Where is the Switch 2 Edition? Tomodachi Life Drops April 16th With Zero Upgrades

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been on the market for about a year, but titles like Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream reminds us that Nintendo is still playing it safe with its Switch 1 backward compatibility. Releasing this April 16th for the original Switch (and fully playable on Switch 2), the franchise’s return is a win for fans, but it also raises a frustrating question: Why isn’t this game taking advantage of the new console’s power?

One of the most glaring omissions is the lack of true mouse and touch control integration for customization. The Switch 2 is more than capable of handling high-fidelity touch and mouse-like precision, yet the game ignores these tools entirely. This is especially baffling given how much Living the Dream leans into character and item customization.

Currently, the mouse controls aren’t usable. Sticking to the clunky, traditional Joy-Con movement for a title launching as the Switch 2 approaches its one-year anniversary is a strange decision that hampers the core creativity of the game.

Performance Gains That Never Came

Beyond the controls, the technical side of the release is just as stagnant. Even after about a year of developers showing what the Switch 2 can do, Living the Dream launches on April 16th without any hardware-accelerated boosts. The game is locked to its Switch 1 targets, meaning the “upgrade” of playing on newer hardware is purely functional. It runs, but it won’t run any better than it does on a console from 2017.

The 70 Mii Island Limit

Finally, the island’s population capacity remains frustratingly stagnant. Currently, the Mii limit is capped at 70. With Switch 2 hardware available, fans expected a significant jump in the number of islanders. Instead, players are stuck with the same limit, so be careful who you add to your island.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a fantastic return for the series, and the fact that it plays on Switch 2 at all is a win. But until Nintendo patches these performance hitches and adds proper Switch 2 control support, the full potential of this game on the new hardware feels like it’s still just a dream.

Check out this latest discussion on Reecee’s channel where we go into more details: