After years of anticipation and countless rumors of a successor to the Nintendo Switch, fans have been eager for news on Nintendo’s next big console. Though the company acknowledged the existence of a new system earlier this year, they left fans hanging with the announcement that no reveal would happen anytime soon – a very “Nintendo” move to pull. However, instead of the highly anticipated console, Nintendo shocked everyone this month by unveiling something completely unexpected: an alarm clock.
Enter the Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo, a unique device that blends gaming and waking up. For $99.99, this alarm clock lets users wake up to iconic sounds and music from beloved games like Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Splatoon 3. Nintendo has famously not distributed their music, so the clock provides a unique means of accessing the music to their respective games that has been locked away for ages. This is made even better by Alarmo’s ambiance mode, which plays music throughout the day.
As for the alarm itself, Alarmo has a quirky feature where the music gets more dramatic over time. It starts with regular alarm sounds, but if you don’t get out of bed, the music becomes louder and more intense, with in-game sounds added to the mix. This addition makes for an effective wake-up call, courtesy of Nintendo’s innovative minds.
The advancements continue, in true Nintendo fashion – Alarmo tracks your sleep, allows for different alarm intensities, and even provides a “sleepy” mode for winding down at night. Even cooler, Alarmouses a motion sensor to perform each action. This sensor can detect how you move as you sleep, and whether or not you actually get up when the alarm starts. This lends to the ability of the clock to turn itself off when you get out of bed; gone are the days where you have to reach out to hit snooze on your alarm clock, Alarmo handles it for you!
The clock is available for pre-purchase on the “My Nintendo” site for users who own “Nintendo Switch Online,” and is already available to purchase at the Nintendo Store in New York City, yet the official release will occur in November of this year. There is still more to come for the Alarmo as well, with Nintendo confirming the clock will get software updates that will include more music and functionality. While this isn’t exactly what fans expected from Nintendo, the Sound Clock: Alarmo is certainly packed with the signature creativity that Nintendo is known for.
