game, it is claimed that Leisure Island took five years to build, but most players have not even played the game for five years by the time they unlock it.
• Shout-Out: Includes one-line references to other Nintendo franchises, as well as some non-Nintendo works as well.
• Socialization Bonus: The only way to get visitors to the campgrounds or to have travelers visit other islands is by StreetPass. StreetPass is also the only way to get access to rare items, including most SpotPass items for players who only started playing after 2016 (2017 for the European version).
• Transformation Sequence: The Superhero dream involves one, mostly resembling the Magical Girl variation.
• Year X: One of the dreams in the game is called 20XX in the European version.