Super Mario Run

Template:Justreleased Template:Infobox Super Mario Run is an automatic runner platformer game for mobile devices, announced during September 2016. In the game, Mario is constantly moving to the right and the player can make him jump by tapping the screen. The game features four modes: premade courses, creating courses, playing other user-created courses, and a battle mode where players can race against another player's time called "Toad Rally." In order to create courses, coins need to be collected from the other modes. Nintendo markets the game as the first Super Mario title that can be played with one hand.

The game was released in 150 countries worldwide on December 15, 2016. Super Mario Run is free-to-start, with the full game costing USD$9.99. It is the second mobile game developed and published by Nintendo (following Miitomo), and the first Mario mobile game. The game was released exclusively for iOS devices at launch and will release for Android in 2017.

On December 8th, 2016, a demo of Super Mario Run was made available at Apple Stores worldwide.

Gameplay

Throughout each level, Mario will constantly run to the right without stopping, except when on Pause Blocks, and will jump if the player taps the screen. Mario will automatically grab ledges if he can reach them and will also jump over short obstacles on his own, including Goombas. If the player taps the screen while Mario is over an enemy, he will bounce off of it. If the player taps while Mario is on a wall, he will Wall Jump. The game features 24 levels (consisting of 6 worlds containing 4 levels each), of which Worlds 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 20 seconds of 1-4 are free. The game is additionally always online.

In every level, up to five Pink Challenge Coins may be found among regular coins and within brick blocks. On the results screen, each Pink Challenge Coin is counted as ten regular coins. If all five Pink Challenge Coins are collected in a single run, they will become Purple Coins within that level, and the position of the coins will be made more challenging. If all five of these coins are again collected, they will become Black Coins. Collecting all five Black Coins will have no further effect.

The game features three game modes: World Tour, Toad Rally, and Kingdom Builder. World Tour is the single-player mode; in Toad Rally, the player can compete with other players from around the world; and in the Kingdom Builder mode, players will be able to build their own kingdom. The main objective is to collect as many coins in a stage as possible. As Mario collects coins, a blue meter will gradually fill up. Once it is full, the player can use a mechanic known as "Coin Rush", which will allow Mario to run into enemies to defeat them and earn more coins. The player can also attract Toads by performing certain moves, which also increase the player's score.

Characters

Playable

The character select screen.

There are a total of six playable characters in Super Mario Run. At the start of the game, only Mario is available, but players can unlock more characters as they progress through the game. Each character plays differently from each other. For example, Luigi can jump higher than Mario, Toad can run faster than Mario, Princess Peach and Yoshi have special abilities, and Toadette can convert some Toads to the player's side before the final tally in Toad Rally. Mario and Luigi have small forms when they get hurt, meaning they can be hurt twice before being defeated; however, the rest of the characters are defeated if they touch enemies at all. If those characters touch a Super Mushroom, they earn bonus coins instead of turning super.

Mario	Luigi (unlockable)	Princess Peach (unlockable)
		File:PeachMP8a.PNG
"It's-a me, Mario! A hero who grows when he grabs a mushroom, Mario's always ready to go!"	"Mario's twin brother is shy and easily scared, but that won't keep him from jumping a little higher!"	"The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach can travel great distances with a floaty jump."
Toad (unlockable)	Toadette (unlockable)	Yoshi (unlockable)
"This resident of the Mushroom Kingdom faithfully serves Princess Peach with impressive speed."	"Her pink pigtails set her apart from other Toads. She's also the referee for Toad Rally."	"Yoshi is Mario's loyal adventuring buddy. He can Flutter Jump, and he's got no fear of spikes!"

Unlocking criteria

Character	Unlock criteria
Toad	Connect the game to a My Nintendo account, where the reward can then be redeemed.
Princess Peach	Play through all 24 levels in World Tour and defeat Bowser.
Yoshi	Recruit 30 Red Toads and 30 Yellow Toads through Toad Rally to unlock Yoshi's House, which costs 1000 coins to be built.
Luigi	Recruit 150 Green Toads and 150 Purple Toads through Toad Rally to unlock Luigi's House, which costs 1000 coins to be built.
Toadette	Recruit 200 of each Toad color through Toad Rally to unlock Toadette's House, which costs 1000 coins to be built.

