Weird Nintendo never went away

Nintendo’s most recent release isn’t a console or a game, but a toy. The Talking Flower is exactly what it sounds like: a physical version of the character first introduced in Super Mario Bros. Wonder that has the capability to talk. And that’s all it really does. You can set the real-world time, and on the hour it will announce what time it is, and it will also periodically say things at random. If you can’t wait, there’s a big button that makes it spout a phrase.

There is no real functional purpose for the Talking Flower. I already have plenty of ways to tell the time. And though you can set “sleep” and “wake” times, it’s not an alarm clock — Nintendo already has one of those — as those settings just ensure the flower isn’t annoying you at 1AM. So what’s the point? For $35 the Talking Flower injects a drip feed of whimsy into your home. Every so often the flower will just say things like “So exciting!” or “Feeling pretty great!” to create an overall positive vibe. Sometimes it feels prescient, like when it asked me yesterday, “Have you had lunch yet?” when I most certainly hadn’t. I also appreciate that it keeps saying that it’s “perfect weather for a nap” because I wholeheartedly agree. Likewise for the calming mantra I’ve heard a few times: “It’s gonna be alright. I like to take things slow.”

(Sadly, the flower has yet to answer one of my most pressing questions: what the goo in Mario Wonder tastes like. The closest I’ve heard is it saying “the ocean tastes like tears.” The mystery remains.)