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Tomodachi Collection
Cover art
DeveloperNintendo SPD
PublisherNintendo
DirectorRyutaro Takahashi
ProducerYoshio Sakamoto
DesignersMai Okamoto
Masanori Nakagawa
ComposersDaisuke Shiiba
Asuka Itou
SeriesTomodachi Life
PlatformNintendo DS
Release
  • JP: June 18, 2009
GenreSocial simulation
ModeSingle-player

Tomodachi Collection[a] is a 2009 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It follows the daily interactions between interactive Miis, customizable avatars, who reside on an island overseen by the player, as they build relationships and solve problems.

Junior Nintendo employees began developing the game in October 2005, replicating the Nintendo-published video game Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu (2000). Titled Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō, the prototype featured character-creation avatars that served as the progenitors for what would become the Miis. With suggestions from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the team was reassigned to implement the Miis onto the Wii console, during which the game's production was put on hold. Following the Wii's release in December 2006, the project restarted as Tomodachi Collection around April 2007. Developers sought to create entertaining gameplay that emphasized the human-like characteristics of the Miis, whom players were incentivized to create in the image of their real-world friends and family.

Tomodachi Collection was released solely in Japan on June 18, 2009. It received contemporary and retrospective praise for its unconventional tone and presentation. Tomodachi Collection was a domestic commercial success, selling 3.2 million copies by March 31, 2010, making it one of the best-selling DS games.

Plans to localize the title overseas never came to fruition, largely because the Miis' voice synthesis program was unable to replicate English. It spawned the Tomodachi Life series beginning with a direct sequel, Tomodachi Life, that was released in Japan in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS and internationally the following year. Another sequel, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, released on the Nintendo Switch worldwide on April 16, 2026.

Gameplay

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A screenshot of a human-like Mii character inside their apartment, currently requesting player assistance with a particular issue.
Screenshot of a Mii requesting assistance with a particular problem inside their apartment

Tomodachi Collection is a social simulation game[2] featuring Miis, user-customizable avatars, who populate an apartment complex on an island.[3] To add Miis, the player can transfer existing Miis directly from their Wii to their Nintendo DS, import Miis from other players' DS consoles via wireless local connectivity, or create new ones from scratch using the in-game Mii Maker. In any case, the player manually modifies their Miis' appearance and personality.[2] There are four temperament categories Miis can occupy, which, together with their assigned date of birth, determine an "ideal job" that matches them.[4] The Miis audibly speak through computer-generated voice synthesis.[5][6] A maximum of 100 Miis can live on the island at once.[2]

After creation, Miis request assistance with particular problems, signified by the presence of a thought bubble.[5] These issues include asking for food, clothing, guidance on prospective relationships, and player participation in short minigames.[3][7] Satisfying their needs advances their level, a numeric progression system, upon which the player can gift them new clothes, interior designs for their apartment, personalized catchphrases, or songs for them to perform.[3][4] Completing minigames awards the player with valuables that can be exchanged for in-game currency. The player can optionally eavesdrop on the Miis' dreams while they sleep.[3]

Tomodachi Collection has no end condition; the player's only goal is to maintain their Miis' satisfaction and passively observe their actions.[2] Outside of the player's direct influence, the Miis regularly interact with one another, forming friendships and occasionally experiencing conflict. If two friendly Miis are romantically attracted to one another, one can confess their love to the other; if the confession is successful, the two are paired as a couple. Marriage can occur following additional interactions. As the player continuously appeases the Miis, new venues and shops on the island become unlocked. These include a Career Hall where jobs are formally assigned to Miis, a Compatibility Tester that gauges two Miis' likelihood of friendship, and a vendor for purchasing apartment interiors. An in-universe news broadcast occurs regularly to inform the player of recent events on the island.[3] Time-sensitive events held by the Miis also take place in the island's fountain.[6] Time on the island passes parallel to that set on the player's console, even when the console is powered off.[2][8]

Development

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Conception and early character creator (2005–2006)

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Prototype of Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō's character creation system, featuring a rudimentary Mii character on a pink background.
Prototype of Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō's character-creation system

