Miitomo Impressions

Miitomo has finally launched (in Japan!), and after having almost the whole day with the newest app, I thought I would write down my initial impressions of it. Since this is Nintendo’s first real venture into the mobile market, a lot of people are wondering if Nintendo’s magic will still carry over. So here’s the good and bad of Miitomo.

Miitomo is a genius way to spread Nintendo Account. It’s a communication app that works best with friends, so recommending the app to other people makes the app more fun…and more people who have the app will get Nintendo Account. The basic premise of Miitomo is not too off from Tomodachi Collection. Essentially, players will create Miis, basic avatars of themselves and answer questions. Answers can be commented on, photos can be created and the game has an overall sense of quirkiness to it.

Getting to the game part is very easy. Players can import their Mii from their Nintendo Account, 3DS, Wii U, take a photo, or create a whole new Mii from scratch. A Nintendo Account is not required for Miitomo, but the game definitely promotes it. After creating the Mii, a custom speech style can be created, and individuality can be set. Once that is done, Miitomo will give players a summary of their personality, and the Mii will say hi to you. Players will then have the chance to answer some questions.

Adding friends is a huge pain right now. As of writing: If you have a large Twitter following then Twitter accounts can’t be linked inside Miitomo (it’s separate than linking My Nintendo and Twitter). Nintendo did push a notification saying they were aware of the issue. Besides that, friends will need to be added either through Facebook linking, or face to face. Friends cannot be added through a “friend code” or through any other service. Facebook, Twitter or Face to Face are the only options. This is personally inconvenient for me as a majority of my Japanese friends use Line for talking, and not having an option to add friends through a code is extremely limiting.

The game has missions that can be completed in order to gain Miitomo Coins. As mentioned before, Miitomo Coins can be used to purchase outfits, and there’s a wide variety of outfits available. Like Animal Crossing, outfits change daily so players will need to regularly check until they find an outfit they like. Another way to gain unique items is to play Miitomo Drop, a mini-game where players will literally drop their Mii character in a mini Pinball-like machine, hoping to land on an outfit. If players are lucky enough to land on an outfit, they can choose a variation of that outfit and receive that version. That means, players will need to land on the same “piece” multiple times if they want all versions/colors.

Visiting a friend’s place (done by tapping the Friends List and then the friend), allows you to hear their answers to questions, see their photos and tell them things. It’s an interesting way to learn more about your friends, and I look forward to using it more.

Miitomo Coins and Platinum Points can be used on the upgraded My Nintendo site. Gold Points are (currently) only gained by spending real money. Right now, in order to get Super Mario 64 for free, players would need to spend 90 USD (10,000 YEN) in order to get enough points for it. Donkey Kong Country Returns is the most expensive, netting players 250 USD (28,000 YEN). Of course, this is something that would be gained passively and not something people should seek out in particular. Platinum Points can be gained by linking various social media accounts, visiting the e-Shop, Miiverse and more. I imagine the system will continually be expanded and I look forward to seeing what other ways points can be collected.

This isn’t going to be something that affects a lot of people, but getting answers in a different language will cause the voice synthesizer to mess up. Since I have both English and Japanese speaking friends I won’t be able to pick one over the other.

If this seems complicated it’s because it is. My Nintendo, Nintendo Account and Miitomo are all tied very closely together. In order to get a full experience, players will need all three if they are interested in gaining the rewards. It’ll be interesting to see just how much Nintendo can push their IPs using the three over the course of the next year.

For more picture of Miitomo, check out @AllSourceGaming on Twitter! If you have the app, let us know what you think! If not, are you looking forward to it?