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America’s looking to break Olympic traditions

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

(Photo courtesy of James Squire of Getty Images) From left to right, Alysia Liu, Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito

Jesse Nguyen
Connector Editor 

This Winter Olympics in Milan will be one to break many cycles in the figure skating world, and America is at the core of this. While the sport has seen a steady decline in popularity globally, every four years it is still the most watched event at the Olympics. Despite this popularity, a lot of athletes prior to the Olympics are not known by the general public. This article shall highlight potential medal favorites, will be revisiting some history behind this sport, and examining how this stellar group of Americans can potentially reshape figure skating forever.

ilia Malinin, 21, will be America’s gold medal favorite this year for men’s singles skating and is reigned as the sports “quad god.” He is the only skater in the world who has landed a quadruple axel in competition, a jump thought to be physically impossible up until Malinin’s arrival. What makes the axel so difficult is the fact that a skater takes off forwards and lands backwards, adding an extra half rotation in the air. Although an incredible feat, what really sets him apart is his technical consistency. Malinin rarely falls and he is capable of performing all six types of jumps as quads.

Maxim Naumov, 24, is also on the American Olympic team. Although he isn’t a gold medal favorite for this year, his technical skill and artistry is exceptional and his likelihood of making it to the top 5 or the podium is high. Following the death of his parents in the D.C plane crash one year ago, his resilience will be beautifully showcased this year on the global stage. Fun fact: He skates at the Skating club of Boston and was born in Hartford Connecticut!

This Winter Olympics marks the first one in nearly a decade where the gold medal winner for women’s singles will likely not be a Russian athlete. Due to the war in Ukraine, the ISU (international skating union) does a meticulous screening and background check to make sure Russian athletes do not support the war. Only one Russian woman will be competing as an AIN athlete (individual neutral athlete), Adeliia Petrosian, 18. She is the first woman to land a quadruple loop, the third hardest jump. Petrosian is praised for her beautiful artistry, clever jump timings and can certainly deliver a performance. While she can do quads, they are often inconsistently landed and Petrosian has shown to let competition nerves affect her. Being the sole representative of her country at this year’s Olympics, time will tell whether she can bear the burden and rise above the pressure.

Part of why Russia has dominated figure skating for so long is because of a single coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who has mastered teaching young female skaters to land quadruple jumps and triple axels. Her athletes typically dominate every competition, but also have extremely short careers due to unhealthy technique that relies on the skater being younger and smaller. Our gold medal favorite this year is here to break the cycle, and her name is Alysa Liu.

Liu, 20, was the youngest American national champion at 13. In a heartbreaking Instagram post, she announced that she would retire from the sport in 2022, due to feeling fulfilled and that she was ready to be “moving on with [her] life.”

However, she made a comeback to the sport in 2024, announcing that she was reminded of the adrenaline rush she felt skating while skiing. In her first comeback season fresh out of retirement, Liu won the 2025 World Figure Skating championships in Boston, establishing an incredible comeback. Liu also represents a new age of figure skating in general, with her smiley piercing, dyed hair and refreshing gen-z humor and demeanor, she breaks the tension the sport has long had with its obsession with proper and graceful image.

While not a gold medal favorite, Amber Glenn, 26, is certainly in contention for a silver or bronze medal. She is the first openly queer woman to represent the United States in Olympic singles figure skating, the fourth American woman to land a clean triple axel in international competition, and the first American woman to qualify for Olympics singles at age 26 since 1928, an incredible feat in a sport that favors small, youthful bodies.

Glenn has been vital in shaping this sports image. She goes against what has been perceived to be the “ideal women” in this sport since the dawn of time; she’s queer, she has visible muscles, and she’s powerful. During the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Glenn won a gold medal, successfully landing her signature triple axel jump.

Lastly, Isabeau Levito, 18, rounds out America’s single women’s figure skating team. She won the silver medal in the 2024 World Championships, and also won the ISU Skating awards 2023: Best Newcomer. Skating since she was 3-years-old, Levito carries forward the technical and artistic tradition of the sport in masterfully crafted artistic programs that pay homage to her Italian background, something that will surely resonate with her while she is on Italian ice in Milan.

The most powerful aspect about these three athletes is their shared sisterhood in a sport where women are often pitted against each other. These three are consistently seen close together, laughing, hugging, and just having a good time. Compared to the last Olympics, where emotionally charged situations created tense moments, these three “blade angels” as dubbed by the media are sure to impress and entertain this year’s Olympics with their warm personalities and potentially revolutionary performances.

