Miitopia (video game)

Miitopia
Developer	Nintendo EPD GREZZO
Publisher	Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS Nintendo Switch
Release date	Nintendo 3DS: December 8, 2016 (JP) July 28, 2017 (US, EU) Nintendo Switch: May 21, 2021
Language(s)	Japanese English (United States) English (United Kingdom) French (Canada) French (France) Spanish (Latin America) Spanish (Spain) German Italian Dutch Korean Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese
Genre	Adventure Role-playing
Rating(s)	CERO: A (all ages) ESRB: E (everyone) PEGI: 7
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media	Nintendo 3DS: Game card Digital download Nintendo Switch: Game card Digital download
Input	Nintendo 3DS: Gamepad Nintendo Switch: Joy-Con

Miitopia (Japanese: ミートピア Miitopia) is an adventure and role-playing video game developed by Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo Co., Ltd. for the Nintendo 3DS and the Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Switch remake was developed by GREZZO. The Nintendo 3DS version of Miitopia was released in Japan on December 8, 2016 and in the United States and European regions on July 28, 2017. The Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia was released worldwide on May 21, 2021.

Overview

Miitopia is an adventure and role-playing game utilizing the Nintendo system's Mii as player characters and most non-player characters. The player may cast Mii characters of him/herself, his/her family or friends, or any other inspiration in roles defined by the game. The player has minimal interaction with the characters outside of menus, but in return the game provides various scenarios the characters can end up in. A free Demo version is available for download on Nintendo eShop, but only for the Nintendo Switch version as of March 27, 2023. A separate Nintendo 3DS software called Miitopia: Casting Call was also free to download from the eShop. It provides three movies serving as a brief preview of the game's premise and story.

Role casting is prompted whenever the player reaches a certain point in the story or enters a new town, but this can be changed later through the Mii Cast menu in the Journal. The Nintendo 3DS version allows adding Mii characters to the cast via scanning QR codes, which can be generated either from the Mii Maker, Tomodachi Life, or Miitomo. This version also has a feature called Mii Central that allows players to download Mii characters from the internet through SpotPass. The Nintendo Switch version does not support QR codes and SpotPass, though it can access the Mii Central server through "Popular". Access keys unique to players' save files are also another way of downloading Mii characters. Both of these features require a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. In both versions, the player has the option to create Mii characters from scratch or use existing ones from their system.

Gameplay is designed as simple. The game world is divided into 11 themed worlds, not counting the Travelers' Hub, with a stage-based design. Every new visit to a stage can have the traveling party be subjected to various events. Combat and party management are mostly done through menus and made as simple. Combat limits player control only on the Hero while all party members act on their own. It also involves automatic skills such as quirks and assists that can be unlocked and change the outcome of a battle through their random activation. Party is managed at inns where the player can buy new equipment, feed the party members grub to increase their stats, or watch various events happen. In the Nintendo Switch version, the player can also take either a pair of Mii characters or a Mii and the horse out for outings.

Story

Miitopia is a place where Mii characters live peacefully. However, the Dark Lord appears and steals the Mii characters' faces. He then puts the faces on monsters. Just then, the Hero, a simple traveler, happens to arrive at the town of Greenhorne where he/she witnesses the Dark Lord stealing the faces of some residents. The Hero receives the Antique Charm from the Worried Mother. This item allows him/her to awaken to powers granted by the Guardian Spirit, thus allowing him/her to fight the monsters. From that point on, the Hero begins the journey to restore peace to Miitopia, traveling to various regions:

• Greenhorne: The Hero meets his/her first party members and they set out to restore the faces of Greenhorne town residents. On the way, the Great Sage is encountered for the first time. At the Greenhorne Castle, the party witnesses the King's face being stolen and goes off to rescue him. After that, they are tasked to first find the Besmirched Noble's Son before they are then asked to meet and then escort the Prince from a Nearby Land. When he ends up in a fight with the Besmirched Noble's Son, the party goes off to find the calming fruit. After finding the castle raided and the Princess' face stolen, the party goes to the Nightmare Tower to rescue her. In the end, the first set of party members are kidnapped by the Dark Lord.
• Neksdor: The Genie of the Lamp is unleashed and causes trouble. After meeting him and forcing him to return the stolen gold, the Dark Lord steals the faces of the Genie and some Neksdor Town residents. The Hero and his/her second set of party members manage to rescue the stolen faces. In the end, the second set of party members are kidnapped by the Dark Lord.
• Realm of the Fey: The Dark Lord has stolen the faces of two of the Fab Fairies, leaving only the Youngest Fab Fairy. Once they are rescued, they help open the east gate only for the Dark Lord to show up and steal the faces of the Youngest Fab Fairy and some Elven Retreat residents. The Hero and his/her third set of party members manage to rescue the stolen faces. In the end, the third set of party members are kidnapped by the Dark Lord.
• Karkaton: The Hero meets the Great Sage at Haven Hollow along with three of the party members, who are now faceless. After rescuing them at Karkaton Ascent, the party heads off to the Karkaton dungeon where they encounter the Cerberus. Defeating it rescues more party member faces. The Great Sage leaves the party at that point. The remaining party members are then rescued inside Dark Lord's Castle. They also end up fighting a Dragon, who then introduces himself as Dominic upon being freed. The Dark Lord is then fought, but after his defeat, the Great Sage ends up possessed by the Dark Curse and turned into the Darker Lord. Dominic then helps the party out with flight.
• Travelers' Hub: The party takes on quests from the visitors in Travelers' Hub, eventually revealing the existence of The Sky Scraper, but it needs jewels to access. After getting all of them from other quests, the party begins the ascent through The Sky Scraper.
• The Sky Scraper: The party meets a Mii who is the Ex-Dark Lord after rescuing his face from the Phantom of Evil. He then accompanies the party through the whole Sky Scraper. Along the way, the party fights the stronger version of monsters possessing the faces of the King, the Princess, the Genie of the Lamp, and the Fab Fairies. The Ex-Dark Lord leaves the party at the end of the dungeon.
• Otherworld: The party ventures through and eventually confronts the Darker Lord. However, before the fight, the Darker Lord transforms into The Darkest Lord, so the entire party of ten have to split up to fight each of its three parts. Defeating it frees the Great Sage and reveals that the Dark Curse was born from a Mii resentful of his own face. The Hero is given the choice of breaking the curse, which allows him to pass on peacefully, or saving him, which allows him to be reborn.

