Tomodachi Collection

Tomodachi Collection is a 2009 social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It follows the daily interactions between interactive Miis, customizable avatars, who reside on an island overseen by the player, as they build relationships and solve problems. A group of young Nintendo employees began developing the game in October 2005, replicating the Nintendo-published video game Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu (2000). Titled Otona no Onna no Uranai Techō, the prototype featured character-creation avatars that served as the progenitors for what would become the Miis. With suggestions from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the team was reassigned to implement the Miis onto the Wii console, during which the game's production was put on hold. Following the Wii's release in the Japanese market on December 2, 2006, the project restarted as Tomodachi Collection around April 2007. Developers sought to create entertaining gameplay that emphasized the human-like characteristics of the Miis, whom players were incentivized to create in the image of their real-world friends and family. Tomodachi Collection was released exclusively in Japan on June 18, 2009. It received contemporary and retrospective praise for its tone and presentation. Tomodachi Collection sold 3.76 million copies by 2020, making it one of the best-selling DS games. Plans to localize the title overseas never came to fruition, largely because the Miis' voice synthesis program was unable to replicate English. It spawned the Tomodachi Life series beginning with a direct sequel, Tomodachi Life, that was released in Japan on April 18, 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS and internationally throughout June 2014. Another sequel, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, released on the Nintendo Switch worldwide on April 16, 2026.