Alarmo is a Nintendo staple: It’s a fun and quirky spin on a bedside alarm clock (with a motion sensor!) that taps into your love of all things Nintendo. This is a $100 device that is absolutely designed to surprise and delight you. But there are also usability issues that I think the company’s engineers haven’t encountered with any modern gadget in the last decade (that’s how long have they been developing Alarmo).
Here’s an example: If you want to download new themes, there’s no easy way to enter your Wi-Fi password. Instead, you have to patiently spin its bulbous up button until you land on the character you need, then press it down like you’re crushing a Mario Goomba. This might not seem like much of a problem, especially since you only have to do it once, but if you have a complex password with lots of letters, numbers, and symbols, it gets really annoying. My password is all lowercase, thankfully, but it still took me three minutes to enter it. Instead of getting some rest, it just made me want to throw Alarmo out my window(s).
Nintendo
Alarmo brings the fun of Nintendo into your bedroom with sleep sounds and motion-sensing alarms featuring classic Nintendo characters. It’s expensive though, and its sleep tracking is mostly useless.
- Lovely design
- Fun thrill options
- Helpful sleep sounds
- Motion detection makes climbing fun
- Expensive
- Limited selection of topics
- Difficult Wi-Fi setup
- No affiliate program
- Useless dream tracking
But then sleeping with their voices calmed me down The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. At 6:30 in the morning, a pesky Corox woke me from my sleep, making its noises as it wandered around my bed. Once I got up, they He performed Hestu’s traditional holiday dancemuch to the chagrin of my sleeping cats. All is forgiven.
So what is Alarmo?
Nobody really needs Alarmo (officially called “Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo”), but its appeal to Nintendo fans is obvious. It would not be out of place as a support Mario Odysseyits cartoonishly round, red case, puffy legs, and prominent control knob (which naturally glows). Its 2.8-inch screen is surprisingly small and square, not as round as some of Nintendo’s promotional videos make it seem, and its speakers are loud enough to fill even large bedrooms with undistorted nostalgia bombs. It’s relatively simple to operate: Turn and push the knob or use the back button to return to the previous screen. You can also view notifications such as updates on your sleep cycle by clicking the message button.
I’ll admit my bias: I practically grew up on Nintendo consoles, so it’s safe to say that Alarmo was tailor-made for someone like me. It doesn’t bother me at all that Alarmo’s big red box doesn’t really match the clean aesthetic of my bedroom. But I’m sure it’ll be a tougher sell if you’re sharing a bed with someone less Nintendo-savvy. (More on this below.)
Although Alarmo is presented mainly as an alarm clock with Nintendo themes, there are sounds and symbols when activated. Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4 and (it’s weird) Ring Fit Adventure — it also adds a bit of Nintendo charm to the day. Alarmo can produce hourly chimes and also play “Sleepy Sounds” related to your theme. for Breath of the Wildit includes the crackling of a campfire, nocturnal animals and delightful snippets of the game’s score. (I could be wrong, but at the same time, it sounds like there’s a bit of a score from the moments before the Blood Moon arrives. I hope Nintendo irons it out eventually – no one wants to go to bed afraid of a Blood Moon.)
Does Alarmo really work?
As an alarm clock, Alarmo does the job. It managed to successfully wake me up every day for the past week and made less noise than my iPhone’s noisy speaker. It was just nice to be welcomed into the world by Korox and Mario. Each toss and turn triggered more sound effects, slowly waking me up. In the default “Stable Mode”, Alarmo gets louder the longer you stay in bed, and more obnoxious characters like Bowser can appear. But if you just want things to be really cool, there’s also a “Gentle mode” that doesn’t increase the noise. Alarmo also responds to the mere act of getting out of bed with a big celebration—honestly, it’s about time someone recognized the effort.
