Tomodachi Life has finally returned after over a decade, and fans are theorising it could feature lesbian and gay marriage options
The latest in the handheld life-simulation series, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, was revealed in an announcement trailer as part of publisher Nintendo’s “Direct” live stream on Thursday (27 March).
The minute-long trailer shows multiple Miis – Nintendo’s avatars which serve as the game’s main characters – up to various shenanigans, whilst speaking in the series’ iconic and slightly creepy speech synthesis accenting the wacky antics.
But several points in the trailer, as well as Nintendo’s past comments on the series, have fans strongly believing that same-sex marriage is about to debut as a feature.
At the final point of the trailer, an strange scene shows a giant woman kneeling down and staring at a female Mii. The strange moment is quickly revealed to be a daydream from the smaller woman, who sees what many have theorised is her crush walking by.
The appropriately bizarre moment – Tomodachi Life has always been a very odd series – was seen by many fans as confirmation that LGBTQ+ romance options would be available in the title, with one users saying the scene was a hilarious way to reveal the feature.
“It’s so f***ing funny to me they put this at the very end of the Tomodachi Life trailer teasing game romance options like it’s a [Super Smash Bros] character,” one user said.
If confirmed, the feature would be a long time coming for fans, who have called for the queer romance options to be added after they were omitted from the original game on the Nintendo DS.
Prior to the 2014 game’s release, Nintendo issued a statement apologising to fans after it faced backlash for not including same-sex romance options while hinting that future iterations would feature the option.
“Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a [post-release] patch,” a spokesperson for Nintendo of America said.
“We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a gameplay experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.”
While fans will have to wait for an official confirmation ahead of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream’s release in 2026, the move wouldn’t be out of the blue for the Japanese company, which has a positive history of LGBTQ+ inclusion.
In 2022, the company recognised same-sex partnerships for its LGBTQ+ employees in Japan – where same-sex marriage still isn’t legal.
A spokesperson for the company said at the time that the policy, intended to give LGBTQ+ employees in same-sex partnerships the same benefits as its married heterosexual employees, would “create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one of our unique employees.”
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