Non-playable

• Toads
  • Red
  • Blue
  • Green
  • Purple
  • Yellow

Enemies

• Boo
  • Stretch
• Bullet Bill
  • Bull's-Eye Bill
• Burner
• Buzzy Beetle
• Cannonball
• Fuzzy
• Fire Bar
• Goomba
• Grinder
• Koopa Troopa
  • Koopa Paratroopa
  • Dry Bones
• Lakitu
• Lava Bubble
• Muncher
• Ninji
• Piranha Plant
• Pokey
• Rocky Wrench
• Spike
• Spiny
  • Big Spiny
• Swoop
• Thwomp

Bosses

• Boom Boom
• Fake Bowser
• Bowser

Objects

• Coin
• Challenge Coin
  • Pink Coin
  • Purple Coin
  • Black Coin
• Super Mushroom
• Super Star
• A blue Star that activates Coin Rush
• Blue Coin
• Key
• ? Block
• Brick Block
• Pause Block
• A block with an arrow icon
• A purple block with a timer icon
• Warp Pipe
• Checkpoint Flag
• Goal Pole
• Axe
• ! Switch
• Red Ring
  • Red Coin
• Cannon
• Lift
• Door
  • Key Door
• A Springboard-like object
• A ring of fire

Worlds/levels

• World 1
  • World 1-1: Up and Over
  • World 1-2: Wall-Kicking It Underground
  • World 1-3: Paratroopas in Mushroom Valley
  • World 1-4: Bowser's Castle Hangout
• World 2
  • World 2-1: Ghost-Door Deception
  • World 2-2: Sky-High Lifts and Leaps!
  • World 2-3: Treasure-Hoarding Swoops
  • World 2-4: Airship Cannons...Fire!
• World 3
  • World 3-1: Big Spiny Blitz
  • World 3-2: Bullet Bill Barrage
  • World 3-3: Shell Me the Way!
  • World 3-4: Fire Bar Castle! Youch!
• World 4
  • World 4-1: Cutting-Edge Spire
  • World 4-2: Slope to Success
  • World 4-3: Danger High and Low
  • World 4-4: Firing the Airship's Burners
• World 5
  • World 5-1: Lakitu's Revenge
  • World 5-2: Pokey Vaulting
  • World 5-3: Boohind Lock and Key
  • World 5-4: Rings of Fire!
• World 6
  • World 6-1: Land of Spikes
  • World 6-2: Switch Ghost House
  • World 6-3: Throwing It All Overboard
  • World 6-4: Bowser's Bob-ombing Run
• Special Courses
  • Follow the Snaking Coins - collecting all Pink Coins unlocks a Pink Coin Pipe for Kingdom Builder, which grants access to this course.
  • Piranha Plant Field - collecting all Purple Coins unlocks a Purple Coin Pipe for Kingdom Builder, which grants access to this course.
  • Make the Cut! - collecting all Black Coins unlocks a Black Coin Pipe for Kingdom Builder, which grants access to this course.

Reception

Critical reception

Super Mario Run has received generally positive reviews, with the iOS version earning a 79 on Metacritic based on 24 reviews and an 81.07% based on 14 reviews on GameRankings. The game is generally praised for its simple, yet intuitive controls and that the game retains the quality level design from previous Mario platformers. Critics also praise the social competitiveness of the Toad Rally mode and building objects as motivation from Kingdom Builder. On the other hand, the game has been criticized for its relatively short World Tour length and low replayability of the levels, as well as the requirement for the game to be online.

Michael McWhertor of Polygon gave Super Mario Run a 7 out of 10 in his review. He has praised the game for its mechanics being translated well into taps for a touchscreen, but laments how it has been compromised by the lack of power-ups and precise control the series is known for. The review has described Kingdom Builder as a "lengthy grind in service of unlocking mostly cosmetic items." In his final verdict, he has described the game as "an enjoyable but imperfect adaptation of the Mario games for touchscreen devices." Jose Otero of IGN has given Super Mario Run an 8 out of 10,, praising the game for its strong level designs and new mechanics though also citing three-hit boss fights with Boom Boom and Bowser as "relics from Nintendo’s past" and states that "they’re not as smart or clever as the rest of the campaign stages." He has also cited that the visuals are not impressive, especially compared to another mobile auto-runner platformer, Rayman Jungle Run, but has praised Mario's animations within the game. His final statement stated that Super Mario Run is an elegantly designed platformer with strong hooks despite not being the best-looking Mario game by a longshot.

