
Super Mario Run - yellow_postit
https://supermariorun.com
======
dcw303
I played through the first couple of levels and was instantly hit by how much
better the level design, gameplay and characters were than the usual mobile
game. I happily plonked down my ten bucks.

I cleared the game in a single lunch hour, but I'm not disappointed. The game
design easily surpasses anything I've ever played on my phone, and there's a
bucket of replayability. Pink/purple/black coins to get, speed runs on rally
to try, etc.

Giving the first 3 levels for free was a good move - the install is
essentially a demo that is enough to let a customer decide if they want to
front for the whole game.

I didn't have a problem paying, but I've read a lot of whining on twitter and
other places. Younger gamers have an expectation that everything on mobile
should be free, but kudos to Nintendo on having the balls to stay away from
cheap pay2win tricks and stick to an old school pricing model.

I don't know if it's going to turn a profit, but I really hope so. This race
to the bottom amongst mobile game devs is madness and has to stop.

~~~
BinaryIdiot
I'm surprised by how much your experience differs from mine. For me this is
like every other auto running side scrollers with a Nintendo skin and nothing
more. It's the same mechanics as almost everything else with a lower amount of
difficulty with the auto running and jumping (I mean he even automatically
jumps over enemies!!).

It seems so...tangential to what Mario games are and so much like every other
side scrolling running game out there.

I also find hitting the exact buttons incredibly frustrating. They claim one
handed play but on a 9.7" iPad when you have to hit a button in a specific
place on the screen it's _not_ one handed play. At least not for my hands and
I thought they were decent size.

~~~
dcw303
> It's the same mechanics as almost everything else with a lower amount of
> difficulty with the auto running and jumping

We'll have to agree to disagree, but this is essence of Nintendo's acclaimed
level design. Yes, the basic run through is easy, which makes it accessible to
anyone. But I'll be damned if getting all the black coins isn't excruciatingly
tough. The beauty is that the same game can be played on many levels.

~~~
zyb09
Just collected the black coins in 1-1, and some in 1-2. The black coins seem
to be what this game really is about, and damn does it a good job with it.
Actually amazed at what it does with just a 1-button input method.

Sad to see so many people critize the $10 price tag. Obviously that was
expected, but as an iOS dev myself, it always saddens me too see the rejection
of people to basically pay for anything on the AppStore.

~~~
Fnoord
10 USD for 1 hour of play is a lot of money in general. That's not akin to:

> "it always saddens me too see the rejection of people to basically pay for
> anything on the AppStore."

Because the point is that the value one gets out of it, is too little for the
amount of time it is fun. That is, of course, assuming there's no replay
value.

There _is_ replay value however I, for one, prefer a difficult game, and
prefer one difficulty only. I know, game designers want to make everyone feel
'awesome' these days. All kind of ladders, including for single player! I
don't like that. Give an immersive first time experience where the player has
to overcome difficult hurdles. Getting stuck? Tough cookie, practice and get
better, and you'll feel awesome once you progress further. Compare WoW TBC
with how WoW has every difficulty for raiding these days. By the time you get
to the highest difficulty it isn't epic anymore.

On a different note, 10 USD is a lot of money for poor people. Then again,
those people are unlikely to have an expensive iOS device.

~~~
sanderjd
Sometimes I pay $10 for a cup of coffee and a croissant, which are finished in
half an hour. I feel that I get $10 of value out of it, and on a similar
scale, I would probably get $10 of value out of this game (if I could get it
on Android...). I think a big difference is something another commenter said:
I don't _know_ that I'm going to get more value out of paying for this game
than I would have if I played a different game for free, whereas I know I'm
going to enjoy my coffee and croissant.

~~~
rdiddly
Not to mention the calories in the croissant probably last you more like 2
hours and the coffee buzz probably lasts about 4.

------
dperfect
The graphics are nice (similar to New Super Mario Bros.), gameplay is smooth,
and I _really_ wanted to like this, but I just can't get into it. I think it
comes down to this:

My favorite games are the ones that embody some sense of freedom, and I just
don't get that here (at least not from the first 3 levels). I completely
understand Nintendo's decision to go with the single-finger jump-only game
mechanic for a touchscreen device (I've never been a fan of virtual D-pads).
But unfortunately, that decision has transformed Mario from a game about
discovery and freedom into a game where you're - quite literally - not allowed
to stop and take a second look at something.