Rowdy’s Esports Arena officially opens

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

(Photo courtesy of Benjamin Heffner) “The entrance to the new Rowdy’s Esports Arena in UCrossing”

Benjamin Heffner
Connector Editor

Just in time for the start of spring semester, Rowdy’s Esports Arena, nestled below the entrance to the River Hawk Shop at University Crossing, has officially opened its doors for professional and casual gamers alike. 

Graham Gabriele Allen, Associate Director of Student Affairs for Student Center and Gaming Operations, said that the space was largely conceived by the University Crossing team, led by Building and Gaming Operations Director Adam Dunbar. 

He said, “we put together a gaming council to talk about what gaming looks like and the possibilities, and he worked together with student leaders and found out that there was opportunity to build a space like this. Initially, the idea for a build was something much smaller than the arena we see today.” 

Allen also added that the space was unique, having been reutilized from an old section of the River Hawk Shop where students would pick up their textbooks.  

He said, “the bookstore worked with us and specifically when we were examining this space, many different campus partners all collaborated to make sure that we could come in here and use this space for buildout. Our instructional technology (IT) teams have been instrumental, building out our classrooms, and syncing a one-of-a-kind lighting rig with all the peripherals.” 

The arena is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. for all UMass Lowell students with a valid UCard.  

In addition to gaming PCs, the arena offers console gaming stations, a lounge area and perimeter seating, free rentable peripherals and games, live broadcast and team rooms, and mounted TVs. The gaming PCs, which are custom built, utilize the newest graphic cards and processors currently on the market from companies such as NVIDIA and Intel. 

Allen said that the Technology Fee, which is an additional fee as part of student tuition, will go towards paying and maintaining the arena.  

He added, “this is meant to be a sustainable space, and we hope that students are able to utilize it for free just by tapping their UCard.” 

While the arena is currently focused on open play to garner as much attention as possible, it will eventually become the home for varsity esports starting in Fall 2026, and students are encouraged to suggest as many games as possible. 

Allen said, “if folks have interest in playing on teams or particular games, we want them to start reaching out. As it stands currently, the way you would form a varsity team would be to create a club, either for the game or the specific type of game.” 

Students who have visited the arena have expressed an overwhelmingly positive response, saying that an experience like this helps them feel more at home on campus. 

Davi Ferreira, a freshman Electrical Engineering major, said “the games run well and smoothly, the environment is chill, people can have conversations and be in their own worlds. It’s a free space and we’re able to think and try new things and see what other people are up to.” 

Five-year-old released from ICE custody with his father

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

Makayla Mahoney

Connector Editor

On Sunday, Feb. 1, five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father Adrian Alexander were released from an ICE processing center after being held there for more than a week. Their release comes after days of national outrage as a picture of the preschooler went viral online, showing him wearing his Spider-Man backpack and bunny hat as he is surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery court ordered their release on Saturday, Jan. 31, with their departure from Dilley Immigration Processing Center following the next day.

Liam and his father were first detained by ICE on Tuesday, Jan. 20, when arriving home from Liam’s preschool in Minneapolis. They were immediately surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers upon pulling into their driveway. The two were put into custody and sent to a processing center in Dilley, Texas.

Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos moved to the U.S. from Ecuador in 2024, applying for asylum upon legal entry. While there was no order for his deportation, the Department of Homeland Security claims that Adrian was an “illegal alien”, leading to his detainment on Jan. 20.

The department further stated that Adrian had left Liam in the car as he attempted to flee officers. They defended taking the five-year-old into custody as there was no one at home willing to take him, however officials from Liam’s school denied that this was the case and that an adult at their home was denied custody of Liam after begging officers to let him go.

Columbia Heights Public Schools, where Liam attends preschool, stated that he was at least the fourth child to be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement within the past month.

Minneapolis has been a hotspot on the topic of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of I.C.E officers making national news. Thousands continue to take to the city streets to protest the detainment of Minneapolis residents by ICE

According to The Guardian, there have been 23,960 arrests within the past two weeks by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These large numbers of arrests were the result of a promise made by President Trump in his run for president in 2024.

In May of 2025, White House Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller told Fox News “We are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every day.” Officials at the White House have since backtracked on this statement, however ICE’s daily “quota” is still under question as people continue to face daily raids within their cities.

