The first true mobile game from Nintendo featuring one of its classic IPs is out now, but was it worth the wait — and the price?
We knew Super Mario Run was hitting the App Store on December 15, we just weren’t sure exactly when. Would it arrive at the stroke of midnight Pacific time? Or would it show up around 4 p.m. Eastern, when the App Store typically refreshes on a Thursday afternoon?
Turns out the answer is “neither.” Super Mario Run is now live, and can be downloaded to your iOS device of choice. It’s playable on any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch capable of running iOS 8.0 or later.
It’s also free to download, as with the majority of mobile games. But it’s far from free overall; the free download introduces you to the basics of gameplay and gives you a taste of the various modes. To unlock all the content requires a one-time purchase of $9.99.
That’s a hefty price for a mobile game, but an incredibly cheap price for a brand new Mario game. Nintendo is betting that enough people will feel the latter that it’ll sell like hotcakes.
Aided by the chance to try it out for free, it just might. Super Mario Run has impressive graphics and gameplay that’s challenging despite meeting Nintendo’s goal to make it playable with just one hand. Perhaps most importantly, it’s got the proper Mario feel, one that permeates all the way to things like the music and menus. For more details, check out the full review on our sister site, App Trigger.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some more Super Mario Run to play.