Reviews
Release	Reviewer, Publication	Score	Comment
iOS	Kyle Hilliard, GameInformer	7/10	"Super Mario Run hits its stride when you’re making your way through new levels. The platforming is great, and the level design surprised me on multiple occasions. In these moments, I forgot I was playing a mobile translation of Mario. That fades fast, unfortunately, as Princess Peach was kissing me on the cheek thanking me for my service just as I felt I was getting started. Rewards exist for replaying those levels repeatedly, but they simply aren’t enough for me."
iOS	Michael McWhertor, Polygon	7/10	"Super Mario Run is an enjoyable but imperfect adaptation of the Mario games for touchscreen devices. Nintendo's unmatched craft in creating platformers is evident during the best moments of Super Mario Run, but the experience is sometimes hamstrung by the game's limited control. The all-too-brief World Tour is its strongest pillar, but I wish there were more to the game beyond playing the same levels again and again."
iOS	Matt Peckham, Time	5/5	"If you’re able to make peace with the game’s online requirement (and to be fair, I was most of the time), the experience is mostly fantastic. Super Mario Run impresses in ways I wasn’t convinced this approach to the character could. This, let’s not forget, is Nintendo on someone else’s hardware making good. Who else can stroll this assuredly into a stranger’s house, size up the joint lickety-split, then remind us of how much we have yet to see?"
iOS	Jose Otero, IGN	8/10	"Super Mario Run is an elegantly designed platformer with strong hooks that kept me coming back. Once I wrapped up the main campaign, the addictive, replayable stages urged me to perfect my coin runs. Kingdom Builder and Toad Rally provided further motivation to keep dashing for the finish line, so I could invest the spoils in my own Mushroom Kingdom. While this isn’t the best-looking Super Mario game by a longshot, it successfully distills the core fun and charm of the Mario franchise into a smart, one-handed experience."
iOS	Peter Brown, GameSpot	7/10	"Simple controls be damned, Run offers great platforming and that distinct Mario charm that Nintendo's perfected over the years. It's a shame to find that it's on the easy side and bereft of a long-lasting platforming adventure, but it's the sort of game that you'll be happy to have in your pocket. Even if you don't play it to unlock every character and special course, finishing the game once will inspire you to dust off New Super Mario Bros. and revisit Run's quality roots on other platforms--a testament to the series' refined DNA than lives on in Run."
iOS	Damien McFerran, Nintendo Life	8/10	"Super Mario Run is thankfully miles away from being the simplified disaster that many nay-sayers had feared; in fact, what's striking about this mobile release is how similar it is to traditional Mario titles in terms of gameplay and challenge. Despite having limited control over Mario there's still a strong focus on skill, especially if you want to grab all of those pink, purple and black coins. The brevity of the experience is an issue however – an average player should be able to finish an initial no-frills World Tour run in around an hour – and as a result Super Mario Run's social element becomes its long-term focus. Challenging pals via the elegant in-game friends system is addictive, and the Toad Rally mode – which underpins the kingdom-building meta game – is sure to soak up plenty of play time."
Aggregators
Compiler		Platform / Score
Metacritic		79
GameRankings		81.07%

Sales

Super Mario Run has 3.5 million downloads in its first day, eclipsing another highly popular app game Pokémon GO with its 900,000 downloads in its first day. It has reached the No. 1 spot in the App Store's top grossing and top free charts in the United States.

App Store description

A new kind of Mario game that you can play with one hand.

In this game, Mario constantly moves forward through the courses while you use a variety of jumps to navigate. Mario will behave differently depending on the timing of your taps, so it's up to you to show off particularly smooth moves, gather coins, and reach the goal.

■World Tour
Run and jump with style to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser’s clutches!

Travel through plains, caverns, haunted houses, airships, castles, and more...

Clear 6 worlds filled with 24 brand-new courses designed for one-handed play!

■Toad Rally
Show off Mario’s stylish moves, compete against your friends and challenge people from all over the world.

A challenge mode where the competition differs each time you play.

Compete against the stylish moves of other players for the highest score as you gather coins and get cheered on by a crowd of Toads. If you’re impressive enough, the Toads may even come live in your kingdom.

You can also perform stylish moves to fill up your gauge and launch into Coin Rush!

*In order to play Toad Rally, you will need Rally Tickets that you can acquire in a variety of ways, such as clearing worlds or through bonus games in your kingdom.

■Kingdom Builder
Gather coins and Toads to build your very own kingdom.

Create your unique kingdom with buildings and decorations that you acquire with the help of Toads gathered in Toad Rally.

References to other games

• Super Mario World: When the blue star triggering Coin Rush is released, the "item dropped" sound effect from this game plays.
• Mario Party 8: Princess Peach's artwork is taken from this game.
• Mario Party DS: Yoshi's artwork is taken from this game.
• New Super Mario Bros. U: Graphics are taken from this game. Music from this game are also rearrangements. Some of the crowd cheers are also taken from this game.
• Mario Party 10: Toadette's artwork is taken from this game.
• Super Mario Maker: The Airship tileset is taken from this game. The axes at the end of a castle levels function the same as the axe from this game, rather than a button in New Super Mario Bros. U. The Key design is also taken from this game.

Gallery

• 

  The game logo

• 

  Icon on the App Store

• 

  Mario running

• SuperMarioRun - screen1.jpg

  Mario running in World 1-1

• 

Trivia

• If the player clears "World 6-4: Bowser's Bob-ombing Run" as Peach, Toad will take her place in the ending.
• If the player plays as Toadette in Toad Rally, Toad will take her place as the referee.

External links

• Official website