Nintendo’s popular yet short-lived social networking mobile app, Miitomo, launched in the US 10 years ago today on March 31st, 2016.
Notable for being Nintendo’s first-ever mobile game, Miitomo is widely considered an unofficial spinoff of Nintendo’s Tomodachi franchise. It took plenty of inspiration from the quirky social sim series, and was developed by core members of the team that worked on the 2013 3DS title, Tomodachi Life.
Players could communicate with each other through personalized Mii avatars, answering questions on various topics. Miitomo Coins could be earned by performing various actions (or obtained via in-app purchases), and then exchanged for various clothing items.
The Miifoto mode allowed users to pose Miis with various backgrounds and effects, while the Miitomo Drop minigame had players drop Miis into a pachinko-like machine in order to land on various prizes.
Miitomo first debuted in Japan on March 17th, 2016, and became available in many more countries as the year continued. It gathered over ten million downloads worldwide – but when its popularity quickly dwindled, Nintendo pulled the plug on the service on May 9th, 2018.
The app failed to produce enough new content to keep players engaged, dropping to only a quarter of its initial user base only two months after launch. Still, as brief as it was, it gave us a welcome dose of Nintendo magic outside of the typical console space.
Miitomo may be gone, but its spirit lives on as we’re only a couple of weeks away from the April 16th launch of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream on Nintendo Switch. A free playable demo is now available on the eShop.
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
