If you think this means Miis can be modded in as characters in the game, youre right
Image: @HEYimHeroic
If youre Nintendo and you need a bunch of non-playable characters (NPCs) for your soon-to-be smash-hit Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, what do you do? Apparently, you may use your Mii creation tool to generate them. Twitter user and self-proclaimed Mii expert Alice (@HEYimHeroic) has discovered that some of the minor characters in the games world (shopkeepers, townsfolk, etc.), are based on Mii characters, and Miis are able to be brought directly into the game albeit with a fair amount of effort.
As with all systems like this, there are edge cases and caveats
Its been speculated before that Breath of the Wilds NPCs were somehow related to Miis (especially after the discovery that their game files were labeled as UMiis), but Alices discovery reveals that Miis can be directly mapped into the game, with only a few exceptions.
Obviously, the game doesnt render the characters exactly like Miis.
Image: @HEYimHeroic
These characters in Breath of the Wild arent exactly Miis, as you can tell by just looking at a picture of them. UMii files have many of the same attributes as Mii files, and the game interprets those into the characters that you can see in game. The consequence of this is that its relatively straightforward to convert a Mii into a UMii, as they have basically the same attributes. This will result in your Mii being brought to life in the game and in the games art style.
If you want to actually get your Mii into Breath of the Wild, youll need a modded Wii U or Switch (though that may have been obvious). The process involves extracting and editing an existing game characters .bumii file to match the values your Mii has, then visiting them in the game. Apparently, the Zelda Modding Discord is reasonably active if you really want to dig into the system, and Alice credits it for helping them test out their hypothesis.
If that all seems like a lot of work or you dont want to mod your console, Alice has mentioned that theyre taking commissions, though it seems like theyve gotten a lot of requests already. Those, by the way, have gone exactly as expected.
There are many characters in the game that arent created this way. Main characters like Link, Zelda, Mipha, and pretty much anyone whos a major part of the story are going to be made the traditional way, as custom 3D models.
Let the fact that some Breath of the Wild characters are basically heavily skinned Miis with some extra modifications be a lesson: you dont always have to reinvent the wheel to get a system that works. If theres something youve already put a lot of work into, as Nintendo seems to have done with the Mii system, think about other ways that system could be used. This isnt just good game design; its good life advice though hopefully your results wont be as terrifying as the Breath of the Wild-ified Miis sometimes are.