Characters

The following is the list of major characters in Miitopia.

Main characters

Hero and Party Members

The Hero and his/her party members make up ten adventurers in the story. Three party members join the Hero per world, and they are temporarily lost at the end of their respective world. All of them eventually reunite in Karkaton, the fourth world.

Guardian Spirit

The Guardian Spirit is an entity that bestows "Gift of Divine Power" to the Hero, allowing him/her to fight monsters. The Guardian Spirit never physically appears, and thus can not be cast with a Mii.

Dark Lord

The Dark Lord is a banana factory worker possessed by the Dark Curse. He is only freed after the Hero's party defeats him, but his face is later stolen and put on the Phantom of Evil. The Hero's party once again rescues him. After game clear, he is stationed at New Lumos to keep other people from wandering around the area.

Great Sage

The Great Sage is a skilled wizard that travels around Miitopia. The Great Sage first meets the Hero by saving him/her from the Dark Lord's attack at Easin Hills. From then on, the Great Sage provides some guidance to the Hero every encounter. However, right after the Dark Lord is defeated, the Great Sage ends up possessed by the Dark Curse who was going to target the Hero. He/She is later freed by the Hero's party and is then able to restrain the Dark Curse this time around, leaving the decision of what to do with the curse to the Hero. If "Save him" is chosen, the Great Sage will take the resulting Reborn under his/her wing to allow the Reborn to make amends.

Dark Curse

The Dark Curse is an evil being responsible for the Dark Lord attacks, thus responsible for the main conflict in Miitopia. He first possessed a banana factory worker, turning him into the Dark Lord. Even though the Hero's party manages to defeat him, the Dark Curse instead ends up possessing the Great Sage. In the final battle against him, the Hero and all nine of his/her party members split up so that three fight the Left Hand, another three fight the Right Hand, and the remaining four fight the main body, The Darkest Lord.

The Dark Curse was actually once a Mii, but no one paid any attention to him. He believed that it was because of his plain face, so he decided to cast it away. However, this turned him into a vengeful spirit.

Horse

The horse is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia. It was first seen being threatened by three Goblins at Easin Hills until the Hero's party came to the rescue. In return, the horse joins the party. The horse helps the party by performing assists depending on the relationship levels with the Mii characters. If the Hero's relationship level with the horse is high enough, they will be able to learn Horse Whispering, a skill with a powerful effect unique to each job but costs the full amount of the Hero's MP. The horse has a name given by the player and its appearance can be customized.

Greenhorne

King

The King of Greenhorne may be a little unreliable, but he is loved by his people. He loves to eat, always stuffing his mouth with some Royal Roast, and is so large that he needs to be carried by his two Royal Supports. He and the Princess have their faces stolen by the Dark Lord, but the Hero's party manages to rescue them. His face is later stolen by the Darker Lord and is also then rescued by the party.

Princess

The Princess is the King's only daughter. She has the reputation of being the most beautiful woman in Greenhorne. She was going to be married to the Prince from a Nearby Land, even though she is more interested in the Besmirched Noble's Son.

Besmirched Noble's Son

The Besmirched Noble's Son is a young man living in Greenhorne and the childhood friend of the Princess. Although burdened by his parents' debts, he occasionally meets with the Princess. When Greenhorne Castle gets attacked, he heads off to the Nightmare Tower, and even though he can not put up a fight against the General, his courage is recognized and he is thus allowed to marry the Princess.

Neksdor

Prince from a Nearby Land

The Prince from a Nearby Land came from Neksdor and was going to be the fiance for the Princess. He has an arrogant and self-centered personality, and even the Hero's party gets irritated by him. When Greenhorne Castle gets attacked, he instead runs away crying, breaking his engagement with the Princess. Later, in Neksdor, he is tricked by the Genie of the Lamp. After messing up by freeing the Genie, he shoves the lamp to the Hero.

