UPDATED 14:39 EDT / MARCH 31 2016

NEWS

Nintendo’s quirky social app “Miitomo” is now available everywhere

Nintendo Co Ltd’s first official mobile app, Miitomo, has been available in Japan for a few weeks, but today the somewhat bizarre social app has finally launched worldwide.

It has been one year since Nintendo first announced that it would be partnering with DeNA Co Ltd to release five new mobile games by the end of 2017, but while Miitomo may be considered the first of those releases, the app definitely stretches the definition of “game.”

In fact, Miitomo is really more of a cartoony social media app than an actual game, but it does of a few light game elements thrown in.

Screenshot by Eric David | SiliconANGLE

Miitomo allows users to create their own Mii, a virtual avatar that has been used in a number of Nintendo games, most notably Wii Sports. Your Mii will occasionally ask you personal questions in its creepy robot voice, asking about things such as your favorite food, what you do to relieve stress, how you like to spend your weekends, and so on.

Your Mii will then talk about you behind your back with your friends’ Miis, who will then share some of your answers. It is basically a more convoluted version of those surveys people used to pass around on sites like LiveJournal and Xanga (people still remember those, right?).

Completing various tasks in Miitomo, such as inviting friends to join the app, earns you coins, which you can then spend on clothes and other items for your Mii. If you link the app up with your Nintendo account, you can also earn Miitomo Platinum Points, which can be used to buy special rewards, including tickets that let you play Miitomo Drop, a Pachinko-like minigame where you can win new clothes for your Mii.

While Miitomo is certainly interesting, it doesn’t exactly knock it out of the park for Nintendo’s first ever mobile app, and hopefully the Japanese game company has something more exciting lined up for its next mobile release.

You can watch Nintendo’s completely bizarre commercial for Miitomo below:

Image courtesy of Nintendo Co Ltd

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