Tomodachi Collection was first conceptualized around October 2005 by a small team of junior employees[9] at Nintendo SPD.[4][10] Its premise was inspired by the fortune-telling video game Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu (2000), published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color in Japan. Tottoko Hamtaro, whose core audience was young girls, had users register a list of virtual profiles of close friends to measure compatibility and generate predictions about their day-to-day lives.[4][11] Producer Yoshio Sakamoto agreed with some female employees' idea for a derivative version of Tottoko Hamtaro geared to older women, the thought of which, he said, "stayed with me"; he would then find himself "in a team made up of all new people and we were relatively free to do what we wanted".[11] With the dual purpose of elevating the Nintendo DS' overall appeal to women, the project became tentatively known as Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō (大人のオンナの占い手帳, lit. 'Women's Fortune Telling Pocket Notebook'). Initially including only textual information about personal names and birthdays, the team resolved to add a three-dimensional character creation mechanism. This system—inspired by the Japanese game fukuwarai, which involves assembling a face using disembodied parts—had players manually combine selected face elements to create caricatures of real-world people. The ability to rotate, resize, and reposition facial features was added, enhancing the character creator's accuracy.[4][11][12]

Sakamoto demonstrated the prototype to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata early in 2006.[4] Iwata further relayed it to Shigeru Miyamoto, who was working on the then-upcoming Wii console with a separate development team.[11][12][13] Miyamoto had petitioned for the inclusion of character-creation mechanics in games for more than a decade, starting with the Famicom through the GameCube, but encountered design limitations and internal company pushback. At the time of the Wii, he was experimenting with including kokeshi doll-like avatars in Wii Sports (2006).[10][14] Upon viewing the DS prototype, Miyamoto told his coworkers, "You guys are useless," briefly switching teams to help develop the character-creator.[13] During a trans-departmental meeting concerning the Wii's hardware, Miyamoto formally proposed the prototype be reworked as pack-in software for the Wii. Many of his peers expressed concern over the avatars, some believing they were too rudimentary and often not particularly accurate. Much of the Wii's hardware had already been finalized, contributing to developer reluctance. Once hearing Miyamoto's reasoning that most users, young or old, would find joy in the creative process regardless of its limitations, most of the Wii staff agreed to implement the caricatures, which would become the Miis.[10][11]

Development on Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō stalled around August 2006 following its team's internal reassignment as lead producers of the Wii's Mii Channel, at the suggestion of Iwata. Leading up to the debut of the Wii in December 2006, director Ryutaro Takahashi re-envisioned Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō as a simulation title appealing to all ages and genders, since the DS had by then already gained popularity among women.[4][10][12]

Development as Tomodachi Collection (2007–2009)

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Photo of producer Yoshio Sakamoto behind a podium during a keynote speech at the 2010 Game Developer's Conference.
Sakamoto speaking at the 2010 Game Developers Conference, during which he discussed Tomodachi Collection's development[12]

The project formally restarted in April 2007 under the title Tomodachi Collection, "tomodachi" being the Japanese word for "friend".[10][14] Takahashi visualized the game's new directorial framework as "the ultimate family software that just makes you want to get up and show it to people".[4][10] Sakamoto saw Tomodachi Collection as a laid-back, entertaining way for players to strengthen their real-world connections with friends and family, whom the Miis are generally intended to represent. During a keynote speech at the 2010 Game Developers Conference (GDC), Sakamoto stated, "[Tomodachi Collection] is a game where in addition to the player having fun playing, the player's friends can't help but be drawn in as well."[12]

Takahashi, Sakamoto, and Iwata remembered Tomodachi Collection's production as periodically troublesome, citing the team's relative inexperience in the company. This was exacerbated by the fact that Sakamoto was simultaneously working on Metroid: Other M (2010) and thus could rarely provide input. While the team was intending for production to conclude within six to nine months, Tomodachi Collection's development became protracted. Miis would end up debuting worldwide on the DS in an unrelated game titled Personal Trainer: Walking (2008); Sakamoto spoke of this as helping create a sense of urgency to complete the project. In retrospect, Sakamoto expressed gratitude that production took as long as it did, as it allowed the team to patiently experiment with unique ideas that would have been otherwise rejected.[4]

