Mii
A Mii is a customizable avatar used by Nintendo on their video game consoles and mobile apps, 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 or in some games 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 are used as the basis of the systems' social networking features, most prominently the now-defunct Miiverse. On the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, Miis can still be selected as an account's avatar, however other avatars featuring various Nintendo characters are also available. Miis are also used as profile pictures for Nintendo Accounts 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.
History
Nintendo's idea of a free-form personal avatar software was discussed at the Game Developers Conference in 2007, a year after the Wii was released. There, Shigeru Miyamoto said that the personal avatar concept had originally been intended as a demo for the Family Computer Disk System, where a user could draw a face onto an avatar. Miyamoto commented that the concept could not be turned into a game and was discarded.In late 1999, during the Nintendo 64 era, the 64DD was launched in Japan. Released in 2000, Mario Artist: Talent Studio 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 Tottoko Hamtaro: Tomodachi Daisakusen Dechu 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.
Mii creation
Mii characters are created and stored in the Mii Channel or the Mii Maker, which are pre-installed on the Wii and the Nintendo 3DS/Wii U consoles respectively, as well as the Mii creator software located in System Settings for the Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2. While the user can assign a gender, name, birthday, favorite color, and mingle preference to a Mii, the majority of the interface used for Mii creation focuses on the appearance of its face and head: the user is given a variety of different hairstyles, eye, nose, and mouth shapes, and other features such as facial hair or wrinkles, to select from. Most of the facial features can be further adjusted, including their size, position, color, and alignment. Accessories such as hats and glasses are also available to add, and the Mii's height and build can also be adjusted. The Mii Maker installed on the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U can use facial recognition to generate a Mii, which selects facial features based on a photograph of a person's face taken with the system's and GamePad's cameras respectively. The features can then be fine-tuned by the user. These versions also have more options than their Wii counterpart. Because the selection of facial features is considered by some to be limited, users are encouraged to develop caricatures of real people instead of accurate depictions.Additional options in games
Certain games have also added additional features in their Mii makers that are otherwise made as part of the game or as secondary features, allowing for more customization options than the standard Mii maker software can provide.''Tomodachi'' series
The Tomodachi series contains options to input a first and last name for the Mii in addition to the Mii's given name, the ability to customize the Mii's voice and personality, and options for choosing a blood type for the Mii based on the blood type personality theory. Miis created in the Tomodachi series games can be transferred over to the system's Mii Maker, and Miis created via the Mii Maker can also be transferred into the games themselves.''Miitopia''
Miitopia added additional hair and eye color options for the Mii, which were later adapted for the Switch and Switch 2's Mii creation software. The remastered version of Miitopia for the Switch added the option of wigs and even makeup customization options that could be applied onto an existing Mii, allowing for the creation of more sophisticated looking Mii characters. Miis created in the Switch version of Miitopia can be shared online via "access keys", which allows users to use Miis created by others in-game with one's own Miitopia save data. This feature is only usable with an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription.Miis can be transferred from the system's Mii creation software 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 will not carry over.
Special Miis
Nintendo periodically released special Miis, usually during E3 or to commemorate game and franchise anniversaries. For a limited time between March 13 and 30, 2007, Wii owners in Japan were sent Mii versions of comedian Sanma Akashiya and tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka. The duo had been featured in Japanese promotions for the Wii, highlighting Miis themselves. Miis of Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aimé were released on the 3DS for the 1st anniversary of the handheld console. During 2013, Nintendo released special Miis of Shigeru Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe, and during E3 2013, also released special Miis for Takashi Tezuka, Koichi Hayashida, Eiji Aonuma, and Hideki Konno. Their Miis feature gold pants, as opposed to a gray pair, and cannot be edited or copied. If owners transfer them to another Wii or Wii Remote, they will be removed from their original location, instead of traditionally making another copy.In late 2011, Nintendo released Swapnote for the Nintendo 3DS, which features an original character named Nikki 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 no Tabisuru 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, the successor to Swapnote/''Nintendo Letter Box for the Nintendo 3DS in late 2016, and in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' as an Assist Trophy.