Miitomo has been out for about a week now, and many of you still have some questions about the app and about Nintendo’s new rewards program My Nintendo. Loyalty programs can get a little confusing, and Nintendo’s new program, while generous and progressive, is still a little mysterious. What are you supposed to do in Miitomo? How does playing earn you rewards? What’s the difference between Miitomo Platinum Points and regular Platinum Points? Are the rewards even worth it? Never fear! Whenever I’m confused about technical stuff I look for someone who can ELI5 (explain like I’m five). This is my ELI5 breakdown of Miitomo and My Nintendo.
First of all, Miitomo is all about getting to know your friends. Remember when you were young and you’d stay up late on the phone with some guy or gal you were getting to know? Remember the weird and random questions you’d ask each other just to see how weird and wonderful your crush really was? Miitomo is basically a giant, never-ending, visual, ice-breaker convo between you and all of your friends.
Create a Mii to look exactly like you. Buy cool clothes and represent yourself in creative ways. Map out some of your personality traits and let others know what kind of person you are, and then you get to the good stuff: the questions. They start out nice and simple, asking you what your favorite food is or what show you’ve been watching lately. Later on, though, you’ll have to answer some really provocative questions that are sure to start some interesting conversations between you and your friends. Do you believe in aliens? What’s something you’re obsessed with that you highly recommend to others? You’ll find yourself addicted to answering these questions and then seeing what all of your other friends said about themselves and about you, and all the while, you’ll earn gold to buy more stuff and Miitomo Platinum Points.
What’s the difference between Miitomo Platinum Points and regular Platinum Points? There is none! You unlock both by completing “missions” (think achievements), and they combine as one currency which you spend to unlock sweet rewards through My Nintendo. My Nintendo, where have you been all of our lives? This is how you put together a rewards program, guys. Nintendo made a really smart decision by enabling its fans to unlock rewards relatively quickly right out of the gate. Like I said, Miitomo is still new, but I’ve already amassed enough Platinum Points to unlock a variety of appealing rewards. Should I get a new WarioWare game for my 3DS? What about Twlight Princess Picross ? That 15% off coupon for A Link Between Worlds looks pretty appealing…
There are lots of cool rewards available that you can unlock with Platinum Points, which is awesome because this is currency you earn simply by engaging with Miitomo , Miiverse, and the eShop. Now, when you purchase digital games through the eShop Nintendo rewards you for that with Gold Points. Gold Points can be used to redeem even cooler prizes: full games like Super Mario 64 , and big discounts up to 30% of fan favorites like Splatoon and Majora’s Mask 3D .
That’s really all there is to it! Nintendo is making a fantastic effort to centralize its brand and engage its fans. Club Nintendo was okay, but the rewards were fleeting and random. Sometimes it felt like you had to spend hundreds on games just to unlock something useless, like a Mario lanyard. My Nintendo and Miitomo together represent Nintendo’s turning a corner. I can’t wait to see how Miiverse and My Nintendo evolve with the NX, and I expect by the time we find out we’ll have plenty of Gold and Platinum Points to kick things off with a bang.