Even in an age where remakes and remasters of old games are increasingly common, nobody probably expected that Miitopia would be coming back so soon. Miitopia was a delightful and experimental turn-based RPG for the Nintendo 3DS, allowing players to populate the whole game's cast of characters with any Mii. It was a great concept that garnered plenty of appreciation from fans. Now it's coming back to the Nintendo Switch with all kinds of enhancements, including a big change to its built-in Mii editor. The original Miitopia was already experimental, allowing fun choices that the base Mii maker didn't support, but Miitopia for Switch is on a whole other level.
The Switch version of Miitopia supports an elaborate makeup system, on top of all the other Mii editing features. As is the case with any character creator, fans are experimenting eagerly in the demo, and the result is a long line of hilarious and baffling Miis that are dominating Twitter. Nintendo's fanbase is responding really positively to this Mii maker, and Nintendo should take note of that. The advancements made in Miitopia's makeup system weren't necessary, but Nintendo implemented them anyway out of an apparent love for Miis. If everyone seems to like Miitopia's maker so much, maybe every Mii maker should use those tools from now on.
The Weird World of Miitopia
The makeup tool in Miitopia for Switch is unbelievably powerful. Users have described it as more of a digital art program than a feature in a character creator, and the fruit of fans' labors attests to that. All kinds of Miis, both strange and delightful, are suddenly made possible with these new makeup tools. Some people have already made highly detailed renderings of characters like Morshu from Link: The Faces of Evil, brand mascot Mr. Clean, and Minecraft's Steve. There's even some more abstract creations like an Among Us Crewmate. These only scratch the surface of what the internet has made so far, though.
Mii-making has practically evolved into its own art form. No Mii making tool has ever offered this level of detail, but fans have made it clear that they love the power to draw freely all over a Mii and make it look just about any way they want. Seeing how much fun fans are having, they'd surely be happy to see Miitopia's new tools carry over into other games.
It's amazing to imagine these tools in a game like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it'd sure be a funny way for Among Us to get into Smash. The makeup and wig tools introduced in Miitopia seem pretty easy to carry over into future games that use Miis, and the fans love them, so Nintendo really doesn't seem to have any reason not to make Miitopia's editor the new normal.
Embracing Nintendo's Avatars
Nintendo should keep taking advantage of Miitopia's own tools for its own sake, too. It seems to really enjoy Miis as a system of player avatars, seeing how many consoles beyond the Wii have kept using them. They're easy to make, but their cute and cartoony design makes them a unique facet of Nintendo's brand. The biggest flaw of Miis is that Nintendo has been fairly slow to update the Mii maker itself with more options and tools. Miitopia suggests that Nintendo has decided it's time to expand Mii making, and that's a good thing. Future Mii-centric games would benefit from the wig and makeup system, making each of Nintendo's custom characters more unique.
At the very least, the success of Miitopia's new Mii maker features is a good sign for the game's short term. Miitopia is getting a lot of free publicity thanks to these wacky fan creations; the maker's new reputation for unprecedented flexibility is sure to attract some new players. In the end, Miitopia's second life on the Switch might be even more successful than the first one. Nintendo had better not stop there, though. Miitopia's demo has thoroughly proven that there's still interest in Mii-centric content. Maybe the Nintendo fanbase's newfound awe for Miitopia will be the start of a new golden age for Nintendo's plucky avatars.
Miitopia releases for Nintendo Switch on May 21, 2021.