The targeted arrest of Adrian Alexander and Liam Conejo Ramos may come from the Trump administration’s new policy practices targeting those who have entered the country within the past two years. Eileen Morrison, an adjunct professor of immigration law at UMass Lowell explains:

“Under past administrations, the practice was to say that if someone had been here for more than six months, they would need to go before an immigration judge and could not be put in expedited removal. However, during the Trump administration, they have re-interpreted it to mean that if someone has been here for less than 2 years, that they believe that they can just go into this expedited removal process and never go to immigration court and never see an immigration judge.”

In the case of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining a five-year-old child, she continues, “Cruelty is the point. Part of the administration’s goal is to be so cruel that it deters people from trying to come to the United States.”

With the residents of Minneapolis continuing to heal from the numerous deaths and deportations in their neighborhoods, they still celebrate the return home for Liam and his father and continue to hope for normalcy and the release of more families affected by ICE.

The shocking truth about textbook affordability

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

(Photo courtesy of State House) “Luke Van Horn, UMass Lowell MassPIRG Vice Chair”

Luke Van Horn and Mass PIRG Students
Connector Contributor

“For all the students out there who have gone hungry because they purchased a textbook. For all the students who have failed classes because of expensive materials. For the hope that this broken market will be fixed one day,” said Luke Van Horn, a junior at UMass Lowell and vice chair of the university’s Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG) chapter. 

 On Feb. 4, Van Horn testified in support of “H.559: Resolve providing for an investigation and study by a special commission relative to the consumer impacts of electronic textbooks” before the members of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure. The legislation sponsored by Rep. Domb has the goal of establishing a specialized commission to formally investigate the adverse effects access codes and electronic textbooks impose on students. One of the ongoing issues this legislation aims to resolve is the fact that access codes have become mandatory for students to do homework and take tests, even when other cheaper versions can be found elsewhere. 

 MassPIRG has regularly conducted studies on the pricing of textbooks since 2004, with their most recent study being conducted this year. The report is the fourth edition of the “Fixing the Broken Textbook Market” report; it serves as an update to the 2021 edition. For this latest report, researchers surveyed more than 4,000 students at 110 colleges and universities nationwide, including over 600 in the commonwealth. 

 Today, UMass Lowell students, alongside Julie Nash, Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs at UMass Lowell, and Donna Mellen, Executive Director of Academic Technology at UMass Lowell, presented the newest edition of the report during a press conference in O’Leary Library. Students held a banner signed by UMass Lowell students calling to “Make Textbooks Affordable” as speakers shared their findings and personal stories. 

 The study revealed that three-quarters of students surveyed said they needed to buy an access code to do homework or quizzes. The report also studied student experiences with so-called “inclusive access” billing programs, which some campuses in Massachusetts are considering. The data is definitive that campuses should be cautious when considering auto-billing. 

 Surprisingly, nearly half of the surveyed students at schools with campuswide auto-billing reported not knowing that they were being billed, not knowing that they could opt out or being unable to opt out. 

 “When students can’t afford course materials, it shows up immediately — missed assignments, delayed participation and avoidable stress. Auto-billing and access codes may be marketed as ‘convenient,’ but they can also reduce choice and transparency and leave students paying for temporary access,” said Nash. 

Auto-billing promises savings but these claims are dubious at best. The Public Interest Research Group’s 2024 analysis of 171 of these program contracts found no evidence that they save students money. In fact, in 90% of the bookstore operating contracts for which they could see the details about commission payments, the school received a commission payment based on sales of automatic textbook billing products. 

 Nash added that, “UMass Lowell has made real progress on textbook affordability by building infrastructure such as faculty mini-grants, hands-on support through our teaching and learning center and strong library partnership to help instructors adopt OER and other non- or low-cost materials.” UMass Lowell does not participate in auto-billing. 

 Since 1970, the price of textbooks nationally has outpaced inflation by three times, an annual increase of 6%. As textbook costs increase so too does the burden, especially for students who may not be able to keep up with the rising costs while meeting their essential needs. 

 “Massachusetts has taken bold steps toward free college. I am grateful for that, but tuition alone is not the full cost of education. If we do not address course materials and essential needs, access is only theoretical,” said Kayla Kittredge, a recent Middlesex Community College graduate and first year student at UMass Lowell. “I am standing here today because I had people and institutions that refused to let price decide my future. But many students do not get that chance.” 

“Umamusume: Pretty Derby” releases globally

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

(Image courtesy of Cygames. “Umamusume is one of the most popular Japanese franchises right now, and its flagship game just saw a global release.”)

