Nintendo Alarmo
€100
I am not a morning person. Circumstances have made it so I have to be one, but it’s a reluctant change.
When you look at the alarm clocks on wheels that zip around the room so you can’t hit the snooze button and wonder who on earth would need one of those, it’s me. They are aimed at people like me to force me out of bed at the appropriate time.
In general, I hate alarm clocks. I wish I was one of those people who woke up full of energy and ready to greet the challenges of the day, but I resent the alarm every time it goes off. Whoever came up with the radar noise for the iPhone’s alarm is a genius in torture.
But the Nintendo-designed Alarmo is an alarm clock I might be able to get on board with.
The key difference? It makes everything seem like you are in a Nintendo game, complete with graphics and sound effects.
This clock is firmly under the heading of “products that don’t need to exist but are still fun”. Even the design is friendly and non-threatening, and very Nintendo-like. It has a red-framed round dial, with a rectangular colour screen and a white dial on top.
The white dial on top is used to turn off the alarm or change the volume, and at times it flashes different colours to get you out of bed.
How it does it, though, is the interesting thing. The device has a sensor that detects motion, so you can use that to disable the alarm in the morning, or to force you out of your of bed if you don’t move on time.
Because it is officially licensed, it has the actual sounds from the games. One alarm is Mario Odyssey themed, with graphics and sounds from various parts of the games. New Donk City is the favourite here, but you can also go for more tranquil sounds to rouse you first thing in the morning. The hourly chime sounds like you are collecting coins.
If Mario isn’t your thing, you can choose from other games. Some soothing sounds from Zelda? Sorted. A drowning Pikmin to traumatise you out of bed? Also on there. Splatoon and even RingFit Adventures are available, each with seven different sounds and the option to randomise the alarm each day from either your chosen game or the entire library.
You can also download new alarms by connecting to the internet and linking your Nintendo account to the device. The clock has already been given some new options, with original Mario sound effects available to download.
The motion sensor will cover a certain area, so when you initially set up the clock you can give it a few more details to personalise it to your space, from the size of your bed – it supports single, double and king size up to 200cm – to the position of the clock in relation to it. The clock itself needs to be less than 20cm above your bed for the sensor to work correctly.
There are different modes for the alarm, depending on your needs.
[ Retro or rubbish? The trick is in the techOpens in new window ]
Gentle mode will see soft, quiet sounds used to gently rouse you from sleep – and even if you decide to stay in bed, that won’t change. Good luck with that one.
Button mode allows you to disable the alarm by pressing the dial rather than relying on movement, but if you stay in bed it will ramp up the intensity of the sounds to give you a nudge. Firm mode sees the alarm get louder after 20 minutes if you don’t get out of bed.
To turn off the alarm, you have to get moving. And it’s not just a case of waving an arm once in the direction of the clock; it needs to be sustained movement to turn it off. As you move around, the picture on the screen gets smaller and smaller, until it disappears altogether.
For the most part, it worked well. If there is more than one person in the bed, however, things get a bit trickier.
It is not just about waking you up, though – there is the option to set “sleepy sounds”, which plays soothing sounds when you get into bed after your set bedtime, but it doesn’t last long enough, timing out long before you are ready for bed.
The alarm will also save your sleep records based on how long you spend in the sensor zone, and your wake up records, which tell you how long it takes you to get out of bed each morning.
It doesn’t have a battery, using a USB C cable to power the clock. The sting in the tail: Nintendo doesn’t include the AC adaptor, so you will have to unearth one yourself.
Good
As far as alarm clocks go, I didn’t want to hurl this one across the room. The customisation options mean you don’t have a chance to get sick of the same alarm tone every morning, with 35 different alarms included on the clock.
You can add alarm sounds by connecting the device to your home internet and a Nintendo account (come on, Animal Crossing).
Bad
It only works effectively for one person – a second person in the bed means the alarm will not turn off automatically when you get up.
Plus, it needs to be a certain distance from the bed so the motion sensors can accurately detect your movement. That won’t suit every bedroom set-up.
At the end of the day, it is still just an alarm clock, so that price tag is a little on the steep side.
Everything else
The clock needs a power supply – USB C, handily – so it requires careful placing.
Verdict
As far as alarm clocks go, this is a pricey but fun take. Actually paying attention to it long term? That is something we will have to see about.