Genie of the Lamp

The Genie of the Lamp is a violent being that rampaged through Neksdor. He was sealed in a lamp by the Great Sage, but he tricks the heartbroken Prince from a Nearby Land into freeing him. This allows him to steal the gold from Neksdor Town. He is about to be sealed again by the Hero, but he is instead spared after voicing his regrets. Afterwards, his face is stolen by the Dark Lord. Once he is rescued by the Hero's party, he blows away the rocks blocking the path to Realm of the Fey in return.

Worried Explorer

The Worried Explorer is known for exploring the world for treasure, but never finds any. He occasionally appears before the party, usually to hint them of hidden paths. He can randomly appear in Travelers' Hub where he gives quests involving defeating the larger variant of Snurps.

Realm of the Fey

Fab Fairies

The Fab Fairies are three sisters that lead the elves residing in Elven Retreat. The eldest is the most mature, the middle is shy but kind-hearted, while the youngest is cheery but selfish.

The three of them worked together to drive away the Dark Lord from Realm of the Fey, but the eldest and the middle ended up kidnapped. Once they are rescued, the east gate is opened, but this lets the Dark Lord in and he subsequently steals the Youngest Fab Fairy's face. After she is also rescued, the Hero's party can continue on. Later, all three of them have their faces stolen by the Darker Lord, but the party saves them. The Youngest Fab Fairy can randomly appear in Travelers' Hub where she gives out quests involving defeating monsters that drop sweets.

Karkaton

Dominic

Dominic is a slender white dragon. He was made a Dark Lord's minion, but is rescued by the Hero's party. Afterwards, he falls asleep from exhaustion, only showing up after the Dark Lord's defeat to help the party fly around Miitopia.

Travelers' Hub

Town Guide

The Town Guide gathers information from the various travelers. The player can check for Medal completion by talking to him.

Others

Roving Photographer

The Roving Photographer is a cameraman wearing a camera-shaped headgear. He takes photos of the player's battle screen, usually whenever a Mii takes damage or gets inflicted by status effects, and offers to sell them to the party.

Quizmaster

The Quizmaster is a wanderer that likes to test travelers with quizzes. He asks the player three questions (only one in "Mii Parade") and will reward them if they answer correctly.

Prodigious Postman

The Prodigious Postman is a Mii wearing an envelope-shaped headgear. He will show up at certain spots to deliver letters to the party.

Roaming Gourmet

The Roaming Gourmet travels in search for delicious food, which he also shares with the party.

Nintendo Fan

The Nintendo Fan is a big fan who dresses up as various characters from the Super Mario Bros. series. She asks for an amiibo, which if scanned, will reward the player with clothes corresponding to the Nintendo character depicted on the amiibo. Game Tickets are awarded instead if the amiibo does not have a matching clothing available in the game.

Some amiibo types, like the Animal Crossing amiibo cards, are not supported.

Scholarly Pioneer

The Scholarly Pioneer is met at Galados Isle, which is unlocked after clearing the game for the first time. She travels around in search for discoveries. She is the Worried Explorer's sister.

Worlds

Miitopia

Image	Name	Brief description
	Greenhorne	The first world. Its specialty grub is Cheesecake.
	Neksdor	The second world, desert-themed. The first set of party members are temporarily gone and the Hero loses access to his/her first job upon clearing the prior world, but three new party members join and three new jobs are unlocked in this world. This world's specialty grub is Doner Kebab.
	Realm of the Fey	The third world, taking place at a forest where elves live. Once again, the Hero loses his/her second set of party members and his/her second job upon clearing the prior world, but three new party members and three new jobs are unlocked in this world. This world's specialty grub is Elven Potion.
	Karkaton	The fourth world. The Hero's party members have attempted escape only to have their faces stolen. The Hero is assisted by the Great Sage for the rescue mission up to the Cerberus fight. This world's specialty grub is Geothermal Pizza A dungeon called the Dark Lord's Castle is located at the end of Karkaton. It is where the remaining party members are rescued and the Dark Lord is confronted.
	Travelers' Hub	The town the party goes to after defeating the Dark Lord. Information is gathered from the various travelers that come and go. After clearing the game, up to three travelers will appear every new day and give out quests.
	Powdered Peaks	The fifth world. It is a land covered in ice and snowstorms. Its specialty grub is Warming Soup.
	Peculia	The sixth world. It is an odd world that also features castle, desert, and forest dungeons. Its specialty grub is Mysterious Crepe.
	Nimbus	The seventh world. It is a world located above the clouds mixed with futuristic technology. Its specialty grub is Frozen Ready Meal.
	The Sky Scraper	A huge tower located on the clouds. It is the penultimate world.
	Otherworld	A space no normal person has entered. Mii faces collected by the Darker Lord can be seen floating around. The Darker Lord himself is located at the deepest part of the world.

Others

Image	Name	Brief description
	Galados Isle	An island that can be accessed after clearing the game for the first time. Tough monsters reside in the deepest part of the world. Its specialty grub is Grilled Mahimahi.
	New Lumos	A city that can be accessed after clearing the game for the first time. Monsters that are too strong to be handled by the Darker Lord gather here, and the Ex-Dark Lord stands guard to prevent people from entering. When certain conditions are met, the Tower of Dread will rise. It is where the party can fight the New Lumos bosses sequentially. In the Nintendo Switch version, if the Tower of Dread is cleared, the more difficult Tower of Despair will appear.

