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I didn’t expect Nintendo to release another clock so quickly after its Alarmo sound clock, but here we are with the Talking Flower based on the character frequently found in Super Mario Bros Wonder. (Well, that and other games.) In some ways, it is exactly what I expected. This is a little, decorative object that might startle you sometimes by saying, “Nothing to report!” However, I didn’t expect it to also be a clock that would alert me at the top of each hour, wake me up, and tell me when to head to bed.
When you first get the Nintendo Talking Flower out of the box, you need to pop off the base to go through the setup process. This is incredibly easy to do. You can set a language initially via the menu. It asks what time it is, and you can arrange that. Then, you put what time you’d want to wake up and when you expect to go to bed. The period between those two times will be “quiet hours,” and the clock itself will feature one “alarm” of the Talking Flower letting you know it is whatever time you noted you’d wake up once. Turning the volume up or down us done via the directional buttons there as well, and the device will “speak” so you can gauge how loud that notification would be. I also appreciated that you can set a “quiet period” by holding down the button just below the flower, which can also be pressed for an impromptu quip, to make it shut up.
So as an actual alarm clock, the Super Mario Bros Wonder Talking Flower probably won’t be the most effective. I’m usually pretty good about being up when I need to be between 7am and 9am, so I never need to set my phone too loud or the alert intensity too high on my smartwatch. Still, it’s so subtle that someone who does have trouble probably wouldn’t catch it. Practical usage probably wouldn’t be too great.
However, the Super Mario Bros Wonder Talking Flower clock is incredible at startling you when you’d least expect it, so kudos to Nintendo for that. Its without warning commentary happens so infrequently, perhaps once or twice and hour aside from the top of the hour alert about what time it is, that it is very possible to forget it is in the room with you. That makes an occasional, “Ta-da! Tada! The Sequel!” shocking! I noticed at around 10:30am each day, it’d ask me, “Have you had lunch yet?” That’s too early, buddy!
When it wasn’t shocking by by reminded me it existed, sometimes I will admit it annoyed me a bit. One line that particularly frustrated me involved the Talking Flower randomly stating, “Rock, paper, scissors, go!” Then within a few seconds, it goes, “Nice!” Did you think I actually stopped what I was doing to play? Plus, you responded way too swiftly!
Oddly enough, what I liked best about Nintendo’s design choices with the Super Mario Bros Wonder Talking Flower is how weird it can be. Twice, out of nowhere, it’s said, “Do you know the planet is spinning?” Another time, it stated, “It’s good to be alive.” When I pressed the button one time, it asked, “Feel like you’re missing something?” That’s a bit existential there, Talking Flower. Though another time, it noted, “They say the ocean tastes like tears.” Which… I mean, are you okay, Talking Flower? Who are “they?”
Granted, these responses from the flower are also dictated by the time of day. I tended to only hear the “have you had lunch yet” prompt between 10am and 3pm. Pressing the button after quiet hours are set will also mean you’ll hear the Talking Flower shocked awake and respond sleepily.
Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros Wonder Talking Flower is a novelty along the lines of those bird clocks that played sound bites at the top of the hour. It will help you keep track of the passage of time. It might help wake you up or remind you to go to bed. It will definitely occasionally scare you by reminding you it exists with an outburst when you least expect it.
The Super Mario Bros Wonder Talking Flower is now available worldwide.