As a natural consequence of this change in game mechanics, we seem to be
forced into a constant state of hyper-focused speeding through what might
otherwise be an attractive setting with subtleties to be explored. If I pass
something that looks interesting in Super Mario Run, I'll likely never see it
again (no, I'm not really motivated to repeat levels for coins - but I would
be inclined to explore new paths through the game if I weren't always forced
to be on the run).

Making matters worse, the few times I did attempt to explore a little (by
jumping back off the walls), the clock ran out in what felt like an
unreasonably short time compared to other Mario games.

In the back of my mind, it feels as though this change reflects something more
profound about how society has evolved in the past decade. Maybe our
competitive and demanding nature has overshadowed the desire for individual
discovery and creativity. We don't need a landscape-oriented view of the
horizon anymore; we only care about what's immediately at hand in our myopic
view of the world because, let's face it, this is 2016 and we're too lazy to
flip our phones around to landscape mode, let alone to confront the harrowing
idea of plotting our own course through life. Just put us on the conveyor belt
and tell us when to jump - and how high.

OK, that may be taking it a bit too far, but I'm still not buying the full
game - and it has nothing to do with the price.

~~~
chrisan
I would agree with everything you said if I thought I was getting a "real"
Super Mario Bros game. I think if you go in the the mindset that you are
buying a Mario themed Crossy Road / Temple Run, etc type game you won't be let
down.

This is something very simple that non-gamers can play and compete with you. I
have many friends who would never step in to a CSGO/Overwatch, SC2, or
LoL/HoTS game with me but simple games like this can work. I personally don't
find it rewarding alone, but I enjoy being able to compete with friends on
something they feel comfortable playing.

Not everyone is a "true gamer". I look forward to exploring Zelda: Breath of
the Wild, but a majority of the population won't. There will no doubt be more
Mario games, perhaps even on phone, which has more depth. For now however, I
see nothing wrong with trying to be more inclusive. In the days before 1
finger mobile games those kind of people really had little choice in what they
could play, and more importantly for me, I could never compete with them :)

~~~
dperfect
That's a fair point. I definitely had the wrong expectations going into the
game, but that's part of the frustration. It looks, sounds, and moves so much
like the Mario games I've enjoyed in the past that my mind naturally expects
the gameplay to be similar. If it were themed any differently, I probably
wouldn't be as critical - it'd just feel like another Geometry Dash-style game
(not necessarily a bad thing, but not a favorite either).

------
kbenson
While watching the promo video, which gives zero information on what it is, I
was actually under the impression it was a tie-in with a fitbit like device
that you might use with headphones, and the audio would trigger you to jump at
specific moments, and it would use that movement for jumps in some simulated
run in a game it could show you later, and it would score you based on speed
and jump accuracy.

Now I really want that.

~~~
Toadsoup
That does sound fun.

~~~
johansch
They could sync those moments quite precisely (think NTP) so that everyone
jump at the same time. Then it would also be fun to look at...

~~~
mikepurvis
Related: [https://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-
mp3-experiments/](https://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-mp3-experiments/)

------
bobbles
I like the game but unfortunately Nintendo really does suck when it comes to
online accounts.

I had signed in on my iPhone then also set it up on my ipad. After finishing a
few levels on the iPad i went back to my phone.

The phone let me finish a level, THEN came up and said 'cant progress as
you're signed in on another device' and the app crashed.

what the fuck is the point of signing up for an account if it doesnt even sync
across devices

~~~
GuiA
Nintendo has always been terrible when it comes to non game software - whether
account management, digital store, the user facing portion of their OSs, etc.

It's an organizational problem, and one that's not going away anytime soon.

~~~
flukus
The UI may have been terrible, but they all ran just as solidly as their
games.

------
pentae
I only tend to play games when i'm bored on a plane flying somewhere - the
necessity for it to be connected to the internet for copyright protection
after I pay $10 is devastating. I'm sure they will still make a lot of money
and I make up a very small fraction of their market, but it's still quite
frustrating being punished as a paying user.

