Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream gives you four ways to add an island resident: answer the Get Help wizard, build one From Scratch, copy a face from a Mii saved on your Switch or Switch 2, or clone an island resident. The full editor adds adjustable ears, two-tone hair, custom skin and feature colours, face paint, expanded makeup, and male, female, or non-binary identity options. You can register up to 70 Miis on one island, with as many as eight sharing a house.
This guide covers the creation screens, editing, face-paint techniques, identity and dating settings, console imports, deletion, and the differences between Switch and Switch 2. Living the Dream launched worldwide on April 16, 2026, runs on both Switch systems, and occupies 6.3 GB.
What are the four ways to add a Mii?
Open the island’s resident-management menu and choose Add a Mii. Published guides report either the X button or the plus button for opening this command, and the first launch of a new island presents the choices directly. If the command is unavailable, check whether the island already has 70 residents or whether a story event is temporarily blocking it.
| Creation path | What it does | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Get Help | Asks simple appearance questions and generates a face. | A quick starting point when you do not want to use the editor immediately. |
| From Scratch | Opens every appearance control. | Accurate likenesses, original characters, anime designs, and face paint. |
| Create from Mii on console | Copies the face of a Mii stored in the Switch or Switch 2 system Mii Maker. | When the face is already prepared on the console. |
| Use an existing island Mii | Starts a new resident with an islander’s design. | Fast family resemblance or a variation on a character you already made. |
Regardless of the starting route, you still set the new resident’s body, name, voice, identity, relationships, personality and event outfit in Living the Dream.
Should I choose Get Help or From Scratch?
Choose Get Help for speed and From Scratch for control. Get Help is not a reduced character type: it creates a face that you can send into the full editor before accepting it.
Get Help
Answer questions such as whether the hair should be long or short and which face, eye and mouth shapes look right. The assistant generates a face, then offers three decisions: Looks good accepts it, Needs work opens the detailed editor, and Start over produces another result. This is useful if you have a likeness in mind but do not know which individual parts to select.
From Scratch
From Scratch opens the complete creator immediately. Use it for celebrities, family members, creatures, heavily stylised faces, or any design that depends on two-tone hair, unusual colours or face paint. It takes longer, but every feature remains under your control.
How do I create a Mii in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream?
Have the person’s name, birthday, approximate height and body shape, voice idea, and any family relationships ready. If you are copying a console Mii, make that face first in System Settings > Mii.
- Open Add a Mii. From the resident menu, select the add command (guides identify X or plus depending on the menu context). On a new island, select Get Help or From Scratch from the opening prompt.
- Select a starting method. Choose Get Help, From Scratch, Create from Mii on console, or the option to base the resident on an existing island Mii.
- Build the face. Set the face shape, skin colour, front and back hair, ears, eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, glasses, facial hair and small facial details. The editor lets you position and rotate many parts rather than merely choosing a fixed preset.
- Add face paint if needed. Draw or stamp a mark and choose whether it sits above or below the facial features. Face paint is optional; native makeup, wrinkles and similar parts are better for details that should follow the three-dimensional head.
- Set height and body shape. Move the height and body sliders. The comparison view lets you check the new resident against existing islanders. There is no documented reset button for these sliders, so adjust them before continuing.
- Enter the name. Living the Dream uses one name field rather than the 3DS game’s separate first-name, surname and nickname fields. If the spoken name is wrong, open the pronunciation control beside the name and spell it phonetically for the text-to-speech voice; the commonly cited example changes “Seán” to “Shawn.”
- Choose gender and dating preference. Gender can be male, female or non-binary. Dating preference can include male, female, non-binary, several of these, or none. If you leave dating preference untouched, Game8 reports that it defaults to the opposite of the selected gender, so set it deliberately.
- Set birthday and age. An age under 18 is treated as a child and 18 or older as a grown-up. You can stop a resident from aging. Birthdays feed seasonal events and compatibility features.
- Configure the voice. Pick a preset or use custom controls. The custom screen provides speed, pitch, depth, rise and fall, and melody adjustments; Nintendo also describes pitch, speed and tone controls.
- Assign family and other relationships. When other residents exist, identify relatives and, where appropriate, a spouse or looser connection. Related Miis are prevented from falling in love, which helps avoid an island resident being paired with a real-world relative.