Gameplay

Playable character

In Miitopia, the Hero is the first Mii created for the game and as a playable character. The Hero's party members join one by one upon reaching certain points in the story. These party members end up kidnapped by the Dark Lord upon clearing a world, but every new world (Neksdor and Realm of the Fey) will have new party members joining in to make a new team for that world. Every Mii in the party always has one job and one personality, the former of which determines their stats and skills, while the latter determines their quirks. Personality can be changed at any time as long as the Mii is in the party, but the Mii's job can only be changed after reaching a certain point in Karkaton Ascent. A Mii's job level is independent from each other, meaning changing jobs will not carry over levels.

Jobs

There are 14 playable jobs in total. The player starts off with 6 jobs offered, but as the player progresses through the game, more jobs gradually unlock.

• 

  Warrior

• 

  Mage

• 

  Cleric

• 

  Thief

• 

  Pop Star

• 

  Chef

• 

  Cat

• 

  Imp

• 

  Scientist

• 

  Tank

• 

  Princess

• 

  Flower

• 

  Vampire

• 

  Elf

Navigation

Miitopia uses a stage selection system in the form of nodes on the world map. Upon entering a stage, the party will automatically advance along the path and be subjected to various events on certain spots. When an event is a monster encounter, the party will be put into battle. Defeating all monsters in the encounter will allow the party to continue onward, while choosing "Run away!" or getting defeated will make the party leave the current stage. When a path splits, the player is the one deciding which path to take. Regardless of the path taken, a stage ends with an inn.

Battle

In battle, a participant with the highest Speed moves first, and Mii characters other than the Hero act automatically. The Hero can also be made to do this by enabling "Autobattle" on the menu. Mii characters may assist each other depending on their relationship levels with each other, but ones in a quarrel may interfere the one that the Mii has a quarrel against. The player also has the option to use Sprinkles or the Safe Spot granted by the Guardian Spirit from certain situations if the player thinks a Mii is in a pinch.

Inn

Inns mark the end of a stage. Arriving at the inn will fully restore HP and MP of the entire party. There are five rooms at the inn, plus a stable for the horse in the Nintendo Switch version. Up to two Mii characters can be roomed at the inn and only one Mii can be roomed with the horse. Mii characters assigned to the same room will have their relationship raised upon arrival, but only if there was at least one battle prior to clearing the stage.

The menus available at the inn are as follows:

• Spend gold: A Mii may request for a snack or equipment. By giving the Mii gold, he/she will go off to purchase. Sometimes, a Mii can end up buying a snack when he/she was supposed to buy equipment, but this will only cost the player 100 G instead of the full price of an equipment. After defeating the Dark Lord, a Catalog menu will be unlocked, allowing the player to purchase equipment they already obtained without having to wait for a Mii to request.
• Eat grub: The player can feed the Mii characters in the party with grub to raise their stats. A Mii will only eat as much as his/her Tummy allows, meaning a full Tummy will prevent the Mii from eating any more until another stage is cleared. Giving a Mii grub he/she likes/loves will add an additional boost to the stat EXP. Grub boosts on stats carry over between jobs on the same Mii.
• Check on the team: The player can move non-guest Mii characters between rooms and play out events if available.
• Outings: Exclusive to the Nintendo Switch version. By using an Outing Ticket on a pair of Mii characters (or a Mii and a horse for Horsing Around tickets), the player can watch a scenario taking place at the location determined by the ticket and the involved characters will have their relationship increased.
• Arcade: The player can spend Game Tickets to play either Roulette, where the player can win either equipment, grub, EXP, Jolly Jaunt Tickets, Outing Tickets (Nintendo Switch version only), or snacks, or Rock, Paper, Scissors, where the player can attempt winning some gold.
• Set off: The player will have to pick at least one Mii to form a battle party before returning to the overworld map.

