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Super Mario Run (for iPad) Review

3.0
Average
By Will Greenwald
December 16, 2016

The Bottom Line

Super Mario Run is Mario's first shot at a casual mobile game, and while it's undeniably well-crafted, it just doesn't have enough content to justify its price tag.

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Pros

  • Mario-worthy levels of polish.
  • Simple, accessible controls.
  • Good variety of mechanics across the different levels.

Cons

  • Relatively few stages.
  • Portrait mode only.
  • Rally ticket system feels like an unnecessary, undeveloped free-to-play element.

Nintendo has been protective of its franchises for decades, but over the last year it's been slowly testing the mobile game waters. Pokemon Go ($0.00 at Apple.com) was a smash hit, and social networking app Miitomo had its own charm, but the face of Nintendo has stayed far away from smartphones and tablets until now. Super Mario Run for iOS is Nintendo's first Mario game for mobile devices, and its first non-free-to-play release. You can get a free taste by downloading the app (and it appears to be a free-to-play game in the App Store), but there are no microtransactions to deal with. Instead, it's a flat $9.99 to unlock the full game. It looks and sounds like a Mario game, but it's a casual mobile runner through and through. And, for the platform, that's perfectly fine; just don't expect the sort of depth, variety, and staying power in this game that you usually get in handheld- or console-based Mario game.

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While you can unlock Super Mario Run for a flat fee, it's still technically a free-to-play game. As such, it requires an Internet connection to work. If you aren't online, you can't play the game. The game is also portrait-only; you can't play it in landscape mode.

One-Handed Running

Super Mario Run isn't an endless runner game. Endless runners, such as Sonic Jump and Temple Run 2, task you with running down infinite, generally procedurally generated or looping levels until you die. Super Mario Run instead presents you with specifically designed levels you must either complete in Tour mode or run through for a set period of time in Rally mode. It's a more focused experience that revolves around challenges and getting higher scores in discrete levels more than simply going until you stop.

Super Mario RunYou can play Super Mario Run with only one hand, or even just one finger. Mario runs automatically from left to right, and even vaults over small enemies, pits, and steps on his own. Tapping the screen makes Mario jump, and tapping while Mario is in the air makes him bounce off of enemies, obstacles, and walls. Mario jumps higher the longer you press the screen, and there are some difficult sections where you need to tap just right to get Mario to thread the needle between sawblades and fireballs.

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If Mario gets hit or falls into a pit, he goes into a bubble that floats back on the screen some distance until you tap to pop it. Tour stages let Mario hide in a bubble twice before you have to start the stage over again. Rally stages take away coins, which are vital to winning in that mode.

It's a simple, but challenging, style of gameplay that takes the standard Mario platforming concepts and streamlines it into the act of jumping at the right time to get past obstacles and reach different parts of stages. Super Mario Run doesn't offer the openness or a fraction of the control found in a console Mario game, but it's accessible and functional to play on touchscreen-only devices; a real Mario platformer requires physical controls to feel remotely satisfying. This is basic running action with Nintendo polish, and despite lacking the depth I'm used to seeing in this presentation, it works.

Graphically, Super Mario Run is a New Super Mario Bros. game. Instead of classic sprites, the game uses 3D models of Mario, his enemies, and the environment on a 2D plane. It's the same aesthetic we first saw a decade ago in New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS ($260.00 at eBay) , and it continues to hold up even if the "New" moniker has now seen four separate Mario games (and, to be fair, this isn't called New Super Mario Run).

Game Modes

The game is split into two modes: Tour and Rally. Tour is a single-player campaign mode that walks you through six worlds of four stages each. 24 stages is a low number for most Mario games, but each one feels distinct, with unique gameplay elements, such as bats, Bullet Bills, giant Buzzy Beetles, and trick doors. You just need to get to the end of each stage to complete a level, but you can also collect the five hidden pink coins to work towards unlocking bonuses and secrets. Once you collect all five pink coins, they get replaced by purple coins hidden in even more challenging areas to reach parts of the stage. After you collect the purple coins, they're replaced by black coins, the most challenging coins to find.

Each world you beat in Tour mode unlocks maps for Rally mode, which makes the $10 unlocking purchase necessary. Without unlocking the game, you can only play the first three stages in Tour mode, severely hindering your ability to play in Rally mode.

