Living The Dream Desperately Needs

While it might not be a perfect game, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has been getting glowing reviews for being a more than worthy sequel to its predecessors, with plenty of charm and creativity that perfectly encapsulate what makes the series so beloved. Even if fans are more than happy to get a new sequel after a decade of waiting, Living the Dream is still missing a few of the series’ most iconic features.

This isn’t to say that Living the Dream feels like an incomplete game, as several of the absent mechanics have either been replaced with something similar or even improved upon in other ways, but there are still several features that could have made the experience even better if they were added in future updates.

10

Not Choosing Proposal Destinations Is A Strange Choice

Many of the most memorable moments in Living the Dream come from the variety of comedic and adorable romance options your Miis can get entangled in. With many Tomodachi relationships ending up in marriage at some point, and even having its own unique minigame, not being able to choose a proposal location like in previous entries feels like a bit of an oversight.

While you can choose the exact outfit, location, and lingo used to make a Mii ask someone to be their partner, Living the Dream leaves most of the details entirely up to the chosen Mii. While this wouldn’t normally be a problem if it were randomized, this often results in what’s supposed to be a climactic event taking place on the unromantic floor of someone’s bedroom, or during a talk at the best of times.

9

Rap Battles Would Have Fit Well With Living The Dream’s Dialogue

Ocurring once at a set time in the original Tomodachi Life, Rap Battles were one of the more comedic events where two Mii’s would either insult each other or brag about themselves until one winner is chosen by the loser. Even if the humor in the rap battle might not transfer well into Living the Dream, it fits surprisingly well with the new dialogue systems available.

With the sheer amount of freedom that Living the Dream provides with Miis regularly using your own phrases and references, it feels like the perfect recipe for at least a few laughs at the end of the day, especially if there was an added option to create your own hilarious lingo specifically made for the event.

8

Cooking With Miis Makes Food Feel More Personal

Living the Dream has no shortage of items and food to offload onto your Miis, but the Frying Pan and cooking mechanics of the previous games unfortunately got lost in the transfer to the new generation. By gifting a Mii the cooking item in previous Tomodachi Life games, they’ll start cooking up their own meal to varying success, which can then be eaten themselves or saved to give to another Mii later on.

With how often you need to feed your Miis and buy food in bulk, allowing them a chance to cook for themselves would definitely help spice things up occasionally, while also adding to the roleplay potential of letting your Miis show off their cooking skills, or lack thereof at times.

7

The Observation Tower Would Have Been A Nice Touch To Have

While the freedom of Living the Dream‘s island building makes standalone hangout spots like the Observation Tower not as necessary, it would still have offered a unique spot for Miis to hang out and get a better view of your island from above. Aside from several unique interactions and offering another spot for impromptu confessions, the Observation Tower’s removal also prevented the Quirky Questions event from carrying over.

Even if Living the Dream already has plenty of character interactions and dialogue as its primary focus, the Quirky Questions minigame that came with the Tower was still a fan-favorite for a reason, offering an appropriately named mini gameshow that added to the charm of the overall experience, even if it was great to see it incorporated into the new lingo system.

6

Shared Sleeping Spaces Make Too Much Sense To Ignore

Although Living the Dream plays up its adorable romances and has plenty of events for couples to go through, your Miis won’t be able to share nearly as much of the same life as they used to at home. While relationships will prompt with the option to move in, there’s no way to actually get two Miis to share a room together, let alone a single large bed.

While this doesn’t have too many gameplay effects aside from being a cute concept, it does remove a bit more of the personality that Tomodachi the Life and its character relationships are known for. Thankfully, it’s not too hard to imagine this feature being added in a future update by simply allowing two married Miis to combine rooms for more comedic reactions and character moments throughout the night.

5

Features Like Judgment Bay Offered More Chaotic Charm

Despite not having active effects for the game itself, Judgement Bay is another sorely missed minigame that is more than a little sad to see not make its way into Living the Dream. Allowing you to let your Miis choose between up to four sections at random based on what you’ve written in the sand, after which you can tap on a Mii to hear them say something about their decision.

Even with how random the event turned out to be, it was still a fan-favorite way to interact with your Miis an unlimited number of times for humorous purposes, which would be an especially great addition given how many of Living the Dream‘s reactions depend on timed events or your Mii’s availability.

4

The Compatibility Tester Deserves To Make A Return

If you’ve ever wondered why two Miis aren’t getting along or simply want to see a comedic glimpse of what their relationship could evolve into, the Compatibility Tester from Tomodachi Life was the perfect way to do just that. Allowing you to view either a rating score or a forecasted relationship week’s trajectory based on either friendship or romance.

While it was mostly a humorous event, it was still a comedic way to see a hypothetical pairing between two Miis through comedic cutscenes without actually investing in getting them together, while also helping you save time if two Miis turn out to have completely incompatible personalities.

3

The Ranking Board Would Have Been An Excellent Island Addition

While the ranking board from Tomodachi Life might not seem too substantial a feature on paper, given that it simply shows lists and statistics of your island, that’s exactly why it feels like such a strange omission, especially with how many players miss checking in on certain stats of their favorite Miis.

As if the beloved feature wasn’t already missed enough, with the sheer amount of personality and customization Living the Dream offers for each Mii, the feature would have been even more impactful for the new generation. From seeing which Miis are the most popular, who has the healthiest diet, and plenty of additional options that are fun to check periodically, the Ranking Board would be a great addition if it could retroactively check your stats.

2

Not Raising Your Miis Children Is A Heartbreaking Omission

Although you can breathe a sigh of relief that Living the Dream does bring back the ability for your Miis to have children off-screen, the process has been significantly simplified, making it not nearly as impactful an experience as it once was. Once two Miis have created a child together, you’ll simply get a video montage of them raising the baby, before it immediately becomes fully grown as its own independent character.

Despite cutting out some of the most frustrating babysitting minigames like rocking its cradle, the lack of focus feels like a major step back for one of its predecessor’s biggest selling points. Even though some players prefer the change simply to avoid the minigames, Living the Dream could easily revamp them to become one of the best minigames available or just skip ti, while still providing the ability to raise Miis from children to adulthood.

1

The Concert Hall Is Easily The Biggest Missed Opportunity

By far the most requested feature to make a return in a future update for Living the Dream is easily the Concert Hall, as fans were almost certain it would make an appearance in the full release despite not being present in the trailers. Unfortunately, despite being a staple of the series, the Concert Hall that allowed you to throw Miis together for impromptu performances, either solo or as a band, is entirely absent.

With customizable lyrics that perfectly encapsulate the freedom of the series​​​​, the lack of a Concert Hall is even more noticeable. Thankfully, Nintendo has offered excellent post-launch support for their recent releases, which, when combined with Miis singing during events, dialogue about karaoke, and even its theme music playing in the restaurant, offers a glimmer of hope that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream could see the Concert Hall make a return in the future updates.

Released

April 16, 2026

ESRB

Everyone / Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Prequel(s)

Tomodachi Life

Franchise

Tomodachi

Number of Players

Single-player