Hands-On With Nintendo's Surprise Alarm Clock, Alarmo

2 weeks ago 10

Alarmo! Like a sudden ringtone, Nintendo's latest surprise product emerged out of nowhere. The Switch 2 isn't coming until 2025, but in the meantime, Nintendo has a novelty clock with musical themes and what looks like surprisingly advanced tech. Yes, it's an alarm clock. It's called Alarmo. It's available now, and we've tried one out.

Now... what is Alarmo again?

The round-display alarm clock is an internet-connected device that has different musical themes and graphics tied to Nintendo games. Zelda, Mario, Ring Fit Adventure… they're on here. But it gets stranger -- Alarmo also has motion sensors. As you toss and turn, Alarmo adds sound effects to go with its alarm. You might hear coins or Splatoon paintballs. Then you get up, and Alarmo celebrates.

Watch this: Hands-on with Alarmo: Nintendo's High-Tech Alarm Clock Turns Waking Up Into a Game

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It can be bought now at Nintendo Store locations, or ordered via Nintendo, but requires a Switch Online subscription. Nintendo says it'll come to other stores in early 2025.

There's more it can do, too: The clock will measure sleep movement and keep track of it; it has gentle or more intense alarm modes; and it can play wind-down music for going to bed. It sounds like a smart sleep clock meets a Nintendo immersive bedside friend.

A kid in bed looking at a Nintendo alarm clock called Alarmo

In a lot of ways, this clock almost sounds like the type of product Disney would sell. With Nintendo already having retail stores, movies and theme parks, maybe that's the point. $100 is a lot for a novelty gift, but this also looks like a smart device that will actually update over time. There are 35 scenes loaded in from five different games (Mario Odyssey, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4 and, oddly, Ring Fit Adventure), but Nintendo's promising more will come over time.

It also feels like classic wild-card Nintendo. Mario Kart Live, Game & Watch and those mini consoles were surprise gift things, too. Alarmo feels even more unusual, but it's also aiming right at Nintendo fans and their wallets.

Bridget Carey touches the Alarmo clock by Nintendo

Hands-on impressions

Shortly after Alarmo was announced, CNET's Bridget Carey ran over to the Nintendo Store to pick one up and get some initial thoughts on video. Her thoughts are below:

As soon as you turn it on, Alarmo takes its time guiding users through understanding the motion sensor and positioning it correctly near your bed. Like a game tutorial, you practice setting off the game sounds by making motions and moving your body in front of Alarmo. It gathers info about how big your bed is, and where Alarmo is placed in relation to your head, and then it goes through another wake-up test. I appreciate how much time Nintendo spends in the setup process, considering you want to make sure it works well before needing to actually get up for the day.

The first moments were spent delighting in the immersive sounds from Zelda (you can choose to wake up to seven different audio environments for each game). For Zelda, there are some nice sweet environments, but if you're more motivated to get up with a stressful Bokoblin battle, you can do that — your movements in bed become sword swings. If you'd rather lie in bed dreaming of the Great Fairies, you can make them swoon and moan with your movements when it's time to get up (it's pretty funny).

Nintendo alarm clock showing time on the screen

The alarm starts soft but gets louder the longer it goes off — we didn't have time to test this part out yet, but if you're sleeping through the alarm, it seems to indicate that other stressful sounds will start to play. The fun might be how much you have to move around and get out of bed for the alarm to stop. You could, also, use a button on top to turn off the alarm.

There are also wind-down bedtime sounds. Set the time you tend to go to bed, and when it detects you in bed, 10 minutes of calming game sounds will play. For Zelda, we heard a crackling fire, maybe from the place Link was camping deep in Hyrule.

If you want to keep yourself surprised in the morning, you can randomize it between one game's wake-up sounds or randomize it to switch to any of the alarms available.

There's also sleep tracking. All the motion sensors also help keep a record of how much you move around in your sleep, and the records are kept for one year.

We'll have deeper review impressions when we start using it in our homes. Oh yes, we're going to wake up to Alarmo.

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