Staff Writer- Emily Sustaita

If you owned a Nintendo 3DS as a child, you may be familiar with a wacky game called Tomodachi Life. Released in the United States back in 2014, it’s a game where you create and manage your own characters (referred to as Miis) on a small island, and essentially watch them interact with one another in silly and unexpected ways. For me, it was my very first Nintendo game as a six-year-old, and one of the few games I continuously returned to as I grew up. 

Fast forward to 2026—after thirteen years of waiting—Nintendo is finally releasing a new version of the game called Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream! It is currently set to release on April 16th, 2026. Since the game comes out pretty soon, Nintendo recently released a 22-minute-long Nintendo Direct video previewing some of the game’s new features to us excited fans. 

So, being the sharp and critical detective I am, I set out to watch the 22-minute-long video to see what the game would look like. And let me tell you…this was by far the best preview I have ever seen, and made me laugh so hard! These are some of the new features shown in the video that sealed the deal for me: 

First of all, during the creation of a Mii, you can now select nonbinary as a gender option! This is a great new feature, and it really opens the doors for inclusivity. Along with that, you can now select the dating preferences of your Mii; the options being either male, female, or nonbinary. Again, this is a pretty special feature for fans, considering that in the original game, you weren’t able to have same-sex relationships. 

In terms of the island, you can now physically move your Miis around while they are outside. In the video, this new feature is used to get a Mii to befriend another Mii. It can also be used to encourage your Mii to engage in a certain activity. 

Speaking of making friends, when you introduce a Mii to another Mii, you can now personally type out the topic you want them to talk about; in the video, they use “monster trucks” as an example. This is different from the original game, where you had preselected topics to choose from: small talk, something funny, talk about the weather, etc. 

Many of the iconic shops from the original game have newly assigned names and updated looks to them. The “Food Mart” is now called the “Fresh Kingdom”; I personally love the updated graphics of the shop and how they kept the food hyper-realistic like in the previous game. The “Clothing” shop is called “Where and Wear”; the “Photo Studio” is called “Foto-Tomo.” The “Interiors” shop is now called “T & C Reno”; however, instead of buying predesigned rooms, you can now revamp and add designs to the rooms you purchase, which is really awesome as it expands the creative control you have. 

A new shop that has also been added is “Quickbuild.” This shop allows you to purchase decoration and landscape items that can be used to decorate the physical island itself. It also allows you to make your island bigger and move houses and shops around. Originally, you didn’t have this kind of control in the first game, so seeing this emerge is very interesting. 

Lastly, another notable shop that has been added is “Palette House.” Through this shop, you can create custom designs for a variety of things. You can create a dog; you can create a design for a latte (yes, a latte); you can create a design for a sweater; you can create a design for the exterior of your house. The options are literally endless,  and I honestly look forward to seeing what custom designs people create with this shop. 

Finally, the most notable feature added to the game is that Miis can now be roommates with one another. This results in a bigger-sized house, holding up to 8 residents. This is a really awesome feature and is different from the first game, where all your Miis were cramped into a single-room apartment complex. In the video, this feature leads to some really fun and quirky interactions between the Miis! 
Overall, I am really happy with the updated version of the game! The graphics are so fresh and fun; the game is just as quirky as it used to be. There is clearly something for everyone in this new game, and I am looking forward to when the game finally gets released. I never thought this game would return to become a part of my adulthood, so mark my words when I say that this Nintendo classic will be the best game of the year!