Super Mario Run: A Miraculous Transformation

<p>For years mobile gaming has been a sin against gamers&comma; at least as far as I’ve been concerned&period; As more and more people began to play games on their mobile phones or tablets&comma; I realized that the despicable habit of enjoying oneself on a work device wouldn’t pass&period; But that realization certainly didn’t and won’t stop me from totally ignoring the platform&period; It would take a lot for me to put down my dedicated handheld or turn off my console in favour of playing games on the go using my phone&period; Since its inception I’ve told myself that mobile games aren’t real games&comma; and people who play them mustn’t know the difference between trash and a piece of art&comma; or they are infants who’ve been silenced with a tablet given to them by their dismissive parents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While a great majority of the youth play on buttonless devices&comma; I have turned up my nose to anyone who persists to play games on their phone while claiming claiming to care about the games industry&period; Why would you want to dredge the infinite swamp of apps and free-to-play marketing speak for subpar games&quest; If you truly enjoy gaming&comma; you’ll pay for it&comma; won’t you&quest; At least you can be sure that most of the standout games on dedicated devices offer deeper experiences with more immersive environments and gameplay&comma; not to mention that the developers likely dedicate much more time to creating them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I can’t say that these sentiments have changed all that much—I am still as stubborn as ever to play games on mobile—but the announcement of <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> at Apple’s recent event has definitely complicated things&period; I guess you could say that I’ve changed my mind &period; &period; &period; I guess&period; But just a little&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I like how Nintendo’s chosen to handle their beloved IP&period; Instead of creating a half-baked <em>Mario<&sol;em> game with some silly gameplay hook&comma; they took what’s best in their side-scrolling series and simply built it for mobile devices&period; <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> adopts the same graphical style as the <em>New Super Mario Bros&period;<&sol;em> series and all the basic conventions of past <em>Mario<&sol;em> games&period; Your mission as usual is to travel to the goal post at the end of the scrolling screen&comma; and do it as fast as you can&semi; you collect coins along the way&comma; and even squish a few Goomba heads as you do&semi; and you platform from left to right just like you’ve always done in a <em>Mario<&sol;em> game&comma; only this time the game automatically scrolls for you&period; This minor difference is imperative for the gameplay of a mobile platformer&comma; so I wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t say that its inclusion creates any kind of identity crisis&&num;8212&semi;the game retains its authenticity&comma; and appears to be at home with the other <em>Mario <&sol;em>titles&comma; even if it’s for mobile&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112894" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112894" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112894 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;09&sol;10200833&sol;Apple-1024x683&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Yes&comma; I understand that&comma; but do you have buttons&quest; I'm looking for something a little more clicky &lpar;Apple devices&rpar;&period; " width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"667" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112894" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Yes&comma; I understand that&comma; but do you have buttons&quest; I&&num;8217&semi;m looking for something a little more clicky&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Minus the lack of free control over Mario’s movement&comma; <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> looks to be an authentic trek through the Mushroom Kingdom&period; <em>Mario<&sol;em> platformers&comma; for me&comma; have never been about exploring anyway—they have been about progressing forward&comma; avoiding obstacles and bonking enemies standing in the way of the Italian plumber and the very tip of the flagpole he looks to rub his gloves on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What scares me most about putting my favourite games and characters on mobile is that they won’t retain the elements that made them special in the first place&period; Nintendo’s short presentation of <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> earlier this week&comma; crushed these anxieties&comma; and by doing so seems to be handling a mobile game the right way&period; The best parts of the world-renowned franchise were kept and Nintendo didn’t just create a simple port of an existing <em>Mario<&sol;em> game and dump it in with the rest of the sludge on the app store&period; Instead&comma; Nintendo created an all-new <em>Mario<&sol;em> game that actually takes advantage of the input methods inherent of a mobile device&comma; all the while meticulously keeping with the identity of a <em>Mario<&sol;em> outing&period; Judging by the showcase&comma; <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> looks and plays like <em>Mario<&sol;em> game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The other issue with mobile games that Nintendo remedied is the flagrant devaluation games suffer from when being put on mobile devices&period; The price of mobile games&comma; including the free-to-play models&comma; only support that the creators don’t care enough about their games to charge a price indicative of a high-quality product&period; That’s because most of the time the games are actually worth a dollar&comma; or probably nothing at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;112895" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-112895" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-112895 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;09&sol;10201238&sol;New-Super-Mario-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"So if I time the press of my thumb just right&comma; this overweight Italian will squish that demonic mushroom with vampire teeth&quest; Sounds like the makings of a classic &lpar;New Super Mario Bros&period;&comma; Nintendo&rpar;&period;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-112895" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">So if I time the press of my thumb just right&comma; this overweight Italian will squish that demonic mushroom with vampire teeth&quest; Sounds like the makings of a classic &lpar;New Super Mario Bros&period;&comma; Nintendo&rpar;&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>When Nintendo announced that <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> would be sold at a fixed cost&comma; the company proved that it’s serious about maintaining the value of a <em>Mario<&sol;em> game&comma; and doesn’t expect customers to delude themselves into thinking that the franchise should offer a free game&period; This is no penny-pinching affair&comma; and they made that much clear&period; Nintendo unequivocally positioned <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> as a game&comma; a Nintendo game&period; In fact&comma; the seasoned Japanese company believes so heavily in the quality of the game that they had Shigeru Miyamoto himself take to the stage to speak about it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For the sake of mobile gaming and all the unknowing souls who dedicate their lives to it&comma; I hope <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> delivers&period; The parched gaming space on mobile is in need of a carefully developed and intelligently marketed game&comma; and what better way to save the insufferable platform than with the ultimate saviour of yesterday’s videogame downturn&comma; <em>Super Mario<&sol;em>&period; Nintendo has something here&comma; and I think I will try my first mobile game when <em>Super Mario Run<&sol;em> arrives&comma; and I may actually like it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;