One thing people have always loved about The Sims is its quirky made-up language. It's become so popular since the series debuted that fans now affectionately refer to it as "Simlish." It doesn't make much sense, but half the fun comes from deciphering what sims are trying to tell you by the tone of their voice and the little emoticon-style icons that hover above their heads.
Nintendo recently released Tomodachi Life, a 3DS game that takes a great deal of inspiration from The Sims. Both are great, but they diverge in one key area. Instead of sims, you populate your village in Tomodachi Life with Miis. And oddly enough for a Japanese game exported to the U.S., this one actually has the little virtual critters speaking in plain English.
Maybe "plain" is an overstatement, because Tomodachi Life is a decidedly eccentric game. The vast majority of my time spent playing so far has been devoted to stopping by the apartments of my various Miis and hearing what they have to say, even having surprisingly two-sided conversations with them.
They always begin with a thought bubble:
Tapping on it prompts the Mii to say whatever's on their mind. There's no telling what'll come next, however.
Here are some of my favorites, starting with what FredBob asked after I burst that particular bubble:
No. Wait, what?
Oh FredBob, you always know just what to say...
But do you always have to get so deep on me?
Hey, I'd feel that way too if I was wearing a hamster suit.
Wanna talk about it?
Don't worry, Rick Ross. I know just how fantastic you are.
Hey, you're not so bad yourself!
That's fair. But you are also wearing a pretty big helmet...
What did I just say?
See, Stannis Baratheon, this is why everyone's scared of you.
Well, we have these things called cat videos...
What?!?! You're Batman. You never get tired!
...Marcus Fenix says from his jail cell...
You and me both, Lisa.
Brag about it, why don't you?
Is this about the pasta I just gave you for dinner?
Sure, why not.
...
I'm impressed we're even having this conversation!
I...see...
Easy for you to say, you're wearing one of those judge wigs!
Ok, I guess I'll check back in with you tomorrow.
Trust me, there are plenty more where these came from.
But before I keep talking about my batch of Tomodachi Life islanders, I'd rather see some of yours! Please drop some of your favorites in the comments below. I even prepared a quick little guide to capturing and sharing photos of the game if you're anything like me and don't understand modern technology.
To contact the author of this post, write to yannick.lejacq@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq.