Australia gets MyNintendo and Miitomo, rewards, prizes and mission revealed

Australians now have the chance to sample Nintendo’s own take on a social network app with friends. The Miitomo, Nintendo’s first dabble into the smartphone app game, is already out in Australia.

Miitomo comes alongside the new regards program. In Miitomo, users can create their own Mii avatar to communicate with friends, Ausdroid reported. If players already had a Mii avatar from other Nintendo programs that they wish to use, importing them is possible.

As with most apps nowadays, it’s free to download. But there are in-app purchases, which are mostly for customisation of the Mii avatar. Some of these costumes range from winter wear or summer wear, more thematic like an astronaut, a pirate, a bear or a sports player or even the weird, like a full yellow suit or a hotdog sandwich suit.

Most players may want to know that Nintendo’s first venture into the smartphone app territory does come with a price—for its users. Wired reported that a game industry analyst Serkan Toto stated that the game’s monetisation strategy was something to take note of. There are several microtransactions needed to enjoy some of the offerings in the game, such as the mini-game pachinko, which have to be paid for to be played.

“Using this app is a first indication, there will be no Nintendo softness as far as mobile monetisation is concerned,” said Toto to Wired.

One proof of this lies in the fact that following a nine percent dip in Nintendo’s stock following Miitomo’s reveal in 2015, it has now climbed up suddenly by eight percent after the launch. And it seems that Nintendo itself is using some strategies to enhance how its Miitomo is fairly doing now, with the app deviating from the usual warning pages against overspending for the app that is common in Japanese mobile games.

The question now for Nintendo may be whether or not its first mobile testing ground will take flight in the direction it expects. And if it exceeds the mark, the company may take its franchise in another direction, one where gamers may find themselves in a new world of free-to-play mobile, the Miitomo way.

That’s not to say that Nintendo is no longer looking at rewarding its faithful customers. Alongside the Miitomo app, the company has also revealed the lineup of rewards for its MyNintendo program.

VG 247 features the full list for both North America and Europe, and from the looks of it, these are some pretty good deals for using its services. For instance, just for Platinum Points, which can be obtained as easily as signing in weekly to the eShop, Miiverse and the Nintendo Account, can get Miitomo items like game tickets and even a Mario Suit. Some Platinum Points can also give discounts to games like “The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds,” “Pullblox World,” “Mario Kart 7” and “Yoshi’s Woolly World.”