When Nintendo announced last year that they would be entering the mobile app market we were excited for some Mario or Zelda themed mobile games, instead we have Miitomo a social app. Now with the market oversaturated with social apps you may ask well what makes Miitomo different? Well it’s pretty different but not in the ways that you might think.

First we begin on creating your kawaii cartoon avatar or Mii that will be used to interact with people. Your Mii is customisable with clothes and accessories to choose from with the nicer ones being available as an in-app purchase. Why people would pay for them I’m not sure, but they’re there.

Next your Mii is given a nickname, speech patterns, a personality and strangely enough pre-recorded answers to generic questions. At the beginning of Miitomo you answer a series of “get to know you”-type questions, like “Where did you go last weekend?” or “What tv show are you watching?” for example. After you’ve answered some questions, your Mii ventures out into the game’s world, meets up with other Miis, and exchanges these pre-recorded answers.

This video pretty much sums it up.

I don’t really understand why this is happening… Oh also there’s a mini-game called Miitomo Drop where you drop your Mii into a playfield and watch it bounce around until it falls on a prize at the bottom of the screen.

Yup that’s Miitomo, with over 1 million users and currently only available in Japan on iOS and Android. This new app is the first of several planned for the next 12 months. I’m curious to see what Nintendo is going to give us next, because I definitely wasn’t expecting this.