Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Media Notes / Mii

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miis.png
It's-a Mii!
Miis (or Mii Characters) are Digital Avatars used in Nintendo software. They are multipurpose characters that can be used in a variety of ways, to the point of being playable characters in a range of games produced for Nintendo's systems.

Nintendo had planned an avatar system since the Famicom era, but technical limitations delayed their implementation until the Wii was released. Mii support has since been included with the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch as well.

    Games Starring Miis 

    Other Games That Use Miis Prominently 
Unless otherwise noted, the following games generally have Miis as one option of several for playable characters.

Tropes used:

Note: Due to the nature of Miis and how they're used, tropes may not apply to every place they appear.
  • Adaptational Badass: In Super Smash Bros., Miis come in three different varieties (Brawler, Swordfighter, Gunner) and can stand up to even the likes of Bowser, Ganondorf, and other Nintendo heavyhitters. Sakurai even states in their introduction video that they were "toughened up" to be ready for Smash, and the franchise they represent isn't "Mii" or "Mii Plaza" or anything like that, but rather Smash itself.
  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: There are special QR Codes for the 3DS that makes the Miis wear gold pants. The QR codes can only be scanned once per system. Most of them are region-specific as well.
  • Animesque: Most of the Mii's facial elements, as well as the way their faces change to match each mood.
  • Animorphism: This is what happens to Miis in Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers, where a barrel is dropped on them and they turn into an animal (Called "Amiimal") upon escaping the barrel.
  • Art Evolution:
    • Miis had very few expressions when introduced, mainly "normal", "happy", "sad", "angry" and "sleeping". The first time they "wink" was the 3DS, while the Wii U was the first time they can use a "scared" expression, and elements of these emotions can eventually be combined. Miitomo was the first game to give them more expressions than ever, and this is further extended into Miitopia with the addition of having their pupils actually move or dilate.
    • Datamining has found that NPCs in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were created with yet another upgraded version of the Mii Maker tool.
    • The Mii Maker was updated much further with Switch, allowing Miis to a wider range of hair and eye colors not seen in past consoles (it was introduced in Tomodachi Life through the use of hair dye). The Switch port of Miitopia takes this even further by allowing them to wear real makeup and newer face elements, and wigs for even more wild hairdos. The wigs in particular now move more naturally unlike a Mii's natural hair.
  • The Artifact: While the Switch supports Miis, they're not as prominent and very rarely used; largely only appearing in ports of Wii, Wii U and 3DS games.note  There's also no easy way to transfer large collections of custom Miis from Wii (U) and 3DS to the Switch, only single personal ones either through online accounts or amiibo.
  • Artifact Title: They take their name from the Wii, the console they debuted on, but as far back as Tomodachi Collection for the DS, they started appearing on non-Wii consoles. With the Wii name seemingly retired after the Wii U, their name has fully become this.
  • Author Avatar:
    • Miis of Nintendo employees are commonly seen during game trailers that use Miis.
    • One can make their Mii their user's avatar in different games as well as in Nintendo's various online services.
  • The Backwards Я: The Wii allows Greek letters when naming a Mii. Many players use the Greek letters for this trope. For example, a Mii going online for Mario Kart Wii might be named "ρlαγεr" rather than "player". The Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U allow both Greek and Cyrillic letters, though fewer players seem to be using them.
  • Balloonacy: On the main page of the My Nintendo site, occasionally your Mii will show up flailing their arms while floating through the air with three balloons tied to them.
  • Black Bead Eyes: One of the options for eyes. However, if you select an eye color other than black, these eyes will still have irises of that color.
  • The Cameo:
    • In some games, Miis only serve as background characters.
    • The Mario Kart ride at Universal Studios' Super Nintendo World uses Miis as stand-ins for the park guests in its queue line and safety videos.
  • Cap: Up to 100 Miis can be stored on most consoles and in most games. The Wii U bumped this up to 3000, but oddly reverted back to 100 with the Switch.
  • Comical Angry Face:
    • When Miis are angry, their mouth will have a dented "M" shape, rather than the zigzag one when sad.
    • Whenever a Miiverse post has an anger emoticon selected, the Mii will stomp its left foot.
  • Color-Coded Characters: Miis have differently-colored pants depending on who created them: Miis created by the player have grey pants, Miis imported from QR codes or other systems have blue pants, and both the user's personal Mii and those specifically marked as favorites have red pants. There are also the Special Miis that have gold pants.
  • Couch Gag:
    • On the Wii U, the player's Mii will do a different animation every time the console starts up.
    • On the main page of the My Nintendo site, your account's Mii will engage in many different activities, such as playing assorted video games, fishing, painting pictures, or polishing your My Nintendo Points containers. Some of these are also randomized as well; there are various consoles and games they'll play, different creatures and objects to fish up, and assorted pictures they'll paint.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: It is perfectly possible to give male Miis Tertiary Sexual Characteristics typically associated with females, such as long hair, eyelashes, and/or prominent lipstick.
  • Eyes Always Shut: One of the options for eyes. Also, a Mii's "happy" expression replaces their eyes with upside-down Us.
  • Fake Crossover: Because of how simple yet surprisingly flexible the creation system is and how easy it is to share Miis to other systems, Miis based on characters from multiple different franchises are incredibly common. This is especially apparent in Miitopia, since the game picks Miis from Spotpass to fill town NPC roles. Why yes, that is Toriel at a shopping stall, Vegeta walking up and down the street and Velma Dinkley being lovey-dovey with the Heavy Weapons guy.
