Super Mario Run
It’s-a him, Mario… on iOS
Free ($9.99 IAP) Developer Nintendo, nintendo.com Platform Universal Requirements iOS 8 or later Everyone expected something different from Super Mario Run: a handheld version of the original Super Mario Bros., or something more akin to mobile games like Temple Run. Super Mario Run is neither, but also sort-of both. When you have an audience of millions, the ones who are disappointed with that dichtomy will number in the thousands at least.
But it’s not a bad game because it’s not what people expected. It is, objectively, very good. It’s polished like all Nintendo games, it’s very suited to mobile, and despite only having 24 levels, it has surprising depth.
It’s a regular Mario platformer, but he runs and vaults small obstacles automatically, and one tap will make him jump. If you time taps correctly, you can make him do more: spin jumps, wall jumps, high jumps. Knowing and perfecting that makes the game work for you.
The 24 levels in World Tour each have three tiers of coin to collect: hard, harder, and hardest. But already there are thousands of people who have beaten the game, unlocking the three secret levels that you get for grabbing every coin. It’s not all that hard, really, as each level is about a minute-and-ahalf long. So what then?
Then, you play Toad Rally, which – annoyingly, for a $10 game – costs tickets to play. You are pitted against a stranger (or friend from your friends list) as you try to impress an audience of Toads with your acrobatic moves. The better you do, the more likely you are to win, and the more Toads join your kingdom and level up your castle.
It all feels finite, though. Once you know the levels inside-out, that’s it. Even some clever random level generation, or player-created levels, might help it feel more replayable. Hopefully it will continue to be updated, expanded and improved upon, like many of Nintendo’s other titles, in the coming months.
There is one huge gotcha, though: Super Mario Run needs a constant internet connection to work. That’s fairly manageable in big cities, but in the boondocks, or when traveling arond, it’s nearly impossible. The game’s need to be connected to the MyNintendo system lets it down more than any other disappointment you may find within its colorful levels.
the bottom line. A great deal of fun, but you might just devour it too quickly to want to play again.