Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo-Nintendo's Answer to smart clocks?+Nintendo's past History of non-videogame hardware

Well..... I was aware days ago when saw an Advertisement for this on Facebook,

But I decided to wait it out until I processed this surprise announcement.

Here it is:

Nintendo Sound Clock: ALARMO

Just to be fair, this isn't Nintendo's first foray into making products that deviate away from their VIDEO GAME hardware.

Before the mid-60s, Nintendo primarily dominated the Hanafuda Market since 1889 when they were first founded around that time.

But by the time of the 1960s, it was time to venture into other markets.

Spearheaded by the late HIROSHI YAMAUCHI, 

Nintendo moved into Toy Production, which also coincided with the hiring of a certain GUNPEI YOKOI.

One of the earliest of Nintendo's most successful toys was this baby shown below:

THE ULTRA HAND

This was a fun toy to have for those living in Japan in the 1960s.

If you were already bored out of your mind watching a soap-opera, 

Tohoku drama, 

or an episode of Astro Boy, Kimba, or Dororo, 

Then play with this baby.

Grab whatever you can just to prank your friends, or siblings,

or just give your parents some much needed healthy fruit as shown in this photo below of a happy Japanese Family circa 1960s.

Too bad this thing never made it stateside....

With the exception of an Australian release but that's about it.

Yokoi's next big project in toy production, would be the ULTRA MACHINE

Again, this was only available in Japan.... ok ok, so it had an International release but let's slow down and take a look at what this baby can do.

What the Ultra Machine really is is actually a launcher for Baseballs..... sort of.

While it does include a bat, the balls are small.

Doesn't look the small part in this photo but trust me.

Go on EBAY, order one of these, and comment back to me on how small these balls are 

compared to real baseballs.

Also, this plastic bat would make Eric Cartman's Wiffle Bat Blush.

Also, despite the fact that these tiny balls are small and soft, they can still hit pretty hard.

Just don't introduce Homer Simpson to this machine, even without a cage.

Because if TV's most famous Cartoon Dad got knocked out by real balls, then this thing will knock him out too.

Now, back to International Releases.

This thing did make it stateside but with a different name:

THE SLUGGER MATE

With a name like that, I would hazard a guess it's more Australian name than American or British......

I prefer the Original ULTRA MACHINE name.

Just because of the utter surprise of what the product really is.

And it was not just toys that Nintendo was venturing into.

They also made other products before venturing into Video Game Hardware.

One of these being the Love Tester.

What's better than Tinder? 

Using this to determine who's the right match for you.

Nintendo made a ROOMBA VACUUM?

They sure did, back in 1979.

That Vacuum above is the Chiritori.

However, unlike an actual ROOMBA Vacuum, the Chiritori was more TOY than PRACTICAL VACUUM.

The Controls are limited only to Turning Left, or going straight.

And because of the cheap construction, it's not recommended for actual cleaning compared to an actual Roomba Vacuum.....

Actually, even Roomba Vacuums aren't practical. They do a better job at cleaning up than the Chiritori could do but it still pales in comparison to a real Vacuum.

"And by Real Vacuum, I mean with a Bag and motor. "

Where did you come from Kirby..... the Vacuum from that company that is....

Nintendo made all sorts of products from the 60s to the 80s that weren't Videogame Hardware related but the list would be long, dry, and boring.

So if you want to learn more about these Toys that Nintendo made, as well as all the others I didn't list, Feel free to check them out via this link below to BEFOREMARIO's Blog.

http://blog.beforemario.com/p/list-of-toys-and-games.html

It's also where most of these photos come from, according to the watermark.

After all that, Nintendo abandoned the toy market because they found their new calling in Life:

VIDEOGAME HARDWARE

Not pictured are the Wii-U and Nintendo Switch, as this photo predates the latter two.

Also not seen are the Handhelds.

But you might be saying, what about those toys that bear the likeness of Nintendo's Characters?

Those were outsourced to other manufacturers like BANPRESTO.....

Merchandising. That's what it is.

Nintendo wouldn't go back to Toys until 2014 with the introduction of their Amiibo line.

Anyway, back to the ALARMO.

This looks more SMART CLOCK than a traditional digital alarm clock.

But would it be any different than the SONY I used to have before I sold that to a VALUE VILLAGE in 2021?

I think the difference is real because the ALARMO doesn't have a built-in Radio like my SONY had.

But make no Mistake, The ALARMO is no AMAZON ECHO DOT so I highly doubt I'll sync my Echo Dot or my ALEXA app to this device.

But I'm sort of Intrigued about this.

Because right now, my only alarm clock is my aforementioned Echo Dot...

And I have to set the Alarm Through Software, while also interfacing this with my Wi-Fi...

But that may change when I order my new ALARMO..... in 2025....

Because it sold out to NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE Subscribers....

And I live in Vancouver but right now, physical purchases of the Clock are only in 

NEW YORK's NINTENDO WORLD STORE.

But the good news is, it's releasing to general retail in 2025 so not Limited as originally thought so that's a plus.