~~~
Andrenid
I live on a farm with expensive/limited satellite net. I'm also a huuuuge
Mario fan and retro game collector. I /was/ really excited for Mario Run but
the always-on requirement makes it a no-buy for me and really disappointed me.

Worst part is all my friends are saying it's a great game!

~~~
jimmaswell
I'm sure it'll be cracked eventually, so you could just pay for it then get
that.

------
minimaxir
Many of the other comments in this thread are low-effort "mobile games aren't
real games, lol."

After playing just one level, you can tell that Super Mario Run the real deal
and not a cash-in (and it gets _hard_ , especially if you want to get Black
Coins). If you have an aversion to mobile gaming, give this a try.

You can play 3 levels without having to pay anything and it doesn't nag you
until then, which means that Nintendo only gets your money if they can
convince you if it's worth it. And they do.

~~~
moflome
Yes... but the magic is in _how_ they can convince you:

\- Animation : it's better than Disney, seriously, this is pure keyframe
genius

\- Characters : I miss Yoshi, and I bet I'm not alone...

\- Color Scheme : the Nintendo palette probably is patented, it's hard to pull
off the balance they have between the character's color, the foreground &
background within a 2D side scroller

\- Challenge vs Payoff : the game play is inviting & rewarding in a odd /
charming way

\- Approachability : I'm biased but there's something uniquely fundamental
about Mario Bros that universal in it's appeal..., it's Beatle-esque

Downloading now...

~~~
robbiep
> colour scheme patented

Even if it was, it's been more than 15 years. You mean trademarked? Copyright?

~~~
Volt
It wasn't meant literally.

------
saurik
I am surprised at how many comments are here but with only a single one
mentioning "build". If you are playing the game, exit Tour, spend some Rally
Tickets you earned collecting Colored Coins to compete against other players
in Style competitions to get Toads to cheer for you and come to your side,
which will level up your Kingdom and (based on the numbers of each of five
colors of Toad you have) unlock the ability to Spend the normal Coins you find
to Build not only Decorations, but also Buildings such as a Bonus Game Area
where you can win Prizes. Then exit all of that and go to the Missions section
of the My Nintendo menu to claim your Points to redeem for Rewards... and
don't forget to come back every eight hours to the bonus game and every day to
the rally and other random time intervals to complete various missions. Oh
yeah: you also have a global count of how many of each kind of enemy you have
killed, and when you meet objectives you increase your Enemy Level so you get
more coins when killing that kind of enemy while competing in the rally. You
can also unlock different characters to play as; I believe that Toad is a
Reward you can unlock for 0 points just for having bought the game, so go do
that now. OMFG this is complex and reminds me more of what I hear from people
talking about scary games like FarmVille and Candy Crush than Mario :/.

~~~
dpcan
Whoa. I'm about as far as tap screen to make Mario jump through the level
right now. Paid $10 and I doubt I'll ever do all this stuff. I'll probably try
for some purple coins. I love speed runs, so hopefully I figure out how to do
that in there somewhere.

But I think young people, who have hours and hours and hours to spend just
GAMING need this kind of thing now. They aren't as content with just running
through levels, trying over and over again until you get it right. There has
to be a ton of stuff to explore.

Maybe they got it just right then.

Old guys like me who love Mario will just tap and jump through the levels and
have a great time. People with more time will have a wealth of stuff to figure
out.

------
throwaway420
I believe that this game's always online DRM is incredibly disrespectful and
will not buy it. I don't want to pirate anything. I actually want to pay real
money once for a polished mobile game rather than getting mostly junk for
free. Nintendo got that part of the equation right, I'll give them that. But
because of the always online DRM, it's unusable on the subway or on an
airplane. If I can't use it when I want it the most, what's the point of
spending real money?

PS: This website is ridiculous. It takes forever to load up, and the marketing
video is just a stupid video of a bunch of people doing parkour in slow motion
or some junk like that. They probably spent 6 figures on that dumb video that
nobody really gives a crap about. Then there's another loading screen after
the video, and once that's done there's a really crappy UI for a slideshow
that's not even responsive. IMO, idiotic executives fingerprints are all over
this shitshow with bad decisions left and right. Nintendo is a fantastic
company who is capable of amazing things, but they don't really get the web or
mobile technology. Sad!

------
calebbrown
That website was frustrating.

\- splash page that has to load the background video before you can do
anything.

\- you have to start watching the video on the splash page to skip it.

\- horizontal navigation in the about page.

\- clicking the obscure "here we go!" back link in the about page has to
reload the video before you can do anything.

It looks really nice, but the interaction is incredibly slow and cumbersome.