Maxi France
Connector Staff

One of the most popular Japanese multimedia franchises, “Umamusume: Pretty Derby” has managed to spark interest in global audiences. Cygames, the creators of this racing game franchise, released a mobile version of the game in English on June 26, 2025. The game provides English captions and the option to hear the corresponding Japanese dialogue.

The game follows a group of female trainers and girls with horse ears — called Umamusume — as they train in the fictitious Tracen Academy and compete in horse races against each other. The Umamusume are based on real Japanese racehorses but adapted to fit an anime style design. The object of the game is to train a team of Umamusume to compete in races and raise their team rank to the highest level. The player trains them in five different skills before competition and can chat with other trainers in interactive cutscenes to help boost their skills.

Gameplay involves being directed to a menu of options, where the player can either train Umamusume in individual or team races or access side stories. The game also tracks missions based on, for example, reaching top five in a race, and awards carats based on completing these goals. One can also gain carats by increasing one’s team rank.

For a new player, a strong way to increase team rank by a level is to start a Career Playthrough for an Umamusume and train her. In this gameplay mode, the player can level up her skills to prepare for upcoming races, while managing her energy bar and making sure it doesn’t fall too low. Each day, the player has the option of training for speed, stamina, power, guts, and wit, which loses energy, or taking a rest to gain energy. Eventually, if one chooses carefully, this Umamusume will have their rank increased, and can replace a weaker, untrained member on the player’s team to increase the overall team ranking.

A positive aspect of this mode is that it allows one to fast forward through the story cutscenes that precede the race in addition to the race itself for players who face time constraints.

The game also allows the player to access interactive side stories that give character development to each individual Umamusume for rewards. To progress through a particular Umamusume’s story, however, one must raise their bond level by training and racing her. As a result, the player cannot access certain parts of a given story until that requirement is fulfilled, which may feel frustrating.

Another difficult aspect of the game is dealing with how long it takes to try to improve the abilities of the Umamusume. Players can raise Potential and Hint levels for an Umamusume to gain advantages in races. However, raising these levels requires shoes that are obtained from racing. This means that one must be spending a set amount of time engaging in the racing portion of the game to get these rewards, which may annoy players who want a quick path to success.

Additionally, to obtain cleats that can be purchased to gain advantages in races, a player must exchange duplicate support cards for them, found in another section of the game. To obtain these cards, a player can spend carats to perform a Support Card Scout, a type of loot box mechanism where a random Umamusume is picked to join the player’s collection of support cards. The problem is that since this system is luck-based, there is no guarantee a player will obtain duplicates, incentivizing the player to spend more time scouting in hopes of finding one.

On the plus side, the music and graphics will likely meet player expectations. The music changes based on the context of every menu and differentiates based on mood. For example, when an Umamusume places low, somber-sounding music is played. Conversely, fanfare is played when she wins.

The graphics are a strong point of this game — the developers like to pay attention to detail. In the tutorial and in the pre-race cutscenes, each character has unique facial expressions that change throughout a given scene when the player taps on the text boxes to continue the story. The developers make sure to pay careful attention to realism, designing the characters so that they do not stay completely still but rather move slightly while standing from breathing.

Overall, this game is an adventure that is an appropriate fit for all ages. It may not resonate with players who prefer violence and drama, but those who want to increase their appreciation of Japanese culture may appreciate the gameplay and the storylines behind it.

Grade: B

2026 Grammy Awards Recap

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

(Image courtesy of Grammy. “This year’s Grammy Awards ceremony was marked by a surprising amount of sentimentality.”)

Tristin Henson
Connector Editor

The Grammys kicked off the night with a performance by Sabrina Carpenter, featuring a rendition of “Manchild.” Soon after, Doechii and Queen Latifah presented the award for Best Rap Album, with nominees CHROMAKOPIA and GNX being the top two competing albums for this award this year, but the context surrounding GNX, as well as how marketable it had been to masses of people (plus all the radio promotion it had gotten), made it no surprise that GNX won.

The next award was for Best New Artist, with the nominees from this category performing some of the songs that got them their newfound fame before the award itself was presented. The Marías performed a rendition of “No One Noticed”, and after them, Addison Rae performed one of her top songs, “Fame is a Gun”, backstage, which transitioned into “Gnarly” by one of the newest global girl groups: KATSEYE. Back on the Grammys stage, Leon Thomas performed “MUTT”, with Alex Warren performing “Ordinary”, where, during his performance, he experienced some technical malfunctions with his earpiece. This follows a common consensus among many this year was that the Grammys were a bit of a mess.

