When you think of popular games in the 2010s, your mind may go to Tomodachi Life, a social simulator game for the 3DS. With its wide customization of “Mii” characters, ranging from different hairstyles, faces, and even a new face paint tool to free-hand any custom designs.
With an island for your Mii’s to roam around, talk to others, and decide that a lightpost is necessary in the middle of the beach.
Nintendo decided that with the release of the Switch 2, it may be time for the game to have a sequel, and to revive the old fanbase left behind. But was this a good choice? On Apr. 12, the internet took a storm as Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream was leaked, with the planned release date being the 16th.
According to The Gamer, they said, “The ROM is available online, for those savvy enough to locate it, and others have vouched for its authenticity. Right now, it’s unclear just how the game managed to leak online a full four days before its release.”
As someone who hasn’t played the original but watched many videos on the first game, I was desperate to spend the $60.00. With current events going on, it’s hard to grow that justification to spend that much on a game mainly about customization.
OH senior Lucas Arroyo said, “I don’t believe the game should be worth $60.00 even though it might be a full triple-A type of game. There’s not really enough content to cover a $60.00 price tag.”
Aside from the price, I loved the game at first. It was cute, had some new personalities not seen in the previous game, and you can fully tear down and rebuild your island.
I even named my island after my first Animal Crossing island, “Soupy Sue.” One major critique I had was regarding the development of relationships between Mii’s and the growing issue of losing time.
With the newer release now having the option to create same-sex relationships and even have non-binary characters, it was hard to get my Miis to go out of their way to speak to the others. I felt like I was forcing relationships rather than having them slowly develop on their own.
“The first 15 hours had me cackling on the edge of my seat. I planned out my island to perfection, forced friendships between Miis, and fell in love with how in-depth the systems seemed at the time,” an online publication GameRant said.
I know with slower-paced games, you aren’t supposed to speed through the entire game. I tried and attempted to take my time, but with the lack of content, it’s difficult to say that the game was worth it.
“ just feels like a glorified Animal Crossing in a way,” said Arroyo.
Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH) is a game that came out for the Switch Mar. 20, 2020. According to Cnet, they said, “A sequel to a Nintendo 3DS game I never played, it’s a life simulator — sort of like Animal Crossing, if Animal Crossing were absolutely unhinged and populated with people you created yourself.”
The similarities between the two games become noticeable when you look at their formats. ANCH is a social simulation game where you go to a deserted island, meet new villagers, and develop your island to 5 stars as the Island Representative. Sound familiar? While not the same, the common themes do not end there.
When I opened the “Wear and Where” store on my Tomodachi island, I was surprised to find clothing directly taken from ACNH just staring back at me. The heartbroken feeling I felt was not only because my bank account was $60.00 lower, but this game just copied and pasted a major piece of content from another extremely popular game of theirs.
When looking at the r/TomodachilifeLivingTD on Reddit, I’m not the only one who feels this way. User Secretchimp01 made a post addressing this.
Even though they were not directly taken, they would have to remodel the items around the Miis rather than the villagers. It comes off as insanely lazy for developers not to make their own clothing.
While I have my critiques of the game, it doesn’t fail to make me smile and pick up my Switch, checking what my villagers are going to do next, and where they think another bench would look nice.
If you love ACNH or the original game, I think you should buy it if it’s in your price range. This game will forever hold a special place in my heart for the unfiltered chaos that it is.
I love to read and write poetry, I'm a first year reporter in 11th grade. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
