Nintendo recently apologized for the lack of same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life, and last night, comedian John Oliver took a look at how Nintendo's new position affects the lives of its most well-known characters.
Earlier this year, Nintendo came under fire for Tomodachi Life, an upcoming life simulation title for the Nintendo 3DS, when a fan campaign brought attention to the fact that the game's dating and marriage elements don't allow for same-sex relationships.
The company's initial statement noted that the original Japanese version of the game, released in April 2013 as Tomodachi Collection: New Life, also did not offer same-sex relationships, and went on to say that the game wasn't intended as social commentary. The story quickly boiled over into a controversy that made national headlines, with GLAAD, the LGBT rights organization, blasting Nintendo for being "behind the times."
Nintendo subsequently released a new statement in which it apologized for its previous stance, and said that while it couldn't change Tomodachi Life to include same-sex relationships, it would consider including them in any future Tomodachi games.
On last night's episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the comedian's new HBO series in which he comments on the previous week's news, Oliver took a look at the newly gay-marriage-friendly Nintendo universe. Prior to this, Oliver noted, you would've had to "use a civil union cheat code, but it's just not the same. If you're interested, it's up, up, down, down, B, gay, B, gay, start."
