The best 3DS life simulation games

The best life sims on the Nintendo 3DS are Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Tomodachi Life, and Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. For farming with combat, play Rune Factory 4. For a life with many jobs, play Fantasy Life.

Before you choose, know one fact. The Nintendo eShop for 3DS stopped all sales on March 27, 2023. Today you must find a used game cartridge, or redownload a game that you bought before that date.

This list gives the North American release year of each game. It also tells you which games have a newer version on Nintendo Switch. We checked each date against the sources at the end of this page.

LifeSim is our game. It does not run on a 3DS. It runs in a browser and on iPhone, so it is an option for later, not a 3DS game. You live one life in a real city, and the people talk back in their own words.

• Free to play, with no ads and no subscription. There is nothing to buy.
• It plays in any web browser at play.lifesim.com, on a computer or a phone. On iPhone and iPad, the LifeSim app is on the App Store.
• The map is the real Earth in 3D. You pick any city and live on its real streets.
• The people in the city are AI characters with jobs, homes, and friends. You talk to them in your own words, and they remember you.

Skip it if you only want to play on your 3DS. Every other game on this page runs on the 3DS.

We make LifeSim, so we put it first. The rest of this list is games we don’t make, and we say what each one does well.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the main Animal Crossing game on the 3DS. Happy Home Designer and Tomodachi Life are the two closest games after it.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2013)

New Leaf came out in North America in 2013. It is the first Animal Crossing game where you are the mayor of the town. You live with the animal villagers, build your home, and change the town.

In November 2016, Nintendo released a free update called Welcome amiibo. The update added new places, items, and activities. Look for a cartridge with “Welcome amiibo” in the name, or install the update on an older cartridge.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (2015)

Happy Home Designer is a spin-off. You do not run a town. You design houses for the villagers, and each villager asks for a different style. Play it if decoration is your favorite part of Animal Crossing.

Tomodachi Life (2014)

Tomodachi Life came out in Japan in 2013 and in the West in 2014. Mii characters live on an island and make friends, fall in love, and ask you for help. The game has no end goal. Your aim is to keep the Miis happy.

Our Tomodachi Life guide explains the 3DS game in more detail. For more games with the same feel, read games like Animal Crossing.

The best farming life sims on 3DS are Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns and Rune Factory 4. Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning are good second choices.

Why are there two names, Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons?

In Japan, the series is Bokujō Monogatari. For many years, Natsume sold it in English as Harvest Moon. In 2012, Marvelous stopped the license to Natsume. Natsume kept the Harvest Moon name and made its own games.

So the original series continued in English as Story of Seasons, from Xseed Games. The 3DS entries of the original series are Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning (2012), Story of Seasons (2014), and Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (2016).

Story of Seasons and Trio of Towns

In both games, you run a farm, grow crops, and raise animals. Trio of Towns adds three towns, each with a different culture. Of the two, Trio of Towns is the newer game.

Rune Factory 4 (2013)

Rune Factory 4 mixes farming with dungeons, crafting, and marriage. The people of the town of Selphia think that you are their royal ruler. As the prince or princess, you can ask for town events, such as a harvest festival.

Fantasy Life (2014)

Fantasy Life is from Level-5, and Nintendo released it in North America in 2014. You choose from 12 jobs, called life classes. Examples are tailor, carpenter, woodcutter, mercenary, and magician. You can change your job and rise through ranks in each one.

If you like the farm part best, read our list of games like Stardew Valley.

Yes. The Sims 3 came out on the 3DS on March 27, 2011, as a launch game for the system. It is the only game on this list from The Sims series.

The 3DS version is smaller than the computer version. IGN gave it 7.5 out of 10. The review said that the game lost some features, such as multiple saves, personality traits, and calls for services.

For a life with more depth on the 3DS, we suggest Tomodachi Life or Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If you want The Sims on another system, read games like The Sims.

What other 3DS life sims are there?

Nintendogs + Cats was also a launch game, on March 27, 2011. You raise and train dogs and cats. It came in three versions: French Bulldog, Golden Retriever, and Toy Poodle.

Style Savvy is a fashion series where you run a clothing store. The last 3DS game, Style Savvy: Styling Star, came out in North America on December 25, 2017. In North America, it was a download only. Because the eShop is closed, you cannot buy it there now.

Not as new downloads. Nintendo ended all purchases in the Nintendo eShop for 3DS and Wii U on March 27, 2023, at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. You can still buy used game cartridges from stores and other players.

