Nintendo surprised everyone in October 2024 with the announcement and subsequent release of their alarm clock, Nintendo Sound Clock Alarmo. It was great to see such an oddball device from the company, but many no-brainer options and features were missing. Over the course of the year, Nintendo has released several updates to bring new games and features to the device, but has it been enough to warrant a purchase? We take a look at the new features as well as what it’s been like to use Alarmo for the past year. Let’s get into it.
Basic Background
Just in case you need a refresher, Alarmo is Nintendo’s take on the alarm clock. What sets this apart from normal alarm clocks or phones is mainly the implementation of Nintendo IP into the alarms themselves. Multiple titles are supported and the device allows for sleep tracking and gesture based controls. In lieu of pressing a button for snooze, gestures or simple movement in bed can take care of this. Of course, pressing the big button on the top of the device can do the same depending on the mode you have initiated, but not having to fiddle with buttons while half asleep is part of the appeal. On top of the alarm features, hourly chimes and “sleepy sounds” to help lull you to sleep are also featured in Alarmo. If you want some more of the basics of the device, be sure to check out our original review from last year here.
Updates & Features
Quite a bit has changed since Alarmo originally released, making it much more functional than it was at launch. Several of these are things that I had been hoping for since the device launched, so it has been good to see these features get added over time. At any rate, here are some of the biggest updates that have come over the course of a year:
New Scenes
At launch, Nintendo promised the release of two new themes at some point with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The company delivered on these in December 2024 and May 2025 respectively. One top of these, two other themes have also been released for fans - one based on the original Super Mario Bros. on March 10, 2025 and Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World on October 9, 2025.
It was great to see some new scenes added to the device and I’m really looking forward to see what other titles will end up appearing on the system. My only complaint here is the randomness of releases, but that doesn’t seem like it will change anytime soon.
Scene Preview
When Alarmo first released, there was only one way to check out the alarm scenes for each game - set an alarm and wait. It baffles me as to why Nintendo didn’t include some kind of preview feature from the get go, pretty much like every other alarm clock or phone alarm on the market. Still, they did finally deliver in this respect. While going through and choosing an alarm, the simple press of the mail button will give you a preview of the alarm in question. This is super useful considering the number of scenes that are available across all of the games.
Just for the record, my favorite scenes up to this point come from the classic Super Mario Bros. collection. They’re not too jarring and I just like the original game. A close second for me would be the Breath of the Wild scenes.
Sleepy Sound Update
I’m a fan of falling asleep to some kind of white noise, and what has been on offer with Alarmo sounded great (I loved the Breath of the Wild Sleepy Sounds), but the limitation on how long this could be used was just an odd choice. With the launch update to the device back in October 2024, owners could only play these for five minutes at a time. Since the update to firmware version 3.0.0, this has been change for a max of 60 minutes with the ability to set these in increments of one minute. I would have liked to see this go longer than an hour, but it’s still a nice update. Honestly, this is a feature I don’t regularly use (I use an app on my phone in conjunction with headphones so that I don’t annoy my wife), but it’s great to see this get a common sense update.
Set Times Based on Day
Again, perhaps another common sense addition, but Alarmo now lets you set up alarms specific to each day. It’s a little bit weird how this is handled as you will have to go to “Turn On/Off Alarm” and then you can cycle through individual times on whichever day that you like. This alleviates the frequency that the alarm will need to be set, leaving owners with more time to enjoy the device and less time messing around in menus.
Issues When Sharing Bed
This is something that isn’t likely to change unless Nintendo revamps the device entirely. Alarmo will have issues keeping track of movement if you sleep with a partner or a pet. Other things, like oscillating fans, blankets and more could also be mistaken by the device as a human figure. It’s honestly not a huge deal, but it has been a bit alarming when the wake up “fanfare” plays and both my wife and I are still in bed. Either we have a poltergeist problem or there was just some kind of miscue from Alarmo’s sensors. The main impact that this has is on the sleep tracking. Alarmo starts tracking sleep as soon as someone enters the bed. If you go to bed at slightly different times, this aspect will essentially be meaningless. If you don’t share a bed, you’ll be fine, but there are probably a lot better sleep trackers out there these days.
Using Alarmo for One Year
I pre-ordered Alarmo about ten minutes after it was listed online and received it in mid-October 2024. Since then, I’ve been using the device pretty much every day as part of my morning wake-up routine. It took awhile for me to get used to, but now it’s just another part of my morning. The thing that really threw me off at first was the short time that is used between pressing snooze. Here, you get three minutes and can keep initiating it for an hour before Alarmo shuts down the alarm and considers your rise for the day a lost cause. I’ve gotten used to it, though. Early on while using the device, I did find myself getting up earlier, but not so much anymore. Cycling through different alarms either randomly or by choice can help keep things fresh, but that depends entirely on you. I simply found a handful of scenes that I like and use them for months at a time before changing things up.
Outside of the alarms, I really don’t do too much else with Alarmo. I’ve found that the sleep tracking isn’t very useful if you share a bed with a partner as the device can’t distinguish between people (which is understandable). With the clock being in my bedroom upstairs, I also don’t get any use out of the chime and don’t make use of the “Sleepy Sounds.” Am I satisfied with my purchase up to this point? For the most part, yes, and with the new updates that have been added over the year, I think Alarmo is more useful than ever. But, it’s still not perfect.
Conclusion
If you’ve been holding out on picking up Nintendo Sound Clock Alarmo, I can’t say that these updates are going to necessarily make this a must own item. Even though the functionality has been updated quite a bit, there still are many things that you can already do with existing alarm clocks and/or your phone that Alarmo just simply can’t do. If you are looking for a fun way to wake up in the morning and can afford it, the common senes updates over the past year have made Alarmo a more attractive purchase. However, it is still best suited for Nintendo super fans.
But, let’s turn things over to you. Did you pick up Alarmo? Have you been on the fence about it? What would make you pick one up if you haven’t already? Sound off in the comments down below. We’d love to hear from you.
by Danny Bivens
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