Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream Will Allow Same-Sex Relationships & Non-Binary Miis

Tomodachi Life fans have a lot to celebrate today. Along with a release date for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, Nintendo has confirm that players will be able to create non-binary Miis in the new game and that they'll be able to select dating preferences for their characters.

This was all confirmed in today's Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct, and in a game where customisation and creation is off-the-charts, more gender and relationship options should be a given. It should've been a given in 2013, but Nintendo is making up for it this time around.

Now, when creating your Mii, you'll be able to select from three genders: Male, Female, and Non-binary. And you can also select your Mii's dating preferences, again between the three gender options. You can select one, more than one, or none of them. Essentially, you can date whoever you want — or no one at all — catering to gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, aromantic, asexual, and all sorts of LGBTQIA+ relationships.

This is a huge win for many fans of Tomodachi Life on the 3DS, which drew criticism back when it released in Japan in 2013. Initially, a bug appeared to allow same-sex relationships in-game, which Nintendo later patched out. Nintendo followed up the patch with some clarifications, but fans were understandably still unhappy that the option to date whoever they wanted wasn't available.

This prompted the 'Miiquality' social media campaign ahead of the game's Western release, with Nintendo of America addressing the controversy shortly after. Then, two days later, the company issued an apology, stating "if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players."

And, given today's Nintendo Direct, it seems like the developers have stuck to their promise, which is fantastic to see. Now we can all spend time with Hugh Morris however we want, romantically or not.

In an ideal world, this news would be a non-story in 2026, but we've taken the decision to disable comments on this article.

If you're not familiar with the original controversy surrounding the 3DS game and are interested in a contemporary account outlining the situation, our editorial statement from 2014 provides valuable context.