~~~
bo1024
I don't have javascript enabled. I saw a totally blank screen.

(Enabled javascript, did not get much more useful information...)

------
politician
The announcement video had me thinking this was some sort of Pokemon GO /
Fitbit cross-over. Thankfully, it's just a game.

~~~
Taek
Thankfully? I would be very excited to have another AR game. I feel like most
so far have dropped the ball, but I also feel like AR gaming is going to be
completely dominant in 10-20 years.

Would have preferred an AR Mario game to just about anything else Mario. Then
again I'm not a huge Mario fan in the first place.

~~~
themodelplumber
Same here, I felt pretty let down. I was thinking that Pokemon Go was such a
hit that this was a natural follow-on to that, and that it really _might_ have
people running down the streets (and hopefully not into traffic) with smiles
on their faces.

Admittedly my AR vision got weirder and weirder along with the various parkour
moves, and when the guy jumped an impossible distance my brain felt like it
was going to collapse, wondering how this game could possibly work.

lol, all that mental effort and then: Touch platformer.

------
mysterydip
I wonder how successful this game would have been if it was the exact same but
with non-mario graphics and without the nintendo hype. I would imagine most
people would see "$10 for yet another runner game" and dismiss it out of hand.

I have yet to find a good solution for finding the gems and avoiding the cruft
of the various stores.

~~~
kin
It's not just a runner game though. I think calling it Super Mario "Run" gives
it the stigma of other run games that copy Temple Run. But, it's more akin to
Rayman.

------
jackvalentine
That took way too long to get to the actual playing... choosing my
country(?!), linking to a nintendo account etc.

~~~
smackfu
Yeah the onboarding is terrible.

But that's not surprising after seeing the Wii interface.

~~~
yellow_postit
A terrible spinner to select countries for sure, but after that it improved in
terms of UX , except the online accounts, but Nintendo has always had terrible
online account management.

------
MarketingJason
Based on the videos on the landing page, I was getting the impression this was
a VR/fitness game. Everybody running around had me thinking you needed to run
in order to your avatar to do the same. I was actually disappointed how little
you actually have to do to play the game when I navigated a couple screens in
to get the full-picture.

~~~
karmelapple
The Mario Run big promo video[1] seems to have just copied the marketing
approach for Pokemon Go[2]: feel epic and show people in real life. However,
Pokemon Go actually involves walking around in the real world, but Super Mario
Run does not at all.

Seems like a definite miss in the marketing message, since I thought the same
as you on first watch. I even saw the announcement at the Apple Event, but
upon seeing the first video ad Nintendo created, I thought, "wait, does this
have a fitness element to it?"

Definitely makes me wonder what kind of fitness-minded games could be done by
Nintendo, though!

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpdfg5km60w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpdfg5km60w)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sj2iQyBTQs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sj2iQyBTQs)

~~~
cgvgffyv
Well this is what happens when you let Americans market your video games.

See also: Skyrim Pinball. Welcome to the future.

~~~
karmelapple
A slam to an entire country does not contribute to the conversation.

------
CrazedGeek
Played a bit. Seems like a solid runner -- feels a bit more like the Rayman
Run games than Canabalt or Jetpack Joyride to me. Curiously, it's more
technical than any of those. Not sure I'm going to play more soon, but that's
mostly because I'm playing on a 12.9" iPad Pro and the game feels like it's
designed for screens half that size.

------
crazygringo
From the video, I _really_ thought this was going to be some kind of
miraculous game that would marry fitness (via real-life running) with
gamification -- the kind of magic that only a truly visionary company could
pull off. Like Fitbit only with real entertainment and joy attached.

