TheNintendo Sound Clock: Alarmooffers surprisingly advanced features for an alarm clock. It has a motion sensor to ensure you actually get out of bed, hourly chimes, sleep sounds, sleep stat tracking, and many alarm settings. Its sounds are all Nintendo-themed, coming from various franchises such as Mario, Zelda, and Splatoon, and it offers a fun, nostalgic way to help you wake up.
Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo
The Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo features a nostalgic yet effective twist on alarm clocks. With a motion sensor alarm featuring sounds from various Nintendo games like Zelda and Mario, additional features like hourly chimes and sleep sounds, and surprising sleep tracking, it’s a surprisingly effective alarm clock. However, its high price and strictly-Nintendo aesthetic limit its utility.
Price and Availability
The Nintendo Alarmo costs $99.99 and is available directly from Nintendo. Many folks also resell the device on various platforms for a huge upcharge.
Specifications
Setup Is Quick and Easy
Out of the box, the Alarmo is easy to set up. It walks you through how it works, lets you select your bed size and clock position, and then moves on to actually setting an alarm. This ease of use likely caters to the intended audience of children, and both parents and somewhat tech-savvy kids will likely have no issues setting up this device with basic settings.
The Alarmo Features a Variety of Fun Nintendo Alarms
Whenever you set your alarm, you select the game audio you’ll use on your alarm. At the time of writing, games includeSuper Mario Odyssey,Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,Pikmin 4,Splatoon 2, and more. These audio options will alter all the sounds the Alarmo makes, from optional hourly chimes to a huge variety of alarm audio.
Each alarm is based on what Nintendo calls a “visitor,” such as Princess Peach or Chain Chomp in the Mario Odyssey option, and the audio will match each “visitor” as they come over the span of your alarm.
Nintendo additionally offers more alarm options for download, though this process is tedious the first time. You must input your Wi-Fi password only using the rotating dial as navigation, which took me several minutes due to my lengthy password. Thankfully, once connected, you can pair the device to your Nintendo account via a QR code and sign in on your smart device.
The Motion Sensor Actually Wakes Me Up
I find the motion sensor to be the standout feature of this device’s function as an alarm. First, from your specified alarm time, it sets an hour-long window for you to get out of bed. If you stay in bed, the alarm will cycle through various sounds at differing intensities, which will cease when you get up.
However, if you get back in bed during this window, it’ll play a more aggressive alarm to prevent you from falling back asleep. For example, if your sound setting is fromLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the more aggressive audio will be the sounds of being pursued by a guardian, piano riff, and laser sounds. Thankfully, the reward for waking up during the aggressive back-in-bed audio is a more triumphant sound effect.
The alarm has three modes, including “Steady,” which is the most aggressive option in terms of volume, “Gentle,” which is softer and best for people who stay in bed for some time after their alarm, and a “Moderate” mode in between the two. Disabling the motion sensor, there is also a “Button” mode which disables the motion sensor and only requires pressing the button to disable it.
I started with “Steady,” but knowing how often I snooze my normal alarm, I switched to “Gentle” and enjoyed the experience more, as I usually set my alarms around 20 minutes before I actually need to get up.
With Pets, the Motion Sensor Can Malfunction
While the motion sensor is incredibly motivating for me to actually get out of bed, it has some flaws. First, the clock requires precise placement to work consistently, which is to be expected. The bigger problem is it misidentifying if you return to bed.
I have cats who enjoy sleeping on my bed throughout the day, especially in the morning. If my cats sit on the side of my bed facing the Alarmo within one hour of the alarm, the aggressive back-in-bed alarm has a false positive and erroneously plays. Thankfully, you can manually end the alarm by twisting the top and selecting to end the alarm, but this brute-force method is annoying for me and likely even more so for my cats.
The additional problem is that the Alarmo also inflates my sleep stats, including time in bed, motion while asleep, and more since my cats cause the device to think I’m in bed for many more hours than I really am. On Nintendo’s page for the Alarmo, the company recommends sticking to button-only mode if you have pets or a partner, indicating it is aware of this limitation.
Nintendo Put In a Surprising Amount of Extra Features
The Alarmo features many more features beyond playing alarms and using a motion sensor. First, the clock face has a constant animation based on your alarm’s chosen sounds. In the Zelda option, you’ll see Link milling about on the clock face. It’s a bit tacky, but it’s fun.
One optional setting is an hourly chime during the day, which is also based on your alarm’s game choice. For example, the Mario chime is the sound of hitting a coin block and collecting coins, the number of which seems to coincide with the hour, like a grandfather clock. I’ve used this setting off and on during my weeks with the device, and it’s occasionally annoying but mostly a nice way to stay aware of time passing.
Another optional setting is sleep sounds, which play gentle sounds from your chosen alarm setting’s game to help lull you to sleep. Unfortunately, these only last for five minutes and begin at the time you program them to, making this setting ineffective for all but the most regimented sleepers who fall asleep quickly.
Using It for a Few Weeks Was Actually a Good Experience
Though I complain about the motion sensor’s inconsistency, using the Alarmo has been a genuinely good experience. It’s far more effective than my iPhone and Apple Watch alarms because it actually requires getting out of bed to turn off. Because it’s just out of reach from my bed and uses a motion sensor, it has turned getting out of bed into the most convenient way for me to disable my alarm.
On top of that, I’m a lifelong Nintendo fan, so the audio options are quite nostalgic for me despite coming only from Switch games for now. While the pet issue was annoying, I would generally get out of bed, let the motion-sensor alarm disable, get ready, and then manually disable further alarms via the button to ensure peace for my pets and circumvent the problem.
Should You Buy the Nintendo Alarmo?
As much as I want to recommend this device, it’s difficult to do so unless you’re a diehard Nintendo fan and need a better dedicated alarm clock. It’s quite expensive for what it is, not to mention having motion sensor issues with pets, and its exclusively Nintendo alarm options will dissuade anyone who isn’t a Nintendo fan.
In short, I’d recommend theNintendo Alarmoif you like Nintendo and don’t have pets, as it’s a legitimately effective and fun alarm. It could also be a great gift for your kids who love Nintendo. That said, I struggle to recommend it at its release price of $99.99. Additionally, it seems to sell out frequently, and I absolutely would not recommend buying from a scalper. If it goes on sale, then it could be a great addition to your or your child’s morning routine. I genuinely like this device, but it isn’t for everyone.
