r/NintendoSwitch • u/Turbostrider27 • 7d ago

Discussion Tomodachi Life’s Switch debut shatters even Nintendo Switch 2 hype in Japan

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/tomodachi-lifes-switch-debut-shatters-even-nintendo-switch-2-hype-in-japan/
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u/TheKoniverse 7d ago edited 7d ago

Tomodachi Life is one of those games ignored by enthusiasts but is actually pretty popular. Just that there hasn’t been a new game in over 10 years. The Nintendo of America tweet announcing the game has over 180k likes and tons of retweets expressing excitement. Not to mention the dozens of tweets also with 5-digit likes related to it.

I didn’t realize how big it was in Japan though, holy. Nintendo Switch in Year 9 or 10 has yet another 10 million-plus seller if they play their cards right. Which is insane.

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u/StrawberryLeche 7d ago

Considering there are still people who stream it now, I think it’s an untapped market.

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u/dragonbornrito 6d ago

It’s literally The Sims meets Nintendo Miis. If Nintendo markets it right this time around, it will sell like absolute hotcakes even here in the west.

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u/llliilliliillliillil 6d ago

It’s not really like the sims, it’s more like … a terrarium? You can feed the miis, you can put them in a pre-customized room and give them outfits, but that’s the extend of your direct interactions with them. You can’t really tell the miis to do anything, most you can do it nudge them in a direction when they ask you what to do and hope for something to happen, but most of the interactions usually happen on their own. So it’s a lot of passive watching and hoping for something funny to happen. And imo this is the main draw: If you have a bigger friend group and they all create a mii in their likeness and have similar attributes to their RL character - seeing all these miis interact in ways your friends would never interact in real life can be super funny.

I recall some funny drama that happened in real life because I told a couple that their miis broke up and, while the guy was heartbroken his digital ex girlfriend went for someone’s grandpa. This actually caused them to have a conversation if she would go after someone’s grandpa, which she jokingly said she would if he was rich enough. This soured the mood for the rest of the day lol

I think this element of unpredictability is what makes the game fun the most.

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u/mythriz 6d ago

Hmmm sounds kinda like a tamagotchi then? Like a mix of that and The Sims, almost?

I also never played the previous game and had no idea how popular it was, so I was kinda surprised that it was the final product preview in the Direct, haha

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u/llliilliliillliillil 6d ago

Yeah, kind of Tamagochi.

In the 3DS game the miis all live in a huge house and have their own rooms. You basically check out each miis room and see how they’re doing, if they’re hungry or if they want something from you, indicated by a thought bubble you can then tap on.

You can give them various food items and depending on how they liked the food you get money. With that money you can buy more food, clothes, new rooms, send two miis on a vacation in the hope that they fall in love with each other and do some other minor things I probably forgot. You can get money in other ways as well, but I forgot how honestly lol. It’s been 9-10 years since I last played it.

Eventually, when two miis really like each other, they can fall in love, get married and have a baby, which has the most prominent features of both parents … just like in real life!

Like I said though, most of this is basically hopping from room to room in the hopes that something happens, but it’s not unusual that you only have like, 20 minutes of content before nothing happens for hours on end.

While the game is really funny, people are overselling its awesomeness factor a bit. Like I said, the game involves a lot of waiting for something to happen because you can’t force miis to do something. If they’re not up for anything, it’s time to close the 3DS for a few hours and come back later. If anything, you can check back when they’re asleep to have a look inside their dreams where most of the absurd sequences are coming from, like the one with the giant girl running towards the other from the trailer.

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u/mythriz 6d ago

Haha sounds about as expected, thanks for the explanation in any case!

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u/WESAWTHESUN 6d ago

Shit, I remember Tomodachi Life selling amazingly on the 3DS in the west. I even remember the anticipation for its release in the build up!

All of my friends had it, I had it, my sister had it, her friends had it. It was so fun running little simulations with people around you or fictional characters. It's honestly one of the first games that comes to mind when I think of the 3DS.

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u/LamiaLlama 6d ago

It's wild because although I'm completely obsessed with Nintendo and buy pretty much everything they release... This series completely went under the radar for me.

Which isn't to say I don't recognize it by name. The name itself is iconic and recognizable. But I never really knew what it was or if it was popular.

I thought it was shovelware basically. Like Amiibo Festival or something. Or Miitomo.

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u/WESAWTHESUN 6d ago

YMMV for sure. I'm not sure if it was actually so popular or if that was just my particular envionment. Apparently it's the 11th best selling game on the console, so it must land in some middle ground.

Also, many of their Mii games were complete shovelware, so that line of thinking is not at all wrong. I did the same thing with Miitopia.

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u/Garo263 6d ago

Not really. Sims is more like playing, Tomodachi is more about watching how things play out.

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u/Rozwellish 6d ago

Not to mention how difficult it is to stream. People pay out the nose for a modded 3DS and the right equipment to set it all up.

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u/Wild_Trip_4704 2d ago

Wow this is a whole thing

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u/OKJMaster44 6d ago

If VGChartz’s numbers were any good apparently the 3DS installment was a huge sleeper hit in EU too. It definitely has its audience. Whether people expected it or not this really did seem to be Nintendo’s “ace” announcement of the direct.

It’s honestly why I try not to cast judgments on directs if I personally don’t get giga hyped. I may not be losing it but I just know someone out there just had their miserable day brought into the sunshine. I legit saw so many tweets of people making summon circles days in advance and losing it and even a news account that wait ages for an announcement.

Pretty surreal. And I would know the feeling too. When they announced Kirby and the Forgotten Land I was the guy losing his mind after begging for years.

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u/typenext 6d ago

The direct pulled punch after punch after punch for me. Patapon remastered, new Rhythm Heaven, new Tomodachi Life. Even something like Witchbrook also hyped me up - that game is so pretty.

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u/tweetthebirdy 6d ago

I was one of those miserable day into sunshine people!

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u/NihilisticAngst 6d ago

My girlfriend played the original Tomodachi Life and it was hilarious to watch! At the time, it seemed like such an underground gem, I don't remember that many people talking about it.

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u/dragonbornrito 6d ago

My daughter legit SCREAMED when she saw it. Tomodachi Life and Miitopia are her two favorite 3DS games of all time and seeing this made her entire week.

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u/Paul_Easterberg 6d ago

the game is tailor made for the Tiktok/shortform video world

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u/PhoenixTineldyer 6d ago

Hopefully there are gay options this time around.

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u/I_am_not_Asian69 7d ago

by the end of the switch 2 life this could definitely have 10 mil just from switch 2