Super Mario RunRally is the multiplayer mode, which pits you against the ghost data of other players as you run through the levels you beat in Tour mode. These ghosts can come from friends you add from Twitter or Facebook, or randomly from other Super Mario Run players online. These levels are converted into endless loops for Rally mode, where you instead play for 60 seconds at a time. Once your time is up, the number of coins you collected is measured against how many your opponent collected. Whoever got the most coins wins the various Toads who came to watch you play (while the loser loses some of his Toads). Toads are Mushroom Kingdom residents who are apparently really easily swayed by parkour and bling, but they serve a purpose in rebuilding your own section of the kingdom.

Because the Rally mode tweaks stages you already played through so that constantly loop, the runs become very familiar very rapidly. Each stage feels distinct, but with only two dozen Tour mode stages to build on the elements quickly grow repetitive. the runs become very familiar very rapidly. After a few dozen Rally games, I started to grow bored with the same familiar three or four variations of airship and ghost house levels.

You need tickets to play stages in Rally mode. You can get a steady stream of them with daily bonus games, building up your kingdom, winning in Rally mode, and completing Tour mode. After connecting the game to my MyNintendo account and beating Tour mode, I had over 70 tickets. These tickets aren't available for purchase through microtransactions, so Nintendo likely won't be demanding steady drips of cash in addition to the $10 unlock price. It raises the question of why the tickets are even necessary, though; without a microtransaction structure, there's simply no reason to limit how players compete with each other in Rally mode, especially when stakes are naturally built in with the Toad-wooing mechanic.

Build a Kingdom

When you start the game, the Mushroom Kingdom is empty and the Princess' castle has been reduced to a tent. As you collect Toads in Rally mode, your Kingdom levels up and the castle returns to its former state. You can also place different buildings and decorations in your kingdom with coins you collect while playing. Some of the buildings offer tangible bonuses, like giving you timed access to special items and stages, expanding your kingdom to additional screens, and even unlocking new characters to play with.

You start with only Mario, who is an average runner and jumper, but can collect mushrooms to become Super Mario, which lets him get hit once by an enemy or obstacle without getting injured. Toad can run faster than Mario. Princess Peach can glide using her dress, like in Super Mario Bros. 2. Yoshi can flutter jump to get a bit more distance, and his boots let him walk over spikes.

You can run through Tour mode in under two hours, and that can easily stretch out if you want to collect every colored coin. The Rally mode is really what you'll keep going back to, since it's a steady stream of bite-sized gameplay segments against other actual players, with the constant stakes of getting more Toads for your kingdom.

Not Quite Super Enough

Super Mario Run is a fun, simple twist on the classic Mario formula, but it feels a bit empty when compared with the full New Super Mario Bros. games. It's compared best with casual runner games on mobile devices, and when held to that standard the $10 price tag is a bit steep. For the relatively little amount of content you get, along with the inexplicable limitation of the Rally tickets and the need to be always connected, $5 would have been a more reasonable price if not a full free-to-play model. Mario's first step into casual mobile games is a strong one, but the name recognition is almost too strong for the format; the polish and presentation of Super Mario Run makes it feel like it should be more than what it is, since at heart it's just a simple running game.

Super Mario Run (for iPad)
3.0
Pros
  • Mario-worthy levels of polish.
  • Simple, accessible controls.
  • Good variety of mechanics across the different levels.
Cons
  • Relatively few stages.
  • Portrait mode only.
  • Rally ticket system feels like an unnecessary, undeveloped free-to-play element.
The Bottom Line

Super Mario Run is Mario's first shot at a casual mobile game, and while it's undeniably well-crafted, it just doesn't have enough content to justify its price tag.

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About Will Greenwald

Lead Analyst, Consumer Electronics

I’ve been PCMag’s home entertainment expert for over 10 years, covering both TVs and everything you might want to connect to them. I’ve reviewed more than a thousand different consumer electronics products including headphones, speakers, TVs, and every major game system and VR headset of the last decade. I’m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and a THX-certified home theater professional, and I’m here to help you understand 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and even 8K (and to reassure you that you don’t need to worry about 8K at all for at least a few more years).

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Super Mario Run (for iPad) $0.00 at Apple.com
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