The 10 creepiest things to do in Tomodachi Life © Nintendo

Let's make no bones about it – Nintendo's bizarre new life simulation is no slavish knock off of The Sims. It's something much more bizarre and unique – it allows you to bring your Miis to life and place them in the most unusual situations imaginable. But don't take our word for it – here are just a few of the creepiest and downright worrying things that can happen in this intriguing Nintendo 3DS game.

Turn your friend into a keyring

Turn your friend into a keyring. Er. Yeah. © Nintendo

Let's face it, we all have pretty strange dreams - even more so if you're the kind of person who likes to ingest large amounts of cheese before slumber time. Dealing with your own night terrors is often troubling enough, but in Tomodachi Life you can peer into the dreams of your Mii characters and stock up on nightmare fuel. One of the strangest involves a Mii being turned into a skeleton keyring suspended on a rucksack, which jigs around as the wearer dashes along a wooded pathway. There's no explanation or reason for this befuddling predicament, and when the Mii character awakens, they're just as confused and concerned as you are. Whatever happened to dreaming about harmless stuff like fluffy sheep leaping gleefully over walls?

Perform a creepy love song

Perform a creepy love song © Nintendo

Tomodachi Life allows you to create your own songs in a variety of different musical genres, including rock, pop and rap. However, for true toe-curling entertainment you simply have to select the ballad option. It allows you to dedicate a heartfelt and sincere tune to the person of your choosing, complete with a ridiculously cheesy stage performance and lyrics so sickly-sweet just watching the performance will rot your teeth. Because you can edit all of the words, you can pretty much create the most uncomfortably saccharine love song ever written, and force your least jovial Mii to do the vocal duties.

Sever a Mii in two

The funfair is one of Tomodachi Life's most appealing locations, largely because some of the events which occur there are so deliciously entertaining. Visit at the right time of day and you'll witness a magical feat which is sure to have you gazing on, open-eyed – one of your unsuspecting Miis is placed in a box and then divided in two. The most distressing part is that you're expected to participate in this spooky – but thankfully reversible – dismemberment. By waving your hands around the 3DS's front-facing camera, you cause the magic trick to occur. Just try not to feel bad when you see the rather worried expression on the victim's face.

Hook up people who can't stand each other in real life

While the Mii characters you place into Tomodachi Life have their own wants, needs and desires, they will at points ask for your opinion when it comes to approaching a potential partner. You can be cruel and dissuade them if you wish, or you can give love a little push by encouraging them to make the first move. This match-making is creepy enough on its own, but it goes to an entirely new level if the two lovebirds are based on real-life people you know can't stand the sight of one another. The resultant mushy exchanges are both amusing and occasionally icky to watch – thank goodness then that you can tell the game which Miis are based on family members, otherwise we'd have incest adding to the already considerable creep-o-factor.

Start a ménage à trois

Start a ménage à trois © Nintendo

This point follows on from the previous one – as well as creating unlikely and potentially troubling couples in Tomodachi Life, you can intentionally cause heartbreak and suffering by creating threesomes (or even foursomes) which are doomed to failure. Unless you're particularly sadistic, then watching as one Mii professes their love to another only to have their most beautiful moment ruined by a bitter love rival is painful to watch – and the process is made even more uncomfortable by the knowledge that you're the one who egged them all on in the first place. For shame.

Humiliate someone by dressing them up as a chicken, or worse

The sheer volume of clothing items in Tomodachi Life is astonishing – we're still discovering new threads weeks after we started playing. While there are great many eye-catching outfits to purchase, it's possible to deck out your Miis in somewhat more questionable attire. How about a muscle suit to make your most insecure character feel a little better about themselves? Or perhaps you'd prefer the awkwardness of the skin-right metallic bodysuit? Our personal favourite is the chicken costume, which almost literally strips away any self-esteem your Mii had before your very eyes.

Turn someone into a child

There's a part of us that never really wants to grow up, but in Tomodachi Life you can turn someone into a child, and vice versa. A special spray (yes, spray) can be administered to trigger the miraculous change, at which point you are treated to an amusing cutscene where your newly de-aged Mii runs around discovering things about the world through the eyes of a pre-teen. The transformation isn't permanent, though – just apply another squirt of the magical spray and they revert to their cynical adult forms.

Eavesdrop on somebody’s bathtime

As well as punishing your Miis and forcing them into doomed relationships, you can also assume the role of a peeping tom, watching your naked Mii characters soak themselves in a lovely hot bath. What makes the entire scene more awkward is the fact that they sing to themselves as you gawp on, and the bath only ends when you decide it does – which means you can sit and stare forever, if you're of that persuasion.

Teach people unusual phrases

Teach people…unusual phrases © Nintendo

As your Miis gain experience in the game, you can teach them a variety of phrases which are used in different situations – happiness, worry, anger and so on. This of course leaves things wide open for you to input some questionable and creepy utterings. Want your Miis to say something utterly absurd when they're brimming with happiness? Or perhaps you can think up a particularly repugnant word for those times when your characters are fuming with rage at one of their neighbors? The capacity for amusement is endless, but just remember that the characters will utter the phrase out loud – and if you're playing in public, that could lead to some rather concerned glances from people nearby. What is a bumcake, anyway?

Create the most worrying photo ever