- Set personality sliders. Rate five aspects covering movement, speech, energy, thinking style and an overall normal-to-quirky tendency. The game reveals one of 16 personality types after confirmation; the type cannot be changed from the reveal screen, so review the sliders first.
- Choose event clothing and confirm. Select the outfit style for occasions such as weddings, review the summary, and choose Add Mii. New residents also receive a personality-based starter outfit; additional clothing comes from the Where & Wear shop or gifts.
What appearance controls are new or expanded?
Developer Daisuke Kageyama says the editor is designed for finer likenesses, with adjustable eyelashes, eyelid creases and mouth angles. Director Ryutaro Takahashi says the broader colour and shape controls also support original non-human characters such as animals and aliens.
- Face and skin: A fan-maintained catalogue reports 16 face shapes, 14 standard skin tones and a custom colour picker. Treat those counts as a community catalogue, not a Nintendo-published total.
- Hair: Bangs and back hair are selected separately, allowing wig-like combinations. Highlights, unusual colours and a second “sub-colour” create two-tone hair. Tied hair can be worn loose. Caps and beanies copied from the system Mii Maker become inventory hats rather than remaining hair choices in the in-game maker.
- Eyes: New shapes, removable or adjustable eyelashes, movable catchlights, eye bags, eyeshadow and unusual iris colours are available. Individual facial features can use different colours.
- Nose: The editor adds several shapes, including at least eight reported by the community catalogue, and permits removing the nose.
- Mouth: At least 16 additional shapes are catalogued by fans. Lips can be added to a lipless mouth, and the mouth can be rotated or removed.
- Glasses: Styles include new frames and monocles. Frame and lens colours can be set separately, with thick and thin frame options.
- Ears: This is the series’ first dedicated ear editor. Oval, Round, Large and Pointy ears can be resized and repositioned.
- Body: Height and weight sliders remain available, with no documented one-button reset.
How do I use face paint without it looking misplaced?
Face paint is a drawable layer for marks such as whiskers, scars or anime-style symbols. It is a flat 2D overlay, so it can look correctly aligned from the front and drift visibly when the Mii turns; native makeup and wrinkle parts conform to the head more reliably.
- Open face paint after finishing the native facial parts, so the mark is positioned against the final eyes, nose and mouth.
- Choose whether the paint appears above or below facial features, then draw or stamp the design.
- Use touch controls or the regular sticks. Joy-Con 2 mouse control is not supported for this creator.
- For clean fan-made designs, community tutorials suggest smoothing broad strokes and using a one-pixel unsmoothed eraser for edge cleanup. This is a technique tip, not a Nintendo requirement.
- Rotate the preview before accepting. If the mark only works from one angle, simplify it or replace it with a native feature.
How do gender, dating preference and pronouns work?
Nintendo’s FAQ lists three gender choices—male, female and non-binary—and states that the game’s system and story content do not change based on a Mii’s gender selection. Dating preference uses the same three categories and can be set to one, several or none.
Married couples may have babies regardless of gender. Some secondary guides describe independently chosen personal pronouns, but Nintendo’s FAQ does not document custom pronoun strings; treat any pronoun control you see as version-dependent rather than an officially specified text field.
What do personality, quirks and clothes change?
The five temperament sliders determine one of 16 personality types. Personality influences who a resident gravitates toward and how that resident behaves during problems. English names published by secondary guides disagree, so rely on the type shown by your own game rather than memorising an online list.
Quirks are separate from personality. They are gifts assigned after creation that affect animations such as walking, eating or sleeping. Clothing is likewise separate: starter outfits reflect personality, while the Where & Wear shop and gifts supply more pieces and complete outfits. Event outfit style is chosen during the final creation review.
How do I edit an existing Mii?
Open the Residents list and select the Mii, or talk to that resident and open the Mii menu (Game8 identifies Y for this conversation route). Choose edit to reopen the creator.
Post-launch guides report that you can change the name, face, personality and body without losing relationships, levels or island progress. Review the finished summary before saving, because changes apply to the existing resident rather than creating a duplicate.
Can I import Miis from Switch Mii Maker, amiibo, QR codes or Miitopia?
You can use a console Mii as the starting face, but Living the Dream does not provide a general cross-game import or export system. Nintendo’s FAQ specifically says Miitopia Miis cannot be imported directly, and Mii data made in Living the Dream cannot be sent back to the console or to another game.
