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A Mii ( ) is a customizable avatar used by Nintendo on their video game consoles and , first being introduced with the Wii console in 2006. Since their introduction, Miis have also appeared on the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, the Wii U, the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, as well as various apps for smart devices such as the now-defunct Miitomo. The name Mii is a portmanteau of "Wii" and "me", referring to them typically being avatars of the players.
Miis can be created using different body, facial and clothing features, and can then be used as characters within games on the consoles, either as an avatar of a specific player (such as in the Wii series) or in some games (such as Tomodachi Collection, Tomodachi Life and Miitopia) portrayed as characters with their own personalities. Miis can be shared and transferred between consoles, either manually or automatically with other users over the internet and local wireless communications.
On the 3DS and Wii U, user accounts are associated with a Mii as their avatar and used as the basis of the systems' social networking features, most prominently the now-defunct Miiverse. On the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, a Mii can still be used as an account avatar, but avatars depicting various Nintendo characters are also available. Miis are also used as profile pictures for and can be used in Nintendo smart device games such as Super Mario Run, Miitomo and Mario Kart Tour.
Games such as Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Sports Club, Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 8, Go Vacation, Super Mario Maker 2, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe use Miis as playable characters.
In late 1999, during the Nintendo 64 era, the 64DD (a disk drive peripheral for the N64) was launched in Japan. Released in 2000, featured an avatar maker, which includes clothes and a built-in movie editor. The player can optionally utilize the Game Boy Camera and the 64DD's Capture Cassette to put their own face upon the avatar. Nintendo had produced a short film using the game's avatar maker to demonstrate its capabilities. Talent Studio was one of Nintendo's first public debut of avatar creation.
The next avatar implementation was for the Nintendo e-Reader and GameCube. Along with the Game Boy Camera, it also includes an avatar maker. Miyamoto previewed the software at E3 2002 under the name Stage Debut, with a short film that demonstrated the software's capabilities. This software, later renamed to Manebito, was discontinued prior to release.
Another attempt at an avatar implementation came about in the mid-2000s during the development of a Nintendo DS game that was conceived as a women's fortune-telling game that was inspired by the 2000 Hamtaro video game for the Game Boy Color. The game, which was being worked on by Yoshio Sakamoto and Nintendo SPD, featured an avatar maker that functioned similarly to the Wii's avatar creator that would later become the Mii Channel, and the avatars themselves bear a striking resemblance to what would eventually become the Mii in terms of appearance, including the use of interchangeable facial features and adjustable body height and weight.
Because the game's development took place around the same time as the development of the Wii at the time, the avatar concept from that game was eventually adapted into the Wii, which formed the development of the Mii as a whole. The Miis retained certain aspects of the avatars found within the aforementioned game, including the facial features and adjustable body height and weight, but with more options such as selecting a favorite color, gender types, additional options for hair, eyes, nose, mouth and head shape, and several other features. On the other hand, the game itself was reworked as Tomodachi Collection for the Nintendo DS.
Nintendo designer Yamashita Takayuki attributes his work on Talent Studio as having been foundational to his eventual work on the Mii, which was necessitated by the development of the game Wii Sports.
During a Financial Results Briefing Q&A with investors in 2008, Satoru Iwata mentioned that the licensed use of the Mii trademark is as valuable to Miyamoto as that of the Mario brand, implying that the company would only narrowly consider any offers from game developers to implement Miis in their games.
Miis can be transferred from the system's Mii creation software (Mii Maker in the original game and the Switch's Mii creator in the remaster) to the game itself, which can be used as playable characters, non-playable characters and even as background characters. Miis created in both the original and remastered versions of Miitopia can also be transferred from the game into the system's Mii creation software, however wigs and makeups (and even additional hair and eye color options in the original game) will not carry over.
In late 2011, Nintendo released Swapnote (known as Suddenly Exchange Diary in Japan and as Nintendo Letter Box in other regions) for the Nintendo 3DS, which features an original character named Nikki (ニッキー) who serves as a guide for the application. She appears in the software as a uniquely styled female Mii as well as a drawing version of her character in most appearances. Since her introduction, Nikki has gained a relatively small fan base of her own right, especially in Japan. Nikki would later appear in a few other Nintendo games and apps, such as Nikki's Travel Quiz, a 2015 Nintendo 3DS travel guide app that was exclusively distributed via the now-defunct Club Nintendo in Japan, Nintendo Badge Arcade for the Nintendo 3DS in late 2015, Swapdoodle (known as Illustrated Exchange Diary in Japan), the successor to Swapnote/ Nintendo Letter Box for the Nintendo 3DS in late 2016, and in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an Assist Trophy.
Miis are primarily used in games such as Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Party, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort. Players can also use their Miis, however, in other first-party games, most noticeably within , Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario Party 8, Mario Kart Wii, Mario Super Sluggers, (using their Mii's head as a mask) and in Go Vacation. The Japan-only Sega game is the first third-party game to incorporate Miis, while the Wii version of FIFA Soccer 08 is the first third-party game released in North America, Europe and Australia to use the Mii Channel. Many other games, like We Ski, and Guitar Hero World Tour and Sonic Colors also use Miis.
