New Nintendo Social App ‘Miitomo’ A Big Hit in Japan

Nintendo Delights Smartphone Users!

Nintendo is back again with its newest social app called the Miitomo, the latest free messaging-based application that enables users to create avatars in their own image.

Miitomo is popularly welcomed by Japanese. In fact, it reached number 1 among social networking apps in Japan on Apple Inc.’s iOS devices on release day.

Bloomberg reports Yasuhiro Minagawa, Nintendo spokesman said the newest social app had a good start and has received very positive feedback as well.

“Miitomo will continue to evolve.” – Mr. Minagawa

Nintendo Co. Ready to Bring Back Players

Known as the inventor of Super Mario Bros, Nintendo Co. aims to bring back players who moved away from dedicated hardware such as the Wii and handheld DS devices.

The Kyoto-based company vowed to make another big hit like Donkey Kong for smartphones. Already, the newest Nintendo offering, Miitomo, is making big waves in Japan.

Meet Your Twin in Miitomo

Miitomo is an exciting social app that allows users to automatically generate a cartoon-like avatar using a photo taken on the smartphone. Users can create facial features to their own preference, choose a voice for their character, and set personality traits.

Interestingly, Miitomo asks questions too, AFP reports. The social app asks questions that range from “what did you do last weekend?” to “what’s your favorite kind of uniform?” By answering questions, users collect virtual coins, which can be used to buy clothes and accessories for the avatar.

Once done with setting one’s avatar, users can share their in-app selfies on Facebook, Instagram and Line. Rewards are given to users for connecting with friends.

Nintendo Plans to Do More

With Miitomo’s becoming more popular each day, Nintendo plans to make Miitomo, a play on the words “me” and “friend” in Japanese, available in 15 more countries this month, including the U.S., France, Germany and Russia.

The company is keen to keep their success rolling and says it will release five games for mobile devices by March 2017.

After years of staying away from mobile, and vowing to stay with consoles, one year ago, Nintendo allied with Tokyo-based mobile gaming company DeNA, signalling development of games for smartphones. The two companies entered into a business and capital alliance. Their press release at the time said the alliance would allow them to “develop and operate new game apps for smart devices and build a new multi-device membership service for consumers worldwide.”

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Mina Fabulous
Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain English. Mina Fabulous is the pen name of Carmen Avalino, the NewsBlaze production editor. When she isn't preparing stories for NewsBlaze writers, she writes stories, but to separate her editing and writing identities, she uses the name given by her family and friends.