Developer(s) | Nintendo EPD [lower-alpha 1] |
---|---|
Initial release |
|
Final release | 2.4.0 /
|
Engine | Cocos2D-X [1] |
Platform | |
Available in | 9 languages |
List of languages
| |
Type | Social networking service |
License | Freemium |
Website | Miitomo.com |
Miitomo [lower-alpha 2] was a freemium social networking mobile app developed by Nintendo for iOS and Android devices. [2] [3] The app, Nintendo's first, allowed users to converse with friends by answering various questions, and featured Twitter and Facebook integration. The app was released in March 2016 for iOS and two months later for Android, launching alongside their My Nintendo service. [4] [5] Despite initially being a critical and commercial success, with over ten million downloads worldwide a month after release, its popularity dwindled soon after and it was ultimately discontinued on May 9, 2018.
Miitomo served as a conversational app where users could communicate with friends by answering questions on various topics, such as favourite foods or current interests. Similar to Tomodachi Life , which some of the Miitomo development team also worked on, [6] players used a Mii avatar which they could create from scratch or obtain from their My Nintendo account or a QR code, and gave it a computer generated voice and personality. Users could add friends to Miitomo by communicating directly with their device or by linking the app to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. By tapping their Mii, users could answer various questions which were shared with their friends, while tapping their thought bubble allowed them to hear answers from other friends. Users could visit, or be visited by, other friends and were able to answer certain questions that would only be shared with a specific friend. Players were also able to take pictures of their Mii, known as MiiFotos, which could be shared with friends as well as posted online. [2] [7] [8] Performing various actions in the app would earn Miitomo Coins, which could also be obtained through in-app purchases. These coins could be spent on various clothing items that can be used to customize the user's Mii. Additional clothing items could be obtained through the Miitomo Drop minigame, which could be played by either spending Miitomo Coins or using Game Tickets earned through play. The app was tied into My Nintendo's rewards scheme, with users able to earn Miitomo Platinum Points by clearing missions such as changing their outfits daily or linking their accounts. Miitomo Platinum Points could be exchanged for special item rewards or additional Game Tickets, or could be combined with standard Platinum Points for other My Nintendo rewards. [9]
Miitomo was initially announced on October 25, 2015. [10] [11] Nintendo partnered with DeNA to leverage their understanding of mobile platforms as part of Nintendo's push for development on mobile devices, who were responsible for the service's infrastructure and My Nintendo integration. [12] The app was first released in Nintendo's home market of Japan on March 17, 2016, and was later released in Western territories on March 31, 2016. [13] The development team was headed up by Tomodachi Life 's core developers, under the supervision of Super Metroid director Yoshio Sakamoto. [6] Additionally, Nintendo announced plans to update the app further beyond the launch period. [6]
Albeit not required, users who linked their Nintendo Account to Miitomo enjoyed benefits such as cloud-saving. The app was released alongside the My Nintendo service respectively in all supported countries. Miitomo first launched in Japan on March 17, 2016, and by the end of the month, the app became officially available in all sixteen countries that were eligible for My Nintendo's pre-registration period. [lower-alpha 3] [14] The app later became available in Mexico, Switzerland, and South Africa on June 30, 2016, and in Brazil on July 28, 2016. [15] An update in November 2016 added five new features, enabling users to send messages to friends, customize their rooms, share their outfits with the world in "Style Central", publicly answer questions in "Answer Central", and allow for the creation of "Sidekick" Mii characters, which have their own rooms. [16] Along with the major update, Miitomo launched in forty additional countries [lower-alpha 4] on the same day without any official announcements. [17]
In January 2018, Nintendo announced that the game would be discontinued, with its servers being shut down on May 9, 2018. [18] [19] Nintendo also stated that a browser-based Mii Maker tool would be created in late May following the discontinuation of Miitomo, the likes of which could be used to transfer and save Mii characters created within the app. [20]
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | 72/100 [21] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Pocket Gamer | [22] |
USgamer | 4/5 [23] |
In Japan, Miitomo had one million users within three days of its launch, overtaking the instant messenger Line as the most downloaded free app on the Japanese App Store. [24] [25] In the week after its initial launch, Nintendo's shares grew by eight percent following the success of the app. [26] In less than 24 hours after its worldwide launch on March 31, the app already had three million users globally, and also rose to the top of the U.S. App Store, overtaking Snapchat. [27] [28] Miitomo later had 1.6 million downloads within its first four days in the United States. [29] By April 2016, Miitomo had a user base of over 10 million users with 300 million conversations between friends and 20 million screenshots taken within the app itself. [30]
Later observations conducted by SurveyMonkey, however, found that only a quarter of the people who had downloaded it regularly opened the app by May 2016, using it half as much as Candy Crush Saga and Clash Royale . [31]
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is a defunct online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo that formerly provided free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download services. It also ran features for the Wii and Nintendo DS systems.
The Wii Menu is the graphical shell of the Wii and Wii U game console, as part of the Wii system software. It has four pages, each with a 4:3 grid, and each displaying the current time and date. Available applications, known as "channels", are displayed and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote. The grid is customizable; users can move channels among the menu's 48 customizable slots. By pressing the plus and minus buttons on the Wii Remote users can scroll across accessing empty slots.
The Everybody Votes Channel was a Wii Menu channel that allowed users to vote in simple opinion polls and compare and contrast opinions with those of friends, family and voters around the globe.
A Mii is a customizable avatar used on several Nintendo video game consoles and mobile apps. The name Mii is a portmanteau of "Wii" and "me", referring to them typically being avatars of the players. Miis were first introduced on the Wii console in 2006 and later appeared on the DS, 3DS, the Wii U, the Switch, and various apps for smart devices such as Miitomo. Miis can be created using different body, facial and clothing features, and can then be used as characters within games on the consoles, either as an avatar of a specific player or in some games portrayed as characters with their own personalities. Miis can be shared and transferred between consoles, either manually or automatically with other users over the internet and local wireless communications.
