The gaming industry and fans alike have been discussing the potential of Nintendo games appearing on smartphones for years now. And for the first time ever, Super Mario has gone mobile.
Yes, you read that right, as of yesterday (December 15) you can now play a Super Mario game on your iPhone or iPad in the form of Super Mario Run. That's if you can keep a consistent mobile connection, that is – but we'll come back to that…
Super Mario Run: How it Plays
At face value, it's an endless runner skinned with Mario textures, worlds and enemies that we know and love, but on the other hand it offers enough depth to feel like a console/mobile hybrid game that could comfortably exist on both.
That's because this isn't your average endless runner, it's more akin to something like Rayman Adventures and Rayman Jungle Run where there's much far more to do than just jog into the distance, forever (hello Temple Run).
The basic premise is that our little chubby plumber friend - or other unlockable playable characters like Toad - runs from the left-hand side of the screen to the right, as he's always done. There are still coins to collect, mushrooms to eat and enemies to bop, but this time you'll have to do it at speed, because Mario ain't stopping for no-one.
(Well, apart from special stop pads you'll discover through each level that allow you to momentarily take stock.)
Your input comes from a simple tap, or tap and press, with the former used for a short jump and the latter for something a little higher and longer. Using these two controls, you'll be able to navigate the various levels, wall jumping, climbing, defeating enemies and all that usual Super Mario stuff.
It plays like a dream, a whole new language to learn for a Mario game but one that teaches itself well, focusing clearly and concisely on the "one hand" approach that iPhones lend themselves to.
Super Mario Run: Features
There are various levels of engagement. Anyone looking for a more casual experience can power straight through, simply making it to the end of the level as fast as they possibly can. But anyone who wants to get more from each level will be able to take part in the various coloured coin-related speed runs.
The coin speed runs start off with pink coins, with five scattered through each level, and you'll have to work out the best way to move around so that you can collect them all. Once you've done that, you'll subsequently unlock the purple and then black coin speedrun variants, which will test your Mario moves even more.
For completionists like us, who strive for every gold star, every 5/5, every medal, this is a welcome addition to what is quite an easy playthrough at first glance.
And there are plenty of levels to play through, too, with tons of variety and even classic boss battles to take on.
Beyond the basic worlds-laid-out Tour mode, you get access to two other categories of fun: Toad Rally and the Kingdom Builder.
Toad Rally is a rather excellent multiplayer part of the game, where you challenge ghost versions of other Super Mario Run players to impress various coloured Toads with your skills, which include things like wall running, performing certain moves and more.
It's almost like gambling, though, as if you're the winner in Toad Rally, you'll win the amount of Toads you've impressed, but also steal those of your competitor. It seems like you're going to have to be pretty good in order to take on the best, but the more Toads you have, the better your Kingdom will be.
And the Kingdom itself might look like a Simpsons: Tapped Out affair, but it's not. You build it up using the Coins and Toads you collect in Toad Rally, which in turn can unlock prizes, bonus games and more.
With multiple ways through each world revealing so many fiendish new ways to collect rare coins, from pausing your runs to going backwards through a level, there is more replay value than you'd ever expect from most full-price games.
Super Mario Run: Price and Online connection
Speaking of which, despite the free tag, Super Mario Run is technically a premium game (in the mobile space, at least), with a one-off in-app purchase at an already-moan-inducing £7.99 opening up all its wares.
If you don't want to pay out the £7.99 asking price for the complete game, there is a free tier that will allow you to access World 1 and its four levels. You'll also be able to access a basic version of the Kingdom Builder and play Toad Rally on the levels you have access to.
But if you do cough up, you'll unlock the complete Kingdom Builder and all six worlds for both the main Tour mode and Toad Rally. Despite the online whinging, the amount of content seems to more than justify the full-price fee – it's the cheapest full Mario game ever.
A more pressing grumble is the fact that you have to always be online to play it Рsomething that made sense with Pok̩mon Go, where you're exploring the real world, or Hearthstone, where it's live multiplayer, but that's been added here simply as an anti-piracy measure and hobbles the game somewhat in some of the ways you'd inevitably like to play it.
We've found that if your mobile signal falls below two bars, or if your Wi-Fi isn't rock solid, the game often crashes to an error message before pushing you back to the main menu. It's pretty good at saving your progress, but it rules out the Tube and plane play that the 3DS and upcoming Switch promote off the bat – it's, ironically, one of the least-mobile mobile Marios ever.
Verdict
Super Mario Run definitely looks the part, but more importantly, it feels like a Super Mariogame. We had our eyebrow ready to raise at how the D-pad-focused plumber would translate to smartphone taps, but we needn't have – this oozes that classic Nintendo charm, the soundtrack is familiarly strong and the visuals are slick with tonnes of variety.
People will inevitably moan about the price, but there's more than enough content to justify it, especially with the substantial free tier that will let you suss out if it's for you (we worry about your gaming tastes if it's not).
The always-online factor is more of an issue, and the need for such a limiting measure rankles a little, but once you realise, you plan your play around it. The fact it's as engaging and absorbing as a full-fat Mario game certainly helps. This flag pole goes up to 11.
Super Mario Run release date: Out now
Available on: iOS (tested on iPhone 7 Plus)
Developer: Nintendo
Price: Free or £7.99 for full experience