Differences from the Nintendo Switch version

Gameplay changes

• All touchscreen controls are not applicable to this version, so all navigation use the controller buttons.
• The ZL or ZR buttons can also be used to fast-forward.
• Although the Y button still pauses the game, the up and down directional pads for screen capture are no longer functional if used in conjuction with it. This is because of the system having a capture button.
• The feature to combine multiple Miitopia images taken from screen capture is removed.
• The "Options" menu on the title screen is removed.
• The digital manual button on the title screen is removed.
• The main menu is not present at all times due to the Nintendo Switch being single-screen, requiring the player to press the X button to bring it up first.
• On the "Spend gold" menu, the player is required to press the A button first to bring up the purchase confirmation prompt.
• The "Only equip stats" option is added to the equipment purchase screen, allowing the player to apply the stats of the newly-bought equipment without visually changing the Mii's current equipment.
• The Roulette icon on the Arcade menu is displayed exactly the same as what the Roulette currently has upon accessing the minigame.
• Roulette can be fast-forwarded.
• The "shooting star" camp scenario has the player simply pick one of the four wishes to have it granted instead of picking three of the same wish.
• Mii creation or editing is done through the system's Mii application.
• Mii QR code generation or scanning is removed.
• Certain Mii Cast characters have the "Default" option during character creation to allow casting them with their respective default Mii characters.
• The naming prompt to finalize Mii creation/editing in this game is removed.
• Mii Central is removed, so casting every non-player character is done manually. The only exception is the Travelers' Hub visitors, who are automatically cast from either the game's predefined "world Mii" characters, the player's Mii bank, or downloaded from the Mii Central servers through enabling "Popular".
• New medals are added to take account of the new features added to the Nintendo Switch version. Compared to the Nintendo 3DS version's 259 medals, the Nintendo Switch version has 273 obtainable medals in total.
• Instead of receiving a questionnaire every new day, the player receives a letter from various Mii Cast characters the player has encountered so far.
• "World Mii" characters, which are pre-made generic Mii characters by Nintendo, can no longer be recruited from the Travelers' Hub.

Battles

• If the Hero's skill is multi-target, the player will have to confirm the targets, just like with single-target skills.
• A battle menu named "Enemy Status" is added to view enemies' current status due to the Nintendo Switch being single-screen unlike the Nintendo 3DS.
• It is possible to inflict damage in the thousands per hit instead of being capped at 999, but only through Horse Whispering.
• During the scripted battle between the Besmirched Noble's Son and the General at the Nightmare Tower, the latter's attack towards the former does not display the 500-damage pop-up upon hitting.

Text changes and localization

• The game has been localized in Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.
• The color of the overlay text seen during events and battles are green instead of black.
• The Autobattle option includes the Hero's name in order to specify that enabling this option will make the Hero AI-controlled.
• In the Western versions, the dust cloud symbol representing quarrel is changed back into cross-popping veins like in the Japanese version.
• The Thief's Arabian Gear and Hip-Hop Gear are renamed into Desert Gear and Golden-Skull Gear respectively in the English localization.
• In the English localization, Pop Stars are no longer prefixed with "Male" or "Female," so both subclasses end up being called "Pop Star" regardless.
• The US English localization has a mistake where MP Candies obtained from outings end up referred with their EU English name, "MP Sweet."

Graphical changes

Scenes and environments

• In the "Opening" Highlight, instead of the Dark Lord's silhouette "eating" the camera, his face fades away.
• The background environment seen from the inn windows is animated.
• Guest party members stay in a separate room to the right of the inn instead of just having their face, role title, and name displayed on the upper corner of the screen.
• The letterbox shown when an ability is performed for the first time displays the user's whole face instead of focused on the eyes.
• The credits roll is displayed on the lower right corner of the screen due to the Nintendo Switch being single-screen.

Characters and objects

• A Mii's eyes do not rotate in the default position if they look to the side.
• Hearts shown over Mii eyes when the Mii characters reach relationship level 30 or above or are affected by Love Song are solid deep pink instead of pale pink-white with shaded rims.
• A Mii displaying a "gleeful" expression will not have his/her mouth change into a "swirl" smile.
• A Mii performing Prepped and Ready does not blink.
• The Cat job's Stationmaster Cat Suit has missing textures, leaving the white shirt under the suit, white gloves, the pocket, and the buttons black.
• The Princess job's Sailor Gown also ends up with an incomplete texture, rendering only the back part of its skirt textured properly.
• The Hero set of clothes have improper texture.
• Monsters, if applicable, can have more colorful varieties of Mii eyes or lips.
• Monsters will perform their idle animations during the Hero's turn.

Audio changes

• New music are added to take account of the new horse and outing features and the new party scene.
• The music plays properly on the title screen if the player chooses "Save and quit" while their leader Mii is standing on the western Neksdor oasis.

Miscellaneous

• Party scenes are new scenes played out after certain points in the story, like after having recruited the third party member in a world.

Controls

Nintendo 3DS

• Thumbstick/D-Pad – Move/Select
• A – Talk/Confirm
• X – Open menu
• B – Cancel
• START – Stop Highlight playback
• Hold Y – Pause
• Hold Y, then press Up – Capture the top screen as screenshot
• Hold Y, then press Down – Capture the bottom screen as screenshot
• Hold B/Tap and hold bottom screen – Run/Fast forward

Nintendo Switch

• Left Stick/Directional Buttons – Move/Select
• A – Talk/Confirm
• X – Open menu
• B – Cancel
• + – Stop Highlight playback
• Hold Y – Pause
• Hold B/ZL/ZR – Run/Fast forward

New features from the Nintendo Switch version

Mii characters

The "Mii characters" menu is added to the title screen on the Nintendo Switch version. This is where the player can access and manage their Mii bank. If the player has an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, they may visit other players' Mii banks to view or download their Mii characters into their own Mii bank. From the owner's side, they may open their own Mii bank for access by enabling sharing. Up to 500 Mii characters can be stored in the Mii bank.

This menu is also where the player can enable or disable downloading "popular" Mii characters into Travelers' Hub.