Tomodachi Collection,, is a social simulation video game for the Nintendo DS, released exclusively in Japan on June 18, 2009. A sequel, Tomodachi Life, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan on April 18, 2013, and in North America and Europe on June 6, 2014.
The Nintendo 3DS is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo. The console was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generation console, its primary competitor was Sony's PlayStation Vita.
DeNA Co., Ltd. is a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It owns the Mobage platform, which is one of the most popular cell phone platforms in Japan. It also operates many other services, including a popular e-commerce website DeNA Shopping.
The Nintendo 3DS system software is a updatable operating system used for the Nintendo 3DS handheld system. The Nintendo Switch system software is believed to have evolved from the Nintendo 3DS operating system.
Miiverse is a discontinued social network for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U that was created by Nintendo System Development and Hatena, and powered by the Nintendo Network. Integrated into many games, Miiverse allowed players to interact and share their experiences by way of handwritten messages or drawings, text, screenshots, and sometimes game videos in dedicated communities. It was available via any web browser, and a dedicated app version was originally planned for tablets and smartphones. All users who signed up for a Nintendo Network ID were automatically given a Miiverse profile per account, represented by the Mii avatar connected to said Nintendo Network ID.
Line is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices operated by LY Corporation. Line users exchange: texts, images, video and audio and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. In addition, Line is a platform providing various services including: digital wallet as Line Pay, news stream as LINE Today, video on demand as Line TV and digital comic distribution as Line Manga and Line Webtoon.
The Wii U operating system is the official firmware version and system software for the Nintendo's Wii U home video game console. Nintendo maintains the Wii U's systemwide features and applications by offering system software updates via the Internet. Updates are optional to each console owner, but may be required in order to retain interoperability with Nintendo's online services. Each update is cumulative, including all changes from previous updates.
Flipnote Studio 3D, known in Japan as Moving Notepad 3D and originally announced as the working title/codename, Flipnote Memo, was an animation application developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo and released in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS as a successor to Flipnote Studio and Flipnote Hatena.
Tomodachi Life, known in Japan as Tomodachi Collection: New Life, is a social simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS, which is the sequel to the Japan-exclusive Nintendo DS title Tomodachi Collection. The game follows the day-to-day interactions of Mii characters, referred to as "islanders", as they build relationships, solve problems, and converse with the player.
Nintendo Account is a single sign-on user account system used for Nintendo services on various platforms. Introduced in February 2016, it is used as the account system for Nintendo-published mobile apps, as well as the Nintendo Switch console and other services such as My Nintendo.
My Nintendo is a loyalty program provided by Nintendo and the successor to Club Nintendo. The system allows players to earn points from using software or purchasing games, which can then be spent on rewards such as digital games or discounts. The program launched worldwide in March 2016, releasing alongside Nintendo's first mobile app, Miitomo.
Super Mario Run is a 2016 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for iOS and later Android. It is Nintendo's first mobile game that is part of one of the company's long-running and major franchises.
Miitopia is a 2016 role-playing video game by Nintendo originally released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in 2016 and worldwide in 2017, with a remastered version released for the Nintendo Switch in May 21, 2021. The game features customizable Mii characters in a turn-based battle system and follows the story of a group of heroes battling the Dark Lord, who is stealing the faces of Miitopia's inhabitants. The game received mixed reviews, with critics praising its creative life simulation elements and humor while criticizing its combat system and repetitiveness.
Nintendo, a Japanese home and handheld video game console manufacturer and game developer, has traditionally focused on games that utilize unique elements of its consoles. However, the growth of the mobile gaming market in the early 2010s led to several successive fiscal quarters where they were running at a loss, partially due to the failure of the Wii U. Nintendo, led by president Satoru Iwata at the time, developed a strategy for entering into the mobile games market with development partner DeNA, as a means of introducing their franchise properties to mobile players with a goal of bringing them to buy Nintendo's consoles later. From 2015 to 2020 Nintendo has internally developed a number of mobile games, while also publishing games with other developers, including games outside of the initial DeNA partnership. Several of them have entered the top-downloaded games list on the iOS App Store and Google Play stores, earning over US$100 million in revenue in total. However, as Nintendo's next console, the Nintendo Switch, proved a financial success for the company, coupled with dwindling numbers on its mobile games during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nintendo quietly backed off its mobile strategy starting in 2020, though continued to back Pokémon Go and future Pokémon games.
Pokémon Rumble Rush was a free-to-play mobile game developed by Ambrella and published by The Pokémon Company. It was the fifth entry in the Pokémon Rumble series. It was available from its release in Spring 2019 until its termination on 22 July 2020. Announced on 15 May 2019, it was first released in the Australian Google Play Store. The game was later released globally on 22 May 2019 for Android and 23 July 2019 for iOS. On 15 April 2020, it was announced that the game would be shutting down on 22 July 2020.
The popularisation of mobile games began as early as 1997 with the introduction of Snake preloaded on Nokia feature phones, demonstrating the practicality of games on these devices. Several mobile device manufacturers included preloaded games in the wake of Snake's success. In 1999, the introduction of the i-mode service in Japan allowed a wide variety of more advanced mobile games to be downloaded onto smartphones, though the service was largely limited to Japan. By the early 2000s, the technical specifications of Western handsets had also matured to the point where downloadable applications could be supported, but mainstream adoption continued to be hampered by market fragmentation between different devices, operating environments, and distributors.