Village Gamer

When Tomodachi Life is on, all bets are off. You, your friends and family – alongside some of the coolest people you can imagine – can star as Mii characters in this madcap hand-held adventure launching June 6 for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. The only difference will be that now you will watch their lives unfold in sillier, entirely spontaneous and hilariously dramatic ways.

“Tomodachi” is the Japanese word for “friend.” Because your friends become the life force of Tomodachi Life, the game will become your BFF, just as it has for millions of video game fans in Japan. If you’re dreaming of hanging out with celebrities, Nintendo is providing the Mii characters of Christina Aguilera, Debby Ryan, Zendaya, Shaun White and Shaquille O’Neal in Tomodachi Life at launch on the Tomodachi Life website at starting June 6.

After early tests showed that it would be impractical to develop a machine that could beam all of your friends and relatives into a Nintendo 3DS system, Nintendo poured resources into fine-tuning and expanding customization options for creating Mii characters with heart and soul. You can tailor not only the appearance, but also, for the first time, the personality and even the voice of each Mii character you bring to life in Tomodachi Life, including loved ones, artistic geniuses and historical figures.

Every time you check back on the game, you will find these characters up to something entirely unexpected or downright outlandish. Mii characters of your real-life best friends may be just like they are in real life, or they might act in totally unexpected ways. You may see your grandfather dancing the hula, dress your mom in crazy outfits or play jokes on your brothers or sisters without getting caught. When you see these wacky things happening, you’re going to want to share them. The Image Share tool on Nintendo 3DS lets you grab screen shots of the game’s funniest moments and share them on social networks with your real-life friends and relatives so they can see what’s happening on your island.

“You’ll want to play Tomodachi Life often – it’s a lot like following people’s antics on social media but better, and with a higher occurrence of hot dog suits, impromptu rock concerts, slug races and vivid dreams,” said Ron Bertram, Nintendo of Canada’s vice-president and general manager.

Prepare to snap pics of every head-scratching and belly-laughing incident on Ferris wheels, roller coasters, fashion shows, beaches or coffee tables. Document the strange rituals of Virtual Boy worshipping, gift-exchanges and fashion trend spotting. (Word on the street is that cat suits, dinosaur suits, astronaut suits and caveman chic are poised to make stunning comebacks.)

Tomodachi Life launches June 6 in stores and in the Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS at a suggested retail price of $39.99. Anyone who buys the game will get two codes to give to friends who own Nintendo 3DS systems to let them download a special “Move-In” demo version of Tomodachi Life so they can check it out for themselves. Quantities of the codes available in stores are limited and are available while supplies last.

Nintendo has also announced that on June 6, the Sea Green Nintendo 2DS video game system hits stores at a suggested retail price of $129.99. The portable device has a white front and back with sea green accents on the directional pad, face buttons and stylus. The new colour joins the Red and Blue Nintendo 2DS systems that are currently available.