Tomodachi Welcome
Image: Nintendo

Tomodachi Life, to date, seems to be enjoying reasonable sales success on the 3DS. US sales will become clear soon in the upcoming NPD results, but the title has shown solid momentum in markets such as the UK, where it's maintained its performance and gradually moved up the charts.

This has no doubt been helped by various marketing efforts. In North America there were initially 'Move-In' codes distributed to Club Nintendo Platinum members, while early July brought a demo to the region's eShop. Elsewhere, we've seen a buy one get one half price deal at GAME in the UK, and in broader terms Nintendo of Europe introduced a "Welcome Version" — essentially the same as the "move-in" iteration in North America. In a clever touch two codes for this Welcome download are provided with every retail copy in Europe — whether downloaded from the eShop or a physical cart — that can be passed on to friends and family.

Nintendo of Europe is now distributing individual codes for that Welcome version to those signed up to its newsletter, with some of the Nintendo Life team finding the gift in their inboxes. Oddly, distribution seems a tad scattergun, as both staffers already own the game, while another with the title hasn't received the email. The message says we've "been selected", possibly by a blind-folded individual pointing at a list of names; that's perhaps unfair and there may be logic to the distribution, especially as neither of those now blessed with extra codes have fully registered the game — yet — on Club Nintendo.

In any case, if you're in Europe and receive regular newsletters from Nintendo you may want to check your email inbox. This is the version that comes with a rare panda suit, no less, and allows save data to be transferred to the full game. As yet there's still no standard demo available on the 3DS eShop in Europe.