  • Fingerless Hands: One of those things that depends on the game they appear in.
  • Fishing for Sole: On the My Nintendo site, your Mii may go fishing on the main page. Though it's possible for them to pull up Cheep Cheeps and Bloopers, they can also end up reeling in discarded boots and Mario's cap. Rarely, there's a unique variant of the fishing screen where your Mii has a thought bubble with a Platinum Points token in it, and if you click on them when they feel a bite on the line, you can catch a token worth ten of them.
  • Floating Limbs: In some games.
  • Gag Lips: Some of the mouth options.
  • Gag Nose: Most of the nose options.
  • Girlish Pigtails: One of the hairstyles. There is a longer version of these starting with Wii U/3DS.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: The player Amiimal (as well as a few NPC Amiimals) in Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers starts off by wearing a yellow bandana and an orange jacket (and depending on the Mii chosen, a pair of glasses and/or a hat), but never wears pants throughout the whole game.
  • Helium Speech: In Mario Kart 8, Miis have higher-pitched voices, which depending on your taste, which will make you either be annoyed with or adore them.
  • Heroic Mime: For the most part. But depending on the game, it can be Zig-Zagged.
    • The first time a Mii could talk was in Mario Kart Wii, what voice depends on the Mii's gender, height, and weight. They could talk again in Mario Kart 7, except they'll always have the same voice, regardless of the height, weight, gender, etc. Mario Kart 8 gives Miis different voices depending on their favorite color and gender.
    • Miiverse posts can also count as talking, seeing how they move their mouths on Wara Wara Plaza.
    • While in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U the Mii Fighters didn't have voices, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate introduces voice options for them, although one can just ignore those and make them silent instead.
  • Jack of All Stats: In titles like Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, Miis all have 5/10 stars as stats. In some other games, however, this is averted, as the Mii's stats depends on its size and weight.
  • Lady Looks Like a Dude: It is perfectly possible to give female Miis Tertiary Sexual Characteristics typically associated with males, such as short hair and even a mustache and/or beard.
  • Lilliputians: They're all but stated to be this as shown in Tomodachi Life.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Depends on the game. Some limit Miis to just one default costume, but others offer a selection of hats and/or full costumes to dress Miis up in.
  • Little Bit Beastly: This can result if someone tries to create a Mii form of an (usually anthropomorphic) animal.
  • Medium Blending: The Miis' bodies are 3D; their facial elements (except for all but two noses, not counting the outlines), however, are in 2D.
  • Mini-Me: Miis have a height scale that can change their size, and can be duplicated. So it's possible to have a, well, Mini-Mii alongside a larger one.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability:
  • Out of Focus: Initially very prominent characters during the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U eras, very few Switch games feature Miis, and those that do tend to be ports of games that already used them before.
  • Painted-On Pants: They seem to have these in most of their appearances.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: A common purpose for Miis.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: Some hairstyle options.
  • Promoted to Playable: After only serving as Wi-Fi icons in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, they are fully playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
  • Punny Name: Much like how "Wii" is a pun on "we", the word "Mii" is a pun on "me". Due to their Japanese origin, it can also be seen as the pronoun's Gratuitous English spelling.
  • Recurring Location: Wuhu Island, which appears alongside Miis in several games.
  • Rival: To the Xbox 360's own avatar system called.... Avatars.
  • Scannable Man: Via QR Codes on the 3DS and Wii U.
  • Secret Character: A Mii can be played as in the "Flying Squirrel Ovation" level in New Super Luigi U, using the same method to play as Nabbit in the game's other levels.
  • Serial Escalation: In the 3DS/Wii U generation, they have more facial options than they did in the Wii generation:
    • Four more head shapes have been added.
    • The facial features (e.g. makeup and wrinkles) have been split from a single set of twelve to two sets of twelve, allowing 144 possible combinations.
    • Sixty hairstyle options are added.
    • You can now change how big in height your Mii's eyebrows, eyes, and mouth are.
    • Twelve new eye and mouth designs each are now available.
    • Six new noses.
    • Two more lip colors, beards, and mustaches.
    • In the Nintendo Switch generation, Miis can now have custom hair, eyebrow, and eye colors, pleasing those who want to recreate a fictional character with bizarre hair or eye color.
  • Sideways Smile: One of the mouth choices.
  • Skintone Sclerae: Some of the eye options.
  • Solid Cartoon Facial Stubble: Miis have the option for a solid gray jawline, resembling stubble. This can overlap with full facial hair.
  • Sphere Eyes: A few eye choices.
  • Sudden Anatomy:
    • Miis with expression-limiting features will have those features temporarily changed to allow them to make specific expressions. For example, a Mii with Black Bead Eyes will grow irises and sclerae for its "shocked" expression. Also inverted for Miis with lips, as mouth expressions will make them disappear.
    • In some games, such as Mario Kart 7, they have fingers.
  • Suddenly Speaking: Miis could finally speak complete English in Tomodachi Life. Inverted in Miitopia.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Female Miis will have a skirt with their bodies, unlike males.
  • Tomboyish Ponytail: Some of the hairstyles.
  • Virtual Paper Doll: Albeit limited. Though some games have more robust options for them, such as Tomodachi Life.
  • Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Miis will have these when they're surprised or shocked.