Not going to lie, no matter how great the game is, I'm pretty disappointed.

~~~
jordigh
> that would marry fitness (via real-life running) with gamification

I know I'm about a decade too late, but I've recently gotten hooked on DDR,
which is exactly this for me. It's a pretty addictive game, and it feels like
a real workout.

~~~
matwood
Could always go old school, and try to find an original Track and Field game
mat :)

------
bdcravens
Am I the only one who feels in places the UI was rushed? Like the generic sans
font in the splash screen, and buttons that look like Aqua from 10 years ago?

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Yes they're essentially the same UI set from the Wii / Wii U and not well
adapted to a touch screen device. For many screens, typically you'd just tap
the screen but in this game you have to specifically tab a button in the
center. Seems out of place especially that menu to select your region (what
the heck is that about? The primary markets they're in are not near the top,
either!).

~~~
bdcravens
> Seems out of place especially that menu to select your region

As I scrolled and scrolled to find United States in the list, I was thinking
surely the OS has an API

------
wattt
That first video is so inappropriate I can't get my head around it. I thought
it was going to be an augmented reality game like Pokemon Go. Turns out it is
just a regular game. I can't get back to the website to try it though, the
promotional page sucks!

------
Rapzid
They really nailed this from an advertising and marketing perspective. From
what I can see the gameplay is spot on too. Looks like Nintendo took a crowded
genre, the runner, and completely pwnd it. Looking forward to the android
release though as I own 0 iDevices.

~~~
johnward
Did they nail the marketing? The website makes it seem like I need to do some
crazy parkour to complete the levels. I'm not even sure if you have to move
around in the real world or not.

------
ronnier
I tried it and didn't enjoy it. It largely comes down to tapping the screen
when you want to jump... nothing else. Not having a real controller cripples
this type of game.

~~~
shard972
So flappy bird?

~~~
joezydeco
Canabalt.

[http://www.canabalt.com](http://www.canabalt.com)

~~~
statictype
Canabalt was a great game but this is nothing like Canabalt.

There is quite a bit of ingenuity and thought that went into making a game
with a single user interaction (tap on the screen) but with also a fair degree
of sophistication and strategy/decision making.

I've only played through about 6 levels and am impressed by the game play
mechanics they have introduced with a limited interaction model.

My only wish is that it were a little faster.

------
wturner
I was hoping this would be like pokemon Go and push the trend of getting
people out of the house. That's what the ad had me infer. Pokemon Go --->
Super Mario Run

~~~
spookylukey
Yeah, the video made me want to go outside and run, not take my mobile with
me, and certainly not stay in and tap a screen.

------
ya
the website redirect to /ch/index.html , and show nothing but `File not
found."`

found this in javascript:

    
    
      case 'zh':
    		location.href = _WARP_ + 'ch/index.html';
    		break;
    

Chinese index page missing?

------
wattt
What year do they think this is that there is no Android version?

~~~
brainary
They have a "deal" with Apple to be first. Just wait.

------
unicornporn
How's that for a misleading commercial. I was 100% sure this was a Pokemon Go
styled running game until I checked some Youtube videos.

------
qwtel
The about page is more informative
([https://supermariorun.com/en/about.html](https://supermariorun.com/en/about.html)):

A new kind of Mario game you can play with one hand. Mario constantly runs
forward, while you time your taps to pull off stylish jumps and moves to
gather coins and reach the goal!

------
Larrikin
The video had me worried and excited it was some kind of AR based game

~~~
deeteecee
yeah seriously, haha. what's with the AR tease trickery

------
eps
Nostalgia aside, SMR looks pretty underwhelming compared to other high-end
runners like Rayman Adventures. Yes, it's remarkable that Nintendo caved to
Apple's advances and they are likely to make a lot of money on this, but the
game itself is just... meh, basically.

[1] [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rayman-
adventures/id10435896...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rayman-
adventures/id1043589663?mt=8)

------
djrtwo
I thought this was going to be an augmented reality running app/game
especially because of the recent Pokemon Go. Kind of disappointed when I
watched the gameplay video.

------
mgv11
Really would want to play this. I don't mind the concept especially the game
is on par with those Rayman runner games. At least couple of the early ones
were really great. The price is perhaps steep for what it is, not that it
would stop me from buying this. Well the hype and interested might have
mellowed down once the Android version comes out..

