Geekscape Editorial: ‘Miitomo’ 2.0 Update, Why It Failed & What Future Nintendo Mobile Games Can Learn

Remember Miitomo? For about a month in March, Nintendo’s very first mobile game swept IOS and Android devices by storm. Then it just died, but why?

The biggest reason was mostly due to the fact that the game was very basic and nothing more than a glorified question simulator. Sure it was fun the first couple of times to answer some question, hear your opponents answers, and even make your Mii curse up a storm, but eventually the novelty wore off and the game failed to really incentivize players to keep the app on their devices. Now with a little over 10,000,00 downloads, Nintendo is now adding a “big” update to the game in order to win people back. Is it worth talking about, or should you just hit ignore? Let’s find out.

At the core of Miitomo’s new update, there are 5 new features that are being  stressed. The first is the ability to now send private messages to your friends, and honestly, there is nothing interesting about this at all. It’s very underwhelming, and your better off just actually PM’ing your friend on Facebook Messenger or Discord if you want to talk to them. 

Feature number 2 adds the feature to finally customize your own room. This feature even gives you the ability to hang custom posters in your room whether it be a Miifoto or any picture from off the internet. While this feature may sound miles better than the previous one, it still ends up being incredibly disappointing. Customization is limited to only wallpaper and flooring, and right now posters are only limited to one as so far there aren’t any means to unlock more. While there are some cool themed walls and floors you can get (Metroid Zero Mission, Super Mario Bros., Zelda Breath of the Wild.), those are the only ones worth while as the other walls and floors just seem very bland and boring. Feature 3 introduces a new location called Style Central. Here you can upload your current outfit for all to see online. You can even buy the outfits that other people are wearing if you like them (sometimes). While quite charming at first, immediately becomes a boring novelty. Sure at first it’s fun to see characters dressed up like Steven Universe, and Gravity Falls, but after about a minute of exploring, you’ll quickly grow tired of the endless supply of Undertale and Steven Universe Characters ( I mean I love Steven Universe, but come on guys there’s just too much there).

Oh, and about being able to buy other outfits. I said sometimes, because there will be times when you can’t buy a certain item due to it only being available in Miitomo Drop. So you either have to spend Coins/Money on multiple tries, or worse, wait for that event to go back into the minigame. Another interesting idea, but poorly executed.

Feature 4 introduces Answer Central, which is just as boring as it sounds. All you do here is look at randomly chosen answers from other peoples randomly chosen questions. There honestly nothing to talk about here. You’re just looking at random peoples answers. It’s even more boring when half of the answers are just blindly praising Nintendo for for making the app. You can get an interesting answer, but they are few and far between.

The 5th and final “feature” to the game comes in the form of Mii sidekicks. With this, you can now make multiple Mii’s which can now be used to send private messages, be sent to Style Central, and even get their own room to customize. This is by far the most useless addition to the game since you’ve already been able to add more Mii’s to your game by importing QR codes. It feels like an afterthought. It’s as if they really wanted to boast 5 new features but couldn’t think of a good 5th one.

In the end, Miitomo fell victim to the fate of all mobile games. Hollow content with no incentive to continue playing, but it didn’t have to be this way. I believe that if they try hard enough, Nintendo could rule the mobile market with an iron fist. Now, with Super Mario Run just around the corner, here’s what their future mobile games can do to make sure they’re a success!

1: Make sure all features are fully fleshed out

I know I know. This sounds super weird and obvious, but hear me out. Miitomo’s biggest problem in my opinion is that the game has some really interesting ideas to it, but all the features feel unfinished. Room customization is cool, but only being able to change the walls and floor is pretty boring. Why can’t I choose what furniture appears in my place, and how come I can’t put a poster just in the middle of a wall? Nintendo, if you’re planning on having the mobile version of Animal Crossing just be some watered down version of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer where all you do is move furniture and collectible figures, I implore you to not do that. No one wants to play that.

2. Use a variety of I.P’s, not just the current popular ones.

Nintendo has always had this bad habit of over exposing their I.P’s once they become popular. We saw this with both Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem. AC suffered the worst a very bare bones decorating sim that was Happy Home Designer, and an abysmally depressing microtransaction slog that was Amiibo Festival. After so much exposure in such a small amount of time, people begin to grow bored of the same I.P’s, which is why so many people were attracted to Splatoon a breath of fresh air. Maybe instead of using Fire Emblem, you could use Advanced Wars. Instead of Animal Crossing, try using the Donkey Kong Country characters! There are so many other characters you own that could breathe new life on mobile. Doodle Jump esque Ice Climbers game anyone?

3. Go paid, not Free to Play

Another suggestion that sounds insane, I know. While yes, a free app will initially attract more people to a game, the game will struggle with keeping those same people if they can’t get people to pay for in app purchases. While it seems like Super Mario Run will be a paid title, I think the smartest thing to do is keep future titles that way also. I know it was announced a couple of months ago that Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem which were originally scheduled to be paid games, ended up making the jump to F2P. I say switch back to the one time payment. If you can create a fire emblem experience on phones that’s just as good as the 3DS, and you’re not charging people $5 every time you want a fallen ally revived, word of mouth and positive buzz can sell the game alone! 

Yes, Nintendo may be struggling a bit in the mobile space right now, but I believe that by following this advice laid out for them, that they could truly rule over their own mobile empire. Only time will what happens, but here’s hoping for the best for the company I love.