From the chaotic nature of Trevor Noah going full filter off because it was his last year hosting, to Cher presenting the award for Record of the Year, it seemed like as much as we, the audience at home, didn’t know what was coming next, neither did any of the artists at the Grammys. This was encapsulated by Lola Young performing a piano rendition of “Messy” next, the song itself winning Best Solo Pop Performance later in the night, but not Best New Artist.

After a quick performance of “12 to 12” by Sombr, the title ended up going to Olivia Dean, who had performed “Man I Need” just beforehand, with Chapelle Roan giving her the award while not hiding from the audience the obvious teleprompter phrases. Again, matching that ‘messy’ theme of the night, Justin Bieber was next on the stage, where he performed “YUKON” in his boxers, apparently a last-minute decision. After that, Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny, who Trevor Noah made sure to make the shining star of the Grammys, won Best Música Urbana Album. Beautifully Broken by Jellyroll won Best Contemporary Country Album, and Best Pop Album was won by Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM after she performed “Abracadabra”. Bruno Mars performed his new single “I Just Might”, his second performance that night, as he and Rosé had performed “APT.” earlier on. “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish won Song of the Year, after which Tyler, the Creator performed “Thought I Was Dead” and used “Like Him”, as well as powerful words from Regina King, as an interlude to “Sugar on My Tongue”.

Pharrell Williams was then presented with a special Dr. Dre Global Impact Award by Q-Tip, also performing later in the night. Following an “In Memoriam” segment, it was time for the two most anticipated awards that night: Record of the Year and Album of the Year.

“Luther” by Kendrick Lamar with SZA won Record of the Year. Soundwave, one of the producers, gave high praise and credit to the original producer of the song, Luther Vandross, and both SZA and Kendrick gave thanks to their whole team.

Then, to finish off the night, Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny won Album of the Year, the first time a Spanish album has been given this award. In his winning speech, he thanked the citizens of Puerto Rico for his success, the Academy, all the people who believed in him and worked on the album, his mother, and dedicated his award to “everyone who had to leave their homeland to follow their dreams…To all the dreamers, to everyone who has lost a loved one and still had to move forward and carry on with great strength…[t]o all the Latinos around the entire world, and to all the artists who came before and deserved to be on this stage receiving this award.”

Of course, no one can mention the Grammys this year without talking about the obvious socio-political atmosphere it held. Multiple award winners mentioned ICE in their speeches, Billie Eilish being one of the artists to receive much backlash over her “F*** ICE” comment. SZA mentioned how we shouldn’t “fall into despair, [and that] we need each other, we need to trust each other.” ‘ICE Out’ pins were a common sight to see on many different artists throughout the night, Olivia Dean proudly saying how she is “the granddaughter of an immigrant…a granddaughter of bravery and those people deserve to be celebrated”, and Bad Bunny himself was the epicenter of it all.

A lasting comment Bad Bunny made on this was: “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans…I know it’s tough not to hate on these days…The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love… So, please, we need to be different. If we fight, we must do it with love.”

American citizens killed in Minneapolis ICE raids

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

Benjamin Heffner

Connector Editor

On January 7th, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed an American citizen during an immigration raid in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The victim, identified as 37-year-old mother and poet Renee Nicole Good, was in her car with her wife when they were surrounded by multiple ICE officers who screamed at and gave them conflicting orders, with one telling them to “get out of the [expletive] car.”

As Good attempted to reverse and drive away, an officer shot at her three times in the head, killing her instantly.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, along with Secretary Kristi Noem, said the officer “shot the woman in self-defense” and that Good attempted to ram over the officer with her car, calling it “an act of domestic terrorism.”

Dr. Jarrod Hayes, Associate Professor of Political Science, said that the term “terrorism” has been used ill-defined from the events on September 11th.

“I would imagine if you were to ask most Americans what their conception of a terrorist is, it usually tends to be a foreigner in the context on September 11th.”

At a White House press briefing, Vice President J.D. Vance attacked what he called “the fake news media,” saying that Good was “brainwashed” and “a victim of left-wing ideology.”

He added, “The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace, and it puts our law enforcements officers at risk every single day.”

Sophomore Chase Allen, a Sound Recording Technology major, disagreed with Vance’s statements.

He said, “I don’t know how you could possibly blame anyone other than ICE. It just goes to show yet again the lack of accountability in the Trump administration.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, condemned the incident.

