Mega-popular Nintendo game finally allows players to be gay, bi, ace & nonbinary

The beloved 2009 Nintendo video game Tomodachi Life has always allowed players to create cute, customizable little human characters (called Mii’s) who can explore virtual worlds, play minigames, and independently form social relationships with one another.

But for a long time, queer fans of the game complained that the Mii’s could never be gay, bisexual, aromantic, or nonbinary. However, the game’s upcoming sequel, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, is about to change that — and fans are delighted.

In a video about the sequel, which comes out in April, Nintendo explained that players will be able to choose a nonbinary gender while creating their Mii’s and will also be able to set their Mii’s “dating preferences” to allow them to date and marry one or more genders or none at all, Kotaku reported.

Fans of the original game initially petitioned Nintendo to allow gay marriage. On May 7, 2014, Nintendo America Inc. responded by saying that it “never intended to make any form of social commentary” with the game.

“The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary,” the company said.

However, two days later, Nintendo apologized to disappointed fans and explained that the company couldn’t change the game’s design with a software update. The company then promised that if it released a future installment of the game, it would “strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.”

Fans of the game celebrated the upcoming change in a Reddit forum, writing comments like, “The fact that I can accurately represent my partner and bestie is so cool,” Really caught me by surprise…. This is terrific,” and “They made non binary and gays. They let us choose MORE than one gender. This is the real dream I’m never complaining again.”