Wii Channels

  • Funny Background Event: On the Mii Channel, there are quite a few of these: two Miis might talk to each other, complete with speech bubbles with ellipses in them; a Mii might sneeze; a Mii might fall asleep, before waking up shocked; or when lining Miis up, one might trip.
  • Say It with Hearts: In the Check Mii Out Channel when viewing a parade, there's a chance the Miis might blow kisses to the viewer, complete with little hearts floating out from them.

Wii U Browser

  • Cartoon Conductor: When the curtains are closed there's a chance that the Mii will twirl a baton.
  • Cartoon Juggling: When the curtains are closed, there's a chance that the Mii may juggle three colored balls. At the end, they throw the red ball in the air, spin, and then catch it in their hand. There's also a variation in which they fail doing this.
  • Catching Some Z's: When the curtains are closed, there's a chance the Mii will do this, and then wake up and make a bashful expression.
  • Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: When the curtains are closed there's a chance that the Mii will pull a dove or a bouquet of flowers out of a hat.
  • Rock–Paper–Scissors: There's a chance that the Mii will play this with the player when the curtains are closed, albeit using hold up signs with the symbols on them, because of the Fingerless Hands trope.
  • Say It with Hearts: When the curtains are closed there's a chance that the Mii will sing, complete with musical notes coming out.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top