Walz, who recently suspended his re-election campaign for governor following a fraud scandal involving state-funded services, issued a warning order to the state’s National Guard, saying, “We’ve been warning for weeks that the Trump administration’s dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety and that someone was going to get hurt.”

Frey sent a stark message to ICE agents, telling them to “get the [expletive] out of Minneapolis.”

Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation were also quick to condemn the incident.

Congresswoman Lori Trahan, representing the 3rd Congressional District, including the city of Lowell, said, “Communities are being harmed, and the public deserves the truth. The Trump administration wants us to ignore what we can clearly see with our own eyes.”

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, representing the 7th Congressional District, attacked Republicans for obstructing a motion that would subpoena all records and footage related to the shooting, saying, “Republicans have demonstrated that they have never cared about law and order or keeping our communities safe.”

Over two weeks later, Border Patrol agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who was filming law enforcement agents with his phone.

Both Good and Pretti’s killings have stemmed from the ongoing ICE operation “Metro Surge,” described by DHS officials as “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out.”

2,000 agents were sent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, resulting in over 3,000 arrests and a surge in lawsuits for wrongful detention.

Hayes agreed that the policies being enacted by DHS agents in Minneapolis don’t fit with the Trump administration’s policy agenda, adding “It wouldn’t look like what they’re doing. It would be far more nuanced, far more targeted, done with far greater collaboration with state and local officials who are the ones engaged in an active basis policing criminality.”

Nintendo unveils requested features in “Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream” Direct

February 10, 2026 by with comment off

(Photo courtesy of Nintendo. “Tomodachi Life is among the stranger of Nintendo’s ventures, but it is a fan favorite and its latest upcoming entry is full of highly-requested features and changes.”)

Rosalie Pineda
Connector Staff

In March 2025, Nintendo roused the attention of many fans when they announced a surprise sequel to Tomodachi Life, a game released back in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. The announcement was brief at the time, disclosing little about the gameplay other than the visuals and the official title.

Tomodachi Life garnered a niche fanbase due to its unique premise of customizing and taking care of Miis every day. These Miis have their own appearances, personalities, voices, and dialogue.

They can also interact with the world and form relationships with other Miis. The relationship drama is known for being particularly dynamic and memorable.

Many players enjoy making Miis of fictional characters, themselves, and their loved ones. It’s fun to see what they’ll get up to together.

Then, on January 29, 2026, Nintendo posted a direct dedicated to showcasing some of what this sequel has to offer.

Currently, the US version of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream’s direct has over 1.6 million views. The Japanese direct has over 2.5 million views. Reactions online have been generally favorable and full of excitement.

One feature that was discussed early on was also one of the most popular requests by fans: letting Miis have same-sex romantic relationships.

In the original game, Miis could only identify as male or female, and they could only pursue romantic relationships with the opposite sex. The sequel reveals the addition of a nonbinary option, and their dating preferences can now be customized, too.

This is following a statement made by the developers several years ago, where they promised to include same-sex relationships in following games if they were given the opportunity. Fans are delighted to see that they held true to their word.

The direct also showed off plenty of other creative features, such as the ability to draw directly on your Miis, allowing for even more customization freedom. There are expanded hairstyles, colors, makeup, and players can even put ears of varying shapes on their Miis now.

There will also be customization of the island that all the Miis will live on. Not only can players expand the terrain, but they can also customize the exterior of buildings and pathways.

This system feels similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in this aspect, which is another game beloved by many Tomodachi Life fans. It will be interesting to see how much of the system is brought over into this game, and if it’ll somehow improve on what New Horizons had to offer.

The room and pet system also appears to be revamped. Players can now draw original pets for their Miis, which could lead to some hilarious results. They can also draw on clothes and food.

Miis can also now have a chance to move in together, with up eight Miis per living space. These roommates will have unique interactions with each other.

It’s clear that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream has made immense strides since the first game’s release 13 years ago. But even so, it still manages to keep the overall “weirdness” that made the franchise stand out. The iconic, silly voices are still present for the Miis, and the Mii News Network is still around, relaying in-game news about the Miis in absurd situations.

The number of Miis that can possibly live on one island is still unknown, but it is expected to be at least 100 like the original game. Hopefully another direct can shed more light on this and other returning features, such as the family system.

The game has a release date of April 16, 2026. Needless to say, excited fans will be keeping a close eye on announcements in the future.