Last Thursday Nintendo and DeNA released Super Mario Run on the iTunes App Store for $9.99. Super Mario Run is a new Mario game that was released on Apple Mobile devices (Android coming soon). It features Nintendo’s iconic plumber running through 6 different worlds to fetch back his beloved Princess Peach.
I bought this game the second I got notified from the App store, which happened to be a day late. I was a little mad about that, as I planned to play the shit out of this game the second it was released. Since I didn’t receive the notification on Thursday, I ended up getting the game on Friday and beaten the “Tour Mode” by Sunday.
The game offers two main modes of play, Tour, and Rally. In the Tour option, you explore 6 worlds containing of 4 levels each. This game mode pays homage to the old NES style of Super Mario Brothers. With worlds 1-1 through 6-4 I instantly felt nostalgia running through my veins, and I loved it. While you can not control Mario’s forward motion, as he keeps running forward automatically, you do control his jumps and spins by tapping the screen at the correct time. A pretty simple premise.
While the game is simple to understand how to move Mario around and jump. The difficulty of the game is pretty much the same…simple. It’s an easy game for the most part, and the challenge does not really present itself until late into the game. I didn’t have any trouble getting through any of the levels until around 5-1, and with the game only having 6 worlds, I felt this was a little late in the game. My guess is that more Worlds will be added through Updates…maybe? somehow? hopefully? But if so, there needs to be a new story as you end up saving Peach at the end and opening a new game mode to build up the Kingdom.
In rally mode, you race against an NPC to collect coins and do flippy dips and air stunts with the jump taps to gain applause and approval from toadstools. The goal is to collect more coins than your adversary and get more aproval ratings to up your score. The contestant (Mario or the NPC) with the most coins at the end of the race wins. Winning allows the Toads that approved and applauded your effort now join your kingdom that you need to build up.
While the game was short (tour mode), I enjoyed it and still go back to build up the kingdom and do more Rally races. I enjoyed the Tour a lot more than the “extra” minigames and hope to see Nintendo release move levels. My suggestion to Nintendo is to maybe add 6 more Worlds, and add Mario’s brother Luigi to the mix and have him save Daisy (hint hint Nintendo). In the end, I plan to go back and complete the game and get the best possible score in each level as I can.
