Nintendo considered making Tomodachi Life's Mii characters more realistic-looking

With the launch of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream on April 16, Nintendo released detailed interviews with several members of the development team, as is becoming common for the company before major launches.

Interviewees: Ryutaro Takahashi (Game Director), Takaomi Ueno (Programming Director), Naonori Ohnishi (Programming Director), Daisuke Kageyama (Art Director) and Toru Minegishi (Sound Director) all give their perspectives on the game that took years of their lives to create.

The group addresses the twelve year gap since the release of Tomodachi Life (Tomodachi Collection: New Life in Japan) and what they are working on for the upcoming Living the Dream, specifically regarding the upgraded power of the Nintendo Switch 2.

The team chose not to change the visual style of the Mii characters

Catra in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

“When we decided to create a new Tomodachi Life game, we wanted to make the Mii characters' visuals more consistent with current-generation consoles. But after adding all kinds of new elements to the Mii characters, something started to feel off,” Takahashi explained.

I don't think anyone wants photorealistic Miis, especially since a lot of the game's appeal is nostalgia for the 3DS release. The team made the right call in keeping the Miis' visuals the same as previous console generations.

“I felt that Mii characters were treated differently in Tomodachi Life than in other titles,” said Kageyama. “The fact that they don't just see the Mii characters as avatars, but rather have affection for them as living beings, came through strongly. Because the characters are filled with so much human emotion, I didn't feel like we had to randomly change the design because of the increased resolution.”

“So, even though we tried a lot of new things, we decided not to change the things that define the identity of the Mii characters, like their existing facial features and the shape of their limbs,” Kageyama continued. “With this in mind, we reexamined the structure and design of each part from the ground up to ensure they don't feel outdated, even with today's more advanced graphics.”

Both Takahashi and Kageyama agree that “brushing up” the visual style of the Miis was a better decision than trying to go for a new style of Mii, as many players wanted to recreate their beloved Miis from previous games.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream releases for Nintendo Switch (and Switch 2) on April 16.