After over a decade, players of Nintendo's Tomodachi Life say the company finally gave the fans what they want: same-sex dating options.
After over a decade of Miis having diverse relationships in Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life, characters are finally allowed to be queer. During Nintendo's Direct on Jan. 29, 2026, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream revealed an inclusive settings menu that enables players to select their character’s “dating preferences” during the Mii creation process.
Miis can now date and marry multiple genders, or no genders, living their virtual lives as gay or nonbinary beings. On the Mii creation screen, players can “pick one, more than one, or none,” from the options “male,” “female,” and “nonbinary.”
The developer’s decision to create a more inclusive gaming space comes after criticism for 2014’s Tomodachi Life, which only allowed Miis to be heterosexual, or male or female.
In the previous iteration of the game, queer players used various workarounds and mods to express gender identity and sexual preference. At the time, Nintendo reportedly shut down a petition to honor gay marriage, so the inclusive features of the latest release mark a celebratory moment for Tomodachi Life players.
Fans discussing the release on social media expressed surprise that the game included nonbinary as a third gender option, with the LGBTQ+ community and allies seeing the move as a progressive step forward.
Kotaku reported, “After nearly 12 years of anticipation, it’s just a huge relief that we got some confirmation today (with the added bonus of a nonbinary option, which nobody seemed to expect).”
Players celebrate on social media
Gamers celebrated Tomodachi Life’s inclusive new options for queer players on the game’s subreddit. u/Nessthememe posted an image of the game’s Mii creation screen revealing the nonbinary gender category. The Reddit user titled the thread, “WE WONNNNNN,” and added, “IT'S REAL THEY KEPT THEIR WORD.”
“Homodachi Life confirmed!!” replied u/nigelcore221b.
u/Bryztoe wrote, “I find it really surprising they used the term 'non-binary' directly. Thought they would say 'other' or something, but hey, I'm not complaining.”
“I know!! It's so cool that they aren't dancing around it!!” agreed u/transprotag.
u/Equivalent_Donut_145 wrote, “We are Living The Dream,” and the players on the thread are certainly pleasantly surprised.
But u/MissTinyTits shared another idea for Nintendo, “Since having kids is still a thing in the game, I’m wondering if Nintendo might also include adoption???”
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