What still works on the 3DS eShop?

• You can redownload games and add-ons that you bought before. Nintendo says this will continue “for the foreseeable future.”
• You can download updates for games that you own.
• You cannot download free content, such as demos.
• You cannot redeem download codes. That ended on April 3, 2023.

Can you still play 3DS life sims online?

No. Online play for 3DS and Wii U software ended on April 8, 2024. Online rankings and data distribution also ended on that date.

Some 3DS games were sold only as downloads, such as Style Savvy: Styling Star in North America. You cannot buy those games now. Before you pay for a used 3DS game, check that it is a cartridge.

Five of the series on this list continue on Nintendo Switch. If a used 3DS game is hard to find, the Switch version is often the easier choice.

Rune Factory 4 Special is the Switch version of Rune Factory 4. Fantasy Life i is a sequel, not a remake. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the new Tomodachi Life game, and it also runs on Switch 2.

Read about the new game in our Tomodachi Life 2 post. For the full Switch list, read the best life simulation games on Nintendo Switch.

Then try LifeSim, our game. It does not run on a 3DS or on a Switch. It runs in a web browser at play.lifesim.com and on iPhone, and it is free, with no ads.

LifeSim is different from the games above. You live one life in a real city on a 3D map of Earth. The people talk to you in their own words, and they remember you. There is no farm and no island of animals.

Stay with your 3DS if you want a calm handheld game with a town to build. The 3DS games do that better. Read what LifeSim is to see if it fits you. For more choices on all systems, read the best life sim games.

What is the best life sim game on 3DS?

Our first choice is Animal Crossing: New Leaf. For farming, choose Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns or Rune Factory 4.

Is it worth it to buy a 3DS to play Animal Crossing?

It can be, if you play alone. The online features of New Leaf ended in 2024. New Horizons on Switch has the newer content.

Is Tomodachi Life on 3DS?

Yes. The first Western Tomodachi Life came out on 3DS in 2014. The new game is on Switch. See games like Tomodachi Life for similar games.

Is Harvest Moon the same as Story of Seasons?

They were one series until 2012. Since then, Story of Seasons continues the original series, and Natsume makes its own Harvest Moon games.

Can I still download 3DS games that I bought?

Yes. Nintendo still lets you redownload games and add-ons that you bought before March 27, 2023.

Does LifeSim run on a 3DS?

No. LifeSim runs in a browser and on iPhone. For a comparison with a big PC life sim, read LifeSim vs The Sims.

• Prices of used 3DS cartridges. They change often, so we did not give any.
• Whether Animal Crossing: New Leaf will come to Nintendo Switch Online. Some forum players hope for it. We found no statement from Nintendo.
• The 3DS release date of Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns. Our sources did not agree, so we left that game out of the list.
• Whether The Sims 3: Pets came to the 3DS. Our source did not say.
• The North American date of Fantasy Life i, if it is different from the worldwide date.
• We could not open Reddit threads, so we used forum posts and search results for the questions.

• 3D life simulator games
• The Lagos Life game
• The Human or AI Game
• AI Game Maker: The Free Tools in 2026
• Virtual Families 3
• The best life sim games in 2026
• Best simulation games
• Life sims you can play in your browser
• AI life simulator games
• AI games
• Games where you can talk to AI
• AI roleplay
• AI character generator
• Random personality generator
• Random backstory generator
• Story games
• Text based games
• Dating sim games
• Game where you live a life
• Game where you can do anything
• Games to play when bored
• Make your own superhero game
• Games like The Sims
• Games like BitLife
• Games like Stardew Valley
• Games like Animal Crossing
• Games like Tomodachi Life
• Heartopia, explained
• Tomodachi Life
• Tomodachi Life personality chart
• Tomodachi Life catchphrase generator
• Tomodachi Life island name generator
• Is there a Tomodachi Life 2?
• The best life sims on Switch and Switch 2
• What does NPC mean?
• Games like IMVU
• Games like Second Life

• Nintendo Support: End of purchases in the Nintendo eShop for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS
• Nintendo Support: Online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
• Nintendo: Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
• Wikipedia: Animal Crossing (series)
• Wikipedia: Tomodachi Life
• Wikipedia: Story of Seasons (series)
• Wikipedia: Rune Factory 4
• Wikipedia: Fantasy Life
• Wikipedia: Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Wikipedia: The Sims 3
• Wikipedia: Nintendogs + Cats
• Wikipedia: Style Savvy: Styling Star