Nintendo made several announcements at their March 27th Direct. Most were about upcoming video games. But there was one announcement expanding Nintendo's app offering on mobile, the launch of Nintendo Today.
Nintendo Today is a combination of news feed, calendar, and a collection of fun facts about the company's greatest franchises and characters.
The free app is available on iOS and Android devices and seems like it would be most relevant for Nintendo super fans looking for a daily dose of gaming info and nostalgia.
What does the Nintendo Today app do?
The Nintendo today app gives you a daily hit of gaming goodness. Obviously, it's much better to actually play a video game every day. But when you're a grown-up adult, responsibilities can interfere with this. So the app is a nice way to stay connected to the gamer inside of you.
The app is organized in three main sections: home, calendar, and profile. Between these areas, you'll get Nintendo news and background stories about your favourite games, and you can customize the app experience on your device.
Nintendo Today Home Tab
The Home section has a social feed-style feel to it, mixing in the latest news from the company with tidbits about games and characters that you specify you're interested in during the set-up process.
For example, Metroid Stories is laid out almost like a vertical scrolling comic book that provides background information on the Galactic Federation alongside images of key characters in the game series. The blurb is only about two paragraphs. But there are multiple volumes in Metroid Stories, with a new one published each day.
This is a very quick skim, but it could be an interesting way to kill time at work or on the bus, while learning about your favourite games. At the end of each write-up, you can rate whether you found it useful, funny, cool, or cute.
I also specified during set-up that I was interested in Super Mario and Classic games, which results in me having a tile in my home feed that shares a mini game guide for Super Mario Bros. World 1 from the original Nintendo Entertainment System.
Plus, I specified during setup that I like Zelda, so I also have a link (pun intended) to watch a Zelda orchestral performance.
Nintendo Today Calendar Tab
In the calendar section, you'll find a month-to-month layout populated with dots for relevant Nintendo news and events.
For example, the calendar flags April 2nd for the Switch 2-focused Nintendo Direct and April 4th for the kick-off of the Nintendo experience in New York.
Right now, they don't have release dates for games posted (despite many dates being shared during the March 27th Direct), which is something that will hopefully show up soon, since I have "Release/distribution dates" toggled on in my settings.
Digging deeper into the calendar settings, you can decide what stuff you want to be notified about (by enabling push notifications) and what sorts of data populate the calendar. For example, you can choose to toggle on real-world events, like the opening of the San Francisco store, or toggle in-game events for specific titles you may have.
During set-up, you'll also choose a video game title to inspire the theme of the app. Splatoon isn't my favourite game, but it was probably the coolest theme. But you're able to choose themes based on a variety of titles like Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Pikmin, and more.
Nintendo Today Profile Tab
The profile tab is mostly a utility hub.
It allows you to update the list of games you're interested in (which you specify during set-up), overall app theme, notifications settings, and access all of the legalese stuff that's mandatory.
Is the Nintendo Today app worth it?
Since the Nintendo Today app is free, there's no downside to giving it a whirl.
Super fans might log in every day to read the short blurbs and tips about games and characters they love. I think it's probably an app worth enabling notifications for, because if you don't, it's one of those apps that could disappear into the background just because it's new and you're not used to checking it.
I could see this being a very welcome alternative to scrolling through social media for those moments when you're just killing time and opening up a social app out of habit. So, instead of doom scrolling, you have a place that has a similar "news" feed, but, in this case, it's all wholesome happy stuff about video games.
If you give the app a try, let me know what you think! You can leave a comment below (which requires making an account) or you can just shoot me a DM on Instagram and we can chat there!
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