One of the team's goals was to give the Miis unique personalities, diverging from their status as symbolic avatars in previous games.[4] Sakamoto cited the game's lead programmer, Masanori Nakagawa, as significantly influencing its tone.[4][15] One of Nakagawa's contributions was proposing that Miis be able to sing, which led to them also being given conversational speech capabilities. Daisuke Shiiba joined the team as Tomodachi Collection's lead sound designer in March 2008.[4] Asuka Itou served as Tomodachi Collection's composer during its last six months of development. Both Shiiba and Itou characterized the soundtrack as deliberately "cheap" and simplistic; Sakamoto was particular in having the game's music not stand out.[4][10] For instance, when creating the theme that plays when the player idly monitors the island, Shiiba developed "a melody that sounded like someone who wasn't very good at playing the recorder".[4] Shiiba and Itou spoke of the composition process as nevertheless challenging due to Tomodachi Collection's eccentric atmosphere, finding outside inspiration difficult to come by.[10][4] Shiiba recalled struggling to establish a balance between making the game's songs unconventional yet pleasing to listen to.[4]

Release

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Tomodachi Collection was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on June 18, 2009,[3] with a demo version distributed through the Wii's Nintendo Channel, Nintendo Zone, and local DS Stations.[16] To promote it, a television program titled Koi no Kaitou!? Tomodachi Collection II (恋のカイトウ!?トモコレ2世, lit. 'Love's Answer!? Tomodachi Collection Second Generation') featuring Japanese actresses Mari Sekine [ja], Maaya Morinaga [ja], and Rima Nishizaki [ja] alongside their Mii caricatures began airing on Tokyo Metropolitan Television on May 6, 2010.[17][18] A television commercial featuring celebrities Keiko Kitagawa and Shihori Kanjiya also aired around the same time, with the game's official website updated to include tutorials for players on how to create Miis of the two.[16]

Nintendo considered localizing the game overseas, with the company reportedly having trademarked the name Friend Collection in Europe in 2009.[18][19] This plan was scrapped when Nintendo discovered that the voice synthesis program used for the Miis' speech, built natively for Japanese, could not replicate English phonemes. Additional concerns were raised regarding a potential lack of cultural appeal outside of Japan.[9] Sakamoto stated in an interview with 1Up.com, "Obviously I can't speak to future plans, but [localization] seems like something we might be able to revisit once more powerful hardware comes along."[20]

Reception

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Reviewers felt the game had significant comedy value. Four critics for Famitsu commended the humor as charming and most effective when the Miis were made in the likenesses of real-world people, even though one reviewer felt that the absence of a clear objective could cause Tomodachi Collection to become monotonous.[21] Gregoire Hellot of Gamekult agreed that including both real-world people and fictional characters was enjoyable, but thought the game would lack long-term appeal for players who did not already have many friends or acquaintances to base their Miis on.[7] The Miis' synthetic voices were reviewed favorably by Siliconera staff as unique for a Nintendo title.[5] Tomodachi Collection was awarded the prize in Innovation at the 2009 Famitsu Awards.[22] It also received the Award for Excellence alongside 10 other titles at the Japan Game Awards' 2010 ceremony.[23]

Some retrospective commentators similarly opined that Tomodachi Collection's comedic presentation was endearing. In 2014, Tomodachi Collection's sense of humor was deemed eccentric by Nintendo Life's Kerry Brunskill, who called it "a bizarre but strangely endearing Mii theme park". She expressed dismay that the game was never localized beyond Japan.[6] A 2019 retrospective by IGN Japan's Esra Kurabe had the opinion that Tomodachi Collection was well-suited for casual gamers, calling its core premise simple yet humorous.[24] Famitsu's Kawachi shared this view in 2015, describing the game's situational comedy as entertaining and occasionally touching.[3]

Tomodachi Collection was a commercial success in Japan, selling 38,000 units in its first day[25] and about 102,000 units by the end of its debut week.[26] By September 28, 2009, it had sold a total of 1.15 million copies, making it the fourth-best-selling game in Japan in the first half of the 2009 fiscal year.[27] At the end of the 2009–2010 fiscal year on March 31, 2010, Nintendo reported that it had sold 3.2 million units,[28] making Tomodachi Collection one of the best-selling titles for the DS.[18] One writer for Inside attributed Tomodachi Collection's domestic popularity to word-of-mouth marketing between Japanese players.[29]

