Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream gets April release date to round off 20-minute fever dream of a Nintendo Direct

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Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream gets April release date to round off 20-minute fever dream of a Nintendo Direct News By George Young published 29 January 2026

It is everything we both wanted and feared

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Nintendo has announced the release date for the upcoming life-sim Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream during a 20-minute Nintendo Direct focused on the game.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will launch for both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on April 16, 2026, so you won't have to wait too long before you can get your hands on it. The release date is just a tiny part of the Nintendo Direct for the upcoming life sim, with the rest of it being the kind of off-the-rails-fever-dream I did not expect from the Japanese gaming giant.

The stream starts out completely unhinged and only gets weirder. It follows the story of the newly created Mii Angie, who falls in-and-out of love like my Baldur's Gate 3 OC, before finally ending up in a four-way love rectangle fighting for the affection of a clown named Hugh Morris - that is, if you're watching the US version of the stream. Oh, you don't believe me? See for yourself.

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Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Direct 1.29.2026 - YouTube Watch On

Aside from the made-for-TV drama, Living the Dream will feature an intense amount of personalization, not just in character creation, but you can make your island look like your Mii's head, pets that look like paper cutouts, and houses that look like Chinese takeout cartons. It really will let you live your dream.

Nintendo has even made good on its promise of "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." There is a non-binary gender option, and same-sex romance options. A pleasant surprise among the chaos.

Sadly, the concert hall doesn't seem like it will be making a reappearance, so hopefully everything else will make up for this dire loss.

Former Nintendo of America marketing lead says higher-ups "chided" them for not selling as many casual games like Tomodachi Life as Europe

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch 2 Platforms Nintendo George YoungFreelance News Writer

Freelance writer, full-time PlayStation Vita enthusiast, and speaker of some languages. I break up my days by watching people I don't know play Pokemon pretty fast.

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