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Video game giant Nintendo has a wake-up call for anyone waiting for them to follow the 2017 release of their Switch console with a next-generation device. Their latest hardware release is a tabletop version of something you probably threw out a long time ago: an alarm clock.
On October 9, Nintendo announced the Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo, which for brevity’s sake, we’ll refer to as Alarmo. The $100 device resembles a cartoon prop, with a vibrant red exterior and a screen that displays 35 different scenes from five popular games: Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Pikmin 4, Ring Fit Adventure, and Splatoon 3.
The gadget essentially gamifies your morning routine. When the alarm sounds, a scene will play on the clock with accompanying sound effects. The user can then make a gesture to snooze the clock, which is motion-activated via sensors. (Thankfully, there’s no camera.) The alarm will turn off after the user has gotten out of bed.
If you keep snoozing, the clock may become either more persistent with its sounds (Steady Mode) or stay consistent (Gentle Mode) depending on how you set it. If you wonder how much you toss and turn, the device records your body movements during the night. You can program it to play sounds throughout the day as well. If you’re looking for a more conventional start to your morning, Alarmo also has a physical button mode to disable the alarm.
“First and foremost, I hope this product will establish a new convention for waking up,” the product’s co-developer, Tetsuya Akama, said in an interview with Nintendo. “You wake up, enjoy listening to the game world for a while, and just by getting out of bed, a fanfare will play automatically and the alarm will stop. I hope that being able to change how waking up that day feels by choosing a different alarm sound will become a global standard in the future.”
Alarmo may seem like an odd departure for Nintendo, but the company has a fairly rich history of novelty devices. Long before their Nintendo Entertainment System revitalized the gaming industry in the 1980s, they made products like the Love Tester, which purported to measure affection via skin sensors. The company also flirted with a high-tech knitting machine, though that never came to fruition.
The clock fits neatly into what the late research and development legend Gunpei Yokoi described as “lateral thinking of withered technology,” or the idea that exciting new products could be built off outdated platforms.
Alarmo is available now, but there’s some fine print to keep in mind. You must be a Nintendo Switch Online member to purchase it via their online store. You can also head to Nintendo’s physical retail location in New York City to pick one up. It will become widely available in early 2025.