A serviceable, if disposable, attempt to bring Mario to smartphones.

GAME DETAILS

Developer: DeNA/Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: iOS 8.0+ (iPhone 5 used for review)
Release Date: December 15, 2016
Apple Age Rating: 4+
Price: $10
Links: iTunes | Official website

After playing the first few levels of Super Mario Run at an Apple Store last week, I worried that the game took too many liberties with a series that I'd loved as a certified, website-creating megafan for decades. After spending the better part of a day playing the game in the comfort of my own home, I feel like I've been able to enjoy Super Mario Run more on its own terms, even if I feel it's missing a lot of what makes other Mario games (and even other mobile games) special.
Thinking about Super Mario Run as a platform game (or even as the platform game's simple mobile cousin, the "endless runner") isn't quite right. In practice, it plays more like a freeform rhythm game with platform game clothing. Instead of seeing an encroaching red note and strumming in time on a plastic guitar, you see a sequence of pits, coins, and enemies and have to plan when and how to jump as Mario runs forward ceaselessly.

This can make the first time through any level downright annoying. You'll miss items you had no chance of seeing and run into enemies that you didn't have time to anticipate (with the phone held in portrait mode, you can't see very far in front of you to plan ahead). But the levels are short, each with a strict timer of one to two minutes. Just like in a rhythm game, a few repeat plays help give you a feel for the patterns and paths you want to follow and make it easier to recall what's coming as soon as you see it.

Taking control

After a day of play, I've kind of gotten used to the idea of not being able to adjust my momentum significantly in mid-air. Even so, the one-button tap-to-jump controls still aren't ideal for the kind of precise platforming even this modified Mario game requires. In previous Mario games, I might take a huge leap and then make fine adjustments with the d-pad for a particular landing. In Super Mario Run, I've had to get used to planning the length and height of my jump pretty much perfectly from the moment I leave the ground.

Yes, Mario can do mid-air spins, wall jumps, and even a swipe-based "stall" to somewhat affect the location of his landing. There are plenty of blocks that freeze Mario in place to help with specific timing in tricky parts, as well.

Even with these tools and a day of practice, landing precisely still isn't an innate, exact process. I still routinely miss enemies, coins, or landings by just a hair or fail to time my tap well enough to get the right bounce height off an enemy's back. Relying on the single input from one thumb makes it easy to get a little twitchy, too, leading to overeager taps simply because it's the only thing you can do.

So far, I've kind of muddled through with these control issues, and I do feel like I've gotten better at planning ahead. I also appreciate that the developers provide two "bubbles" per level to back up and try again when I miss a particular jump. It feels a bit odd for "go left" to be an extinguishable item, but it's a decent band-aid for the problematic control system.

Amid the bulk of levels that propel Mario ever forward, there are a handful that are more constrained. In ghost houses, Mario simply loops back to the left side of the screen when he reaches the right edge. In fortresses, he bounces back and forth between the two walls on either edge of the screen. Even though Mario still keeps moving constantly, these levels allow the chance to catch a specific jump on the next pass and give the design a little more room to breathe as a result.

What’s next?

Simply getting through all 24 of Super Mario Run's main levels in World Tour mode will take an experienced player under an hour. The game gives a few reasons to come back to the limited course palette though: first to collect five pink coins scattered about, and then to find five purple and black coins scattered about in even harder-to-reach places.

The levels stay familiar, but the coin arrangements give them some new life, forcing new paths and strategies. It feels a lot like going back to a harder note set in a rhythm game after you've memorized the basic beat of the song.
Once you're past those collectibles, you can indulge your perfectionist itch by trying to maximize your total coin count in each level. Without any sort of worldwide leaderboard, though, you're only able to compare your performance with that of registered friends.

There are also some secondary characters I have yet to unlock, each with slightly different jumping abilities. That said, the levels seem designed with Mario's basic jumping ability in mind, which makes me think these new characters will be fun to play around with for a bit, but not really integral to a new take on the levels.

