Nintendo announces an… alarm clock?
While the gaming community has been eagerly awaiting more information on the inevitable launch of the Switch 2, Nintendo had something else in the works. On October 9th, Nintendo announced Alarmo, the interactive alarm clock. This new bedside gadget is simple in design but also offerings.
The most innovative feature is its ability to track your movements, changing the alarm when you move around and only shutting off once you’ve gotten out of bed. Users can choose the character from that they’d like to wake them up and when the time comes, that character will appear on the screen along with accompanying sound effects from the game their character is from. If you’d like to hit snooze, you can do so with their hands-free gestures. However, if you sleep with multiple people or pets in bed, Nintendo recommends setting the alarm to “Button Mode,” effectively turning it into a regular alarm clock with an LCD screen.
As of right now, there are 35 characters from five Nintendo games, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4, and Ring Fit Adventure, that you can pick to wake you up.
There is also a sleep-tracking mode that offers users insight into how much they are sleeping during the night. While the fine print does mention that the hands-free gestures do not work in button mode, it’s not clear if the sleep-tracking feature is also disabled in button mode, so there’s a chance the clock is still tracking your movements even when button mode is turned on.
If you’re missing the nostalgia of that big grandfather clock in your grandparents' house, you can set Alarmo to chime on the hour, and if you’re someone who likes to sleep with a bit of sound, there's also an option to play sleepy sounds that fit your chosen scene.
The Alarmo is currently only being offered to Nintendo Switch Online members for $99.99, which seems steep given the exclusivity and limited features. While they have promised to add more updates and characters in the future, the limited application of the touch-free interactions - their main selling feature- makes this an incredibly niche product. As far as practical uses, the Alarmo would make the most sense to be marketed as a child’s alarm, as a smartwatch could do all of these actions for adults, but the people featured in the trailer look to be young adults.
What do you think of Alarmo? Is it worth the investment?