Sequels and other media

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See also: Tomodachi Life (series)

A sequel for the Nintendo 3DS titled Tomodachi Collection: New Life was released in Japan on April 18, 2013.[30] Unlike its predecessor, Nintendo fully localized the game for foreign regions; it was released as Tomodachi Life in North America and Europe on June 6, 2014.[31] Much of Tomodachi Collection's staff, including director Takahashi, producer Sakamoto, and art designer Mai Okamoto, returned to develop the sequel.[15] The Japanese version featured an exclusive mechanic that allowed players to import existing Miis from Tomodachi Collection using a dedicated Nintendo eShop application.[30]

On October 31, 2024, Tomodachi Collection's soundtrack was made available through the Nintendo Music streaming service exclusively for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.[32][33]

Another sequel, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, titled Tomodachi Collection: Exciting Life in Japan,[34] was released on April 16, 2026, for the Nintendo Switch,[35] with compatibility with the Nintendo Switch 2.[36] Takahashi and Sakamoto reprised their roles as the key developers.[37]

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: トモダチコレクション, Hepburn: Tomodachi Korekushon; lit. "Friend Collection". Also known in Japan as Tomokore (トモコレ)[1]

References

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  1. ^ "Keynote from Metroid creator Yoshio Sakamoto – Page 2" (in Japanese). Nintendo. Archived from the original on September 5, 2025. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e Aetas (June 18, 2009). "友達100人できるかな？ ニンテンドーDSの中でMiiの"トモダチ"と暮らせる「トモダチコレクション」が本日発売" [Can you make 100 friends? Tomodachi Collection – where you can live with your Mii friends on the Nintendo DS – goes on sale today]. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 20, 2024. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Kawachi (June 18, 2025). "『トモダチコレクション』が発売された日。自分や友人のMiiを登録して、架空のマンションで生活する様子を眺めるゲーム。Miiどうしの結婚には思わずニヤニヤ【今日は何の日？】 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com" [The day Tomodachi Collection was released. It's a game where you register your own Mii and your friends' Miis and watch them live in a fictional apartment. I couldn't help but grin when I saw Miis getting married. [What day is it today?]]. Famitsu (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 2, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "社長が訊く「トモダチコレクション」" [Iwata Asks: Tomodachi Collection] (in Japanese). Nintendo. June 11, 2009. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Tomodachi Collection Has A Speech Synthesizer And Cat Suits". Siliconera. June 18, 2009. Archived from the original on September 9, 2025. Retrieved February 23, 2026.
  6. ^ a b c Brunskill, Kerry (May 15, 2014). "Matters of Import: Tomodachi Collection". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on November 14, 2025. Retrieved March 28, 2026.
  7. ^ a b Hellot, Gregoire (September 1, 2009). "Test : Tomodachi Collection (DS)" [Review: Tomodachi Collection (DS)]. Gamekult (in French). Archived from the original on August 23, 2025. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
  8. ^ Tomodachi Collection Manual. Japan: Nintendo (published 2009). August 29, 2021. p. 6.
  9. ^ a b Marrujo, Robert (June 5, 2014). "Tomodachi Beginnings". Nintendojo. Archived from the original on December 6, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
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  15. ^ a b "社長が訊く『トモダチコレクション 新生活』｜ニンテンドー3DS｜任天堂" [Iwata Asks: Tomodachi Collection: New Life | Nintendo 3DS | Nintendo]. Nintendo (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 5, 2026. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  16. ^ a b "貫地谷しほりさん＆北川景子さんが『トモダチコレクション』を体験、新TVCMが放送スタート" [Shihori Kanjiya and Keiko Kitagawa try out Tomodachi Collection, and a new TV commercial has started airing.]. Inside (in Japanese). May 13, 2010. Archived from the original on June 2, 2025. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  17. ^ "『トモダチコレクション』がテレビ番組に！ 関根麻里ら2世タレントが『トモダチコレクション』で業界の恋話、裏話に迫る新番組がスタート関連スクリーンショット・写真画像" [Tomodachi Collection is getting a TV show! Mari Sekine and other second-generation celebrities will be featured in a new program exploring love stories and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the entertainment industry through Tomodachi Collection.]. Famitsu. April 28, 2010. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2026.
