I
have
always
had
an
adversarial
relationship
with
alarm
clocks.
They
are
gadgets
designed
to
ruin
my
most
precious
time,
and
in
order
to
work
effectively,
they
must
be
as
annoying
as
possible.
Which
is
why
I
was
intrigued
by
Nintendo’s
surprise
reveal
of
Alarmo.
(Once
I
got
over
my
surprise
of
it
not
being
the
long-awaited
Switch
2
announcement.)
What
if
getting
up
in
the
morning
could
be
a
little
more
playful?
Maybe
what
I
really
needed
all
along
was
Princess
Zelda’s
soothing
voice
or
the
chirps
of
tiny
pikmin
to
ease
me
into
consciousness
in
the
morning.
After
a
week
with
Alarmo,
I
have
to
admit
that
it
hasn’t
changed
much
about
my
sleep
patterns.
It
has
some
clever
ideas,
and
it
looks
great
on
a
shelf,
but
ultimately,
it’s
still
an
alarm
clock.
But
what
a
cute
alarm
clock
it
is.
Alarmo
is
a
red
cylinder
with
a
rotund
white
button
/
knob
on
top
and
a
2.8-inch
rectangular
LCD
display
with
a
big
ol’
bezel
around
it
that
makes
it
almost
seem
circular,
particularly
in
the
dark.
You
can
pick
one
of
(currently)
five
different
games
—
Breath
of
the
Wild,
Ring
Fit
Adventure,
Super
Mario
Odyssey,
Pikmin
4,
and
Splatoon
3
—
to
customize
how
the
clockface
looks
and
sounds,
so
that
Link
or
Captain
Olimar
can
walk
around
the
screen.
It’s
the
kind
of
thing
that’s
just
nice
to
look
at,
and
the
characters
even
follow
you
around
when
you
move
in
front
of
it.
Photo
by
Chris
Welch
/
The
Verge
Alarmo
has
a
number
of
Nintendo-ized
alarm
features.
You
can
choose
from
35
video
game
“scenes”
to
wake
up
to,
which
range
from
Zelda
calmly
saying
“wake
up”
to,
for
some
reason,
the
sound
of
a
pikmin
drowning.
Each
scene
starts
out
relatively
chill
and
will
get
progressively
more
intense
the
longer
you
stay
in
bed.
The
top
button
will
even
start
flashing
colors
to
get
your
attention.
Alarmo
lets
you
customize
the
alarm
schedule
by
day
of
the
week,
and
it
tracks
your
daily
sleep
times
along
with
how
long
it
takes
you
to
actually
wake
up
after
your
alarm
goes
off
each
day.
All
of
this
info
is
available
on
the
clock
itself;
it
doesn’t
sync
with
other
devices
or
apps.
Navigating
the
device
is
pretty
easy:
for
most
things,
you
simply
smack
the
big
button
on
top.
This
works
for
everything
from
turning
a
blaring
alarm
off
in
the
morning
to
opening
the
menu
to
tweak
settings.
Otherwise,
you
can
twist
the
button
to
adjust
things
—
like
picking
the
time
for
your
alarm
to
go
off
—
and
there
are
also
back
and
notification
buttons.
(So
far,
my
notifications
have
all
been
informing
me
of
existing
Alarmo
features,
but
in
the
future,
it
will
be
used
to
alert
users
for
updates
to
add
more
sounds
and
styles
based
on
games
like
Animal
Crossing:
New
Horizons.
This
does
require
linking
an
existing
Nintendo
account
to
the
device,
the
only
real
online
feature
I’ve
encountered
so
far.)
But
you
shouldn’t
be
spending
much
time
with
those
buttons
because
Alarmo’s
big
hook
—
aside
from
its
Nintendo
style
—
is
its
millimeter
wave
motion
sensor.
The
idea
is
that
you
can
interact
with
it
simply
by
moving
around.
When
it
goes
off
in
the
morning,
rolling
out
of
the
bed
is
enough
to
shut
the
alarm
off.
Wave
your
hand
around
a
little,
and
it
will
snooze
for
a
few
minutes.
In
my
experience,
it
works
well
enough,
but
with
one
big
caveat:
Alarmo’s
motion
sensors
can’t
distinguish
between
multiple
people.
So
if
I
get
out
of
bed
but
my
partner
sleeps
in,
the
alarm
won’t
shut
off.
Photo
by
Chris
Welch
/
The
Verge
To
be
fair,
Nintendo
notes
this
issue
right
on
the
box
(apparently
animals
can
cause
issues
as
well),
but
it
does
make
the
experience
a
lot
less
interesting
if
you
share
a
bed.
For
most
of
the
week,
I’ve
had
to
resort
to
getting
up
and
turning
the
alarm
off
manually
so
that
I
don’t
get
in
trouble
for
ruining
my
wife’s
sleep
with
loud
Splatoon
splatters.
Of
course,
given
that
a
large
part
of
the
intended
audience
is
children,
this
won’t
be
a
problem
for
many
people.
Then
again,
my
own
children
didn’t
care
much
for
any
of
the
alarm
or
sleep
tracking
features
anyway;
they
just
thought
it
was
cool
having
Mario
on
a
clock.
Note:
this
did
not
make
it
any
easier
to
wake
them
up
on
school
days.
You
can
also
use
Alarmo
to
help
you
fall
back
asleep.
If
you
have
a
bedtime
set,
soothing
sounds
will
start
playing
as
soon
as
you
get
into
bed,
based
on
one
of
the
five
supported
games
(again,
no
button-pressing
required).
It
has
worked
flawlessly
for
me,
and
I’ve
become
hooked
on
the
Zelda
nighttime
theme,
with
its
crackling
fire
and
soft,
intermittent
piano.
It’s
like
I’m
dozing
off
in
Hyrule
Field
after
dark.
But
again,
there’s
an
annoying
caveat.
For
some
inexplicable
reason,
the
sounds
only
play
for
less
than
10
minutes
before
going
silent,
so
if
you’re
looking
for
Nintendo-themed
white
noise,
you
are
out
of
luck.
Hyrule
is
gone
almost
as
soon
as
I
finally
get
comfortable.
Those
kinds
of
quirks
make
the
actual
sleep
features
of
Alarmo
feel
like
more
of
an
afterthought.
It’s
first
and
foremost
a
$100
Nintendo-branded
clock.
It
looks
and
sounds
the
part,
which
is
to
say,
it’s
incredibly
charming
and
nostalgic.
But
if
you’re
looking
for
something
to
help
you
wake
up
better
than
a
run-of-the-mill
alarm
or
track
your
sleep
more
efficiently
than
an
app
on
your
phone,
this
isn’t
it.
Turns
out,
even
adorable
pikmin
and
inklings
can’t
change
my
mind
about
alarm
clocks.
Alarmo
is
now
available
to
purchase
early
for
Nintendo
Switch
Online
subscribers
and
will
be
released
in
early
2025
for
everyone
else.
(Originally posted by Andrew Webster)
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