Makeup & Wigs

Makeup & Wigs is a new feature for Mii customization in Miitopia. Makeup allows the player to add custom shapes to the Mii's eyes, eyebrows, mouth, or other parts of the Mii's face. Wig allows the player to apply a wig to the Mii, replacing his/her headwear in most cases. Boss monsters may include makeup if the face belongs to a Mii with makeup.

Horse

Another new feature is the addition of the horse as an additional but optional party member. The horse requires relationship levels with at least one Mii in the battle party for it to start assisting in battle or on the map via Saddle Up. Horse assists happen at random, and if this happens to the Hero and the assist is an offense-based one, the Hero's "Attack" option will be replaced with "Horse" to access any of the offense-based horse assists. Unique to the Hero is the ability to learn and use Horse Whispering, whose effects vary depending on the Hero's current job.

At inns, the horse stays at the stable located to the left of the inn building. A Mii can be roomed with it to increase their relationship. The horse can not be subjected to quarrels.

The horse's name and appearance can be customized by the player.

Outings

Outings are a new gameplay mechanic where a pair of Mii characters or a Mii and the horse set off to various places where they will be subjected to various scenarios, afterwards their relationship is increased. Outings are also another way of obtaining snacks or grub, which are randomly given as souvenir. Outings require Outing Tickets, which are obtained from letters, Roulette, or as quest rewards.

Tower of Despair

After clearing Tower of Dread at least once, the Tower of Despair becomes accessible. Similar to Tower of Dread, Tower of Despair has the player's party fight bosses sequentially. Unlike Tower of Dread, Tower of Despair features new monsters not found anywhere else in the game.

Development

The game's producer, Kouichi Kawamoto, had expressed the opinion that he wanted to sell a Mii game as a packaged software, so he decided to expand the scale of the content. At first, he was unsure of how to do it and he made sure to carefully break up each story arc. The game's general idea came from how some people would name role-playing game characters after their family members or friends. He thought that it would be a different experience if a proper representation of those people themselves were subjected to the game mechanics compared to most other role-playing games with player-inputted character names. As Mii characters not only have names but also face designs, Kawamoto thought this would fit the idea.

Development of Miitopia began with a plan to release StreetPass Mii Plaza's Find Mii games as a separate software, targeting players that had played these games a lot. However, when it was going to be released worldwide, the team encountered problems with StreetPass communication which would alienate players of other role-playing games. As a result, StreetPass communication was no longer incorporated into the game.

Many of the graphic designers for Miitopia also worked on the Tomodachi Collection games. As a result, the development team was able to incorporate the good points from the latter game.

The premise of a world where Mii characters have their faces stolen and put on monsters was decided later into production. The team tried a few enemy ideas based on creatures one would find in a typical fantasy story, like scary fairies. However, Kawamoto did not find them interesting and instead suggested having the Mii faces be part of the monsters. This surprised the development team as they found out how easy it was coming up with the designs. From there, Kawamoto proposed a story about people having their faces stolen and the concept of defeating a Dark Lord responsible for it.

When it comes to jobs, they were designed to feature common role-playing game archetypes like the "warrior" and the "mage," but the development team also included ones based on the real world and not found in other games at the time. The reason is to allow players unfamiliar with fantasy worlds to enjoy the game. Pirate was originally considered as one of the playable jobs before it was replaced by Flower. The development team was fond of the Flower job's design and they ended up protesting when it got rejected. This resulted in the Flower job's inclusion. The full release of Miitopia references the scrapped Pirate job by having it as the wrong answer to the Quizmaster's General Knowledge question, "Which job lets you use the Jump Slash skill?"

Mii characters originally would be even more independent from the player, with one of the experimental ideas being that Mii characters would eat grub at their own will. This was considered an unpopular decision, so the idea was scrapped. Even though the game was designed as a "watching simulation," meaning players would spend most of the playtime watching Mii characters being subjected into various scenarios with minimal player input, the development team tried to include some ways for the player to interfere. One of these is the Sprinkles feature. The idea of Sprinkles came to be when four female designers that previously worked on Tomodachi Collection kept saying, "Miiをなでたい、なでたい" ("I want to pet my Mii, I want to pet it."). This idea was well-received by the designers, so it became a gameplay feature.

When it comes to relationships, the quarrel mechanic was designed to invoke real life relationships, as it is rare for people to remain good friends forever. The quarrels were not designed to be outright disadvantageous in general, and Kawamoto even jokingly allowed players to enjoy "fighting" while fighting.

The inn being the stage goal is based on the ubiquity of inns in most role-playing games (RPG). Inns are depicted in this video game genre as common stop points for players while they are trying to make progress. It is also not uncommon for RPG players to return their party to the inn if the party is not fighting fit, as resting at inns typically fully restore the party's status.

The Mii Central was created because the development team found that some of the staff did not have many Mii characters on their Nintendo 3DS system. Thus, this also extended to any other player with the same problem, allowing them to enjoy the game as much as players that have a lot of Mii characters to use. Miitomo QR compatibility was also added to solve this problem, in this case players that do not have many Mii characters on the Nintendo 3DS, but do have Miitomo friends.

