Nintendo Released a Motion-Sensing Alarm Clock for Mar10 Day

Mama mia! Normally waking up with an uninvited plumber looming over you would be a reason to dial 911, but with his ass crack-resistant coveralls and breakdancer hat, Super Mario gets a pass, as long as he’s visiting within the LCD screen of this motion-sensing- interactive alarm clock.

Nintendo launched the Alarmo to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers back on October 10, 2024, but it opened up orders to the general public on March 9, in anticipation of March 10. What does the abbreviated Mar10 look like? That’s right. It’s Mario Day.

walk through the wake-up routine

Say you set an alarm for 8 a.m. because you’re an early riser, but not that early. You’ve propped your Alarmo on your nightstand and—now what? It isn’t like your boring alarm on your phone, and it’s not quite like the gentle rousing of a sunrise alarm. I’ll walk you through what it looks like to use an Alarmo, starting at 7:59 a.m.

As you near the alarm time you set, a Nintendo character appears on screen. You’ve pre-selected which Nintendo title you want the character to be drawn from. Maybe you want Link from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or a pikmin from Pikmin 4.

In this case, you’ve selected Super Mario Odyssey and have gotten Mario himself. Lucky you.

Once your alarm hits the selected time, it begins to play sound effects and songs from your chosen title, gently at first. Mario is up, and he’s waiting for you to start your day, you lazy loafer.

After “a few seconds,” as Nintendo puts it, someone or something appears and acts out a scene relevant to the game title you chose. It could be Mario dashing along a 2D level (if you chose the classic Super Mario Bros.) or a 3D Princess Peach. Depending on the title, it may play more sounds as you interact with the alarm, such as (in this case with Super Mario Odyssey) the classic Mario coin sound.

There are 49 scenes inspired by Nintendo Switch games. If you link your Nintendo account, you can download additional scenes as they become available in free updates, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Are you a snooze button-hitter? You are, aren’t you? So you make a hand gesture toward the Alarmo, and the built-in motion sensor knows that you want a few more minutes to snooze. No need to open your eyes, god forbid, to press a button, although if you prefer a button to a gesture, you can tweak a setting to use a button instead.

All right, buddy. You’ve been in bed for too long. Time for “someone more persuasive” to visit, in Nintendo’s words. This likely means a villain from your chosen title, and whoops, you’ve got Bowser himself urging you that it’s time to start your day.

Woohoo! You did it. You’ve dragged your lazy ass out of bed, and the motion sensor on the Alarmo sees it. You don’t have to hit anything. It knows when you get out of bed and switches off the pestering alarm scene automatically.

So you needed a bit more of the stick in this carrot-and-the-stick scenario. That’s ok. Not all of us are morning people. Nonetheless, you get a celebratory scene. Mario jumps for joy as you stumble toward the coffee maker.

Those who don’t want the experience to end with waking up can set hourly sound effects to play throughout the day.

At $99, the Alarmo a pricey alarm. But Nintendo fans are among the most loyal in the video game space. If that sounds like an acceptable admission for the price of waking up, however briefly, inside the world of 50+ Nintendo classics, then let’s a-go.