Tomodachi Life Day 3: The WarioWare Of Life-Sims

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I know that these daily Tomodachi Life diaries should probably personal accounts of what my life is like as a deity to all these Miis, but there’s something else I’ve noticed. Something important, which I think should be the focus of the third day’s discussion—namely, that I can’t help associating Tomodachi Life with WarioWare.

 

Which probably sounds insane, as you read it. After all, the games couldn’t be any more different. Tomodachi Life is a life simulation, where players pull all of the Miis of friends, family, and famous (real and fictional) people into the game, watch their daily activities, cater to their needs, and sometimes guide their lives. WarioWare is an eclectic mix of 3 second microgames. Yet, I can’t help associating them with one another.

 

And it isn’t just because the Tomodachi Life mini-games are essentially WarioWare microgames. Though, that is true. The Miis often want to play games with their (sometimes) benevolent benefactor, and each of these is never more than 30 seconds long. They can involve playing cards, tapping to make football-costumed Miis attack each other, matching cards, catching objects they’ll drop from the top screen on the lower one, answering true or false trivia questions about the apartment’s tenants, making Miis sneeze, determining what’s casting shadows, interpreting pixelated versions of people and items, and discerning what items are when the camera zooms in super close.

 

I’m pretty sure I’ve covered them all? Yes, I think that’s right.

 

While it seems like there isn’t much variety, if you glance at that list, it’s actually more challenging and robust than it seems. All Miis, foods, and treasures are fair game in the pixelated and zoomed in mini-games. Some of the shadow-casting games even combine two items, and task a player with discerning each one. Plus, the trivia questions become genuinely challenging, once you have more than 10 people in your apartments. (Which is why I’ve yet to add Ishaan to my game. But don’t worry, his time will come…)

 

But, as I said, this isn’t just about the minigames that are so similar to microgames. It’s about capturing a feeling. Like WarioWare, Tomodachi Life has the distinction of being one of those rare games that can offer fleeting snippets of satisfaction. You can have more fun (and have more laughs) from playing Tomodachi Life for five minutes, than you can with other games in a half hour. At the same time, it’s a game that you can play for extended periods of a half hour, an hour, or even 3 hours (cough) straight and have it feel like it was only moments. The WarioWare series is the only other that has ever offered that for me.

 

Of course, the humor is the same as well. Both Tomodachi Life and WarioWare aren’t afraid to be ridiculous. The part of you that loved petting a cat until it fell asleep or getting a woman to sniff up some phlegm is going to rejoice in dreams where you fling a Mii with a stick figure body around the touch screen for giggles and smile when you see one of your more easy-going Miis let out a fart when he or she is (hopefully) alone in an apartment.

 

Tomodachi Life definitely evokes some feelings, alright, and I’m glad they’re reminiscent of one of my favorite Nintendo series. In fact, I’d say it makes up for Game & Wario. (Almost.)

 

Food for Thought:

1. I have a Drakos Amatras, and soon I will have an Ishaan, a WildArms, and more. (MORE.)

 

2. I think… just think… I may have gone mad with Tomodachi Life power.

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Author
Jenni Lada
Jenni is Editor-in-Chief at Siliconera and has been playing games since getting access to her parents' Intellivision as a toddler. She continues to play on every possible platform and loves all of the systems she owns. (These include a PS4, Switch, Xbox One, WonderSwan Color and even a Vectrex!) You may have also seen her work at GamerTell, Cheat Code Central, Michibiku and PlayStation LifeStyle.