  18. ^ a b c Knezevic, Kevin (September 23, 2011). "Friends in Small Places". Nintendojo. Archived from the original on January 18, 2026. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  19. ^ "A Sign That Some Of Nintendo's New Series Could Travel Overseas". Siliconera. March 25, 2009. Archived from the original on September 7, 2025. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  20. ^ Parish, Jeremy (July 1, 2016). "E3 2010: No Plans for Tomodachi Collection in America". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
  21. ^ "トモダチコレクション (DS)のレビュー・評価・感想 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com" [Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo DS) reviews, ratings, and impressions]. Famitsu (in Japanese). Retrieved February 23, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ "【速報】ファミ通アワード2009大賞は『ドラゴンクエストIX 星空の守り人』 - ファミ通.com" [[Breaking News] The Famitsu Awards 2009 Grand Prize goes to Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies]. Famitsu (in Japanese). April 27, 2010. Archived from the original on December 24, 2010. Retrieved March 30, 2026.
  23. ^ Aetas (September 17, 2010). "［TGS 2010］日本ゲーム大賞2010発表授賞式レポート。経済産業大臣賞は堀井雄二氏，年間作品部門の大賞は「New スーパーマリオブラザーズ Wii」に" [[TGS 2010] Japan Game Awards 2010 Announcement Ceremony Report. The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award went to Yuji Horii, and the Grand Prize in the Game of the Year category went to New Super Mario Bros. Wii.]. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 15, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
  24. ^ Kurabe, Esra (April 30, 2019). "平成の100大ゲームを振り返る !" [The 100 Greatest Games of the Heisei Era!]. IGN Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 18, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
  25. ^ Reddick, Stuart (June 22, 2009). "Tomodachi Collection Has a Strong First Day". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on January 15, 2025. Retrieved March 29, 2026.
  26. ^ Tanaka, John (June 26, 2009). "Virtual Miis Rule in Japan". IGN. Archived from the original on June 28, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  27. ^ 2009年度上半期のゲーム市場規模は前年度同期比10.5パーセント減 [Gaming market decreased 10.5 percent in the first half of the 2009 fiscal year] (in Japanese). Famitsu. October 1, 2009. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  28. ^ Thorson, Tor (March 31, 2010). "Wii sales near 71 million, DS almost 129 million". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 23, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  29. ^ "『トモダチコレクション』最新作の正式名称決定、3DS主軸タイトルの1本に" [The official title for the latest installment in the Tomodachi Collection series has been decided, making it one of the flagship titles for the 3DS.]. Inside (in Japanese). January 31, 2012. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
  30. ^ a b Madden, Orla (April 4, 2013). "Tomodachi Collection: New Life Detailed in Latest Nintendo Direct". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on November 19, 2025. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  31. ^ Otero, Jose (April 10, 2014). "Tomodachi Life Could Be Nintendo's Next Animal Crossing?". IGN. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2026.
  32. ^ McWhertor, Michael (October 31, 2024). "Nintendo launches new music app for Nintendo Switch Online members". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 11, 2026. Retrieved March 28, 2026.
  33. ^ Phillips, Tom (October 31, 2024). "Nintendo Music app sees Mario maker take on Spotify and YouTube playlists". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on December 7, 2025. Retrieved March 28, 2026.
  34. ^ "『トモダチコレクション』13年ぶり新作、来年春に発売 『トモダチコレクション わくわく生活』" [Tomodachi Collection to release its first new game in 13 years, Tomodachi Collection: Exciting Life, next spring.]. Oricon News. September 12, 2025. Archived from the original on March 3, 2026. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  35. ^ Norman, Jim (January 29, 2026). "Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream Moves In On Switch 1 This April". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on January 29, 2026. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  36. ^ Doolan, Liam (April 3, 2026). "Nintendo Details The Benefits Of Playing Tomodachi Life On Switch 2". Nintendo Life. Retrieved April 3, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  37. ^ "Ask the Developer Vol. 21: Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream — Part 1". Nintendo. Nintendo. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
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