While a Mii's head always remains the same, its body varies between games. For example, in Wii Sports, the Mii's body is stylized, with spherical floating hands and bearing no arms, and Mii audiences or CPUs floating with spherical bottoms with no legs instead, but in Wii Fit its body is designed to look more natural, and its weight will be determined by the weight Wii Fit found of the player in Wii Fit tests. Sometimes Miis will wear outfits in context with the game. In Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel, the Miis can be optionally used for the planet's icon that represents the save file, the other option being to use Mario characters for the planets. Only the Mii's head is shown and it's shown in a sphere shaped like the planet. In Mario Kart Wii, Mii racers can be dressed in , or Mario style overalls for males and a Peach style dress for females, in Dr. Mario Online Rx, Miis appear in medical clothing, and in , where they appear as Bobblehead, they will be dressed up in bounty hunter Samus Aran's Power Suit. In MLB Power Pros, Miis are designed to look like regular Power Pro-Kun avatar, with legs detached from the main body. In Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2, the Mii's body is formed more like a regular human. This design was, however, criticized by IGN's Lucas M. Thomas, who sarcastically commented that "it doesn't look disturbing at all."
While Miis are not playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the creator of the series, Masahiro Sakurai, explained that Miis were originally considered to be playable in the game, but the idea was decided against due to fears of bullying. They would eventually debut in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
The Nintendo DS game uses Miis to allow players to track their progress in the game. Players are also able to create Miis in-game. Personal Trainer: Walking Brings Mii Making To The DS The Nintendo DS version of also uses Miis. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles : Echoes of Time for the Wii & DS A new Nintendo DS game, Friend Connection will have Mii support.
The life-simulation game Tomodachi Collection, only released in Japan for the Nintendo DS, also uses Miis and has a built-in Mii editor. Miis from the user's Wii's Mii Channel can be transferred to the game, and vice versa.
Mii characters can be created manually with Mii Maker as on the Wii's Mii Channel, but they can also be created automatically through the use of the Nintendo 3DS's cameras. The system captures an image of a subject's face, and the application converts the image into a Mii likeness using integrated recognition software. Automated Mii character designs can be manually adjusted. Mii characters can also be imported from the Wii to the 3DS or from the 3DS to the Wii U, however, Miis cannot be sent from the 3DS to the Wii, as Mii Maker features an expanded selection of design parts that are not available on Mii Channel. Import Miis from Wii to 3DS one-way only - News - Aussie-Nintendo.com
The Nintendo 3DS can generate and read that represent Mii characters. QR codes and pictures of Mii characters can also be transferred to an SD card in any picture format, and be used in various ways, such as posting them on a web page. Miis on the Nintendo 3DS can also be used in conjunction with the device's built-in augmented reality software – the software includes a mini-app named 'Mii Pics' which allows the user to take a photo of their Mii within a regular photo, using an augmented reality card included with the system.
The first Nintendo 3DS game to include support for Mii characters is Pilotwings Resort. Miis obtained through StreetPass appear as non-player characters in Nintendogs + Cats. Mii characters also appear in Pokémon Rumble Blast, Mario Kart 7, and many more games. The Nintendo eShop exclusive game Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers also allows players to create an "Amiimal", an animal with facial features based on their selected Mii.
Currently, the most notable game to feature Miis in their entirety is Tomodachi Life, the sequel to the Japan-only Tomodachi Collection for the Nintendo DS. This is also the first game to give Miis complete lines of dialogue as well as the first game to allow players to choose what Miis say. Miitopia is another Mii-centric game title for the Nintendo 3DS.
Special Miis released by Nintendo and obtained through SpotPass can also be used in StreetPass Mii Plaza. They have access to all Puzzle Swap pieces and provide a level 5 player for Find Mii.
Mii characters also return as in-game characters for certain Wii U games, which in addition to Nintendo-published launch titles such as Wii Sports Club, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land, they are also included in third-party titles such as Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. In the case of Mario Kart 8, about 19+ amiibo suits can be acquired by tapping a compatible amiibo figure via an NFC reader located on the left-hand side of the Gamepad.
uses an evolved form of Mii, UMii, to render non-essential NPCs.
Miis can still be integrated into games as a playable character such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Go Vacation, Nintendo Switch Sports, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. In the case of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, about 20+ amiibo suits can be acquired by tapping a compatible amiibo figure via the NFC reader on the right-hand Joy-Con or on the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, similar to that of Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U. Nintendo Switch Sports introduced an entirely different set of avatars known as "Sportsmates"; Miis can still be selected as an option.
Currently, the most notable game on the Switch to feature Miis in their entirety is Miitopia, a remaster of the 2017 role-playing video game of the same name for the Nintendo 3DS. The next Mii-centric game title for the Switch, , which is the sequel to Tomodachi Life for the Nintendo 3DS, is set for release in 2026, 13 years after the release of the original game and 10 years after the release of Miitomo in 2016.
A few weeks after Miitomo was discontinued, Nintendo introduced a browser-based Mii editor called Mii Studio on May 24, 2018. The editor is integrated into all Nintendo Accounts for users in all regions, including regions that originally did not have official support for Miitomo. Mii Studio supports all Mii attributes and standards introduced for the Nintendo Switch. Up to six Mii avatars can be created at a time, including any Mii imported from a linked Nintendo Network ID (also known as NNID).
Miis were referenced in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where it is briefly shown on Luigi's smartphone when he receives an incoming call. The icon in question is a silhouetted image of a male default Mii which is used to represent a no contact icon.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Mii Channel at Nintendo.com (archived)
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