Promotion

Miitopia was first unveiled on the Japanese Nintendo Direct on September 1, 2016 with information that it was confirmed to be in development. On November 2, 2016, Miitopia: Casting Call was made available on the Japanese Nintendo eShop for free. This software served as a promotional tool where the player could cast their Mii characters in predefined roles and watch the movies play out with those characters. The player could also take screenshots of the scenes and string them together as if it were a 4-panel manga.

The first commercial for Miitopia was published on the official Japanese Nintendo channel on YouTube. The second commercial followed later, also published on the same YouTube channel.

Miitopia had a dedicated Nintendo Direct presentation on November 5, 2016. It was framed as a story about a woman named Riiko who has problems with her workplace. The Guardian Spirit calls out to her from her Nintendo 3DS system upon hearing her woes. She ends up (or rather dreams of being) transported into the world of Miitopia where certain figures she meets are based on people at her workplace, like her nice coworker being her teammate and her rude boss being the Dark Lord. This presentation showcases the actual gameplay mechanics aside from Mii casting like job selection, battle skills, and personality quirks, and the full premise of the story. Following the presentation, the official website for the game went live.

Close to Miitopia's release date, the Japanese Nintendo YouTube channel uploaded a trailer video on November 30, 2016.

Post-release, CoroCoro showcased Miitopia gameplay footage on its YouTube channel on December 9, 2016, one day after release. While there were no hints of English localization yet, it was reported that Miitomo players could see a mention of Miitopia on one of the app's loading screens as a way to promote it, but only if the app user's region was set to Japan.

"Have you heard of Miitopia for Nintendo 3DS? It's an RPG for Mii characters! Its name is quite similar to Miitomo, so don't mix them up!"

— Loading screen from Miitomo

Eventually, around May 2017, various gaming news media got to view Miitopia in English during a hands-on event and shared the footage to the public. Shortly after, the North American version of the official Miitopia website went live, initially as a teaser, revealing the release date of July 28, 2017. The full site went live on July 9, 2017. A Demo version became available on the North American Nintendo eShop on June 14, 2017 as a limited free trial. On the European Nintendo eShop, the Demo version became available for download on June 22, 2017.

Miitopia was also showcased at E3 2017 during the Nintendo Treehouse segment.

Nearing the release date, the North American and European Nintendo YouTube channels began to upload trailers for the localized version of Miitopia. The Nintendo UK channel published the "Adventure awaits your Tomodachi Life friends!" trailer on June 22, 2017, promoting the idea of using Mii characters from Tomodachi Life as characters in Miitopia. The "Casting Call Trailer" was published on July 13, 2017 to promote the localized version of Miitopia: Casting Call. The Nintendo of America channel had promoted Miitopia with a commercial that also tied it with the New Nintendo 2DS XL system. The game's launch in North America and Europe was accompanied by the "Launch Trailer" video from Nintendo UK and Nintendo of America.

Post-release, Miitopia became the topic of episode 27 of Play Nintendo Show.

During the Nintendo Direct on February 17, 2021, Miitopia was announced to be remade for the Nintendo Switch, slated for release on May 21, 2021. During the months until release, this version began to be promoted through trailers, like Nintendo of Japan's overview trailer and Nintendo UK's "Miitopia Makes Over Mii Characters" trailer. An official Japanese website for the Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia also went live to differentiate itself from the Nintendo 3DS version. A free Demo version became available for download from the Nintendo eShop on April 27, 2021.

Nintendo also published five commercials for Miitopia featuring the Japanese idol group King & Prince. In South Korea, the commericals feature the South Korean girl group TWICE.

The Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia became the focus of the May 2021 calendar from MyNintendo in North America. There was also a digital wallpaper. The calendar and the wallpaper costed 50 Platinum Points each. Post-release, MyNintendo added another Miitopia wallpaper featuring the King and the Princess of Greenhorne, which also costed 50 Platinum Points.

Amazon UK opened pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia which also included Miitopia-themed sticky notes as bonus. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, Nintendo Hong Kong included an exclusive 7 cm x 4 cm magnet with the Miitopia key art as pre-order bonus.

Like with the Nintendo 3DS version, the launch of the Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia was accompanied by a launch trailer video.

Post-release, the Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia continued to be promoted for some time. Nintendo collaborated with HelloFresh to promote Miitopia through the Fresh Adventures Sweepstakes event that began accepting entries from May 21, 2021 to June 30, 2021 separated into three entry periods. The game was the focus of a Nintendo Minute episode released on the week of the game's release. The game's footage was also featured on Nintendo's "Switch My Way" commercial. From June 18, 2021 to June 22, 2021, Nintendo's Tetris 99 ran a collaboration cup themed after Miitopia. Miitopia also became one of the promoted games featured on the LUNCHABLES packaging as part of Nintendo's partnership.

Staff

Kouichi Kawamoto is the producer for Miitopia. Yuichiro Ito is the game's director.

Kazuhiro Yoshikawa and Naoya Yamamoto worked on the game design for the Nintendo 3DS version. This version's music was by Toshiyuki Sudo, Shinji Ushiroda, Yumi Takahashi, and Megumi Inoue.