------
module0000
If you want to cash in on the success of this game, Nintendo's US-traded stock
equivalent is NTDOY - it represents 1/8th share of the Japanese company stock,
but traded in USD.

That said, it's not looking very good at the moment, and has fallen
consistently from days before release, and still falling this morning.

~~~
Icedcool
Time to buy then if you believe in the success of the switch.

~~~
module0000
Don't believe in it one bit :) I'm on the other side of the market.

------
nulagrithom
I watched the intro video and still have no idea what this app is or does.

~~~
speg
It's a game. You play it for fun and entertainment.

~~~
jayajay
> It's a game. You play it for fun and entertainment.

That's like me saying "food" when asked "What do you wanna eat?"

I'm guessing you aren't a gamer. Most gamers are not interested in the binary
question of whether something is a game or not -- they are a step ahead of
that.

~~~
erik
I can see your point. But conversely I think "It's an iphone game named Super
Mario Run" tells most gamers 90% of what they need to know.

~~~
jayajay
You did not just say that. Alright -- here we go.

What you said is not true at all, and frankly, it sounds arrogant (which I
don't mind, except in this case, you're wrong).

Let's go ahead and apply your logic to Pokemon Go: "It's an iPhone game named
Pokemon Go".

That statement tells me nothing about Pokemon Go. I speak to you as someone
who has played over 1200 hours of Pokemon Red, Yellow, Fire Red, Sapphire,
Emerald, and Diamond. Gamers are experienced and humble enough to know that
"Super Mario Run" could mean _almost anything_. Do not make the mistake of
underestimating game developers, _least of all_ Nintendo.

I posted a comment here about my first impression of the game's title:

"First thing that popped into my mind was Pokemon Go, but for Mario. Is this a
Mario branded game which gamifies running in real-life encouraging kids to run
to various locations to find coins or something?".

Other people on HackerNews seemed to share this viewpoint! It turns out this
is not at all what the game is about.

~~~
joeschmoe
> Let's go ahead and apply your logic to Pokemon Go: "It's an iPhone game
> named Pokemon Go".

You're missing some context here, as to someone who plays iPhone games the
word 'Run' suggests that the game is an infinite runner[1]. So "an iPhone game
named Super Mario Run" does imply more information (that it's probably an
infinite runner, which is not quite correct, but reasonably close) than your
Pokemon Go version.

[1] see Sonic Runners, Rayman Run, etc.

------
mads
This is a fun game. I cant even remember the last time I actually wanted to
fire up a game because it was actually fun. Rarely play and when I do, it is
just to kill time.

And also.. It brings back childhood memories to play Mario.

------
Coincoin
Someone needs to do an edit of that video where the mass of people at the end
bang their face on a door with a note saying: "Sorry, we only had 5... come
back after Christmas".

------
r0m4n0
A little ironic that the video shows people actually being extremely
physically active and then concludes with those same people heads down on a
phone game at the end

------
kawsper
Does it still have the always-online requirement?

~~~
mads
Seems like it.

------
pacomerh
I appreciate the level of detail the game has compared to the average single
finger jump game. But!, I think Nintendo is late to the game on this one. Had
this game been launched a few years back a different story would've been. I'm
not saying this is the wrong move, it's just a little late. The ad didn't help
either, I honestly thought it was something similar to the pokemon game, where
you had to run to get points or something, idk.

------
josefresco
Another 'Run" game - just what mobile gaming needed!

This will fit right along my daughters' other 96 _run_ games.

/sarcasm

~~~
kin
Now that your sarcasm has ended, if you give it a shot, it actually plays just
like any of the DS versions but w/ auto run. It's definitely much more than
just a runner. The level design is very polished too.

~~~
sushid
Well that and a $9.99 purchase price.

------
icco
Has anyone done any reverse engineering to figure out what infrastructure this
is running on?

------
increment_i
I was a little confused to see an iOS release only - wasn't the thing built in
Unity?

------
gohrt
The homepage ad is amazing. It makes me want to put my phone away and play
outside.

