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Super Mario Run will be out for iOS on December 15, Nintendo said today. You’ll be able to “try elements of the game’s three modes” at no cost, but to get unlimited access to the entire game you’ll have to pay $14.99.
Announced at an Apple press conference in September, Super Mario Run is the first mobile game to feature a major Nintendo franchise other than Pokemon, which is handled by a different group of companies.
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Shame its auto run. Surely a virtual dpad to one side and two buttons to the other in landscape orientation would have been preferable. Maybe its just me
That control scheme is never preferable. They need to leverage the platform, not try and paste the conventions of another one on top of it.
The reason why Fruit Ninja was the whirlwind success it was is because it felt inseparable from the platform it was on. The reason every other game with virtual controls on screen failed is because they tried to do what other platforms do, just far worse.
$15 seems a lot for a mobile game, even for a mario. Even though a lot of people will download the game, paying that much will be another matter entirely. I had hoped it was around 3-5 dollar mark.
Even at $15 this is still likely to be a better investment than most mobile game purchases.
You’ll be able to “try elements of the game’s three modes” at no cost, but to get unlimited access to the entire game you’ll have to pay $14.99.
It’s sad that we’re in an age where that phrase replaces “There’s a demo available and you can buy the full game for $14.99”. Mobile gaming was the best and worst thing to happen to the games industry.
Isn’t that exactly what’s happening here? Free demo, pay once for the game.
Or are you lamenting that this isn’t the norm?
Game looks pretty neat, more involved than most runners.
this looks like a fully fledged Mario game.
Would i pay $15 for that?
HELL YEAH i would!
It’s not a fully fledged Mario game, though, is it? I thought it was just an endless runner type of game?
It’s not really an endless runner, just an auto runner.
Think Rayman Jungle Run.
Designed levels, etc.
Yeah, that’s what I was getting at, just lack of words 😛
So yeah, not a full fledged Mario game. But it’s a lot cheaper than they usually are, too.
It’s been a fair while since Serrels/et al found a mobile game that could get articles like ‘here’s a great example of gaming on a phone’ about it.
I don’t think this game will do that. Rather, it’ll probably drive a number of ‘takes’ bemoaning how big publishers love iOS now.
I’m torn on the game itself, rather than moan and complain (though I do want to, and I think there’s a lot of legitimate issues with it that’s going unsaid) I’m keeping an open mind.
Not sure I really want to spend $15 (guessing that’s USD, so probably $20) on a mobile endless runner, I get enough enjoyment from things like One More Line at around $2-3.
Will wait and see though, if it has enough variety it could be alright.
Ah ok, thanks. Saw the article was by Jason Schreier and wasn’t sure the price had been converted. AU team are obviously ahead of me 😛
Hey guys, this isn’t an “endless runner” – it’s a full fledged Mario game with different levels and worlds. Very much a traditional Mario game aside from the controls, hence the price. You’re paying for Nintendo’s fantastic level development, music, design etc. Obviously I’m a fan, but I think $15 is a pretty good spot for this thing.
From what I can see though the controls make it just an endless runner/auto-runner (whatever the correct name is). There’s no puzzles to figure out, no abilities or otherwise interesting mechanics, it’s really just ‘jump over the things.’
Which isn’t necessarily bad, I spend most of my mobile gaming time already playing similarly basic games like One More Line/Jump but they cost about 1/5th of the price this does so I’m a little unsure about it for the moment..
It’s not an endless runner because there are levels, and level design. An endless-runner is endless and repetitive, which is fine, but this is not that. There are also interesting mechanics in the video. This is one of Nintendo’s first-party development teams onboard so they’re undoubtedly going to bring their mastery of the craft along with them. The character runs automatically, but there will be trial and error and mastery of jumps and timing and all the good Nintendo mechanics will likely be there and naturally evolve the further you get in like any good Nintendo platformer, as opposed to a random and repeating set of things to avoid like in an ‘endless runner’.
$15 sounds fine for a Nintendo game, but I’m wondering what exactly ‘unlimited access’ is. For $15 I’d expect it to scrub the game clean of any sort of transactions/ads, but there is a ticket currency in the corner of the screen. I would expect that to be a large coin or star if it was your standard Mario in-game progression currency. A ticket sort of screams micro-transaction. If there are still pay walls/paid shortcuts in the game after paying $15 that’s just ridiculous.
I understand that they made it portrait orientation to make the characters bigger and display more verticality to the levels but, for a game that runs horizontally, it just seems wrong.
Also, not being able to stop and collect all the coins is going to play havoc with my need to collect all the things.
Anyone complaining about $15 really are tightasses. What do you all plan to do with that extra $5-$10? Look how good the development is from the trailer. Can anyone say they’ve seen a more polished mobile game? Nintendo don’t skimp on quality when it comes to their flagship releases.
Unlimited access to the entire Super Mario Run game for $15 maybe be a bit expensive but my parents are not sure whether the free downloadable game will use up all of my data but when I watch the news next month I’m hoping to find out whether it is true or not.
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