Junichi Shinomiya, Hiroyuki Kuwata, Tatsumaro Tezuka, Rio Oguma, Miyuya Tatsuno, Yugo Wakayama, and Taro Hamamoto worked on the game design for the Nintendo Switch version. This version's music was by Haruko Torii and Takuhiro Honda in addition to Toshiyuki Sudo.

Update history

Nintendo 3DS

Ver. 1.1

This update was released on March 29, 2017 for the Japanese version. It added the following features:

• Enables save data import from Miitopia Demo.
• Nintendo 3DS Image Share integration.

The above updates are already included in the worldwide release of the game.

Nintendo Switch

The following is the list of updates applied to the Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia.

Ver. 1.0.1

This update was released on May 20, 2021, one day before the full game's release.

• Fixed an issue in which the game would hard lock if Parental Controls were temporarily removed at a particular timing.
• Fixed an issue in which the player would lose their game progress if they opened the HOME Menu and closed the game under certain circumstances.
  • If this issue already has already occurred for you, this update will allow you to resume your progress.
• Fixed several other issues to improve the gameplay experience.

Ver. 1.0.2

This update was also released on May 20, 2021.

• Fixed an issue when selecting a Mii character for your party in which Mii characters from save data would disappear under certain conditions.
• Fixed an issue in which Mii characters shared online would occasionally not be accessible to other players.

Ver. 1.0.3

This update was released on May 25, 2021.

• Added support for the Power-Up Band (amiibo).
  • If you show the Power-Up Band to the Nintendo Fan, you will get a character outfit.

Reception

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Miitopia received mixed or average score for both versions. Famitsu rated the Nintendo 3DS version 31/40.

Miitopia was more positively-received by Destructoid (7/10), Game Informer (7.5/10), Nintendo Life (8.1/10), Pocket Gamer (3.5/5), Polygon (8/10), RPGamer (3.5/5), and The Guardian (4/5). The game was praised for being fun despite its flaws. RPGamer in particular praised the game for originality, accessibility for role-playing game newcomers, and fun interactions and personalities for the Mii characters. Other positive points were given to the concept of Mii characters in a role-playing game with a variety of jobs and personalities, adequate graphics, sound design, ease of navigation, the Autobattle feature, and the entertainment value from creating Mii characters based on friends.

The game was not as well-received or was negatively rated by GameRevolution (5/10), GameSpot (5/10), Nintendo World Report (6/10), and USgamer (2.5/5). The game was criticized for its uninteresting execution despite its willingness to try something new, having a story that is too safe for its promising idea, repetitiveness, the inability to control the Hero's teammates which can cause problems in certain fights, its slow pacing, and being too linear. USgamer summed it up as being a missed opportunity.

Some of the critics compared Miitopia to a previous Nintendo 3DS Mii-focused game, Tomodachi Life. Comparisons can be positive, like being similarly unapologetic in weirdness and likeability. But the more negative ones criticized Miitopia for failed attempts at humor compared to Tomodachi Life as the humor was considered very light and forgettable due to a more uninteresting writing.

The Nintendo Switch version of Miitopia was rated more positively by Nintendo Life (7.8/10), App Trigger (8.5/10), and GamingTrend (75/100). This version was praised for its more powerful character customization, its light-hearted humor, large content, and great visuals. However, websites that previously praised the Nintendo 3DS version tended to rate the Nintendo Switch version lower, like in the case of RPGamer (2.5/5),, Destructoid (6.5/10), and the aforementioned Nintendo Life. The Nintendo Switch version was criticized for retaining the faults of the Nintendo 3DS version, such as the slow pacing caused by too many non-sequiturs, repetitiveness, inability to control the Hero's teammates, and overly simplistic gameplay.

Gallery

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Miitopia (video game).

• 

  Key art (Nintendo Switch)

• 

  Japanese box art (Nintendo Switch)

• 

  North American box art (Nintendo 3DS)

• 

  Warrior

• 

  Mage

• 

  Cleric

References to other games

• The amiibo clothes are based on characters from Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, EarthBound, Splatoon, and Metroid.
• In the English version, during a Castle View story event, one of the lines is "Nah. Princesses are always in another castle.", a reference to the line "Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!" from Super Mario Bros.

References in other games

• Two music tracks, "Boss Battle Time I" and "The Darkest Lord", appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate under the names "Boss Battle" and "Boss: The Darkest Lord" respectively.
• Tetris 99 ran a collaboration cup themed after Miitopia.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ミートピア Mītopia	Miitopia
Korean	미토피아 Mitopia	Miitopia
Chinese	迷托邦 (CN) / 迷托邦 (TW) Mítuōbāng	Miitopia
French	Miitopia	-
Spanish	Miitopia	-
German	Miitopia	-
Italian	Miitopia	-
Dutch	Miitopia	-

External links

• Official Japanese game page (Nintendo 3DS)
• Official Japanese game page (Nintendo Switch)
• Official North American game page
• Official United Kingdom game page

References

This page uses content that was added to Wikipedia. The original article was written by these Wikipedia users: マリオロス, ディークエステン, Highcollar, 寿風レオ, Mario Yonezawa, アロたん, 反撃の天才, Mymazurka0331, TKsdik8900, Elppin, 90animelover. The text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.