Super Mario Run First Impressions!

[Ipheuria]

My initial impression is I'm very disappointed. I'm an old school gamer. I've owned so many consoles but the NES and Super Mario Bros will always be my favorite. I found that Nintendo was lazy and also a bit stupid with this game. Personally I think they have lost their way and lost sight of the market. You can play the game with one hand since the game moves for you all you have to do is tap to jump. The reason I say they are lazy is because they didn't have to do the endless runner. They could have easily put a forward and backward sort of virtual half D-pad on the left side. It would enable players to go back and explore the world instead of being pushed forward and rushed through the stage. The joy of the original Mario game was discovering things. It was finding out that if I jump at this spot between two bushes there's a hidden block that gives me a mushroom/fire flower, breaking through the blocks in a section you will hit a block with multiple gold coins as you keep hitting it, etc. You lose all that becasue the game just keeps pushing you and you have to quickly try and complete the objectives of the level. I think it's a shame too because the graphics and the movements of the game are so nice that it would have been a welcomed update to an old favorite. Then they hampered it even more by requiring a constant internet connection?!? Seriously what is the deal with that in mobile games? Ugh maybe I'm just a console/computer gamer but I find that sooooo annoying. The fact that this is my fav game just multiplies that a million times more. I don't have an unlimited data plan and perhaps I'm in the minority. I just don't see the point of having the requirement. It's not like the game pushes the hardware so much that it needs to be doing behind the scenes processing or something. This was such a major let down I played it twice and I was just so bummed I deleted it.

 

[James Falconer]

@Ipheuria - love the strong opinions here. All I'll add is while I agree with you on most points actually, give it some time. After I beat the game I was somewhat disappointed. But then you discover the fun in it via rallies, collecting all the coin types, and other challenges. I play it daily now (at least once), and my initial disappointment is long gone.

I of course am still hoping (wishing) for more levels, but I'm not sure if we'll ever see that.

 

[Ipheuria]

@Ipheuria - love the strong opinions here. All I'll add is while I agree with you on most points actually, give it some time. After I beat the game I was somewhat disappointed. But then you discover the fun in it via rallies, collecting all the coin types, and other challenges. I play it daily now (at least once), and my initial disappointment is long gone.

I of course am still hoping (wishing) for more levels, but I'm not sure if we'll ever see that.

I think there will definitely be users who love it. Users who grew up with endless runners and enjoy the rapid rush and the skill it takes to get all the coins etc. There will always be skill and users who are on another level no matter how the game is put together. Look at Flappy Bird, the graphics weren't slick, the physics and gameplay was monumentally hard but there were still users who could get to higher levels than anyone else. I'm just not one of those users who likes Mario Run. It was the first Mario game to hit iOS after years of fakes and emulators. I think a lot of people like me made the mistake of thinking it would be an updated Super Mario Bros. They were smart to give it a different name because it is a different game. I've played endless runners before but with Mario Run I think it burns me because I expect more. It's like how we hold Apple to a higher standard than other manufacturers. I hold Nintendo to a higher standard than the indie devs and companies that come out with endless runners. The internet connection is also an instant kill for me. I can't get into a game by playing it while at home. I have a 3 year old and my Playstation and XBox are collecting dust. There is no way I'm going to find time to play. Super Mario Run. I do have an hour to and from work where I sit on the train but gasp, I don't have unlimited data so that makes the game useless. The whole thing about it being because of piracy is lame and IMO a cop out. I'm not saying it's not the reason I'm just saying it's not a good reason.
I've seen a couple people complaining about the 1 star reviews based on the $10 price. Normally I would agree because I think people are cheap and $10 in the app store is nothing. However in this case the negative reviews might make Nintendo actually take notice because I think those users just can't explain themselves. They are putting down the 10 bucks as the reason but underneath it's more that they don't see value in the game to equate to the $10. I have no problem paying $10 on the app store and if this game played like I could envision it playing I would pay that in a heartbeat. How it is now, well I deleted it so that is pretty obvious I wouldn't pay the $10.