Tomodachi Life: Marriage & Babies Guide - Your Questions Answered...

* SPOILER ALERT* 

Warning, this post does contain spoilers!

Marriage and child-rearing are just two of the many events that occur in Nintendo's wacky and ever-popular 3DS game, Tomodachi Life. Throughout these events, players are expected to perform a set of mini-games, which are fun, but which can also prove quite tricky and frustrating at times. Thus, we here at Mini Gamers HQ have compiled this list of handy hints and frequently asked questions that may help you through your Miis' first experiences of marriage and parenthood.


1) How do Miis get married in the game?

Any adult Mii who is in a relationship with another adult Mii in the game may express thoughts of marriage quite soon after the two of them have become sweethearts. They will come to you and say something like: "I want to propose to ... Do you think I should?" 

If you encourage your Mii to go ahead and propose to their beloved sweetheart, you will then be asked to select from a variety of different options, including how your Mii should propose, where the proposal should take place, and whether they should change their clothes before proposing or not. Once these things have been decided, your Mii will request your help to propose at the right time. This is essentially what the Proposal mini-game centres around.

You join your Mii and his or her possible future spouse on their date. During the date, your Mii will be given three separate chances to propose to their intended sweetheart. These chances are represented as three floating love-hearts above your Mii's head.

During the date, your Mii will try to lead up to asking the all important question. Whilst your Mii is planning what to say, your Miis intended spouse will have a variety of thoughts going through their mind. These thoughts are displayed as images in little thought bubbles. When this thought bubble shows the face of the Mii who is trying to propose, you must tap the 'Now' heart icon on the bottom screen, to tell your Mii that it is the right time to propose.

The images in the thought bubbles can change very rapidly and it is easy to get the timing wrong. This will lead to an unsuccessful proposal if it happens too many times. Thus, you must try and tap the 'Now' heart icon as quickly as possible when you see your Mii's  face appear in their sweetheart's thoughts.

If you successfully identify your Mii's face, you will get a thumbs up and your Mii will start his or her proposal. If you can successfully identify your Mii's face and tap the 'Now' icon in time three times, then you will have conquered the proposal mini-game and your Miis will get married and will go on honeymoon together before moving into one of the special 'Mii Homes' for married couples.

2) What happens if I get it wrong during the proposal mini-game, does this mean my Miis will break up?

No, if you are unsuccessful at the proposal mini-game your Miis will remain as sweethearts for now. Provided that they remain happy together, your Mii will get another chance to propose to his or her sweetheart at a later date.

3) My Miis got married! How soon can they start a family?

This can take between 3-7 days after the marriage has taken place, depending on your Miis. Once your Miis are ready to start a family they will come to you and say something like: "I have been thinking of having a child with ... What do you think?"

If you are happy for your Miis to have a child together, then choose the positive option. If you wish to delay their parenthood, then choose the negative option. Once encouragement has been given, it will take about another 2-3 days for your Miis to actually have their baby. You will receive a phone call and will go to your Miis' home, where they will present their newborn baby to you.

4) I don't like the way the newborn baby looks, can I customise it?

Yes, the game comes with several customisation options for babies. Your Miis will ask you several different questions regarding the baby's gender, personality, name and looks, all of which you will be able to customise if you choose to do so.

5) How quickly do babies grow up?

Babies grow up very quickly in the game. It will take between 3-7 days for a baby to grow up into an independent Mii who is capable of moving into their own apartment on the Island. Whilst the baby is growing up, you can visit the baby at its parents house and you will even get requests from your adult Miis to help babysit the baby at least once per day whilst it is growing up.

6) Help! I can't get the baby to stop crying! What am I doing wrong?

Babies in Tomodachi Life come with three separate mini-games that represent each stage of the baby's development from newborn, to six month old baby, to toddler, after which they will grow into an independent Mii.

In the newborn baby 'rocking' mini-game: You must rock the crying baby to sleep in your arms. This is done by gently moving the 3DS system around to simulate a rocking motion. The baby should then calm down and eventually go off to sleep.

  Mini Gamers found this game particularly frustrating at first, as any movement we made seemed to unsettle the baby more. In the end, we found that holding the 3DS like a book and gently tapping the side of the 3DS rhythmically to make the on-screen arms rock gently seemed to work very well, although do bear in mind that some babies prefer to be rocked more gently than others.

The 'Peekaboo' mini-game represents the baby's second stage of development. You must tickle or pat the baby gently to make it stop crying or play a game of 'Peekaboo' with it. As with the newborn baby mini game, this game has many variables, so it may be worth trying a different combination of tickling, patting and 'Peekaboo' to see which one the baby responds to best.

Some babies prefer to play 'Peekaboo' but don't want to be patted or tickled, some will prefer to be tickled instead of patted or vice versa, and some babies will only calm down if a combination of 'Peekaboo' and either tickling or patting is used, it depends upon the baby's individual personality.

The third and final 'Swing around' mini-game occurs when your new baby Mii has reached the toddler stage. It is by far the easiest of the three baby mini-games to complete. Simply swing the toddler around by moving the stylus around in a circle on the bottom screen. Do this until the toddler laughs and becomes cheerful again.

You will receive an award for helping your Miis to babysit the baby. Please note, you will be given this reward regardless of whether you are successful in getting the baby to stop crying.

7) How many children can my Miis have?

This is unknown at present. Original Japanese reports of the game suggested that households were limited to only three children each, but there have since been reports of Mii couples who have had five or more children born to each household, so it seems that the actual number can vary depending on the size of your existing Island population. Each Tomodachi Life island can only hold a maximum of one hundred Miis, which includes all children born in the game.

8) My Mii has grown up, what happens now?

Once the baby has become an independent Mii, you will be given a choice: Allow them to remain on the island as a permanent resident, or send them away on an adventure via the 3DS' StreetPass function.

If you choose to let your Mii remain on the Island, they will move into their own apartment separate from their parent's house. Please note, all children born in Tomodachi Life are not given a birth year when they grow up. This means that you can choose their age when they move into their own apartment, so you may wish to make them into an adult who is capable of getting married and having a child of their own, or prefer to keep them as a young child Mii instead. It is entirely up to you!

If you choose to send the Mii on an adventure, they will visit other Tomodachi Islands via StreetPass, but will still write letters to their parents and may even return home to visit them once in a while. Sending kids on adventures is a great way of communicating with other Tomodachi Life users whilst also keeping your Island population low.

Remember to check out the new 'Kid Info' section in the town hall, which becomes unlocked once your child Mii has grown up. Every kid gets a special book which is worth looking at every now and again!

So that concludes our Tomodachi Life Marriages and Babies guide. We hope you found it useful. If you have any other questions about the game that are not covered in this guide, then please do not hesitate to contact us via our comments link at the bottom of this post, and we will do our best to try and help answer them for you.