From the Switch or Switch 2 Mii Maker
Create or edit the source face in System Settings > Mii, then choose Create from Mii on console in the game. Only the face is copied; height, personality, identity, birthday, voice and relationships still need to be set in Living the Dream.
From an amiibo
On a compatible console, hold an amiibo with a registered Mii at the NFC point on the right Joy-Con 2 to copy that Mii into the system Mii list. Use the resulting console Mii as the source for Create from Mii on console.
From a QR code on Switch 2
Switch 2’s system Mii Maker can scan a saved Mii QR image with a compatible USB camera, such as the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera sold separately. A USB-C camera plugs into the console; a standard USB camera plugs into the dock. This is a system-Mii workflow, not confirmation that Living the Dream itself scans QR codes.
Local wireless
System Miis can be sent to or received from a nearby console by local wireless. The game’s store description also says you can send your Mii and Palette House creations to a nearby friend’s system.
How many Miis can I have, and what happens when I delete one?
The island limit is 70 Miis, down from 100 in the 3DS game. A household can contain up to eight Miis, which helps consolidate residents when the island is full. Each console user has one island save; islands are not shared between users on the same Switch.
To delete someone, open that resident’s edit screen and choose delete. Game8 reports a fee of at least $33 in-game dollars and warns that belongings held by the deleted Mii disappear. Check the amount shown by your game before confirming, and give the resident’s clothes and other items to someone else first if you want to keep them.
What changes between Nintendo Switch and Switch 2?
The software content is the same on both systems; there is no separate Switch 2 edition. Switch 2 can load faster and targets 1080p in handheld mode, while GameChat requires Nintendo Switch Online. Mii creation supports touch input on both systems. The Joy-Con 2 mouse is not supported, so use touch or sticks for face-paint work.
Handheld Mode Boost does not add a special benefit here because handheld play already targets 1080p. Some screenshot or video transfer-to-phone and automatic upload-to-Switch-App functions are disabled for this title.
How do I make a cute, anime or non-human Mii?
Start From Scratch, because these designs depend on controls that Get Help may not select. Use larger eye shapes, movable catchlights, unusual hair with a sub-colour, rotated or removed mouths, custom skin and iris colours, and carefully placed face paint. For animals or aliens, the adjustable ears, non-standard colours and exaggerated proportions are more dependable than trying to reproduce a realistic human face.
For an anime-inspired result, keep the native eyes, eyelid and mouth adjustments for depth, then reserve face paint for graphic markings that do not need to wrap around the head. Preview from several angles before confirming, since the paint layer remains flat.
What if an option is missing or unavailable?
- Add a Mii is greyed out: Check the 70-resident cap and whether an active story event has paused resident creation.
- The copied console face looks different: The import copies the system Mii’s face only; redo body, hair accessories, voice and identity settings in the game.
- A name sounds wrong: Use the pronunciation icon beside the name and enter a phonetic spelling.
- Face paint shifts when the resident turns: Replace complex paint with native makeup or simplify the 2D mark.
- You expected Miitopia or QR transfer: Miitopia direct import is unsupported, and QR scanning belongs to Switch 2’s system Mii Maker rather than a confirmed in-game scanner.
- You cannot find a personality name online: Secondary lists conflict; the five sliders and the type revealed by your game are the reliable reference.
Does the free demo carry Miis into the full game?
Yes. The eShop demo lets you create up to three Miis, and that island data carries into the full game. Completing the demo grants a Hamster Costume, which is also obtainable in the full release.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can two users on one Switch share the same Tomodachi Life island?
No. Nintendo documents one island save per user, so each profile maintains its own residents and progress. Changing profiles opens that profile’s island rather than a shared town.
Can I send a Living the Dream Mii back into the Switch Mii Maker?
No. Nintendo’s FAQ says Mii data created in Living the Dream cannot be transferred to the Switch or Switch 2 console Mii list or to other software. Console-to-game face copying works only in the opposite direction.
Do same-gender married Miis have access to the baby system?
Yes. Nintendo states that married couples may have babies regardless of gender. Babies inherit characteristics from their parents, including traits such as cat-like face paint.
Does the game itself scan Mii QR codes?
No in-game QR scanner is documented. On Switch 2, scan a QR image in the system Mii Maker with a compatible USB camera, then select that saved console Mii when creating a resident.
How many Miis can I make in the demo?
The free eShop demo allows up to three residents. Its save transfers to the full game, and finishing the demo awards a Hamster Costume.