While Nintendo Alarmo’s motion sensor and alarm provide some rudimentary sleep statistics based on your alarm settings, they’re mostly useless. I think my numbers may have been skewed by my three cats who sleep on my bed most of the day and set off the device’s motion sensor. I would certainly like to sleep the 17 hours I mentioned at one point. (I’m lucky to have six hours these days.) Even with Alarmo’s sleep tracking feature on, you can’t do much with the data because it’s all stuck on the device. This is one of the many areas where a separate application would be useful. (You’d think that would work Pokemon Sleepbut no!)
Another issue? Alarmo’s unique motion sensing technology is designed for just one sleeper (ie Google’s latest Nest Hub). If you’re in bed with a partner or unruly kids, Nintendo recommends switching to “Button Mode,” where you tap the top button to turn off the alarm. At least the Alarmo’s modes are easy to change, and it’s not the end of the world if you accidentally release the sensor when it actually goes off. You’ll hear a little more noise than usual, but you can press the up button to mute everything.
Alarmo is set
There are only three things inside the Alarmo box: the device itself, a USB Type A to USB-C cable, and a small instruction manual. Notably missing is a USB power adapter. It’s something we’re used to with smartphones and some of Nintendo’s handhelds, but for anyone without spare power adapters, it’s still a pain not to pack one. I can imagine a parent trying to set up an Alarmo for their enthusiastic child, only to be delayed a day because they ran out and had to buy a separate adapter. Isn’t that surprising and delightful, Nintendo. It’s just annoying.
The actual onboarding process is pretty simple. Once you connect it, Alarmo teaches you how to use the dial and button above and explains how the back button works. You can also rotate the dial to adjust its volume, and the device guides you to wave your hand in front of it to test motion detection. You need to orient the Alarmo towards your bed and make sure that the side of the nightstand or table where you sleep is clearly visible. The motion sensor will not work if it is too high.
To complete the setup process, you need to stretch and make sure that Alarmo can actually detect your movement. It worked without much fuss on my end, but when I was asked to sit and lean in a certain direction, there was a delay of several minutes before it correctly noticed when I leaned to the right.
At least Nintendo didn’t force me to connect to Wi-Fi during the initial setup. Instead, it kicks in when you choose to update these themes, and the entire process required as I described above is just annoying. Now, it’s not like Nintendo hasn’t learned to use QR codes through websites and apps to make logins easier. you also Once the Alarmo is connected to Wi-Fi, you’ll need to sign in to your Nintendo account, but thankfully I was able to use a QR code to do that on my iPhone.
I guess Nintendo wanted a simpler onboarding experience for Alarmo that didn’t require external authentication or additional software. But this desire for simplicity still leads to unnecessary frustration.
It would also be nice to see a wider selection of themes. I’m not sure many Nintendo fans are clamoring to relive the characters and music. Ring Fit Adventure, after all. Where is Kirby? Where is Mario Kart? If there’s room for Splatoon and Pikmin, there should be room for Nintendo’s more iconic franchises.
Is Alarmo worth it?
I’m no stranger to tech-enabled alarms. My nightstand is already overloaded with gadgets, including an Amazon Echo Dot (which I use to play radio stations), an old one. Phillips SmartSleep riser lightHomedics white noise machine, iPhone 15 Pro Max (charges in Belkin MagSafe stand) and Hatch Baby video monitor. As much as I appreciate having some Nintendo magic in my bedroom, I didn’t like it enough to replace any of the devices I already use.
But my daughter Sofia is another story. We have played many Tears of the kingdom together and I’ve done my best to teach him the ways of Nintendo. (I’ll stick with the issues the company’s extreme litigation because when he gets old.) He wants to use Alarmo to wake up early in the morning without my badgers, on his own. He also loves Koroks, so I’m sure the Zelda theme will be on forever. At least until Kirby comes along.
I’m not going to justify the need for a $100 alarm clock. If you’re a big enough Nintendo fan, you’ve probably already locked up your pre-order. If Nintendo manages to add themes and lower the price, there’s a chance it will become more attractive over time. For now, it’s a reminder that Nintendo can do more than just ditch consoles and games. There’s still room for the company to take weird swings, too bad the Alarmo is expensive and flimsy.