------
zitterbewegung
I have an iPhone 6 and immediately I started the game with no sound and
apparently it is an issue with others. Uninstalled.
[http://wojdylosocialmedia.com/no-sound-audio-super-mario-
run...](http://wojdylosocialmedia.com/no-sound-audio-super-mario-run/)

~~~
tbrock
Flick the switch on the left side of your phone.

------
ikeboy
On iOS 10.2 it just craches as soon as it's opened. Not too impressed.

~~~
sucrose
I'm using iOS 10.2 on iPhone 5s and it's working perfectly.

~~~
ikeboy
I'm on iPhone 6. Tried deleting and reinstalling which didn't help.

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Arkaad
The video makes it look like it's similar to Pokémon GO.

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kellet
A Yip, Yap, Ya-HOOO!

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cgvgffyv
The App Store reviews are appalling though. How can people be so incredibly
entitled I couldn't possibly understand.

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simooooo
I'm inclined to ignore this as another game hitch hiking on the Mario name.

Have we reached 200 yet?

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sabujp
boo, no AR

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BusySkillFool
Horrible game, extremely low quality, thoroughly disappointed from the first
screen to the end of the first level where I was disconnected due to no
internet connection (which I did have). Uninstalled.

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xxbc
Really a pity this wasn't released internationally!

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_eht
My Pixel is ready... :/

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
Why sell to 80% of the market when you can can take 20%. Dr. Evil must have a
job on the marketing team.

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GuiA
When it comes to actually making money from your software, iOS is where the
80% is at.

~~~
eropple
Yup. I'm an Android user by habit, but were I to release a game for a mobile
device, most of my effort would be around making sure the iOS version was as
pin-perfect as I could make it.

Why do you rob a bank? 'Cause that's where the money is.

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k0mplex
2/5 stars.

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farzadb82
A Mario-themed Flappy bird clone?

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ungzd
How it stands out of thousands of similar "runner" games in app store? Only by
having the sprite of Mario in it. Nintendo is nothing more but trademark-
selling company nowadays.

And lots of people buys it not because of nostalgia but because _you must
respect classics to claim you have good taste_.

The world of mobile games is infinite bullshit.

~~~
jjnoakes
Some think the level design and mechanics (different blocks and timings) are
important.

After all, pick any side scrollers or any first person shooters and you could
say the same about those categories too, if you ignore the art, design, and
mechanics.

Why play sonic once you beat contra?

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Caerus
I got really turned off when it was listed as "Free (with in-app purchases)".
Turns out it's basically a 10 minute demo, after which you have to pay $9.99.

Maybe it's good, but deceptive enough I uninstalled it.

~~~
comex
Personally, I find the 'free demo' model _far_ preferable to the two
alternatives, upfront payment and microtransaction hell. The former is
problematic on iOS where there are no refunds (more or less; at least, Apple's
refund process is cumbersome with no guarantee of acceptance) - I've purchased
countless apps for a few dollars (after looking at the description and
screenshots) just to realize, literally seconds after opening them and
actually being able to try them out, that they were either poor quality or
otherwise not what I was looking for, followed by deletion from my home
screen. And the IAP option, well, it encourages designing the game mechanics
to be _as dissatisfying as possible_ , i.e. exactly the opposite of how game
design is supposed to work, while constantly tempting you to leap ahead in the
game by just paying a small fee. This is what most mobile games do, and it's
horrible.

But in Super Mario Run's case, the problem is just that the game's too short.
After all, what you call a "10 minute demo" (for anyone reading, it's not
actually time limited) is 1 of the 6 worlds in the main game mode; the later
levels are harder and thus more time consuming, but not that much. I got
halfway through it today in maybe an hour, while collecting all the pink coins
for each level.

EDIT: But not the purple and black coins. I just tried collecting those for
the first two levels and it takes quite a bit longer. Still not a huge game
but they clearly designed for replay value... I wonder why they didn't just
add more levels, though. As Super Mario Maker has shown, it doesn't take that
much work to create Mario levels when the tileset, mechanics, etc. are already
in place.

~~~
Caerus
I don't have a problem with demos, they're great. It's the fact it's not
advertised that way that really irked me.

Maybe it's buried in the description somewhere, but the first indication I got
that it was a demo was after wasting about 25 minutes downloading, installing,
setting up a Nintendo account, downloading more levels, then learning the game
mechanics.