After the World Tour mode, Toad Rally lets you run through the same levels next to a "ghost" meant to emulate the play style of another random player via the Internet. Running next to this transparent competitor changes things less than you might think, since the ghost has his own set of ghost coins to collect and doesn't affect your progress in any way. While only one player can get the ten-coin bonus for hitting the midpoint flag first, it feels otherwise like parallel play with a moving high-score marker rather than a real, direct competition.

Toad Rally also offers bonuses for doing specific "stylish" jumps and lets you unlock temporary "coin rush" mode where the game just throws a lot more coins at you. Neither does much to extend the appeal of the same levels you're already probably tiring of after a few quick trips through World Tour.

Winning matches in Toad Rally also helps unlock new items to place around a little dollhouse-style castle grounds in a Kingdom Builder mini-game. It's a cute enough distraction to toy around with for a couple of minutes, but I can't see any long-term appeal to the extremely basic decorating on offer. Animal Crossing this ain't.

That’s it?

The real problem with Super Mario Run is that it wears out its content, and its welcome, remarkably quickly. Even with the extra collectibles, unlockable characters, and secondary modes, and even considering the $10 price, the selection of just 24 short levels feels pretty limited.

After just a couple of hours of play, I was already getting tired of seeing the same platform patterns repeated over and over as I went back to collect more colored coins or face an online Toad Rally challenge. The levels are well-designed and offer a fair share of secrets and hard-to-access paths to find, but there's only so much you can do with level-building ideas when the game's design doesn't let Mario turn around at will.



I found myself comparing the game in my mind to the recently released Super Mario Maker on 3DS, which is packed with 100 lengthy and often complicated levels. Each level in that game comes with two additional and inventive challenge goals, ranging from "Collect all the coins" to "Kill all the chain chomps" to "Find the six [deviously] hidden one-up mushrooms."
I've been returning to that game for dozens of hours in the past weeks, working diligently and eagerly to complete some of the most creative and well-designed challenges I've ever seen in a 2D Mario game. I doubt I'll be doing anything similar for Super Mario Run.

Maybe it's not fair to compare a $40 3DS game to a $10 smartphone title, but it's a hard comparison to avoid considering the two versions of portable Mario came out just a few weeks apart. In the end, Super Mario Run never amounts to much more than a conveyor belt coin hunt, without the kind of exploration-based depth that characterizes the best of the Mario series.

Super Mario Run also doesn't hold up well when compared to the kind of "endless" mobile games you might find yourself coming back to for months or even years on end. There's none of the semi-randomized puzzle appeal of a game like Really Bad Chess or Threes; none of the direct human competition of a Clash Royale or Hearthstone; none of the collectible compulsion of Pokemon Go (no, Kingdom Builder doesn't count).

On the plus side, Super Mario Run does avoid the nickel-and-diming microtransaction-based gameplay that characterizes the worst of mobile game design. While you will need to complete in-game missions to earn tickets to play Toad Rally, you're never even asked to spend another penny after your initial $10 purchase.

As a vision for a way to make Mario work in a mobile game you can play with one thumb, Super Mario Run is a good proof of concept that provides a decent amount of content for the $10 asking price. For Nintendo, this is a serviceable, if disposable, early attempt at bringing an established franchise to a very different kind of game-playing device.

Just don't be surprised if it's already off of your home screen by the time 2017 rolls around.

The Good

One-tap controls simplify the Mario formula well for a smartphone screen
Well-designed levels with a decent amount of collectibles and secrets to find
No microtransactions
The bad

Automatic movement makes precision landings overly difficult
Small selection of short levels feel repetitive quickly
Toad Rally doesn't allow for direct competition
Kingdom Builder feels limited and pointless
Frequent freezing and slowdown on iPhone 5
The ugly

Pokemon Go's compulsive-collecting gameplay will almost surely make more money.
The verdict: A good time-waster for $10, but don't expect a new, classic Mario adventure.