Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream: Beginner's Guide - Tips & Tricks

There are no games quite like Tomodachi Life, and the Switch follow up, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is just as madcap, random, and hilarious as its 3DS predecessor.

The series has a reputation for being extremely open-ended, so that can feel overwhelming. And with a huge install base across Switch 1 and Switch 2, more and more people are likely diving into the series for the first time.

So we have a selection of helpful beginner tips that we think will help you make the most out of early life — and often for your whole playthrough — of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

A Beginner's Guide to Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream

Everything below should help you find your footing for the first five-ish hours of the game, but lots of these tips are also invaluable for the entire time you spend in Living the Dream. So make sure you bookmark this page.

And we'll obviously add to this guide if any other tips come our way.

Get through the tutorial

This seems very obvious, but focus on following the tutorial to start off with.

This will not only teach you how to do every basic thing with your Miis or on your island, but it'll also allow you to expand your island once.

The tutorial basically ends when you have six Miis on your island, so just go step-by-step.

Gradually make more Miis

Don't rush into making tons of Miis for your island, because the game can get pretty overwhelming pretty fast if you do.

Get the initial ones out of the way via the tutorial, of course, but then just make them as and when you feel like it. Maybe one a day? Two? Of course, if you played the 3DS game, you'll be more familiar with the mechanics and micromanaging, but newcomers should take it slower.

Remember, you can have up to 70 Miis on your island.

Play in short sessions

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream isn't a game you can binge, and it's one you certainly shouldn't try to, either. The nature of the experience is that you're really letting the Miis go about their lives, and just intervening when they want help or when you feel like it.

There's no real end goal besides levelling up your island and making your Miis happy, so maybe just check in once or twice a day for 20 or 30 minutes.

Check on all your Miis at once

No need to scroll around the island to see how your Miis are feeling; press the Y button to bring up a menu with up to six Miis. You can scroll through this or expand it to show 12 Miis at once.

In this menu, you'll be able to see the mood of each Mii whenever you want!

Use fast travel

Yes, fast travel is in Tomodachi Life, and you use it to warp directly to any Mii that you want.

Using the method to check your Miis' mood, all you need to do is click on the Mii you want to visit and you'll be taken straight to them, whether they're at home or exploring the island.

Focus on Problems

One mood you always want to look out for is a Problem; this is when a little speech bubble with a squiggly line appears above your Miis' head.

There are three kinds of Problem you can get, correlating to the colour of the speech bubble, and doing these will raise a Mii's happiness:

Yellow

Usually food, gift, or clothing related

Orange

Wants to hang out with someone

Pink

Romance related

Try to make your Miis happy

Troubles aren't the only way to make a Mii happy, though. Giving them clothes, Treasures, and food every day has a chance to raise their happiness — if they like what you give them.

These likes and dislikes are totally random, so you'll need to use good ol' trial-and-error to figure out what a Mii likes and dislikes. Luckily, if you find their favourite (or least-favourite) food, it'll be highlighted on your Mii's info.

If you happen to come across something a Mii loathes, then their happiness can actually decrease. Don't worry! You can raise it again.

Check Daily / Weekly Specials

You'll get a few different stores for your Tomodachi Life island, and some of them get a new set of items to sell every single day.

Fresh Kingdom Food Mart and Where & Wear clothing get a new influx of Daily Specials every day, so every time you log in, check their inventories.

As for T&C Reno — the store where you purchase house interiors — they'll get one Weekly Special a week, so check it every Monday.

Buy at least one of every food item (if you can afford it)

The best thing about the Daily Specials is that, once you've bought one, you can rebuy it whenever you want. Great for clothing options, but we'd recommend focusing on food first.

Buy at least one of every new item you see at Fresh Kingdom every day, because it'll then be available for purchase whenever you return. Finding your Miis' favourite foods is the quickest way to make them happy, so having access to as much food as you can at all times is ideal.

Visit the Wishing Fountain once a day

You'll use the WIshing Fountain to spend wishes and unlock new interiors, decor, quirks, Treasures, and more. But once a day, you'll also be left a big pile of money by your Miis, who have been donating coins in your namesake. That's nice!

So, whenever you start a new day, visit the fountain and pick up that cash.

Leave the camera on Miis

If you're every struggling for things to do, then simply select a Mii and let the camera follow them. It's the quickest way to make yourself laugh, because your Mii might just do some ridiculous thing, or they might get into an interaction with another Mii.

Regardless, it passes time and it might give you an opportunity to raise their happiness.

You can say no

One way that Living the Dream is a lot more free than the 3DS game is it allows you to have much more control over what happens. That goes from refusing to let Miis be friends to getting into relationships to even playing minigames.

Sometimes, a Mii might ask you to place something down on the island, or may have some decor ideas. Saying yes will raise their happiness, but if you don't like their idea, you can refuse to do it. It won't make them unhappy, so don't fret!

The same for relationships — if a Mii is trying to pursue another Mii but you have other plans, you can discourage them from going for that relationship.

Don't like something? You can change it anytime!

If your Mii doesn't look quite right, or you want to change their gender, pronouns, dating preferences, or personality, then you can do this whenever you want.

Simply select the Mii you want to change, either in the menu or by interacting with them, and select Edit Mii. This will bring up all the design and creation options again, meaning you can tweak your Mii to your liking at every single opportunity.

Those are just a few tips to get you started in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. We'll add to this is more comes up, but for now, enjoy the game, and let us know what you've found most useful!