Miitomo (iOS) Review

One of the areas that the company's investors, analysts and critics have urged Nintendo to dive into over the last few years has to be the mobile space; a lucrative, boundless market that typically takes less investment than a traditional title for a home or dedicated portable console, like Nintendo 3DS, for example.

Nintendo still firmly believes that there is room for both dedicated games consoles and mobile phones/tablets to co-exist peacefully in the market, each type of platform delivering something different to the buzzing crowd of hooked up gamers. When it comes to these mobile experiences - five of which are planned for the 2016-2017 fiscal period - Nintendo is intending these to almost be complementary to the types of games served up on 3DS, Wii U and NX, things that could only be really done on an iPhone or Android gadget.

Observers had expected Nintendo to be holding up a mobile that had Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda plastered over it, but instead the first app is pitched as a unique way of interacting with friends online; a new social network that uses Mii characters as avatars and pinches some aspects from Nintendo's already popular Tomodachi Life.

When Nintendo released the extremely bizarre title for Nintendo 3DS, Tomodachi Life, its appeal was adding Mii characters that mirrored parents, friends, those not-so-secret celebrity crushes and videogame characters. Ever wanted to go on a leisurely stroll with the beautiful Samus Aran in a pixelated park whilst being best friends with Shigeru Miyamoto? That could have been possible. Characters were all controlled by the game itself, with a little helpful prod in the right direction, and you would sit back and watch the action unfold day by day.

When it comes to Miitomo, though, that appeal of interacting with friends is still there - but this time it's with real folk rather than fictional (unless someone goes about signing up as "Mario"). You start off by creating a Mii character, and for those that have done so on numerous platforms before, it's familiar ground. Hairstyle, eyeballs, facial features are all intact, yet Nintendo still has a limited palette of colours and styles circa 2006 that would benefit from a bit of a refresh for those who may be styled beyond the conventional looks. If you have a Mii design associated with an existing Nintendo account, it can be imported to save time - a useful addition and finally highlighting how a fully-integrated system does wonders for Nintendo in terms of cross platform.

After the initial setup, the Mii is plopped inside a digital home, complete with cushions and a bookcase. The creation will serve up a whole host of questions that Nintendo has penned - things like "What did you eat for dinner last night" and "What are you into right now?" through to some real head-scratching questions that are on the cusp of the surreal. The best bit? Being able to type the answers out, so it's not a closed platform of dull multiple-choice answers, but the opportunity to literally say anything. In the case of my warped persona, for instance, you've got a Mii character who spews out some rather risqué statements!

That's perhaps the most intriguing part of Miitomo, that open box to type essentially any answer into and to see what others are saying, too. It's perhaps a generic start in a lot of ways, due to the pretty broad questioning, but it does have the potential to unravel some interesting ice-breakers for things that would probably never come up in actual conversation. To unlock answers, simply select a friend from the list and pop into their abode. From here, they may recall things that they have answered, prompt you with new questions, or become a bit more private and ask one-on-one variations instead.

Beyond the core mechanic, Miitomo offers the chance to customise the Mii characters with little outfits and accessories, each of which requires some payment using the in-game "Coins" currency. This is where the free-to-start (Nintendo's take on free-to-play) model kicks in, but there are means of earning Coins without having to part with real cash. Things like simply adding new friends or interacting with existing contacts can earn rewards - it's a good way of keeping folk hooked into the app, and checking back. Small mini-games are also available to earn goodies, which are more like interactive widgets rather than games, but still a neat way of breaking up the flow. There is a cost-per-play, though, which can be bought with cash, but also played by using reward tickets earned naturally through gameplay.

Whilst there is that looming presence of Nintendo's accounting teams twiddling fingers in the background, eagerly awaiting in-game transactions to be made, there aren't any flashing banners, adverts or the typical marketing spiel that you get in other apps - Miitomo makes it clear, without being pushy.

Beyond the initial hype of the application, could it stand the test of time like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp? Miitomo is a different kind of beast that in some ways is guided, but in others highlights a different side to friendship. It's an intriguing setup that is worth a download, and a good few days of interaction with friends. Whether it will still be a prominent feature on your phone does depend heavily on friendship circles, and whether there's enough unique questions for Nintendo to pool from to keep the experience engaging enough. Going forwards, if Nintendo conjures up questions on real-life events like sports, science, discovery, and entertainment, it could be onto a winner, borrowing an element that has made Twitter so successful.

It's not the first time Nintendo has attempted a friends application with functionality introduced on Wii through message boards, DS with PictoChat and the 3DS Nintendo Letter Box, but these tools have always been restricted or limited in a lot of ways. By letting folk be themselves and dictate the conversation on Miitomo, it has the potential to be a success; and to continue to evolve through updates.